Beginner Books is the Random House imprint for young children ages 3â€"9, co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss, and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Their first book was Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat (1957). Cerf compiled a list of 379 words as the basic vocabulary for young readers, along with another twenty slightly harder "emergency" words. No more than 200 words were taken from that list to write The Cat in the Hat. Subsequent books in the series were modeled on the same requirement.
Beginner Books had only four titles in their catalog in 1958. Two years later they were earning a million dollars a year and Random House was the largest publisher of children's books in America.
Early contributors
Authors
When Theodor Seuss Geisel illustrated his own stories he wrote as Dr. Seuss. When others created the illustrations, he used either the pseudonym Theo LeSieg or Rosetta Stone. Other authors of early Beginner Books were Robert M. Lopshire, Bennett Cerf, Al Perkins, Helen Palmer Geisel who wrote as Helen Palmer, Philip Dey Eastman, Stan and Jan Berenstain, Benjamin Elkin and Marion Holland.
Illustrators
Early Beginner Books employed many famous illustrators including the aforementioned Theodor Geisel, P.D. Eastman, Stan and Jan Berenstain, and Robert Lopshire. Roy McKie was also an illustrator.
List of Beginner Books
Special Beginner Books
- The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary (1964, Dr. Seuss and P. D. Eastman)
- The Cat in the Hat Songbook (1967, Dr. Seuss) - NOTE: This book was re-released in 1993, and Beginner Books was removed.
- The Little Black Pony Races (1968, Walter Farley)
- My Book about Me (1969, Dr. Seuss and Roy McKie)
- Some of Us Walk, Some Fly, Some Swim (1971, Michael Frith)
- The Bears' Almanac (1973, Stan and Jan Berenstain)
- My Amazing Book of Autographs/Autographs! I Collect Them (1974/1990, Michael Frith)
- The Cat's Quizzer (1976, Dr. Seuss) - NOTE: This book was reprinted in 1993 into B-75.
- Beginning Readers' Yearbook 1994 (1993)
- The Big Blue Book of Beginner Books (1994) Put Me in the Zoo/A Fly Went By/Are You My Mother?/Go, Dog. Go!/The Best Nest/It's Not Easy Being a Bunny
- The Big Red Book of Beginner Books (1995) I Want To Be Somebody New!/Sam and the Firefly/Stop That Ball!/Robert the Rose Horse/The Digging-est Dog/The Very Bad Bunny
- The Big Book of Berenstain Bears Beginner Books (1996/2011) The Big Honey Hunt/The Bears' Picnic/The Bear Scouts/The Bears' Christmas/The Bear Detectives/The Missing Dinosaur Bone/The Bike Lesson/The Bears' Vacation/Bears in the Night/The Spooky Old Tree
- The Big Green Book of Beginner Books (1997) Great Day for Up/Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog?/I Wish That I Had Duck Feet/Wacky Wednesday/Maybe You Should Fly a Jet!/I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!
- Pigs of a Feather (1998, Tish Rabe and K. Klimo)
- My Big Book of Beginner Books about Me (2011) The Foot Book/The Eye Book/The Ear Book/The Nose Book/The Tooth Book/The Knee Book
- The Big Purple Book of Beginner Books (2012) Sam and the Firefly/Snow/I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words/Flap Your Wings/Big Dog...Little Dog/Fred and Ted Go Camping
- The Big Book of Thomas the Tank Engine Beginner Books (2013) Stop Train Stop/A Crack in the Track/Go Train Go/Blue Train Green Train/Trains, Cranes and Troublesome Trucks/Fast Train Slow Train
- Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection (2015) The Cat in the Hat/One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish/The King's Wish/Green Eggs and Ham/Hop on Pop/Fox in Socks
- The Big Orange Book of Beginner Books (2015) Ten Apples Up On Top!/In a People House/Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!/The Shape of Me and Other Stuff/Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!/Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him!
- Grolier Book Club Beginner Book Series
Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners
The following books are for younger children and are technically part of the series. The "BE" designation stands for Bright and Early.
Bright and Early Board Books
Most, if not all, of these books are abridged versions of Beginner Books or Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners. These books are not numbered.
- The Alphabet Book by P. D. Eastman
- I'll Teach My Dog a lot of Words written by Michael Frith, illustrated by P. D. Eastman
- Big Dog... Little Dog by P. D. Eastman
- Are You My Mother by P. D. Eastman
- Eres mi Mama? by P. D. Eastman
- Go, Dog. Go! by P. D. Eastman
- Ve, perro. Ve! by P. D. Eastman
- Fred and Ted Like to Fly by Peter Eastman
- The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
- What Time Is It? by P. D. Eastman (out of print)
- Old Hat, New Hat by the Berenstains
- Sombrero Viejo, Sombrero Nuevo by the Berenstains (out of print)
- Inside, Outside, Upside Down by the Berenstains
- He Bear, She Bear by the Berenstains
- Summer by Alice Low, illustrated by Roy McKie
- Put Me In The Zoo by Robert Lopshire
- Stop, Train, Stop! by Rev. W. Awdry (out of print)
- Para, Trencito, Para! by Rev. W. Awdry (out of print)
- Blue Train, Green Train by Rev. W. Awdry (out of print)
- Dr. Seuss's ABC's by Dr. Seuss
- Fox In Socks by Dr. Seuss
- Hop On Pop by Dr. Seuss
- Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Roy McKie
- There's a Wocket in My Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
- Oh, The Thinks You Can Think! by Dr. Seuss
- Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss
- The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss
- The Ear Book by Al Perkins, illustrated by Henry Payne (out of print)
- Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins, illustrated by Eric Gurney
- The Nose Book by Al Perkins, illustrated by Joe Mathieu
- The Tooth Book by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Joe Mathieu
- The Eye Book by Theo LeSieg, illustrated by Joe Mathieu
- The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
Big Bright and Early Board Books
- Fast Train, Slow Train by Rev W. Awdry
- Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog? by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Roy McKie
- Dr. Seuss's ABC's by Dr. Seuss
- The Spooky Old Tree by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Oh, The Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Seuss
- Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss
- Trains, Cranes and Troublesome Trucks by Rev W. Awdry
- The Many Mice of Mr. Brice by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Roy McKie
- Sleepy Time with Aurora by Andrea Posner, illustrated by Sue DiCicco
- Bath Time with Ariel by Andrea Posner, illustrated by Sue DiCicco
- The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone, illustrated by Michael Smollin
- Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
- Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
- Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
- Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman
- The Big Box of Bright and Early Board Books About Me (The Foot Book, The Eye Book, The Nose Book, The Tooth Book)
- The Eye Book by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Joe Mathieu
- The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
- There's a Wocket in My Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
- The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss
- Inside Outside Upside Down by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Old Hat New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Ten Apples Up on Top! by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Roy McKie
- One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
References
External links
- List of the first 50 Beginner Books at Children's Picture Book Price Guide
- kids@Random (catalog download page)
