• Meet the Publisher

Holiday House Books for Young People | March 30, 2015

by Sabrina Abballe (marketing assistant, Holiday House)

Holiday House has been publishing children’s books since 1935. Our list has grown to include a wide range of titles from picture books for the earliest readers and listeners to middle grade and young adult. Hardcover books, both fiction and nonfiction, and an expanding list of paperbacks continue to support the goal stated in our very first catalog of “embrac[ing] only such books as are worthy of inclusion in a child’s permanent library.”
Holiday House is known for its distinctive nonfiction by David A. Adler, Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman, Gail Gibbons, Susan Goldman Rubin, and other notable authors.
An independent publishing house, we remain devoted to our authors and illustrators. Here are just a few books that we are excited to share with you:

One classic title:
Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer, illustrated by Marvin Bileck
In this 1965 Caldecott Honor Book, silly talk and fanciful nonsense pair with marvelously intricate pictures that are full of sly subtleties and happy surprises. It is a book of absurd delights, of tiny, graphic details, of captivating scenes and lyrical phrases that stretch the imagination. Named one of The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books when it was published, Rain was recently named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time.
Published April 1985.

One series you may not have heard about:
I Like to Read® Books
In 2011, Holiday House launched the award-winning I Like to Read® series, dedicated to emerging readers and featuring innovative picture books by renowned artists. I Like to Read® books contain short texts, familiar vocabulary and illustrations that are designed to be a part of the learning experience. See Me Run by Paul Meisel, a book on our inaugural list, received a Theodore Geisel Award Honor. The series is now comprised of more than forty titles.

One YA title to look out for:
The Devil’s Dreamcatcher by Donna Hosie
This title is a sequel to The Devil’s Intern, which received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal and was named a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults book. In this upcoming action-packed adventure, Team DEVIL reunites once again on a journey to the land of the living to stop a madman from unleashing the terror of the Devil’s most prized possession, his dreamcatcher.
Published July 2015.

5 things you might not know about Holiday House:
1. In 2015, Holiday House celebrates its 80th Anniversary!
2. Our logo, featuring a little boy sitting on a rock reading a book, is an illustration by Ernest H. Shepard from The Reluctant Dragon written by Kenneth Grahame, which was first published in a single volume by us in 1938 and which is still in print.
3. Original artwork from many of our illustrators graces the walls of our office. The oldest pieces date back to the 1930s.
4. For several years we have been the publisher of Gail Gibbons, who has written over 100 informational picture books for children.
5. Holiday House published over 30 books with Tomie dePaola from the 1970s to 1995, and now we are thrilled to announce his first new book with us in 20 years, Look and Be Grateful, which will be released in fall 2015.