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Books from the 1940s
(Sorted by copyright date of Illustrations. Click on image to see sample pages)

*** Caldecott Winner                * Caldecott Honor

 

1940

 

*April's Kittens
by Claire Turlay Newberry

c. 1940
Harper & Brother 
Publishers

 

 

Lentil
by Robert McCloskey
First Book by this 
Two-time Caldecott 
Winner and legendary
Author/Illustrator

c.1940
The Viking Press
Book Club Edition

 

Country Noisy Book
by Margaret Wise Brown
 with  illustrations 
by Leonard Weisgard

c. 1940
Harper & Row
Edition uncertain, 
no further dates/
printings listed

David's
Silver dollar
by Elizabeth B. Squires
Illustrated by
Margot Austin

c. 1940
The Platt & Munk Co., Inc.


The Thirsty Pony
Story and Pictures
 by Paul Laune

c.1940
Grosset & Dunlap
First Edition

 

 

Caps for Sale
A Tale of a Peddler, 
Some Monkeys,
and their Monkey Business
Story and Pictures
 by Esphyr Slobodkina

c. 1940
Addison-Wesley Publishing
(1973 Scholastic paperback)

 

Seven 
Diving Ducks
by Margaret Friskey
Pictures by Jean Morey

c. 1940
David McKay Company


 Horton Hatches
 the Egg
 by Dr Seuss

c. 1940
Random House


 

 Mother Goose
 Illustrated by Tenggren

c, 1940
Little Brown & Co
First Edition

 

 

 


The Tale of Tombo
by Ada Harrison
Pictures by Robert Austin
One of the "Tally-Ho"
 books for children

c. 1940
J. Fairston

 

 Peter and the Wolf
 by Serge Profieff
Illustrated by Warren Chappell

c. 1940
Alfred A. Knopf

 

 

Nursery Tales
168 Colored Illustrations

c. 1940
Illustrator and 
Publisher unknown
12 pages, 
total of 14 stories. 

 

Brownie and 
His Friends

by Gates and Karabin

c. 1940
The Macmillan Company
1959 printing

 

 

1941

 
 

*** Make Way for Ducklings
by Robert McCloskey
First Caldecott Winner 
by the author/Illustrator
**January1, 2003**
Proclaimed the Official Massachusetts State Book

c. 1941
The Viking Press
1972 paperback edition

 

* In My Mother's House
by Ann Nolan Clark
Illustrated
by Velino Herrera

c. 1941
The Viking Press
Ninth Printing
March 1960


 

*Paddle to the Sea
Written and Illustrated
 by Holling Clancy Holling

1941
Houghton Mifflin Co.
First Edition

 


 

* Nothing At All
by Wanda Gag

c.1941
Coward, McCann& 
Geoghegan, Inc.
Seventeenth Impression
Further Links about Author:
Biography
Wanda Gag House


 

Curious George
by H.A. Rey

c. 1941 
Houghton Mifflin Co.
1971 Scholastic 
paperback edition

 

 

 

Farm Friends
by Diana Thorne

c. 1941
Whitman Publishing

 

 

Bedtime Stories
by Variable Authors
No Illustrator noted

c. 1941
The Saafield Publishing Co.

 

 

Stories of the 
Three Little Kittens
No illustrator noted

c. 1941
Samuel Lowe Company


Alphabet Book

c. 1941
Samuel Lowe Company

 

 

Mother Goose
The Complete Book of 
Nursery Rhymes

Illustrated by Dorothea J. Snow

c. 1941
Whitman Publishing
First Edition

 

 

Down by the Sea
by Mary Coplan, Chrystie
 Stokes, and Lillian Moore

c. 1941
Lyons and Carhahan
First Edition

Little Chicken
by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by
 Leonard Weisgard

c. 1941
Harper & Row

Walt Disney's 
Bambi

c. 1941
Grosset & Dunlap

Flip
Story and Pictures 
by Wesley Dennis

1941
Viking Press
1977 Puffin 
paperback edition

1942

 

***The Little House
Story and Pictures 
by Virginia Lee Burton

c. 1942
Houghton Mifflin Co.

 

The Runaway
 Bunny
by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by Clement Hurd

c. 1942
Harper & Row

 

Geraldine Belinda
by Marguerite Henry
Illustrations by 
Gladys Rourke Blackwood

c. 1942
The Platt & Munk Co.

 

The Indoor 
Noisy Book
by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures
 by Leonard Wisegard

c. 1942
Harper & Row

 

Cecily G. and the
 9 Monkeys
by H. A. Rey

c. 1942
Houghton Mifflin Co.
renewed 1969

 


Crybaby Calf
by Helen & Alf Evers

c. 1942
Rand McNally

 

 

 

 

The Little Farm
by Lois Lenski
(
One of three of the Mr. Small
picture books included in
Big Book of Mr. Small. 
See also: Cowboy Small, 1949
and Policeman Small, 1962
)

c. 1942
Henry Z, Walck, Inc./
David McKay Co., Inc.

