Legendary editor Louise Seaman Bechtel opened the first-ever children’s department at a publisher—Macmillan—in 1919. When the division celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1969, Susan Hirschman—then editor-in-chief—planned the celebration. Now retired, she’s celebrating the 50th anniversary of the imprint she founded in 1974, Greenwillow Books. When she started Greenwillow in 1974, she never imagined being part of a through line running back to the earliest days of children’s publishing, predicting that the imprint might last “one, maybe two years.”
Greenwillow got its start when Hirschman resigned in protest after Macmillan fired nearly 200 employees, cutting her staff and list in half. She was offered an imprint by William Morrow and brought along managing editor Ada Shearon and art director Ava Weiss, followed not long after by senior editor Elizabeth Schub.
The name Greenwillow has always inspired curiosity, Hirschman said. “I wanted a watery name—Maine was in my blood—and I wanted a dignified, timeless name,” she said. “I thought Harbor Books for Boys and Girls filled the bill. And then I realized why it sounded so good. I had worked for Ursula Nordstrom for 10 years—at Harper Books for Boys and Girls.” She finally hit upon the word willow. “William Morrow. It seemed clever. And then I remembered my dearly loved Elizabeth Coatsworth’s book Under the Green Willow,” she said. “We had our name.”
The imprint quickly earned a reputation for quality and the staying power of its books. Among many others, Greenwillow publishes Peggy Parish’s Amelia Bedelia books, Kevin Henkes’s Lilly books, Diane Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle, and the transportation books of illustrator Donald Crews. Greenwillow authors have been the recipients of the Newbery Award (including Lynne Rae Perkins for Criss Cross and Erin Entrada Kelly for Hello Universe and The First State of Being), Newbery Honor books (including The Year of Billy Miller and Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes), a Caldecott Medal (including Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes), and several Caldecott Honors and National Book Award finalists.
Virginia Duncan, Greenwillow’s vice-president and publisher since 1997, said those successes are in part inspired Hirschman’s philosophy—“don’t chase trends”—but also the imprint’s approach. “I hope that one of the things that distinguishes a book published by Greenwillow—in the past, present, and future—is the respect it has for its young audience, from birth to teen. This is a guiding principle for us no matter what the book—funny, scary, adventurous, fanciful, informational, conceptual—and it impacts every publishing decision we make.”
Books 'Both Beautiful and Distinguished'
Author Henkes described that approach in practice as making “books for real kids.” Greenwillow books aren’t “glitzy or for adults or ironic or preachy,” he said. “They are essential, solid, basic—bread and butter books, both beautiful and distinguished.”
That result is very much by design, Duncan said, “We often joke that the tagline on Criss Cross, which is: ‘She wished something would happen,’ could be the tagline for almost every Greenwillow book. Our books may appear quiet and unassuming on the surface, but we know they contain the entire world.”
For Caldecott Medalist Zelinsky, Greenwillow’s reputation extends beyond the books to its people. “Back in the day, Greenwillow was a publisher you’d want to go visit. The offices in midtown Manhattan weren’t just a place to deliver art or have a meeting and split—there would usually be other authors and illustrators around, interesting and fun people,” he said, adding that “there was always cake or other treats on a counter.” That kind of hospitality is an outward symbol of what he finds distinctive about his publisher. “It’s a person-oriented place. They inspire loyalty,” he said.
Entrada Kelly echoed that sentiment. “Greenwillow has been with me every step of the way,” she said. “They understand where I’ve been, where I’m going, and where I want to be. I never feel pressured to write a certain book or stay in a specific lane. I am treated as an artist, not as a brand, and that is important to me.”
The longevity of the relationships between authors and staff is distinctive in publishing. “I’ve been a Greenwillow author-illustrator for 44 years and I’ve only had two editors and two art directors,” Henkes said. Indeed, the current staff reflects more than 100 years of expertise: in addition to Duncan, designer Sylvie Le Floc’h has been with the imprint since 1992, executive editor Martha Mihalik since 2001, and art director Paul Zakris has been at Greenwillow for more than 20 years.
In explaining the imprint’s longevity, Duncan said that Greenwillow’s mission statement, which was written by Hirschman, “has consistently been both a steadying and inspiring touchstone: ‘We hope that at the heart of each Greenwillow book there is honesty, emotion, and depth—conveyed by an author or an artist who has something that is worth saying to children and who says it in a way that is worth reading.’ ”
During its 50th anniversary year, Greenwillow will publish At Home in a Faraway Place by Lynne Rae Perkins and At Last She Stood by Erin Entrada Kelly as well as a deluxe hardcover edition of Howl’s Moving Castle. From Rosanne Parry, there’s a new standalone companion to her bestselling middle grade novel A Wolf Called Wander, titled A Wolf Called Fire, among its 30 frontlist titles for the year.
Reflecting on the imprint’s milestone, Hirschman said, “I guess I am most proud of publishing books that were read and loved. I liked it when taxi drivers knew Amelia Bedelia, or when people came to a Kevin Henkes signing and said they had named a child Owen or Lilly. I think all of us in the department loved what we were doing and loved working together. I think that’s what I am most proud of overall. The love and the quality of the books on Greenwillow’s lists shine out and nothing could make me happier.”
