06/11/2026
Bring on the Books! Acrylic on panel by Gerald McDermott, Children’s Book Week Poster, 1984. Since 1919, The Children’s Book Council has held Children’s Book Week to provide a time for libraries and schools to anchor events that celebrate and support the essential role of children’s books. Beginning with Jesse Wilcox Smith, America’s most famous illustrator, posters were made to spread the word and encourage participation throughout the country. The slogan for the first poster was “More Books in the Home!” This same year, Macmillan became the world’s first publisher to devote and editorial department solely to making quality books for young readers. As the years progressed, new themes would be chosen, setting priorities such as N. C. Wyeth’s 1927 Romance, History, Travel, to encourage classic literature, or 1931’s Round The World Book Fair, to help lead children to a global perspective. 1944’s poster by Nedda Walker was the first to portray an African American child, 1965’s poster featuring Ezra Jack Keats’A Snowy Day was the second. For over 100 years, the posters followed the needs of children and produced encouragement for kids to read and for society to make it possible.
“Dream weaver, tale spinner, portrayer of visions, interpreter of the human spirit,” Gerald McDermott (1941-2012) wrote and illustrated over 30 books for children, often based on mythology and folklore. A graduate of the Pratt Institue, McDermott was the first Fellow of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. He would also produce several animated shorts for PBS’s The Electric Company. His bright expressive and colorful style has made him a favorite of both children and adults. He won Caldecott Honors in 1972 for Anansi the Spider and in 1993 for Raven: A Trickster Tale From The Pacific Northwest, which also won a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. In 1975 he was awarded the coveted 1975 Caldecott Medal for his Arrow to the Sun: A Tale from the Pueblo. He produced five animated film adaptions of his
