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Atheneum Books

Atheneum Books is a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since 1994, and it created Atheneum Books for Young Readers as an imprint for children's literature in the 2000s.

History

Alfred A. Knopf Jr. left his family publishing house Alfred A. Knopf and created Atheneum Books in 1959 with Simon Michael Bessie (Harpers) and Hiram Haydn (Random House).[1] It became the publisher of Pulitzer Prize winners Edward Albee, Charles Johnson, James Merrill, Nikki Giovanni, Mona Van Duyn, Robert K. Massie, and Theodore H. White. It also published Ernest Gaines' first book Catherine Carmier (1964). Knopf recruited editor Jean E. Karl to establish a Children's Book Department in 1961.[2][3] Atheneum acquired the reprint house Russell & Russell in 1965.[4]

Atheneum merged with Charles Scribner's Sons to become The Scribner Book Company in 1978. The acquisition included Rawson Associates. Scribner was acquired by Macmillan in 1984. Macmillan was purchased by Simon & Schuster in 1994.[5] After the merger, the Atheneum adult list was merged into Scribner and the Scribner children's line was merged into Atheneum.[6][7]

In the 2000s, the Simon & Schuster imprint Atheneum Books for Young Readers published the popular May Bird fantasy series for young adults, inaugurated by May Bird and the Ever After (2005), and the Olivia series of picture books featuring Olivia the pig (from 2000). The Higher Power of Lucky won the 2007 Newbery Medal. In a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery as one of its Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children.[8]

Publications

  • Nicholas and Alexandra: An Intimate Account of the Last of the Romanovs and the Fall of Imperial Russia (1967)[9]
  • The Princess Mouse: A Tale of Finland (2003)[10]
  • Those Who Prey (2020)

External links

References

  1. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt. Alfred A. Knopf Jr., Influential Publisher, Dies at 90 The New York Times, February 16, 2009, retrieved 2009-02-22^
  2. Jalowitz, Alan (Summer 2006). "Karl, Jean (Edna)". Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 2011-10-21.^
  3. Palmquist, Vicki (July 29 [no year]). "Birthday Bios: Jean E. Karl". Children's literature network. (c) 2002–2008. Retrieved 2011-10-21.^
  4. Publishers Weekly, Volume 201, 1972.^
  5. Description [Scribner history] Simon & Schuster, 2007, retrieved 2009-02-22^
  6. Sarah Lyall. THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Paramount Publishing to Cut Jobs and Books The New York Times, 1994-01-24, retrieved 2019-12-23^
  7. M. P. Dunleavey. Anatomy of a merger Publishers Weekly, 1994-06-13, retrieved 2019-12-23^
  8. National Education Association (2007). "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". Retrieved 2012-08-19.^
  9. Theodore H. Von Laue. Review of Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie American Historical Review, 1968^
  10. The Princess Mouse www.kirkusreviews.com, Kirkus Reviews, 15 December 2002, retrieved 27 December 2015^