Thanhha Lai
I read because I dream of having a super power. More
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
A child’s perspective as a refugee during the rise of Nazism; now a modern classic. More
J.R.R. Tolkien and the Trilogy
Sir Stanley Unwin, chairman of British publishers George Allen & Unwin (later acquired by HarperCollins), originally rejected the 9,250-page manuscript of The Lord of the Rings, the sequel to J. R. R. Tolkien’s moderately successful (at the time) The Hobbit, as it was too long, and the author would make a deal with the publisher only if they also agreed to take another of his unfinished books. More
Patricia MacLachlan
I read as a child to find out what I thought, what I wished for, and what scared me. More
Journey to Jo’burg
Groundbreaking book set in South Africa during the apartheid era and banned by its government. More
Little House on the Prairie
Third book in the award-winning Little House series, which has sold more than 34 million copies. More
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
An American classic called “one of the books of the century” by the New York Public Library. More
Stuart Little
White’s beloved classic about a small mouse on a big adventure is a perennial bestseller. More
Neil Gaiman
I read to travel, and to learn. More
The Gulag Archipelago
Named “the best nonfiction book of the 20th century” by Time magazine. More
Alistair MacLean signing books
The young Alistair MacLean in 1957 signs a book during a promotional event for The Guns of Navarone. More
Publishing Firsts: The Historical Romance Genre
At the time of its publication in 1972, nothing like Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower had ever been published. More
1895: Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers
Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, which serializes Joan of Arc in its periodicals and publishes it as a book one year later. More
The History of HarperCollins Children’s Books in the U.S.
The Department of Books for Boys and Girls at Harper was established in the U.S. in 1926. More
1937: Harper & Brothers publishes This Is My Story by Eleanor Roosevelt…
Harper & Brothers publishes This Is My Story by Eleanor Roosevelt. More
Barometer Rising
The first novel by MacLennan, one of Canada’s most significant novelists of the mid-twentieth century. More
Where the Wild Things Are
This winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal changed the face of children’s literature. More
Pushing the Boundaries of Children’s Literature
Children’s books explored uncharted territory in the mid-1960s as Harper & Row began to champion boundary-pushing children’s and young adult books. More
1964: Harper & Row publishes The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein…
Harper & Row publishes The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, a “moving story about the love of a tree for a boy.” More
Herman Melville and Moby-Dick
Harper & Brothers turned down Herman Melville’s first book, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, and it was released to strong sales by another publisher. More
Garth Williams, Illustrator
Garth Williams was a little-known but talented young illustrator when he was commissioned by Ursula Nordstrom, head of Harper’s Department of Books for Boys and Girls, to illustrate the classic Stuart Little by E. B. White. More
Doctor Zhivago
Collins was the first to publish this epic romantic drama by the Nobel Prize winner in English. More
A Christmas Carol
Dickens’s beloved classic of the meaning of Christmas that has inspired countless adaptations. More
1923: The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors…
The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors, and receives more than 700 submissions in its first year. The first winner, The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson, is later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1924). More
Bernard Cornwell
The most magical phrase I knew as a child was “Once upon a time” because those four words meant a story was coming. More
Becoming Children’s Authors: Sendak, Silverstein And Ursula Nordstrom
Neither Maurice Sendak nor Shel Silverstein started their careers with children’s literature as a focus. More
Charlotte’s Web
Considered a classic of children’s literature; a novel of friendship, love, life, and death. More