April is National Poetry Month, so for this week's Throwback Thursday post, I knew I wanted to focus on poetry. On previous trips to the Archive, we found a few horror story anthologies, so Deimosa and I decided to look for poetry anthologies. We found a bunch!

With these anthologies, Scholastic (or one of our imprints) published the actual book, however, the poems inside are from different publishers and we had to recieve reprint permission to include them.

Family (A Scholatic Literature Unit Anthology), from 1961, edited by Murray Rockowitz, Principal, The John Philip Sousa Junior High School in New York City. (Other Scholatic Literature Units included  High Adventure, Personal Code, Small World, and Mirrors.)

From the back cover: In this collection of stories, essays, and poems, you will find answers to questions you yourself have asked:

• How can I bring up my parents?
• How can I deal with a family crisis?
• How can I learn to "belong"?

Some of the answers will amuse you; some will surprise you; all will give you something to think about.

Arrow Book of Poetry, from 1965, selected by Ann McGovern (author of Stone Soup and other classics!), illustrated by Grisha Dotzenko.

My Name is Black: An Anthology of Black Poets, from 1973, edited by Amanda Ambrose, photographs by Chester Higgins, Jr. The book is broken down into three sections: African Poems, Slave Poems, and American Poems.

From the back cover: Poems about –

• hope and despair
• love and loneliness
• laughter and tears
• growing up and growing old

Black poets write about Africa, slavery and modern life with feeling, insight and humor.

Alone Amid All This Noise: A Collection of Women's Poetry, from 1976, edited by Ann Reit.

From the inside flap: This unique anthology inclides 119 poems written by women at different times and in different places – from the time of Sappho in ancient Greece up to the 1970s.

Beach Glass and other poems, from 1970, edited by Paul Molloy.

From the inside flap: Each poem in this collection focuses upon feelings and responses we all have shared–a moment of childhood anguish... the mingled pain and joy of love... a sudden flash of insight. And most are written in the familar idiom of rhythms of American speech, unencumbered by obscurity of either language or allusion.

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

This week's Throwback Thursday could almost double as a "before they were famous!"

As you might have seen earlier on the blog, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards named the national award recipients (including the Gold Medal Portfolio winners) for 2017 last week. That got me thinking, with March being Women's History Month, about some of the former female winners of the awards that went on to become household names.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards were founded in 1923 by the company's founder, Maurice R. Robinson and since then, some famous female alumnae include:

• Poet & writer Sylvia Plath in 1947 for a painting
• Artist Kay WalkingStick in 1948
• Writer Joyce Carol Oates in 1956 for a short story titled A Dawn You’ll Never See
• The Time Traveler's Wife author Audrey Niffenegger in 1981
• Writer/actress Lena Dunham in 1999 for a poem called Walking

You may be surprised to see that Sylvia Plath won her Art & Writing award for a painting rather than a piece of writing. (I know it surprised me!) Here is her winning painting:

Joyce Carol Oates is a writer and has written almost anything you can think of - novels, plays, novellas, nonfiction, poetry, etc. She's also won numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award, the National Book Award ... and a Scholastic Art & Writing Award! She won hers for a short story called A Dawn You'll Never See. Check it out below. (Additionally, to make things comes full circle, Oates served as an Art & Writing juror in 1998.)

For these Throwback Thursday posts, sometimes the inspiration is obvious. (Holiday books in December, scary books around Halloween.) But for others, sometimes the inspiration comes from the most unusual sources, like this week's post.

This week, we'll be looking back at some of the early works from author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. Best known for his 1967 title The Snowy Day, how did he come up in March? (If you're thinking, "It still snows in March in New York!" you are correct, however, currently it is 60 degrees as I'm tryping this.) It can all be traced back to the Library's Purple Cart of Mystery (trademark pending ... just kidding).

As you may remember from some of our posts back in the summer, Scholastic's New York headquarters is currently undergoing a renovation, and, as part of the construction, our librarians had to condense the Scholastic Archive. What this actually meant is that people were in our building's sub-basement for weeks at a time literally checking every book, magazine, poster, DVD, cassette, or et cetera that was on the shelves. Some things didn't have the correct catalog sticker, or didn't even have a sticker at all, and those items ended up on the Purple Cart of Mystery.

One of those books was Keats' Regards to the Man in the Moon; it ended up on the cart beceause it was missing a catalog sticker. However, it caught Deimosa's eye for a few reasons: first because it deviated from Keats's famous cityscapes, and secondly because it was published by Four Winds Press, one of our original imprints.

