Lilian Moore I'm Small
While You Were Chasing a Hat My First Counting Book

Born on March 17, 1909, Lilian Moore grew up in New York, received a degree in teaching from Hunter College, and did graduate work at Columbia University.

She attended college during the Depression, so job opportunities were few. She worked for the Bureau of Educational Research, helping children who could not read in their Reading Clinic. Ms. Moore was also a reading specialist for the New York Board of Education. She trained teachers and did extensive research into reading difficulties.

She was the editor of Scholastic’s first paperback book club, the Arrow Book Club, beginning in 1957. As she said, “Imagine making it possible for these youngsters to choose and buy good books for the price of comics!” She was an editor at Wonder Books, Thomas Y. Crowell, and contributor to Humpty Dumpty magazine.

In addition, Ms. Moore was a founding member of the Council on Interracial Books for Children. Ms. Moore died on July 20, 2004, at the age of 95.

She is best known for her poetry and easy-to-read books.

the sudden light of forsythia
one morning without warning
explodes into yellow
and startles the street into spring

from I Thought I Heard the City (Atheneum, 1969)

 

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