Blogger Public Awareness Committee

Treasures Unlocked with LOC Digitized Children’s Books

| Public Awareness Committee
I Like Books. Children’s Book Council. C1962. (1)
Who’s celebrating the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week? The Library of Congress! They’ve launched a new collection: Children’s Book Selections that include seventy-one treasures.
The Baby’s Own Aesop, illustrated by Walter Crane. c1887 (2)

What will you find?

Classic and lesser-known works published in the United States and England before 1924. These historical and rare books span many generations and topics. Themes include learning to read, reading to learn and reading for fun. They are all available for you to read, share, and reuse how you like.

What to look for?

Highlights include examples from England’s golden age of book illustration. From Randolph Caldecott and Walter Crane, as well as works from American illustrators, like W. W. Denslow and Peter Newell. This delightful collection offers a record of the past. Books are available for download in multiple formats.

 

In Peter Newell’s The Rocket Book, rhyming text accompanies illustrations that incorporate holes in the center of each page. See what happens when a rocket goes off in the basement of an apartment building.
The Rocket Book by Peter Newell. c1912. (3)

What will you discover among the Children’s Book Selections?

This article addresses ALSC Core Competency 4.1: “Demonstrates knowledge, management, use and appreciation of children’s literature, multimodal materials, digital media, and other materials that contribute to a diverse, current, and relevant children’s collection.”

Jackie Cassidy, Assistant Manager of the Abingdon Branch of Harford County Public Library, contributed this article as a member of ALSC’s Public Awareness Committee.

1 (1962) I Like Books. , 1962. [New York: Childrens’ Book Council] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2014650122/.
2 Aesop, Crane, W., Elizabeth Robins Pennell Collection & Oliver Wendell Holmes Collection. (1887) The baby’s own Aesop: being the fables condensed in rhyme, with portable morals pictorially pointed. London ; New York: George Routledge & Sons. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/04017584/.
3 Newell, P. & Juvenile Collection. (1912) The Rocket Book. New York: Harper & Brothers. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/12023925/.

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