"This is ours?" (Meaning, Scholastic's.) "That's a big deal!" she thought. That led her to looking up other Keats titles published by our imprints, and there were a few! Here's what she found.

Skates!, 1973. From the book jacket:

Two pairs of discarded rollerskates and two curious and adventurous dogs combine to produce a zany romp on wheels with the two dogs sliding, skidding, and bumping across a downhill course that is chaos all the way.

A family of kittens in their path doesn't help the dogs' progress at all. Luckily no one is hurt but at the end of their adventure the two exhausted dogs must conclude that skating just may not be their sport!

Kitten for a Day, 1974. From the book jacket:

Four playful kittens and a good-natured and friendly (but somewhat confused) puppy add up to a day of fun for all.

When the kittens invite the pup to join them in their play, not even a bumped nose and a little spilled milk can dampen his spirits. The pup's mother eventually takes him home, but not before he has found some new friends and the promise of another day of play lies before them.

Maggie and the Pirate, 1979. From the book jacket:

Maggie had a pet cricket named Niki for whom Maggie's father had just built a beautiful new cage.

Maggie's days are spent paddling up and down the river on her raft, running errands for her mother, and playing with her friends, Katie and Paco. Niki frequently accompanies Maggie on her outings.

What happens on that fateful day with Niki is left behind and a mysterious stranger – the Pirate – makes his appearance in the community, is a story filled with adventure, leading to an unexpected and touching ending.

Regards to the Man in the Moon, 1984.

Louie learned all about imagination from his pop. According to him, "A little of that stuff can take you right out of this world!"

Louie and his parents  started working on the idea. Soon Susie joined them. At first the other kids laughed at them – until they, too, realize what imagination can do!

You'll notice that none of these books feature Peter, the little boy from The Snowy Day that appeared in a number of Keats' other books, however, Regards to the Man in the Moon does feature children of color.

And if you're wondering, don't worry – Deimosa and our librarians are carefully going through the Purple Cart of Mystery to make sure all the books find their correct spots on our shelves.

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

For this edition of Throwback Thursday, I walked into the Library knowing I wanted this week's theme to be Black History Month, and our librarian Deimosa coincidentially had a stack of books that would be perfect already on her desk. She handed them to me.

"I found these years ago in the Archives, and I just thought they were so cool," she told me.

These four books are part of the six book collection called, The Scholastic Black Literature Series. They were originally published in the early 1970s in cooperation with Los Angeles City Schools. These books feature reprinted poems, essays, stories, and illustrations from notable African-American writers and artists. Each book also includes biographies for all the contributors. I was so ready to take a deep dive into this series until Deimosa said, 

"I blogged about them on OOM already." 

So rather than reinventing the wheel, I highly recommend you check out Deimosa's Throwback Bookday post (what an amazing series title–this is not sarcasm!) from when she originally discovered this great series.

We shifted gears to focus on specific authors, and the name Nikki Grimes popped up since she was recently honored by the American Library Association (more on that in a bit!). Here's a bit about her: Born in October 1950, Nikki Grimes, according to her website, is a "bestselling author and a prolific artist [who] has written many award-winning books for children and young adults."

Earlier this year, Ms. Grimes was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award at the ALA's Midwinter Conference for her "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." Her first novel, Growin', was released in 1977. Here's a short description: Pump, short for Pumpkin, reels after the death of her father, then finds healing in a new neighborhood, with a new best friend named Jim Jim, in Washington Heights, New York.

We headed down to the Archives in search of some Nikki Grimes titles, and here's what we found.

1997's Wild, Wild Hair, illustrated by George Ford. A Level 3 Scholastic Reader book. "A humorous story in rhyming couplets about a young girl who'd rather do almost anything rather than sit to get her hair braided. Of course, she loves it in the end."

1994's Meet Danitra Brown, illustrated by Floyd Cooper. A Coretta Scott King Honor Book for illustrations. "This story in verse was the first of many. Here, the dynamic friendship of Danitra Brown and Zuri Jackson takes shape." Note: Scholastic was not the original publisher of this title, but did sell it though Book Clubs. (Check out the Trumpet logo in the bottom left-hand corner on the cover.)

