In 1942, the launch of Little Golden Books revolutionized children’s book publishing by making high-quality picture books available at affordable prices. More than 60 years later, many of the original Golden Book titles are still wildly popular, with The Poky Little Puppy topping the list of ten bestselling children’s books of all time. Golden Books’ backlist is teeming with classics such as Dorothy Kunhardt’s Pat the Bunny, and features the stories and artwork of children’s book legends Mary Blair, Margaret Wise Brown, Richard Scarry, Eloise Wilkins, Garth Williams, and many more. Today, the Golden Books imprint includes an array of storybooks, novelty books, and coloring and activity books featuring all of the most popular licenses, including Disney, Nickelodeon, Barbie, Thomas & Friends, The Cat in the Hat, Sesame Street, Marvel Super Heroes, and DC Super Friends. Golden Books continues to reissue the best of its backlist in a variety of formats, including ebooks and apps, as well as bringing out brand-new books in these evolving new formats.
J. P. Miller (1913-2001) illustrated many Golden Book titles from the 1940s through the 1970s, some written by Margaret Wise Brown and Edith Kunhardt. Before becoming a children's book illustrator, Miller had worked in the Walt Disney Studio's elite character modeling department, creating characters (such as the dwarf Dopey) for Disney's first feature film, Snow White. He later designed the character of the toy maker Geppetto for Pinocchio.