 

The Little Red
Lighthouse and the 
Great Gray Bridge
by Hildegarde H. Swift 
and Lynd Ward

c. 1942
Harcourt, Brace &
 World


The Man Who
Lost His Head
Story by 
Claire Huchet Bishop
Pictures by Robert McCloskey

c. 1942
The Viking Press

 

 

The Elephant's Child
by Rudyard Kipling
Illustrated by F. Rojankovsky

c. 1942
Garden City Publishing Co.
One of the "Just So Stories" Series
Junior Literary Guild Award

Sleepy Time Stories
Illustrated by Hilda Frommholz

Story Illustrations 
c. 1942, 1943, 1944
Book c. 1945 Whitman Publishing

 

 

A Child's Garden
 of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Illustrated by GeorgeTrimmer

c. 1942
Merrill Publishing CO.
First paperback edition

Tree in the Trail
Written and Illustrated
 by Holling Clancy Holling

1942
Houghton Mifflin Co.
First Edition

 

1943



*** Many Moons
by James Thurber
Illustrated 
by Louis Slobodkin

c.1943 by James Thurber
c. 1971 by Helen Thurber
Harcourt, Brace, & 
World

 

*Small Rain
Verses From the Bible
Chosen by
Jessie Orton Jones
Illustrated by
Elizabeth Orton Jones

c. 1943
Viking Press
4th printing
September 1944

 

The Peddler's Clock
by Mabel Leigh Hunt
Pictures by Elizabeth Orton Jones

c. 1943
Grosset and Dunlap
(A Story Parade 
Picture Book, c. 1936)

 

 

Katy and the 
Big Snow
Story and Pictures
by Virgina Lee Burton 

c.1943
Houghton Mifflin Co.
Edition uncertain, 
no further dates/
printings listed

 



Come Play With 
Corally Crothers
by Romney Gay

c. 1943
Grosset & Dunlap


Mother Goose
 Rhymes
No stated Illustrator

c. 1943
Saalfield Publisher


Bow Wow and 
Mew Mew
No stated author/ illustrator

c. 1943
The Platt & Munk Co., Inc.

 

Animal Pictures 
and Rhymes
no illustrator stated

c. 1943
Merrill Publishing Co.
"Beautiful Books for Children"

 

Animal Pets
No stated author/illustrator

c. 1943
The Platt & Munk Co., Inc.


In Animal Town
No stated author/ illustrator

c. 1943
The Platt & Munk Co., Inc.


Feathered Friends
No stated author/illustrator

c. 1943
The Platt & Munk Co., Inc.


Things That Go
No stated author/illustrator

c. 1943
The Platt & Munk Co., Inc.


The Toy Shop
Illustrations by
 A. F. Lancaster

c. 1943
McLoughlin Brothers, Inc.

 

Tell Me About Jesus
by Mary Alice Jones
Illustrated by Pelagie Doane

c. 1943
Rand McNally & Co.

 

Everyday Birds
by Gertrude Allen

c. 1943
Houghton Mifflin Co.

 

Three Gay Tales
from Grimm

Translated and 
Illustrated by 
Wanda Gag

c. 1943
Coward-McCann

                                                          

1944

 

***Prayer for a Child
by Rachel Field
Pictures by 
Elizabeth Orton Jones

c. 1944

 

*Yonie Wondernose
by Marguerite DeAngeli

c. 1944
Doubleday

 

 

*In the Forest
Story and Pictures
by Marie Hall Ets

c. 1944
Viking Press


Little Red 
Riding Hood
Animated by Julian Wehr

c. 1944
Duenewald Prnting Corp.

 

The Horse Who
 Lived Upstairs
by Phyllis McGinley
Illustrated by Helen Stone

c. 1944
J. B. Lippincott Co.




Hansel and Gretel
Animated by Julian Wehr

c. 1944
Duenewald Prnting Corp./
Grosset and Dunlap

 

 

Katy No-Pockets
Story by Emmy Payne
Pictures by H. A. Rey

c. 1944
Houghton Mifflin

 

 

The Great Quillow
by James Thurber
Illustrated by Doris Lee

c. 1944
Harcourt Brace 
Jovanovich
1975 paperback edition

 

American
Alphabet
in Rhyme and Song
Words and Music 
by Gladys Shelley

c. 1944
Musicomics Publishers, Inc.