Last but most definitely not least: 2002's Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, illustrated by E. B. Lewis. A Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner and Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book. "A biography in verse, this multi-voiced story follows the life of the first African American female pilot, Bessie Coleman, who carved her own place in the history of aviation." The edition we found in the Archives was even autographed by the illustrator! Deimosa had no idea and laughed a bit when she saw it, since there was no indication that it was an autographed edition in the catalogue. You'll never know what you'll find the the Scholastic Archives!

Nikki Grimes has tons more books for readers of all ages, including poetry collections. Check out her website for a full bibliography!

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

One of Scholastic's first imprints was Four Winds Press. You can tell when you reach the collection of Four Winds Press books in our Archives when suddenly, all the books are hardcovers. Here's what 1979's Scholastic: A Publishing Adventure has to say about the founding of the imprint: 

A strong inducement to an author, especially and established author, is the prospect of getting a contract for royalties on both hardbound and paperback editions. On the initiative of John Spaulding and Morris Goldberger, the company organized a hardbound book publishing unit, naming it Four Winds Press (1965). With 11 titles published during its first year, Four Winds Press increased its list annual and by 1977 had 325 titles.

For this week's Throwback Thursday, I thought it would be interesting to show some of the titles published by Four Winds Press that you've probably never heard of. Here are two early reader books: 1978's Little John Bear in the Big City by Bernice Myers and 1984's Rabbit Seeds by Bijou Le Tord.

Little John Bear in the Big City

What does a bear do when his furry coat is worn off at the elbows and he has an important wedding to attend?

"I'm not going!" says Little John Bear.

Mama Bear tries to hide the worn spots but it only makes things worse.

Then Little John Bears remembers that his friend Herman has a fur coat and decides to ask if he can borrow it. But Herman lives in the big city, and Little John Bear has never been to the city before.

Rabbit Seeds

The gardener plans, digs, tills, rakes, sows, labels, waters, weeds, watches, and finally harvests his produce for market. Then putting away his tools, he leaves his garden to be cared for by the autumn leaves and winter sun.

I noticed while going through the shelves that there were a lot of teen mysteries published by the imprint. Here are two that stood out to me: 1978's Mystery at Fire Island by Hope Campbell/illustrated by Leigh Grant and 1981's Angie's First Case by Donald J. Sobol/illustrated by Gail Owens. (Does that name look familiar? You may remember Donald J. Sobol as the author of the popular Encylopedia Brown series!)

Mystery at Fire Island

Kirkus Reviews: It is, it is! Down at the dock he was in a disguise! We've got a mystery,"" whoops Dash's younger brother JC when the two children notice that Dan Alexander, the blond surfer in the house next door, is the same man as Jason Herrick, the dark, bearded ""lawyer"" they'd met earlier on the dock. It's a matter of posture and elbows, which only JC, who mimics people, and talented cartoonist Dash are likely to pick up on. That settled, they do more snooping and sketching. The surfer sneaks in and out at night with a fake scuba tank; his Herrick disguise turns up in flitty Mrs. Guizot's spare closet', and the children are investigating his house when he catches them, ties them up. . . and is stopped just short of doing worse by their teenage sister bursting in, feet and fists flying, and knocking him out. It's a tame but likable adventure, with the suspicious behavior exposed at last as a smuggling operation, involving the theft of Mrs. Guizot's artist-father's paintings from a French museum whose possession of them she resents. Campbell makes good use of the Fire Island setting and communicates something of JC's delight in a mystery, so that addicts attracted by the title won't be disappointed.

Angie's First Case 

Twelve-year-old Angie, while tracking a gang of teenage thieves to help her sister who is a police officer, becomes dangerously involved with counterfeiters.

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

It's the first Throwback Thursday post of the year! With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day happening this Monday, our librarian Deimosa suggested we look for articles about him in the back issues of our classroom magazine.

As you may have read on this blog earlier this summer, the Scholastic Archives (the place we go to find all these vintage books and articles) are currently under renovation. Over the holiday break, all of our older magazines and titles were moved from their original shelving, and so far, the entire vintage classroom magazine collection has been placed on new, more condensed shelves! (Same amount of materials, less space!)

After moving a bunch of boxes to access to the card catologue, here's what we found in some issues of Junior Scholastic from 1964, 1968, and 1972.

October 28, 1964 (Click the date to see the original cover!) - This article is all about Martin Luther King, Jr. winning the Nobel Peace Prize; click to enlarge.

September 13, 1968 - This issue of the magazine has coverage of James Earl Ray's arrest, and the "Poor People's Campaign" which has been planned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. before his death.

