'Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book,' a fun guide to life, becomes a bestseller

'Everything' is by Little Golden Books editorial director Diane Muldrow.

'Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book' is by Diane Muldrow.

Who among us doesn't need a little reminder now and then about what’s important in life – or how to be at our best?

Little Golden Books editorial director Diane Muldrow decided that many lessons like these can be found right in the pages of this children’s series. (Little Golden Books was initially released through Simon and Schuster but is now published by Random House.) Muldrow decided to compile the best of the Little Golden Book aphorisms and instructions into a book titled “Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book.”

The book was released in 2013 and became a bestseller, topping the Hardcover Nonfiction IndieBound list for five weeks non-consecutively and hovering around second or third place for many other weeks since its release. (It was knocked out of first place the week of April 6 after “Flash Boys” by Michael Lewis was featured on "60 Minutes".)

Muldrow’s book includes hints for life like “Be a hugger” and “Don’t forget to enjoy your wedding.” Before “Everything,” Muldrow wrote the Little Golden Book “Where Do Giggles Come From?,” which was illustrated by Anne Kennedy and released in 2011.

“Readers who grew up with Little Golden Books illustrated by the likes of Mary Blair, Tibor Gergely, and Garth Williams will enjoy this optimistic and cheering trip down memory lane,” Publishers Weekly wrote in its review of the book, while School Library Journal called it “a fun and entertaining walk down memory lane.”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 'Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book,' a fun guide to life, becomes a bestseller
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2014/0410/Everything-I-Need-To-Know-I-Learned-From-a-Little-Golden-Book-a-fun-guide-to-life-becomes-a-bestseller
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe