“Beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, strong as Hercules, and swifter than Mercury” it’s everything I wanted to be as a girl growing up in…
In 1865, one of the great comic works about two of the baddest boys in the history of childhood, Max and Moritz, first appeared in…
It’s the birthday this month of Bill Gaines, the publisher of one of the edgiest institutions in American childhood, Mad Magazine. Since its first appearance in…
It’s the birthday this week of Henry King Ketcham, better known to his many regular readers as Hank Ketcham, the creator of one of America’s…
Elsie Kunh-Leitz (“Elsee Qu-en Lights”) was the daughter of a prominent German family in the years just before World War II. Her father, Dr. Ernst…
You have probably met Raggedy Ann and Andy, but what do you know of Johnny Gruelle, their creator? As a boy, Gruelle had an aversion…
One of the most important books to appear this fall for older teens and young adults is the second volume of Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic…
It’s the beginning of Teen Read Week, which isn’t such a contradiction in terms as it may seem. Teens actually do a lot of reading…
It’s Cartoon Art Appreciation Week, and the place to begin any reflections on the history of this most popular and unappreciated art form is with…
To counter the problems of increasing xenophobia and environmental pollution in Europe, the European Union has designed a very innovative set of books for children.…