Series of American illustrated books published in the 1960s and 1970s
How and Why Wonder Books were a series of American illustrated books published in the 1960s and 1970s that were designed to teach science and history to children and young teenagers. The series began in 1960 and was edited under the supervision of Paul E. Blackwood of the Office of Education at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The series was published by Wonder Books, Inc., a division of Grosset & Dunlap.
There were 74 unique titles in the series, each one starting with the phrase The How and Why Wonder Book of… as a key component of the book's name. All 74 volumes were published in a softcover format, with pages measuring 81⁄2×11 inches (21.6×27.9cm) in size. A number of the titles were also produced in hardcover versions, too; these being referred to as either the "Trade Editions" or the "Library Editions." Each How and Why Wonder Book uniformly contained a total of 48 pages, with the only exception being The Environment and You, which contained 64 pages.[1]
The softcover books were numbered consecutively in series starting at 5001 (with the only exception being the final book in the series entitled Fossils).[2] The hardcover versions were numbered differently from the softcover issues.
5001 Dinosaurs
5002 Weather
5003 Electricity
5004 Rocks and Minerals
5005 Rockets and Missiles
5006 Stars
5007 Insects
5008 Reptiles and Amphibians
5009 Birds
5010 Our Earth
5011 Beginning Science
5012 Machines
5013 The Human Body
5014 Sea Shells
5015 Atomic Energy
5016 The Microscope
5017 The Civil War
5018 Mathematics
5019 Flight
5020 Ballet
5021 Chemistry
5022 Horses
5023 Explorations and Discoveries
5024 Primitive Man
5025 North America
5026 Planets and Interplanetary Travel
5027 Wild Animals
5028 Sound
5029 Lost Cities
5030 Ants and Bees
5031 Wild Flowers
5032 Dogs
5033 Prehistoric Mammals
5034 Science Experiments
5035 World War II
5036 Florence Nightingale
5037 Butterflies and Moths
5038 Fish
5039 Robots and Electronic Brains
5040 Light and Color
5041 Winning of the West
5042 The American Revolution
5043 Caves to Skyscrapers
5044 Ships
5045 Time
5046 Magnets and Magnetism
5047 Guns
5048 The Moon
5049 Famous Scientists
5050 The Old Testament
5051 Building
5052 Railroads
5053 Trees
5054 Oceanography
5055 North American Indians
5056 Mushrooms, Ferns and Mosses
5057 The Polar Regions
5058 Coins and Currency
5059 Basic Inventions
5060 The First World War
5061 Electronics
5062 Deserts
5063 Air and Water
5064 Stars
5065 Airplanes and the Story of Flight
5066 Fish
5067 Boats and Ships
5068 The Moon
5069 Trains and Railroads
5070 Ecology
5071 The Environment and You
5072 Extinct Animals
5073 Snakes
5076 Fossils
When publication of the How and Why Wonder Book series first commenced in 1960, only the initial six titles in the series were produced. As time went by, and as the series proved to be highly successful, more new titles were added to expand its scope.
At the same time, a handful of titles also disappeared from the comprehensive "checklists" (located on back covers) when these volumes were revised and republished under a different title and/or series number. Specifically, there were six titles that were removed from checklists when they were reissued with a later series number. They were:
5006 Stars (reissued as 5064 Stars)
5019 Flight (reissued as 5065 Airplanes and the Story of Flight)
5038 Fish (reissued as 5066 Fish)
5044 Ships (reissued as 5067 Boats and Ships)
5048 The Moon (reissued as 5068 The Moon)
5052 Railroads (reissued as 5069 Trains and Railroads)
Although some of the titles were not altered from earlier versions, both the cover artwork and the interior content were changed. Thus, it is easy to distinguish between the early versions and the latter issues by the cover art alone.
The first 69 books in the series were issued with illustrated cover art, otherwise referred to as Painted Covers, during the 1960s. Later reprints in the 1970s, however, switched to Photo Covers. In fact, four of the last five volumes in the series were only produced in a photo cover version (Ecology, Extinct Animals, Snakes, and Fossils). In an unexplained departure, one of the final five titles (The Environment and You) was only issued in a painted cover, even though it was not released until the 1970s.
