When Little Golden Books were first published in 1942 by Random House, when high-quality books for children hadn’t been available at a price most people could afford. Little Golden Books changed that! Priced at just 25 cents and sold where people shopped every day, they caused an instant sensation and were soon purchased by the hundreds of thousands. Created by such talented writers as Margaret Wise Brown (author of Goodnight Moon) and Richard Scarry, Little Golden Books have helped millions of children develop a lifelong love of reading.
Dick and Jane are the two main characters created by Zerna Sharp for a series of basal readers written by William S. Gray to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the Elson-Gray Readers in 1930 and continued in a subsequent series of books through the final version in 1965. These readers were used in classrooms in the United States and in other English-speaking countries for nearly four decades, reaching the height of their popularity in the 1950s, when 80 percent of first-grade students in the United States used them.
Zerna Addis Sharp (August 12, 1889 – June 17, 1981)
Central Pacific and Union Pacific Rail Roads meet in Promontory, UT. on this day in 1869. A golden spike was driven in the rail during the celebration of the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S.
The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany on this day in 1933. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or representing ideologies opposed to Nazism.
On this day in 1941, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission.
Allied military and locals pose with the remains of Rudolph Hess’ Messerschmitt ME-110 after it crash-landed near the Scottish village of Eaglesham.
Author A.A. Milne is most famous for his Winnie The Pooh book about a boy named Christopher Robin after his son, Christopher Robin Milne, and various characters inspired by his son’s stuffed animals, most notably the bear named Winnie-the-Pooh.
Alan Alexander Milne with his son Christopher Robin Milne and his stuffed animal named Winnie-the-Pooh.
