Tell Me a Story: Fantastic Children's Books from the Library of Congress

by Hannah Freece, Mac Barnett (Foreword)

224 pages, Paperback

Published February 25, 2026

Reviews

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for effort, because telling the story of American children's books from 1750 to now, as represented by the half million books in the Library of Congress, is a thankless task. You are going to miss somebody's favorite. I would have liked more fantasy and science fiction (surely there's Andre Norton and Ursula K Le Guin in the collection). But it's still a terrific effort and worth a quick skim at your library. Or, if you are bit obsessive about the history of publishing, add a copy to your collection. There's definitely books in here that I had never seen before as well as old favorites that still have their place on my shelves.