The mystery of the missing series numbers
A mystery for collectors is the absence of How and Why Wonder Book volumes numbered 5074 or 5075. While it may well have been the original intent of publishers to fill in these missing gaps in the series sequence, this was never done. With the advent of the ISBN numbering system, the 5075 number was eventually assigned to a 1985 hardcover reprint of Earl Schenck Miers book America and Its Presidents ( ISBN0-448-05075-7). The ISBN associated with number 5074 ( ISBN0-448-05074-9) has never been assigned.
Price Stern Sloan How and Why Editions
Price Stern Sloan took over the publication of the How and Why series and released many of the existing titles with new covers. In addition they added some new titles to the list:
Space
Solar System
Living Things
Planet Earth
Motorcycles
Automobiles
Ships and Submarines
Robots
Radiation
Aircraft
The first four of these had the series name How and Why Wonder Books above the title; the remainder reverted to the original The How and Why Wonder Book of... formulation.
How and Why Activity Books
Price Stern Sloan also released a matching series of activity books that contained mazes, puzzles and games about the subject they contained. Titles released in this series were:
Beginning Science
Cats
Dinosaurs
The Earth
Four Famous Dinosaurs
Human Body
Insects
Prehistoric Animals
Reptiles
Rocks and Minerals
Sharks
Space
Wild Animals
Wild Animals of North America
The UK Series
During the 1960s and 1970s, the How and Why Wonder Book series was concurrently published in the United Kingdom by Transworld Publishers of London. For the most part, both the cover artwork and the inner content of the UK volumes were identical to those of the U.S. publications. However, a handful of the UK versions contained either revised text and/or unique cover art. Many of these revisions were done to reflect European species (Birds, Insects) or to emphasize regional conditions.
The UK series was published using a completely different numbering sequence from the U.S. series (Dinosaurs is number 6501,[3] Stars is 6503,[4] etc.). Also, the UK version of Extinct Animals has a painted cover as opposed to the U.S. version's photo cover.
The following standard series titles were released in the UK by Transworld Publishers. Unless otherwise indicated, both the content and cover art used were identical to those of the American versions:
Early editions of the UK volumes had a "checklist" on their back covers, similar to American copies. This format was used up until #6536 (Lady of the Lamp); released in 1967. However, soon thereafter, the format of the back cover was revised to show a photo of a random selection of some of the volumes available in the series.
In addition, Transworld published two How and Why BUMPER WONDER Books which were "puzzles, quizzes, jokes, amazing facts" using content and images from the various How and Why editions.
One feature of most UK editions of the How and Why books was that the back inner cover featured an advertisement for a "Collector's Binder" to hold your How and Why books. The ad read "The new How and Why collector binder holds 12 titles; a wonderful way to build your own reference library! It is available from the publishers of the How and Why books for only 16/-. Supplies are limited so send for yours now." This back inner cover advertisement was a standard feature for many years.
It also appears that four of the ISBN series numbers contained within the sequential Transworld numbering block were never assigned to volumes within the How and Why Wonder book series; these being volumes #6582 ( ISBN0-552-86582-6), #6588 ( ISBN0-552-86588-5), #6590 ( ISBN0-552-86590-7) and #6594 ( ISBN0-552-86594-X). An ISBN search of these numbers indicates that they were never assigned to published volumes.
Although the above lists are comprehensive for How and Why Wonder Book volumes published by Grosset & Dunlap and Transworld in the 1960s and 1970s, certain volumes in the series continued to be published by Price Stern Sloan into the 1980s and that additional unique titles were added to the series. New How and Why Wonder Book titles included Radiation,Ships and Submarines,Planet Earth,Living Things,Automobiles,Motorcycles,Space,Robots,Aircraft, and the Solar System. None of these titles was available earlier than 1987 and thus they do not appear in the foregoing checklists.
Dutch translations
Dutch translations of the American originals were published, originally in softcover and later in hardcover, by Zuid-Nederlandse Uitgeverij at Deurne, Belgium under the titles "HOE EN WAAROM" or "Het HOE EN WAAROM boek van".[citation needed]
German translations
German translations were published from 1961, originally in softcover and later in hardcover, by Tessloff Verlag, Hamburg, Germany, under the title "Was ist was". The edition was fairly successful and produced audio CDs and DVDs later on.
Writers, illustrators and photographers
Many individuals contributed to the How and Why Wonder Book series. They consisted of a wide spectrum of authors, artists and photographers. Some of these individuals contributed to several volumes in the How and Why Wonder Book series, while many others appeared on a one-time basis only. A partial listing of many of the individuals that contributed to the series is outlined below.
