Good books for bad children The genius of Ursula Nordstrom

Dedicating her tale to the sort of children who "dare to love" books, Kephart celebrates the life and achievements of a renowned editor who shepherded game-changing classics, from Goodnight Moon to Where the Wild Things Are, and John Steptoe's Stevie into the hands of readers. Nordstrom's values ("Children want to feel seen") and her forceful personality ("Not good enough for you," she would note on a manuscript) both come through clearly as the author sketches out "years upon years of an interesting life, a meaningful, bold, and brave life," from childhood and schooling to retirement (with Mary Griffith, "the woman she loved"), and then closes with a more personal tribute to her "ferociously engaged" relations with authors and illustrators. Her legacy is vividly illuminated in Bristol's scenes of a self-confident figure with a strong, direct gaze greeting a tentative E. B. White here, shooting off letters to Margaret Wise Brown and Crockett Johnson there, or more fancifully drifting on a boat with young Maurice Sendak past the land of the Wild Things or kicking through symbolic autumn leaves, at the end, beneath a swirl of instantly familiar covers: Harriet the Spy, Little Bear, Harry the Dirty Dog, and others. What was the secret of her success? "I am a former child, and I haven't forgotten a thing."

Having cultivated a love of what she called "good books for bad children," editor and publisher Ursula Nordstrom (1910--1988) championed many well-loved American children's classics. When asked how an adult who didn't work with children could make books for them, she replied, "I am a former child, and I haven't forgotten a thing." Fittingly, Kephart (Beautiful Useful Things) begins with Nordstrom's own childhood as the lone child of divorced performers, later zeroing in on her understanding of the need to make books for children who "feel different... are lonely... have secrets." As a young office assistant, a friendship forged in the Harper & Brothers cafeteria led to a career shepherding memorable creators--the book spotlights Crockett Johnson, Ruth Krauss, Maurice Sendak, John Steptoe, and E.B. White, among others--and helping to shape their works. Scenes of well-known classics in process ("It does need pulling together," Nordstrom tells Margaret Wise Brown about a draft of The Runaway Bunny) are a special charm of this picture book biography, illuminated by Bristol (Nonsense!) with angular portraits and embellished with thoughtful details, including Nordstrom's typewritten letters. It's a lively look at a dynamic personality credited with transforming children's literature. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Karen Grencik, Red Fox Literary. (Sept.)

Gr 2--5--Kephart writes worshipfully of Ursula Nordstrom, an only child whose parents divorced when she was quite young. Nordstrom was a quiet, imaginative reader who ended up at boarding school (an experience she recreated in The Secret Language). Afterwards, she was too poor for college and went to work at a publishing house. Upon transferring into the department for young readers, she was eventually promoted to run the place. Bristol's stylized, almost Gothic portraits of Nordstrom amplify the lingering melancholy of Kephart's telling; included are reports of Nordstrom's laughter and pleasure in the many books that so delighted child after child, but the general mood is one of a solitary soldier, bringing out the best in her troops, demanding, yelling, insisting, coaching, and working long into the night to do it. For educators and other adults reading along, there will be the game of picking out familiar book covers, writers, illustrators, and names that appear in these pages; Nordstrom had true reach and a lasting impact on the field in books that are in print today. Her retirement to the country with her partner Mary Griffith is noted; an author's note and resources follow. VERDICT 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.--Kimberly Olson Fakih

"Ursula Nordstrom was a grown-up who never forgot what it was to be a child." Kephart's picture-book biography of legendary Harper editor Nordstrom (1910-1988) -- who published so many classics of mid-twentieth-century children's literature -- captures her passion for her work, her close relationships with writers and artists, her eagerness to discover new talent, her affinity for child readers. The book begins with Nordstrom's rather solitary and fraught childhood (her parents often fought, then divorced) before moving on to her adult life (rising through the ranks to become head of Harper's children's division). Kephart hits her stride when describing Nordstrom as an editor, backing up every general statement with an example and often a quote. She liberally sprinkles the text with Nordstrom's own words ("'Answer that!' she'd yell at her assistant when the phone would ring. 'That could be the next Mark Twain'"), treating readers to her distinct voice and personality and lending the text unusual immediacy. Bristol's illustrations nicely establish time and place and include appearances by some of the stellar creators Nordstrom nurtured, including E. B. White, Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, and John Steptoe. Leaving aside the question of what Nordstrom might have thought about the child appeal of a picture-book biography about a book editor (however groundbreaking and remarkable), this is an excellent encapsulation of a seminal figure in children's books. An author's note and bibliography are appended. Martha V. ParravanoSeptember/October 2023 p.97 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An introduction to Ursula Nordstrom, the groundbreaking 20th-century children's editor at Harper. Deriving its title from a Nordstrom aphorism epitomizing her game-changing role in children's literature, this biography showcases the editor's upbringing, apprenticeship, and extraordinary partnerships with classic kid-lit creators. Nordstrom spends most of her youth in boarding schools after her parents' divorce. After five years clerking in Harper's textbook division, she becomes assistant to Ida Louise Raymond, the children's department editor, succeeding her after she retires. Nordstrom refers to her creative colleagues as "her geniuses," and her own editorial genius proves seismic, transforming children's literature from stodgy obedience manuals to works of imaginative power, centering children as both readers and characters. Kephart highlights Nordstrom's work with Maurice Sendak, Margaret Wise Brown, a teenage John Steptoe, and others: "She knew what to ask her writers and artists / and how best to listen-- / …and encourage their most fabulous stories." Touching on her subject's queer identity, Kephart characterizes Nordstrom at boarding school as "a girl who laughed, / but who could also feel alone, / and different." Retiring to Connecticut, Nordstrom "lived with Mary Griffith, / the woman she loved." Bristol's illustrations--in warm browns leavened with cool pastels--depict midcentury details and varied skin tones and interpolate characters like Sendak's Wild Things and Crockett Johnson's Harold. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A welcome, behind-the-scenes look at one of modern children's literature's most glorious forces. (author's note, sources) (Picture-book biography. 7-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.