 


Fuzzy Wuzzy 
Bunny

by Pat Sanchez

c. 1944
Whitman Publishing Co.
1st edition, paperback

 

Pretzel
by Margret Rey
With Pictures 
by H. A. Rey

c. 1944
Harper & Row, Pub.
1970 Scholastic 
paperback edition

Magic Michael
by Louis Slobodkin

c.1944
Macmillan 
Publishing Co., Inc.
1973 paperback edition


Mother Goose
Illustrations 
by Francis Kirn

c. 1944
Whitman Publishing

 

 

1945



*The Rooster
Grows
A Book of American Rhymes
 and Jingles
By Maud and Miska Petersham

c. 1945
Macmillan Publishing

 

The Carrot Seed
Story by Ruth Krauss
Pictures by 
Crockett Johnson

c. 1945
Harper & Row

 

 

Fuzzy Wuzzy 
Ducklings

by Louise Rowe

c.1945
Whitman Publishing Co.
1st edition,  paperback

 

cancan
story/pictures 
by Fritz Willis

c. 1945
The Mistletoe Press
The Marcel Rodd Co.
 First edition

 

Chimpsey at Play
Text by Ruth A. Roche
Illustrated by Dic Loscalzo

c. 1945
Action Play Books/
Domeday Press, Inc.

 

 




The Golden Songbook
Arranged by 
Katharine Tyler Wessells
Illustrated by Gertrude Elliot

c. 1944
Simon and Schuster
First Printing


Interesting Birds 
of Our Country
by S. Kip Farrington, Jr.
Illustrated 
by Lynn Bogue Hunt

c. 1945
Garden City Publishing Co.
First Edition

 

me too
words/pictures 
by Fritz Willis

c.1945
The Mistletoe Press
 The Marcel Rodd Co.
First edition

 

Poodey
by Margaret Friske
and Katherine Evans

c,1945
Wilcox &Follett, Co.
Edition Uncertain
no further edition/
printings noted

 

1946



*** The Little Island
by Golden MacDonald
(pen name of Margaret 
Wise Brown)
 With illustrations 
by Leonard Weisgard

c.1946
Doubleday & Co. Inc.
1971 Paperback

 

* Rain Drop Splash
Story by Alvin Tresselt
Pictures by 
Leonard Weisgard

c.1946
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.
23rd printing

 

 

*Timothy Turtle
by Al Graham
Pictured by Tony Palazzo

c. 1946
The Viking Press

 


Corky's Pet Parade
Written and Illustrated
 by Maggi Fiedler

c. 1946
Pied Piper Books, Inc.


 

Chicken Little
Count to Ten
By Margaret Frisky
Pictures by Katherine Evans

c.1946
Children's Press


 



 



The Fox Grows Old
A Brownie Book
No author/Illustrated Indicated

c. 1946
Samuel Lowe Co

 



Bobbie Had a
 Nickel
by Frieda Friedman
Pictures by Emmo

c. 1946
John Martin's House, Inc.

 

 

A Little Child
The Christmas 
Miracle 

Told in Bible Verses
Chosen by Jessie Orton Jones
Illustrated by 
Elizabeth Orton Jones

c.1946
The Viking Press
First Edition

 

King Thrushbeard
by the Brothers Grimm
Adapted and illustrated
 by Harriet

c. 1946
by Spring House
First Edition

 

 

Famous Fairy Tales
Adapted by Eleanor Graham
Illustrated by Mervin Jules

c. 1946
Wonder Books
(One of seven wonder books 
also published in this larger
 7 1/2" x 9 3/4" size)

 





Marge's 
Little Lulu and the Organ Grinder Man
Written and Illustrated
 by Marjorie Henderson Buell

c. 1946
McLoughlin Bros., Inc.


The Little Fur Family
by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures 
by Garth WIlliams

c. 1946
Harper & Row


The Littlest 
Reindeer
by Johanna DeWitt
Pictures by 
Phoebe Erickson

c. 1946
Watertower Books

 

Red Mittens
Story and Pictures
by Laura Bannon

c. 1946
Houghton Mifflin
1965 First Cadmus Ed.
E. M. Hale and Company

 

The Fat Baron
Written by Clip Boutell
Pictures by
Frank Lieberman

c.1946
Houghton Mifflin
Apparent First Edition

 




The Circus Book
Story by Rosemary Smith
Illustrated by Sari

c. 1946
John Martin's House
First Edition

 

 

A Child's Book of Birds
by Luis M. Henderson

c. 1946
Pied Piper Books
First edition

 

 

Cap'n Dow and the
 Hole in the Doughnut
by Le Grand

c.1946
Abingdon Press
Edition uncertain
no further editions, 
printings noted

 