Writers: Darlene Geis, George Bonsall, Jerome J. Notkin, Sidney Gulkin, Nelson W. Hyler, Clayton Knight, Norman Hoss, Ronald Rood, Robert Mathewson, Felix Sutton, Martin L. Keen, Donald F. Low, Donald Barr, Earl Schenck Miers, Esther Harris Highland, Harold Joseph Highland, Lee Wyndham, Margaret Cabell Self, Irving Robbin, Grace F. Ferguson, Robert Scharff, Gene Liberty, Jean Bethell, Dr. Gilbert Klaperman, Geoffrey Coe, Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Dr. Paul J. Gelinas, Clare Cooper Cunniff, Shelly Grossman, Mary Louise Grossman, Matthew J. Brennan and Georg Zappler.
Illustrators and photographers: - Kenyon Shannon, George Pay, Robert Patterson, Charles Bernard, James Ponter, Cynthia Koehler, Alvin Koehler, Darrell Sweet, Douglas Allen, Ned Smith, Walter Ferguson, John Hull, George J. Zaffo, William Fraccio, Tony Tallarico, Leonard Vosburgh, Rafaello Busoni, Matthew Kalmenoff, Denny McMains, William Barss, Robert Doremus, Shannon Stirnweis, Shelly Grossman, Dougal MacDougal and John Barber.
Spotlight Wonder Books and the 7900 Series
Closely associated with the How and Why Wonder Book series are two other series of softcover books produced by publisher Grosset and Dunlap in the 1960s under the Wonder Books banner. They are the Spotlight Wonder Book series and the otherwise nameless "7900" series.
Spotlight Wonder Books
The Spotlight Wonder Book series focused on famous people or institutions as opposed to science topics. They were identical to How and Why Wonder Books in terms of their size (81⁄2×11 inches, or 21.6×27.9cm) and the fact that they also contained the standard 48 pages. Titles included the following:
Similar in size and style to How and Why Wonder Books and Spotlight Wonder Books, the 7900 series pertained to television personalities/programs or fictional characters. Titles included:
In 1969 Wonder Books/Grosset and Dunlap published Conquest of the Moon, a 64-page book in the same format as a How and Why Wonder Book consisting of revised content from #5048 The Moon and expanded to include the story of the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission.[18]
Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by the publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels.
The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. It published and contracted the many pseudonymous authors who wrote the series from 1899 to 1987, when it was sold to Simon & Schuster.
Tom Swift Jr. is the central character in a series of 33 science fiction adventure novels for male adolescents, following in the tradition of the earlier Tom Swift ("Senior") novels. The series was titled The New Tom Swift Jr. Adventures. Unlike the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles that were also products of the prolific Stratemeyer Syndicate, the original Tom Swift stories were not rewritten in the 1950s to modernize them. It was decided that the protagonist of the new series would be the son of the earlier Tom Swift and his wife, Mary Nestor Swift; the original hero continued as a series regular, as did his pal Ned Newton. The covers were created by illustrator J. Graham Kaye. Covers in the later half of the series were mostly by Charles Brey. A total of 33 volumes were eventually published.
A paperback book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, leather, paper, or plastic.
The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in a series of mystery novels for young readers. The series revolves around teenage amateur sleuths, solving cases that often stumped their adult counterparts. The characters were created by American writer Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of book packaging firm Stratemeyer Syndicate. The books were written by several ghostwriters, most notably Leslie McFarlane, under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.
Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of Tom Corbett—Space Cadet stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, and other media in the 1950s.
Twilight Zone literature is an umbrella term for the many books and comic books which concern or adapt The Twilight Zone television series.
Childcraft is a multi-volume illustrated anthology for children, which originated in 1934.
Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a nonfiction book by the British author Diana Wynne Jones that humorously examines the common tropes of a broad swathe of fantasy fiction. The U.S. Library of Congress calls it a dictionary. However, it may be called a fictional or parodic tourist guidebook. It was first published by Vista Books (London) in 1996. A revised and updated edition was completed in 2006 and published by Penguin, first in the U.S.
The Saalfield Publishing Company published children's books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children's materials in the world.
