The History of Children's Book Week

"A great nation is a reading nation."

In a small library on a November afternoon in 1921, a stiff-lipped lady was busy with her scissors, shearing off the bottom third of Jessie Willcox Smith's poster for Children's Book Week. A poster showing books scattered in joyous abandon on the floor was more than she could bear to display!

Our attitude toward children and their enjoyment of books has undergone considerable change since that day. The creation and growth of Children's Book Week has both resulted from and influenced this transformation.

Since 1919, Children's Book Week has been celebrated nationally in schools, libraries, bookstores, clubs, private homes-any place where there are children and books. Educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated children's books and the love of reading with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other book related events.

The beginnings of Children's Book Week can be traced to the 1912 American Booksellers Association (ABA) Convention. E.W. Mumford of the Penn Publishing Company, who was concerned about better books for children, delivered a paper entitled "Juvenile Readers as an Asset." This address, a strong indictment of the harm to children done by trashy books, was summarized in The New York Times, where it caught the attention of James West, Director of the Boy Scouts of America. West asked the recently-appointed librarian of the Scouts, Franklin K. Mathiews, to consider the possibility of the Scout organization taking the initiative in giving new direction to boys' reading.

Mathiews strongly believed that good reading was very important in a boy's life. From 1913 to 1915 he toured the country to promote higher standards in children's books. Mathiews was a vigorous spokesman, and word of his campaign led to his appearance at the 1915 Booksellers Convention, where he delivered a fiery speech entitled "Books as Merchandise and Something More," in which he warned publishers and booksellers of their responsibilities. He proposed creating a Children's Book Week, which would be supported by all interested groups. Mathiews' enthusiasm convinced many booksellers that a week devoted to the promotion of children's books would be both a good service and good for business.

Mathiews also enlisted two important allies: Frederic G. Melcher, the visionary editor of Publishers Weekly (the publishing industry trade journal), and Anne Carroll Moore, the Superintendent of Children's Works at the New York Public Library and a major figure in the library world. With the help of Melcher and Moore, in 1916 the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association cooperated with the Boy Scouts in sponsoring a Good Book Week.

Although World War I delayed further development of Book Week, an increasing number of librarians, Scout leaders, and booksellers continued their efforts to encourage the publishing and enjoyment of fine children's books.

In 1919, Melcher, then secretary of the American Booksellers Association, asked librarians to be guests and speakers at the annual ABA meeting. At his invitation, Mathiews again presented his plan for a Children's Book Week, and at the end of the convention a resolution was passed committing the Association to the organization of a Children's Book Week. A few months later, the official approval of the American Library Association was also secured during its first Children's Librarians session.

The first Children's Book Week Committee, organized by Melcher, included publishers, booksellers, librarians, and Scout leaders. Working together, the committee selected the slogan "More Books in the Home," commissioned the nationally known illustrator Jessie Willcox Smith as poster artist, and prepared publicity for the celebration.

The National Association of Book Publishers took over the organization and promotion of the second annual Children's Book Week. When this organization went out of existence in 1934, the R. R. Bowker Company assumed administrative responsibilities. Over the next decade, more and more schools and libraries joined in the festivities. Eventually Bowker found it could no longer handle the volume of mail, bookkeeping, and promotional detail.

In 1944, children's book publishers had created the Association of Children's Book Editors. At Melcher's urging the Association established the Children's Book Council to administer Children's Book Week and to serve as a year-round promotion and information center about children's books and children's book publishing. Today, as in the past, the selection of the slogan, the artists, and the development of promotional ideas is handled by a Children's Book Week Committee.

In response to overwhelming feedback from publishers, librarians, booksellers, and teachers, the CBC has changed the timing of Children's Book Week. For the 89th celebration in 2008, Children's Book Week will move to May from its traditional November date. Going forward, Children's Book Week will be held during one of the first two weeks of May.

The need for Children's Book Week today is as essential as it was in 1919, and the task remains the realization of Frederic Melcher's fundamental declaration: "Book Week brings us together to talk about books and reading and, out of our knowledge and love of books, to put the cause of children's reading squarely before the whole community and, community by community, across the whole nation. For a great nation is a reading nation."

2007 Children's Book Week celebrations
2006 Children's Book Week celebrations
2005 Children's Book Week celebrations
2004 Children's Book Week celebrations