Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom

Phinney One of our first Old Book of the Week picks returns this month as our fifth Phinney by Post selection. Ursula Nordstrom made history as the editor of such kid's-book geniuses as Maurice Sendak, E.B. White, and Margaret Wise Brown, but the main reason you should pick up this book (and won't want to put it down) is that she was a hoot: her letters are smart, funny, and sassy, and the character of "Ursula Nordstrom" she creates for herself in them is as vivid as the ones—Harriet the spy, Max the king of the wild things, Frances the badger, Harold and his crayon, Charlotte, Wilbur, and Stuart Little—she helped bring into print.