Upon publication, Anita Silvey’s comprehensive survey of contemporary children’s literature, Children’s Books and Their Creators, garnered unanimous praise from librarians, educators, and specialists interested in the world of writing for children. Now The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators assembles the best of that volume in one handy, affordable reference, geared specifically to parents, educators, and students. This new volume introduces readers to the wealth of children’s literature by focusing on the essentials — the best books for children, the ones that inform, impress, and, most important, excite young readers. Updated to include newcomers such as J. K. Rowling and Lemony Snicket and to cover the very latest on publishing and educational trends, this edition features more than 475 entries on the best-loved children’s authors and illustrators, numerous essays on social and historical issues, thirty personal glimpses into craft by well-known writers, illustrators, and critics, and invaluable reading lists by category. The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators summarizes the canon of contemporary children’s literature, in a practical guide essential for anyone choosing a book for or working with children. Former longtime Horn Book editor Silvey returns to the subject of notable children's authors with a revision of her 1995 Children's Books and Their Creators. Like its acclaimed predecessor, this guide offers brief but meaty articles on authors, overviews of genres and historical issues, and a smattering of essays by authors on their own writing. A reading list by age and category is an added bonus. Although Silvey previously sought to create a single-volume reference on important authors, here she targets students, parents, and teachers with a slimmer volume of selected entries focusing on contemporary authors. She has thus added 100 new articles to bring the book up to date with figures like J.K. Rowling and Lemony Snicket. But while the original work featured over 800 authors and topics representing classic children's literature, the updated version retains only 375 of the older work's entries. This poses a difficulty for libraries, which will want to acquire this volume for the necessary updates but also retain the prior volume for the 400-plus entries not replicated here. Recommended for most reference collections as a supplement to Silvey's earlier work, although, for those who can afford it, the The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature offers broader coverage in one volume. Kelli Perkins, Herrick Dist. Lib., Holland, MI Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. "The Essential Guide is a must for parents who hope to instill a love of literaure in their kids." Bookpage "Anita Silvey helps parents steer children to the "rarest kind of best" in books..." Pittsburg Post Gazette "The best entries from [Children's Books and Their Creators] for the accessible and informative The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators." Orlando Sentinel "Brief but meaty articles on authors, overviews of genres and historical issues, and a smattering of essays by authors on their own writing." Library Journal — Anita Silvey has spent more than thirty years in the children's book field, including eleven years as editor-in-chief at the Horn Book Magazine. She is the editor of Children’s Books and Their Creators and the author of 100 Best Books for Children and  The Book-a-Day Almanac . Introduction Only the rarest kind of best in anything is good enough for the young.” Walter de la Mare Life is a banquetand most of us starve. This adage applies particularly to readers of children’s books. Despite the wealth, the complexity, and the beauty of children’s books, so few people have the time, or the resources, to experience the full richness offered. The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators brings the banquet to everyone. For more than thirty years, first as editor of Horn Book Magazine, then as a publisher of children’s books, I have lectured extensively in the United States and Canada about our most important children’s books. Often when seeking basic information, I found myself searching through a dozen reference volumes. Gradually I formed an image of the reference book on children’s literature that I frequently reached for but could not find. Such a book, I believed, would concentrate on the literature created for American children over the past fifty years, treat its subjects broadly, offer thoughtful evaluations, contain a wide range of critical perspectives, and allow children’s book authors and artists to speak for themselves. With these objectives in mind, I conceived Children’s Books and Their Creators, published in 1995. After using Children’s Books and Their Creators for a few years, I became aware of certain limitations. Because of the size of the volume, I could not adopt it for my college courses. Although extensi