🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Don’t miss Aura Lewis’s fun and whimsical art throughout the pages. Her art elevates the book!
On the front and back cover, she gives clues to some of the children’s books #UrsulaNordstrom edited which are celebrated in the book. #abramsbooks
This is a picture of me! The author of BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU! I'm wearing a red sweater and a baby blue scarf and I'm holding a copy of my book! As you might expect, I'm grinning delightedly! The cover is the same cover for the audiobook, which is read by recording artist Barbara Rosenblat. She's terrific! It's out today, too.
🎈🎈🎈PUBLICATION DAY!🎈🎈🎈
Happy Book Birthday to BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU! I had so much fun researching this book and learning about #UrsulaNordstrom and the creative people she met and collaborated with. I hope you enjoy it. #nonfictionkidlit
#abramsbooks
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Author’s Note
Fitting for🎈PUBLICATION DAY!🎈Here, I tried to thank everyone, especially Rachel Orr, my agent, and Amy Novesky and Courtney Code, my editors. They all gave smart advice as well as an education in how to write for children. #abramsbooks 🎉🎉
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 20: Last Chapter
A summary of #UrsulaNordstrom’s awards and career highlights. Also, her relationships with Sendak and Mary, and a eulogy from Charlotte Zolotow, her one-time assistant, long-time colleague, author and friend. #abramsbooks
The cover looks like it could be the cover of a comic book. The title and the author's name are in the upper quarter of the book. Below is a drawing of Mickey, the protagonist, flying his plane made of dough, going from left to right into the night sky. He has a milk jug on his head. Below and also to the left are cityscape drawings, as well as a field of green beans in the lower left quadrant.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 19: In The Night Kitchen
Sendak drew squiggles for a penis on his toddler protagonist who fell out of his pj's in a dream. A librarian paints a diaper on him. #UrsulaNordstrom leads the fight against #censorship; still happening today. #abramsbooks
The cover has a white background. In the center is a young boy, who has jumped up and is reaching above his head for a basketball. The title is in light blue in an arc above the boy. The author's and illustrator's names are centered beneath the boy and are in black type. All borders have light blue and gold triangles, with their bases on the edge and coming to a point with a gold and light blue ball at the top.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 18: William’s Doll
#UrsulaNordstrom encourages Charlotte Zolotow to write for children. After many books, she writes this one. William wants a doll, but his father wants him to have manly toys. Another stereotype challenged. #abramsbooks
This cover is for a recent edition. The top two thirds are in a light peachy orange. On the upper right corner is the face of one boy, facing left. On the upper left corner, is the face of another boy, looking right. Between them is the title. The bottom third is a blue-gray. In a gold banner is printed 40th Anniversary Edition. Below it is the author's name.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 17: I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip
John Donovan’s MG/YA novel about a friendship between two 13-year-old boys includes a kiss between them—a first in 1969. #UrsulaNordstrom was proud to publish it. #abramsbooks
The cover of Stevie has a white background. Stevie is in large blue letters on the top and John Steptoe's name is in smaller letters on the bottom. They are both within the white border. The middle two thirds is one of John's paintings--of an older boy leaning against a car and the younger boy sitting on the ground against the car next to him on the left. Both boys are wearing blue jeans. The older boy has on a brown sweater with two horizontal yellow stripes across the chest and arms. The younger boy has on an orange-ish red long sleeve shirt. The car and the ground are painted in shades of green, yellow and blue. I wish I could describe it better so you would get a sense of how cool the painting is. It looks like 1969, the year the book was published.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 16: Stevie
#UrsulaNordstrom meets 16-year-old John Steptoe. She admires his paintings and encourages him to write for children. Stevie is written in the vernacular of his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood—a first in 1969. #abramsbooks
I think this is the original cover. The one published today has much more color. On this cover, the upper third has a light blue background. The title has Harriet in red letters, the in white letters and Spy in sunny yellow letters. The author’s name is below the title in royal blue and a much smaller font. The bottom two thirds has a white background. Harriet is walking on a city street. She’s centered, walking on the sidewalk facing left. She’s wearing a red hoodie, blue jeans and black shoes. She’s carrying her notebook under her arm and a flashlight hangs from her belt. Behind her is a pen and ink drawing of stores fronting the sidewalk.
BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 15 Harriet the Spy
#UrsulaNordstrom and Charlotte Zolotow help Louise Fitzhugh flesh out her ideas for her #MG novel. Harriet breaks the mold of stories about precious girls and Ursula takes to the telephone to promote the book. #abramsbooks
The cover of Where the Wild Things Are is divided horizontally. The upper quarter has a white background and the title is in gray capital letters. The lower quarter also has a white background and gray capital letters which say "Story and Pictures by Maurice Sendak. The middle half is a painting by Sendak. On the right, a large, gray Wild Thing sits on grass at the side of a body of water, facing left. He has white horns and claws for hands. His feet are human feet. His eyes are closed, his nose is large and snout-like and he perhaps has a small grin. Behind him is the body of water--a coastal strait, perhaps, and beyond that is land on the other side--grass and trees. On the left hand side is a sailboat, whose hull is an orangey red and whose sails are yellow. This particular edition has a gold, embossed Caldecott Medal in the lower left hand corner of the art. The foreground trees are renditions of palms, though the fronds are a deeper red than the boat. The background trees are different kinds of trees.
BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 14: Where The Wild Things Are
#UrsulaNordstrom mentors Sendak for 12 years, culminating in the first #PB, he both writes and illustrates. He hits writer’s block. Ursula’s smart, perceptive question helps him finish the book. #abramsbooks 🧵1 of 2
The blue in the sky above Brooklyn is a rhapsody. As in the Gershwin tune—some tune—there is no rhapsody without elegy, and there is no elegy without rhapsody.
#sundaysentence #elegyinblue #markhelprin #abramsbooks
The original cover has a blonde girl in a blue coat and holding a suitcase stands in the middle of a group of girls in the foreground on the bottom half of the cover. She's wearing short white socks and brown Mary Jane-type choes. A brick schoolhouse is in the background in the upper third. The title and the author's name are in black type in the upper third. The illustrator's name is in white type, on the grass beneath the central girl's feet.
This is the 21st century paperback edition. The cover has two girls talking underneath a tree. The blonde girls is wearing a brown jacket and brown pants with white socks and black and white saddle shoes. It's unclear what the brunette girls is wearing, other than a white blouse with a Peter Pan collar. They are in the bottom third foreground. At the top is the author's name and under it, in the top one-third is the title, in larger typeface in light green. The illustrator's name is small and at the bottom.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 13: The Secret Language
#UrsulaNordstrom wrote an #MG novel about a girl at boarding school. She said it’s NOT autobiographical, only “just in some of the details.” A tantalizing thought. Ursula learns writing is harder than editing! #abramsbooks
Two rabbits are standing by the edge of a stream. The one on the left is black and the one of the right is white. The black bunny has picked yellow flowers and is placing them in the white bunny's fur around her head. They take up the bottom two-thirds of the cover. There are trees with light green leaves on either side of the bunnies, reaching into the sky. Above the bunnies, there is a white sky background with the title and author underneath it.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 12: The Rabbits’ Wedding
#UrsulaNordstrom edits Garth Williams’s first #PB, in which a black bunny marries a white bunny. Some people assert Williams’s book brainwashes 4-8 year-olds about interracial marriage. #abramsbooks #youcantmakethisstuffup
The 1956 cover is by Ronni Solbert. It has a light lemon yellow background. A tree to the left has branches with lime green leaves covering most of the top third, with the title in a black font and the author's and illustrator's names laid over it. The middle third is a boy leaning against the tree on the left, a wooden fence in yellow and brown in the middle, and an older girl taking a younger girl by the hand on the sidewalk. To the right of them are two boys playing stick ball. The lower third is two kids kneeling/squatting playing marbles.
