Puffin Books

**Puffin Books** is the children's imprint of British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s it has been the largest publisher of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world.[1] It is one of the worlds famous books.

## Contents

 [hide]

* 1History
	+ 1.1Early history
	+ 1.21960s to 1970s
	+ 1.3*Picture Puffins*
	+ 1.41980s to 1990s
	+ 1.52010s
* 2*Puffin Post*
* 3See also
* 4References
* 5Further reading
* 6External links

## History[edit]

### Early history[edit]

Four years after Penguin Books had been founded by Allen Lane, the idea for Puffin Books was born in 1939 when Noel Carrington, at the time an editor for*Country Life* books, met him and proposed a series of children's non-fiction picture books, inspired by the brightly coloured lithographed books mass-produced at the time for Soviet children.[2][3] Lane saw the potential, and the first of the picture book series were published the following year. The name "Puffin" was a natural companion to the existing "Penguin" and "Pelican" books. Many continued to be reprinted right into the 1970s. A fiction list soon followed, when Puffin secured the paperback rights to Barbara Euphan Todd's 1936 story *Worzel Gummidge* and brought it out as the first Puffin story book in 1941.

The first Puffin editor, Eleanor Graham, saw the imprint through the 1940s and the struggles with paper rationing, and in the 1950s Puffin made its mark in fantasy with tales such as *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe* by C. S. Lewis and *Charlotte's Web* by E. B. White. Some other notable titles whose paperback rights were acquired by Puffin included *The Family from One End Street* by Eve Garnett, the first children’s fiction title to depict a working-class home, which Puffin published in 1942, the *Professor Branestawm* books by Norman Hunter (1946), *Ballet Shoes* by Noel Streatfeild (1949), *Carbonel: The King of the Cats* by Barbara Sleigh (1955), and *The Silver Sword* by Ian Serraillier (1960). Many different genres featured in the list, e.g. *The Puffin Song Book* (PS 100), 1956.

### 1960s to 1970s[edit]

In 1961 Kaye Webb became Puffin's second editor, as a boom began in children's publishing, and in a decade the Puffin list grew from 151 titles when she took over to 1,213 in print by 1969. Puffin obtained the paperback rights to many of the best writers of the time, including Philippa Pearce, Rosemary Sutcliff, William Mayne and Alan Garner, all-time classics including *Mary Poppins*, *Dr Dolittle* and*The Hobbit*, and originals such as *Stig of the Dump* by Clive King. The books were promoted with flair through the Puffin Club, started by Kaye Webb in 1967 with the promise to Allen Lane that *"It will make children into book readers"*. Though by 1987 it had become uneconomical and evolved into the schools-only Puffin Book Club, at its height the club had 200,000 subscribers and held regular Puffin Exhibitions, and its magazine *Puffin Post* appeared quarterly for many years, resuming publication in January 2009.

Colony Holidays (predecessor to ATE Superweeks) ran Children's Literature Summer Camps for members of the Puffin Book Club. Fifty or so children from all over Britain who loved reading would spend a ten-day holiday together, and popular children's authors such as Joan Aiken, Ian Serraillier and Clive King would spend a few days with them. [4] Webb continued as editor until 1979, and the 1970s saw Puffin further advance its position with hits such as *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* by Roald Dahl and *Watership Down* by Richard Adams.

### 1960s to 1970s[edit]

In 1961 Kaye Webb became Puffin's second editor, as a boom began in children's publishing, and in a decade the Puffin list grew from 151 titles when she took over to 1,213 in print by 1969. Puffin obtained the paperback rights to many of the best writers of the time, including Philippa Pearce, Rosemary Sutcliff, William Mayne and Alan Garner, all-time classics including *Mary Poppins*, *Dr Dolittle* and*The Hobbit*, and originals such as *Stig of the Dump* by Clive King. The books were promoted with flair through the Puffin Club, started by Kaye Webb in 1967 with the promise to Allen Lane that *"It will make children into book readers"*. Though by 1987 it had become uneconomical and evolved into the schools-only Puffin Book Club, at its height the club had 200,000 subscribers and held regular Puffin Exhibitions, and its magazine *Puffin Post* appeared quarterly for many years, resuming publication in January 2009.

Colony Holidays (predecessor to ATE Superweeks) ran Children's Literature Summer Camps for members of the Puffin Book Club. Fifty or so children from all over Britain who loved reading would spend a ten-day holiday together, and popular children's authors such as Joan Aiken, Ian Serraillier and Clive King would spend a few days with them. [4] Webb continued as editor until 1979, and the 1970s saw Puffin further advance its position with hits such as *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* by Roald Dahl and *Watership Down* by Richard Adams.