Special issues

Ideal for children's literature courses, The Horn Book Magazine's celebrated special issues have closely examined a number of intriguing themes over the years. Use the links below to read sample articles.

Cover price $13.50. Special offer: first Magazine back issue is $13.50; additional issues are only $5.00 each. (Offer does not apply to current issues.)

Awards  July/August 2011
Celebrating — and scrutinizing — ALA's children's book awards
     Secrecy and the Newbery Medal by Kathleen T. Horning
     In which much history is related and several secrets revealed

Nonfiction  March/April 2011
Fact, fiction, and in between
     New Knowledge by Marc Aronson
     Children’s nonfiction boldly goes where no adult book has gone before

Awards  July/August 2010
Celebrating — and scrutinizing — ALA's children's book awards
     Coretta Scott King Author Award Acceptance
     by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
     For Bad News for Outlaws, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Trouble  September/October 2009
Troublemakers in and troubles afflicting children's books
     Nobody Knows . . . by Betsy Hearne
     Over forty years of trouble-making children’s and young adult books

School  September/October 2008
Children‘s literature and the classroom
     CLAT Level III: Children’s Literature Application Test
     by Monica Edinger & Roxanne Hsu Feldman
     A pop quiz for teachers and school librarians

Boys and Girls  September/October 2007
Books and gender
     Dolls and Monsters by Brian Selznick
     “Are you part man and part woman?”

What Makes a Good Book?  September/October 2006
Critics and authors weigh in.
     Stars by Roger Sutton
     An insider's look at all that glitters.

Poets and Poetry  May/June 2005
Its writers, its readers, and eighteen original examples.
     Purposeful Poetry by Susan Dove Lempke
     Forcing poetry into the lesson plan.

Borderlands  May/June 2004
Surveying the border between books for adults and for children.
     Cutting the Cheese by Christine Heppermann
     Slicing adult material down to size for the picture book audience.

Sendak at 75  November/December 2003
Celebrating the American master of picture books.
     An Interview with Maurice Sendak by Roger Sutton
     A conversation on life, death, dreams, and plankton.

Making History  November/December 2002
Brushing up on history and historical fiction.
     Astonishing George by Mary Pope Osborne
     An admirer of George Washington wonders what he would think of her.

Politics & Religion  November/December 2001
How children's books address two of the toughest topics.
     Tolerance Is Not Enough by Suzanne Fisher Staples
     Lessons learned as a journalist covering the Soviet-Afghan war in 1981.

Future of Children’s Books  November/December 2000
Looking out at a new millenium.
     The Newest Medium by Lolly Robinson
     How computers are changing artists, and how they aren't.

Picture Books  March/April 1998
The medium and its messages.
     Design Matters by Jon Scieszka, designed by Molly Leach
     How ugly duck prose gets transformed by good design.

Family Reading  March/April 1997
Focusing on books at home.
     "Tell the Lady What You Like" by Terri Schmitz
     A bookseller's how-to for perplexed parents.

Storytelling  June 1983 (reprint of articles only)
     Understanding the story, the teller, and the audience.