This 2007 cover by fine artist Faith Ringgold has a background in shades of red. It's a drawing of a presumably Bronzeville house, a straight on focus of the facade. The house is brick red. The steps are a little lighter, and the sidewalk is even lighter. Two girls stand on the stoop looking out. A boy is climbing the stairs on the left. In front is a girl on the left, pushing a baby stroller. On the right is a tree. Between the baby stroller and the tree, in the middle is a boy running towards the left trying to catch a baseball with a glove outstretched. All wear brightly colored clothes of differing colors. On the facade of the house to the left are a mother and child looking out the window at the tableau below. All of the people are in shades of brown--because it's Bronzeville.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 11: Bronzeville Boys and Girls
#UrsulaNordstrom, who wrote poetry as a teenager, is thrilled to edit this book of poems by Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks, pub’d, 1956, reissued, 2007. Ursula urges her to write a YA novel. #abramsbooks
The cover is a brownish purple. The title is in large rose-colored type on the left side of the upper half. Below it is the author's name. Harold is in the lower right quadrant with a "purple" crayon in his hand. He has drawn squiggling lines in what Crayola called "ultraviolet" purple over much of the cover. He's wearing light blue "footie" one-piece pajamas.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 10: Harold and the Purple Crayon
#UrsulaNordstrom initially misses the creativity of Crockett Johnson’s manuscript and sets it on her Confused Table. Upon re-readings, realizes her mistake and buys it. #abramsbooks
The cover is a light lime green. The Title is in black letters at the top, followed by the subtitle. Underneath, and still in the upper third, is a drawing within a white circle by Maurice of two kids. Mid-cover are the author's and illustrator's names. The lower third is another, larger drawing by Maurice of a kid jumping rope and other kids (also a dog and a cat, watching. This drawing is within a larger, oblong, white circle.
BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #nonfictionkidlit
Ch. 9: A Hole Is To Dig
#UrsulaNordstrom is introduced to Maurice Sendak. When Ruth Krauss sends this manuscript, Ursula can’t find a prominent artist—then remembers Maurice. A brilliant pairing that brought Ursula joy! #abramsbooks
The cover is mustard-colored. The Carrot Seed is in bold red type, taking up much of the cover. To the right of Seed is a drawing of the main character, a boy dressed in a white shirt, brown overalls and brown cap, who is stooped over, planting a seed. The author's and illustrator's names are in brown type at the bottom.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU #kidlitnonfiction
Ch. 8: The Carrot Seed
#UrsulaNordstrom meets Ruth Krauss, and encourages her to write for children. Ruth writes about a boy who plants and tends a seed, knowing in his heart it will grow. Also, Ruth teaches Ursula about Women’s Lib. #abramsbooks
The cover has a light blue sky in the upper half. Charlotte's Web is written in blue-green letters, all joined by a spider's web. Hanging down from the C in Charlotte is a spider on a thread. In the lower half is a young girl in a[ponytail, wearing a red top. She's facing left, towards the spider, holding a pig under her left arm. A sheep looks on on the left. A goose looks on on the right. She's leaning on a wooden fence, on which the author's name is printed in red and Garth Williams's in black.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
Ch. 7: Charlotte’s Web
The story behind the story. White decides to write about a spider; many drafts and “ripening time” later, he takes it to #UrsulaNordstrom; they collaborate with Garth Williams.