The Story of the
 Three Bears

Illustrated 
by Charles Thorson

c. 1946
John Martin's House, Inc.
First Edition

 

1947



*** White Snow 
Bright Snow
Alvin Tresselt
Illustrated 
by Roger Duvoisin

c.1947
Lothrop, Lee & 
Shepard Co., Inc
Fourteenth Printing, 
Feb 1963

 

* Stone Soup
by Marcia Brown

c 1947
Further information uncertain
(title page missing)
Further links about Author:
Images from Collection
Marcia Brown

 

Good Night Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by Clement Hurd

c. 1947
Harper & Row



 

Big Susan
by Elizabeth Orten Jones

c. 1947
The Macmillan Co.
(2002 Purple House Press,
55th Aniversary Edition)



 

The First Story
by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by Marc Simont

c. 1947
Harper &Brothers
Apparent First Edition





You and the 
United Nations
Written and Illustrated
 by Lois Fisher

c. 1947
Children's Press

 

 

Curious George
 Takes a Job

by H. A. Rey

c. 1947
Houghton Mifflin Co.

The second Curious
 George story

 

The Winter 
Noisy Book
by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by Charles G. Shaw

c. 1947
Harper & Row, Brothers


The Smart Little Boy and His Smart Little Kitty
Story by Louise Woodcock
Pictures  by Lucienne Bloch

c. 1947
William R. Scott, Inc.
1961 First Cadmus Ed.
E. M. Hale and Co.

Jolly Blue Boat
Story and Pictures
 by John and Jane Courtright

c.1947
Children's Press
1962 edition, 
third printing


1948



*** The Big Snow
by Berta and Elmer Hader

c.1948, 1976
Macmillan Publishing Co
First Scholastic 
Printing, 1990

 

*Blueberries for Sal
by Robert McCloskey

c. 1948
The Viking Press
Renewed 1976
Later Book Club Edition

 

*Seabird
by Holling Clancy Holling

c. 1948
Houghton Mifflin

 

 

Chickaree the
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Squirrel
Illustrator unknown

c. 1948
Whitman Publishing Co.
1st edition, paperback

Wait Till the 
Moon is Full
Story by Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by Garth Williams

c. 1948
Harper & Row

 

The Three Little Pigs
No Stated Illustrator

c. 1948
Sam'l Gabriel Son & Co.

 

 

Bears
Story by Ruth Kraus
Pictures by Phyllis Rowland

c. 1948
Harper & Row


Smudge
Story and Pictures
by Clare Turlay Newberry

c.1948
Harper & Brothers Publishers
Special Cadmus Edition
E. M. Hale and Company

 

Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
by Dr. Seuss

c. 1948
Random House

 


Mary Ann's First Picture
Written and Illustrated
by Winifred Bromhall

c. 1948
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Special Cadmus Edition
E. M. Hale and Co.

The Red Carpet
Story and Pictures
 by Rex Parkin

c. 1948
Macmillan Publishing

 

 

Nellie
by Madye Lee Chastain

c. 1948
Whitman Publishing

 

 

Country Fireman
Written by Jerrold Beim
Illustrated by Leonard Shortfall

c. 1948
William Morrow & Co.
Apparent First Edition

No further editions/
printings noted

 

1949

*** Song of the
Swallows
by Leo Politi

c.1948/1949
Charles Scribner's Sons
Aladdin Books Edition, paperback

 

* The Happy Day
by Ruth Krauss
Pictures by Marc Simont

c. 1949
Harper, Row, Publishers
Scholastic Book Services
 4th printing

 

The Night Before Christmas 
Illustrated by
 Leonard Weisgard

c. 1949
Grosset & Dunlap, Inc

 

The Important Book
Words by 
Margaret Wise Brown
Pictures by 
Leonard Weisgard

c. 1949
Harper & Brothers

The Fuzzy Ducking
by Jane Werner
Pictures by Alice and
Martin Provensen

c. 1949
Golden Press
A Big Golden Book

 

 

 

The Smallest Boy
in the Class
by Jerrold Beim
Illustrated by
 Meg Wohlberg

c.1949
William Morrow
Apparent First Edition
 No further editions/printings noted

 

 

The Picture Book
of Illinois

Story by Bernadine Bailey
Pictures by Kurt Wiese

c. 1949
Albert Whitman and Company
First Edition



 

Cowboy Small
by Lois Lenski

c. 1949
(One of three of the Mr. Small
picture books included in
Big Book of Mr. Small. 
See also The Little Farm, 1942
and Policeman Small, 1962)
Henry Z, Walck, Inc./
David McKay Co., Inc.

 

Snakes
by Herbert S. Zim
Illustrated by 
James Gordon Irving

c. 1949
William Morrow & Co.


 


 

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