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Judy Blume Helps Unveil NYPL's 100 Great Children's Books

By Alan Neuhauser | September 30, 2013 3:10pm
 Legendary children's book authors Judy Blume and Eric Carle helped unveil the New York Public Library's "100 Great Children's Books," a list that included their works, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, on Monday morning, Sept. 30, 2013.
Judy Blume and Eric Carle Speak at the New York Public Library
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MIDTOWN — "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing," and dozens of other children's books have landed permanent shelf space in Midtown.

The New York Public Library officially unveiled its "100 Great Children's Books" of the past century Monday.

Legendary children's book authors Eric Carle and Judy Blume, whose Caterpillar and Fourth-Grade Nothing books were named among the 100 greatest, spoke on a panel at the library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue to mark the opening.

Their titles, as well as all the others on the list, "have withstood the test of time and are still making that journey from library shelf to home and back again" said Jeanne Lamb, the library's youth collections coordinator, who helped select the books with supervising librarian Elizabeth Bird.

"The purpose of this list is to encourage discussion about what you think makes a good story," Lamb said. "We hope these suggestions will introduce new generations of readers to stories which will engage their imaginations as they participate in that age-old practice of passing on stories they enjoy to their friends and families."

The list was published, in part, as a promotion for the library's latest exhibition, titled "The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter." The exhibition opened in June and will remain on view through March 23.

To see all of the 100 book picks, visit the library's website.