March 20, 1972 - This is a review of the Academy Award-nominated documentary from 1970, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis which was airing on TV after a "one-time-only" theater screening.

And if you're looking for ways to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. in your classroom, yesterday we posted a collection of teaching resources.

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

The holidays are here! Hanukkah begins Saturday night, Christmas is this Sunday, and Kwanzaa begins Monday night. I am *so ready* to celebrate; what about you?

I know some of us have specific books we like to read this time of year, and there are some classic stories that are completely synonymous with the holidays ... which is why I ventured down to the Archives with our librarian Deimosa to find some not-so familiar holiday books!

First, we found The Hanukkah Book. Written by Marilyn Burns and illustrated by Martha Weston in 1981, this is a hardcover from Four Winds Press about all things Hanukkah. It includes the story behind the holiday, how to make a dreidel, how to light the menorah, and sheet music so you can sing Hanukkah songs! (I also love the short section in the introduction called "Don't Put Hanukkah in a Spelling Bee" which talks about – you guessed it – why there are so many spelling variations of the word!)

Next, we found The Christmas Dolls. Written by Carol Beach York and illustrated by Victoria de Larrea in  1967, this fictional story is about two dolls – Florabelle, a plain rag doll with no shoes and Lily, a beautiful doll with no shoes and a backwards head (!!!) – who meet in an orphanage. Set aside on Christmas instead of being wrapped as gifts, they are found by little Tatty who can speak to dolls! She then sets out on a mission to fix them up so they don't get thrown away.

And finally, we found The Seven Days of Kwanzaa, by Angela Shelf Medearis. This book is from 1994 and is very similar to The Hanukkah Book – it has chapters about the story of Kwanzaa, Karamu foods to prepare, Zawadi gifts to make, and a glossary of Swahili terms. (P.S. Deimosa recently put together a post on this blog all about the seven principles of Kwanzaa, and books to pair with each principle!)

Happy holidays, everyone!

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

It's December! When I think of December, I think of the holidays and snowy winter scenes... even though it usually starts to snow here at Scholastic HQ in New York City in January. In fact, the weather has been pretty mild here... no hats or scarves needed!  

Luckily, for this edition of Throwback Thursday, I found a bunch of winter-themed titles where the characters need their snowboots! Let's take a look.

The Iceburg Hermit, by Arthur Roth, 1974. Fun fact: This was published by the Scholastic imprint Four Winds Press, which no longer exists.

Snowball Express, by Joe Claro, 1980. Fun fact: This book by Claro is a novelization of the film with the same name ... and the film was based on the book Chateau Bon Vivant by Frankie and John O'Rear. (Phew!)

The Baby-sitters Club Super Special #7: Snowbound, by Ann M. Martin, 1991. Fun fact (and this fact isn't so much about the The Baby-sitters Club series rather than the former administrative procedures of the Scholastic Library): A good number of our books have these larger stickers place prominently over the cover art to ensure that they would get returned to the Library! For my Throwback Thursday purposes it evokes a little, "foiled again!" reaction. (In case you're curious, here's what Snowbound's cover looks like.)

The Winter Hero, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, 1978. Fun fact: Another Four Winds Press title, these authors also wrote My Brother Sam is Dead, a 1975 National Book Award winner. Here's a quick book summary: 

It’s 1787 and 14-year-old Justin Conkey is about to make up for the fact that he was too young to fight in the Revolution of 1776. Shay’s Rebellion is the new war, and he is determined to be part of it, even if he only has his father’s old sword for protection. He longs to be a hero, like his unpredictable, heroic brother-in-law, Peter McColloch, but Peter feels Justin isn’t old enough to fight. Finally, in a dramatic scene involving Justin’s sister, Molly, Peter allows Justin to join the regiment, although once Justin is actually on the battlefield fighting against Lincoln’s army, war is not at all what he expected. Everywhere he turns he faces danger and confusion, and his own growing fear.

Ski Racer, by Curtis W. Casewit, 1968. Fun fact: Another Four Winds Press title, the author bio on the back of this book negelected to mention that Casewit also wrote science fiction stories! Here's a quick book summary:

When his skis are stole just before the big race Bob almost panics, because the race may lead to the Olympics. Then his friend Sally comes to the rescue.

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

As of today, Thanksgiving is only two weeks away. When did that happen?