Bomba, the Jungle Boy is a series of American boys' adventure books produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym Roy Rockwood. and published by Cupples and Leon in the first half of the 20th century, in imitation of the successful Tarzan series.
The Complete Peanuts is a series of books containing the entire run of Charles M. Schulz's long-running newspaper comic strip Peanuts, published by Fantagraphics Books. The series was published at a rate of two volumes per year, each containing two years of strips. Slipcased sets of two volumes are also available. The series comprises a total of 26 volumes, including a final volume that was a collection of Schulz strips, cartoons, stories, and illustrations that appeared outside of the daily newspaper strip. These hardcover books were first published between 2004 and 2016. Later, Fantagraphics also began publishing the series in a softcover format. A companion series titled Peanuts Every Sunday, collecting only the Sunday strips of the Peanuts series, was launched by Fantagraphics in 2013 and ran until late 2022.
The We Were There books are a series of historical novels written for children. The series consists of 36 titles, first released between 1955 and 1963 by Grosset & Dunlap. Each book in the series is a fictional retelling of an historical event, featuring one or more children as primary characters. The books were written by a number of different authors, each writing from one to seven of the books; the authors included Benjamin Appel, Jim Kjelgaard, Earl Schenck Miers, William O. Steele, and others. Each book's byline also lists a separate "historical consultant", who was a specialist in the historic topic covered by that particular book. The historical consultants were typically college professors or, in the case of war-related stories, retired military officers; among the more noteworthy consultants for the series were the historians Bruce Catton, Walter Prescott Webb and A. B. Guthrie, Jr. The books are illustrated with black-and-white line art, with color drawings on the dust jacket.
The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is the long-running "main" series of the Nancy Drew franchise, which was published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. There are 175 novels — plus 34 revised stories — that were published between 1930 and 2003 under the banner; Grosset & Dunlap published the first 56, and 34 revised stories, while Simon & Schuster published the series beginning with volume 57.
The Old West is a series of books about the history of the American Old West era, published by Time-Life Books from 1973 through 1980. Each book focused on a different topic specific for the era, such as cowboys, American Indians, gamblers and gunfighters.
Cupples & Leon was an American publishing company founded in 1902 by Victor I. Cupples (1864–1941) and Arthur T. Leon (1867–1943). They published juvenile fiction and children's books but are mainly remembered today as the major publisher of books collecting comic strips during the early decades of the 20th century.
Neecy Twinem is an American artist, toy designer, academic professor, and author and illustrator of over 35 children’s books published in several languages.
References
↑ Brennan, Matthew J. The Environment and You. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1972
↑ Burton, John Fossils. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1976
↑ Geis, Darlene The How and Why Wonder Book of Dinosaurs. Transworld Publishers, London. The 6501 series number is derived from the ten-digit ISBN0-552-86501-X
↑ Hoss, Norman The How and Why Wonder Book of Stars. Transworld Publishers, London. The 6503 series number is derived from the ten-digit ISBN0-552-86503-6
↑ Miers, Earl Schenck The Story of John F. Kennedy. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1964
↑ Scharff, Robert Into Space with the Astronauts. Illustrated with official National Aeronautics and Space Administration photographs and drawings. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Miers, Earl Schenck The Story of Winston Churchill. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Miers, Earl Schenck The White House and the Presidency. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Miers, Earl Schenck The Capitol and Our Lawmakers. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Miers, Earl Schenck The Story of the American Negro. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Miers, Earl Schenck The Story of the F.B.I.. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Nevins, Albert J. The Story of Pope John XXIII. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1966
↑ Lenhart, Ellen Portrait of Skipper. Illustrated by Claudine Nankivel. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1964. Skipper is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc.
↑ Adapted and Abridged by Gibson, Walter Monsters, Three Famous Spine-Tingling Tales. Contains Frankenstein and the Monster, Dracula the Vampire and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Illustrations by Tony Tallarico. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Lenhart, Ellen Bewitched. Illustrated by Beverly Edwards. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Gibson, Walter The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Coin of El Diablo Affair. Illustrated by I. H. Guyer. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Gelman, Barbara and Shorin, Robert Soupy Sales. Illustrated by Tony Tallarico. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1965
↑ Sutton, Felix and Maurer, Alvin Conquest of the Moon. Pictures by Raul Mina Mora and NASA. Grosset and Dunlap, Wonder Books, 1969
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
