"Ursula Nordstrom was a grown-up who never forgot what it was to be a child." The girl who'd always loved to read would grow up to work in the Department of Books for Boys and Girls at Harper & Brothers Publishers. Soon she was editing books by Margaret Wise Brown and E. B. White, discovering new talent like John Steptoe and Maurice Sendak, and reinventing what a book for children should be. "Children want to be seen," she'd tell her writers. "Not good enough for you," she'd scribble in the margins of their manuscripts, asking them to revise. Her favorite books of all? "Good books for bad children," she'd say. And those books went on to win every award imaginable, including the Caldecott and Newbery Medals and the National Book Award.
Chloe Bristol is the illustrator of Nonsense: The Curious Story of Edward Gorey, which received two starred reviews. She is also a visual development artist for feature animation and has worked on various films, including Mary Poppins Returns.
★ "A full life through a picture book keyhole, this is a well-done and rare glimpse of book publishing few children see, and a career path that turns serendipity, acute intelligence, and hard work into what only seems like fate." --School Library Journal, starred review
"A welcome, behind-the-scenes look at one of modern children's literature's most glorious forces." --Kirkus Reviews
"A lively look at a dynamic personality credited with transforming children's literature." --Publishers Weekly
"An excellent encapsulation of a seminal figure in children's books." --The Horn Book