Some people like to get into the holiday spirit right after Halloween (I will admit to having already listened to Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You" at least once so far this month) but I really love Thanksgiving. My family does the same thing every year: we all gather at my parents' house and enjoy a big meal. My nanny's classic stuffing is always a big hit, and we have at least four different kinds of pie. (I find comfort food comforting, who knew?)

So for this edition of Throwback Thursday, I decided to find some old Thanksgiving-themed titles. Our Archives are currently going through a big cataloguing and renovation project so lots of shelves were out reach. But, thanks to Deimosa, Scholastic's trusty librarian, I was able to find a few rare and a few classic titles.

To find something really vintage, Deimosa suggested we check the card catalogue to browse the classroom magazines from the 1930s. In an issue from November 1939, we found an article about the year there were two Thanksgivings: one on the 23rd, and one on the 30th. Back then, Thanksgiving was usually the last Thursday of the month but in 1939 President Roosevelt decided to move it to the 23rd so it was farther away from Christmas (a criticism from businesses). Some people were upset, and this led to the 48 states each celebrating on different days. Check out some of the coverage we had of this event, including a humorous interview with one Mr. T. U. Rkey.

Jumping ahead a bit, we then found this book from 1969 by Ann McGovern, ...If You Sailed on the Mayflower. This book features questions and answers about the Pilgrims' experience traveling to and arriving in the New World, and it includes questions about the first Thanksgiving.

Then, we found a very interesting title: a Blue Ribbon book from 1974 called Over The River and Through the Wood. It jumped out at us because of the song, "Over the river and through the wood to grandfather's house we go," but according to this, that song is actually a classic Thanksgiving poem! Not knowing that there were any classic Thanksgiving poems, this was a surprise to both me and Deimosa. It was written by Lydia Marie Child in 1844.

The illustrations in the book are a mix beautiful black/white and color winter scenes by Brinton Turkle that macth up with the actions in the poem. It also features a page of sheet music so you can play the traditional poem on an instrument.

And finally ... no holiday-themed #tbt post would be complete without a appearance by Norman Bridwell's Clifford the Big Red Dog! Clifford's Thanksgiving Visit was published in 1993 and features Clifford traveling to the big city to spend Thanksgiving with his mom. The story is charming, and I especially enjoyed the page where Clifford runs into his float in the Macy's Thanksgivign Day Parade!

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it's my favorite holiday to experience here at Scholastic. With all of our creepy titles from classic authors like R.L. Stine or new authors like Dan Poblocki, there are plently of scares to go around. (Last year a co-worker of mine once came back to his desk after a quick trip to the kitchen to find Slappy the Dummy sitting on his chair; true story.)

So for this week's Throwback Thursday, I decided to see what scary books we published before Goosebumps mania started in the early 1990s.

The first book we found in the Archives was 1973's The Attic Witch by Sonia  O. Lisker – a picture book about a little girl who discovers a "magic" broom in her attic and ends up in a magical land full of witches who take her on an excitng adventure. Although perfect for Halloween, this title is more fun than scary.

Next we spotted a very familiar face: Norman Bridwell's Clifford the Big Red Dog! Clifford's Halloween was published in 1966 and features Clifford and Emily Elizabeth dressing up in Halloween costumes, celebrating at a party with friends, and trick-or-treating. Again, not a scary title, but a great Halloween-themed book to get little ones excited for the holiday.

Both The Attic Witch and Clifford's Halloween were published by the Scholastic imprint Four Winds Press; they published hardcover versions of books.

Now we're getting into the REALLY creepy stuff! The titles of these two books shouted out at us from their spines: 1977's Tales for the Midnight Hour and 1978's Where Monsters Walk. Collectively they contain 30 short stories "guaranteed to keep you awake and shivering with anticipation." Here some of the titles of the short stories in these books:

• The Black Velvet Ribbon
• The Jigsaw Puzzle
• What's-His-Face?
• Only Devils Have Horns
• Helen, Don't You Haunt Me

Then we found a collection of short horror stories featuring popular authors like Daphne du Maurier and Roald Dahl, and a book released in conjunction with the Ripley's Believe It Or Not franchise: 1963's Stories of Suspense, and 1968's Ghost Stories and Plays. These short stories were licensed from other publishers, but the books were put out by us.

And last but certainly not least, we found this thin activity book from 1977 called The Dark House. Inside were tear-apart cards featuring the cover art and spooky classroom activities.

Special thanks to Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!