McElderry, Margaret K. (1912-2011), was an influential American editor and publisher of children’s literature. During a career that lasted more than 50 years, McElderry worked with many of the most important children’s authors and illustrators of the 1900’s. They included Lucy Boston, Susan Cooper, Andre Norton, and Helen Oxenbury. Under McElderry’s guidance, authors introduced more serious and controversial subject matter into children’s literature. She also pioneered in publishing children’s books from other countries.
In 1952, McElderry became the first editor to publish both the Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners in the same year. The Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The Caldecott Medal is awarded annual to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book. Eleanor Estes won the Newbery Medal for Ginger Pye. Nicolas Mordvinoff won the Caldecott Medal for Finders Keepers, written by Will Lipkind.
Margaret Knox McElderry was born on June 10, 1912, in Pittsburgh. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1933 and then attended the Carnegie Library School. From 1934 to 1943, McElderry worked at the New York Public Library under the noted librarian Anne Carroll Moore.
In 1945, McElderry took over the juvenile department at Harcourt, Brace and Company publishers. In 1971, she moved to Atheneum publishers, which eventually merged into Simon & Schuster publishers. There, she founded Margaret K. McElderry Books. She thus became the first juvenile books editor to have her own imprint—that is, a separate line of books with her own name as publisher. McElderry retired from Simon & Schuster in 1986. But she continued to provide books for her imprint well into her 90’s. McElderry died on Feb. 14, 2011.
