Golden Legacy: How Golden Books Won Children's Hearts, Changed Publishing Forever, and Became an American Icon Along the Way »

Leonard S. Marcus has written many award-winning books, including Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon. A frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly, Marcus's book reviews have been featured in every issue of Parenting magazine since it was founded in 1987. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

THE YEAR 2007 marks the 65th anniversary of a bold experiment: the launch of the Little Golden Books during the dark days of World War II. At a time when the literacy rate was not nearly as high as it is now - and privation was felt by nearly all - quality books for children would now be available at a price nearly everyone could afford (25 cents), and sold where ordinary people shopped. Golden Legacy is a lively history of a company, a line of books, the groundbreaking writers and artists who created them, the clever mavericks who marketed and sold them, and the cultural landscape that surrounded them.

The New York Times - Elizabeth Spires

Leonard Marcus's research is rich and exhaustive, and the story he tells is a good one, if at times just a bit too celebratory—perhaps to be expected, since Golden Books itself is the publisher of this detailed portrait of its history. The book includes a wonderful selection of archival photographs and artwork that convey the depth and breadth of the creative talent working there in those early years. After reading Golden Legacy, some readers might be spurred on to find some of the best Little Golden Books they missed as children.