Editor Celebrates The Big Nine-Oh

Margaret K. McElderry , the first children's book editor to launch a line of children's books under her own name, celebrated her 90th birthday in grand style, with a June 4 reception in the library of Le Cirque, one of New York City's premiere restaurants. A roomful of admirers, including a veritable Who's Who of children's book editors, turned out to honor the legendary editor, who was also the first to simultaneously publish a Caldecott– and Newbery Award-winning book in the same year, 1952. Now entering her fifth decade in children's book publishing, McElderry has yet to loose a step: Saffy's Angel (S & S/Margaret K. McElderry Bks.), a novel by Hilary McKay, was recently named winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for fiction.

McElderry was born in Pittsburgh in 1912. After graduating as a member of Mount Holyoke College's Class of 1933, she earned a degree from the Carnegie Library School. From 1934 to 1943, McElderry worked as a children's librarian at the New York Public Library with another legend—Anne Carroll Moore, the library's founder of children's services.