And what a result! #nonfictionkidlit #abramsbooks
The cover has a light blue background tinge. Centered in the upper third is the title and underneath is the author. The illustrators name is centered in the lower one-sixth. In the middle is Stuart, dressed in a red shirt and yellow shorts. He's steering a canoe down a stream. There are various green plants in circled around the canoe, but Stuart and the canoe are center stage.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
Ch. 6: Stuart Little
#UrsulaNordstrom is honored to receive E. B. White’s first children’s book manuscript. Searching for the perfect artist, they agree on Garth Williams. The book is an instant bestseller. #nonfictionkidlit #abramsbooks
The cover is in a bright green showing one of the walls of the great green room. From left to right, there is a green with red striped curtain partially covering a three paned window with red molding and a view of the moon and stars in a blue background. The right upper corner has a painting of the cow jumping over the moon hanging over a fireplace with a fire. Goodnight Moon is in all caps in yellow letters in the upper one third of the cover. In the lower third are the author's and illustrator's names in a yellow, much smaller font.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
Ch. 5: Goodnight Moon
#UrsulaNordstrom edits Goodnight Moon. It is NOT an overnight success. She works with Margaret on additional manuscripts, accepting some, rejecting some. And, Ursula meets the love of her life. #nonfictionkidtlit #abramsbooks
The cover of the Runaway Bunny has drawings of a mother bunny and her baby bunny in the lower left quadrant. The author's and illustrators names are in black ink in the lower right quadrant. They are in the same field as the bunnies, a field of light green grass and flowers. The top half of the cover is in sky blue and the title is in white letters, filling up the top half.
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
Ch. 4 The Runaway Bunny
#UrsulaNordstrom begins a life-long friendship with Margaret Wise Brown, edits The Runaway Bunny, and learns about lyrical picture books from Margaret. #nonfictionkidlit #abramsbooks
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
Ch. 3: The Tot Department.
#UrsulaNordstrom meets cool, creative people, starts learning how to be an editor, begins to fashion her unique, breezy style and types the first of 100,000 (sic) editorial and business letters. #nonfictionkidlit #abramsbooks
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
Ch. 2: Ursula Finds Her Passion.
#UrsulaNordstrom takes an entry-level job at Harper & Brothers, publishers. Ultimately, she transfers to the Department for Boys and Girls—and finds her passion: publishing books for children. #nonfictionkidlit #abramsbooks
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, Ch. 1: First Chapter.
#UrsulaNordstrom is born to show biz parents. She sees them act on Broadway. Life is sweet; then, they divorce. At 16, the L.A. Times publishes her poem. She leaves high school before graduating. #nonfictionkidlit #abramsbooks
🎈BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU. Introduction.
#UrsulaNordstrom wants to publish books that are "fresh, original and honest," because “Anything else is not good enough for a child." Thus, the title. Anne Carroll Moore challenges her credentials and Ursula stands up to her. #nonfictionkidlit #abramsbooks
The Art of The Mandalorian and Grogu is now available for preorder on Amazon >>> amzn.to/4u0Ksyr #lucasfilm #abramsbooks #starwars #themandalorianandgrogu #amazon #affiliate
DRAGON WORLD - A POP-UP GUIDE TO THESE SCALED BEASTS (2007), paper engineer Keith Moseley. Front cover.
A Movable Book a Week: DRAGON WORLD - A POP-UP GUIDE TO THESE SCALED BEASTS (2007), paper engineer Keith Moseley.
#movableaweekin2026 #movablebooks #popupbooks #paperengineering #keithmoseley #milivojceran #skipskwarek #dragon #dragons #harrynabrams #abramsbooks #booksky
Check out my review of Worst-Case Scenario by Ray Stoeve @duncansbooks.bsky.social #abramsbooks #raystoeve #Worst-Casescenario #youngadult #lgbtqia #romance #mentalhealth #friendship #bookreview
www.duncansbooksandmore.com/worst-case-s...
X-Men ‘97 Pop Up, Play, and Display!
This cute board book is a fun way to help the littlest X-fans learn about the heroic mutants
Featuring art by #TimLevins & #AmeliaVidal
@xmentas.bsky.social
#wolverine #rogue #gambit #cyclops #jeangrey #storm #beast #jubilee #x-men #abramsbooks
#ABRAMSBooks recently provided the Superman Super Site with a review copy of #Superman: The Art and Making of the Film, a volume that blends striking visuals with an engaging, well-crafted production narrative.
Read our full review here:
www.supermansupersite.com/A_Definitive...
❤️💛💙
