Muhammad Ali A Little Golden Book Biography

Brief History:

When Little Golden Books were first published in 1942, high-quality books for children hadn't been available at a price most people could afford. Little Golden Books changed that! Priced at just 25 cents and sold where people shopped every day, they caused an instant sensation and were soon purchased by the hundreds of thousands.

Several of its illustrators later became influential within the children's book industry, including Corinne Malvern, Tibor Gergely, Gustaf Tenggren, Feodor Rojankovsky, Richard Scarry, Eloise Wilkin, and Garth Williams.

Many books in the Little Golden Books series deal with nature, science, Bible stories, nursery rhymes, and fairy tales. Christmas titles are published every year.

Some Little Golden Books and related products have featured popular characters from other media, such as Disney, Looney Tunes, The Muppets, Sesame Street, Sonic the Hedgehog, Barbie, Power Rangers, Thomas the Tank Engine, and others.

Film and television and movie have been particularly popular. Over the years Hopalong Cassidy, Cheyenne, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Captain Kangaroo, Mister Rogers, and Donny and Marie Osmond have appeared in Little Golden Books. The line has also published occasional biographies; recent examples include Betty White, Dolly Parton and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The series started with publishing firm Simon & Schuster; Western Printing and Lithographing Company in Racine, Wisconsin was Simon & Schuster's partner in the Little Golden Books venture, with Western handling print operations. Ownership and control of the series have changed several times since; today, Penguin Random House is its current publisher.

Despite the changes of detail that occurred over the years, the Little Golden Books maintains a distinctive appearance. A copy of The Poky Little Puppy bought today is essentially the same as one printed in 1942. Both are readily recognizable as Little Golden Books. At the time of the series' golden anniversary in 1992, Golden Books claimed that a billion and a half Little Golden Books had been sold.