Anita Silvey

Anita Silvey is a well-known editor and literary critic in the genre of children’s literature. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Silvey has served as Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book Magazine and as vice-president at Houghton Mifflin where she oversaw children’s and young adult book publishing. She has also authored a number of critical books about children's literature, including 500 Great Books for Teens and The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators. Publishers Weekly said that with regards to children's literature, "It would be hard to find a more authoritative voice than Anita Silvey." In October 2010, she began publishing the Children's Book-A-Day Almanac on line, a daily essay on classic and contemporary children's books.

In 1975, Silvey was a co-founder of the publication that became the Boston Review. She served from 1985 to 1995 as Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book Magazine. She also created the spin-off magazine The Horn Book Guide to Children's and Young Adult Books.

Between 1995 and 2001, Silvey worked as vice-president at Houghton Mifflin where she oversaw children's and young adult book publishing for both the Houghton and Clarion divisions. Among illustrators and authors she promoted were David Wiesner, Chris Van Allsburg, Virginia Lee Burton, and Lois Lowry.

In 2002, Silvey published The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators, 100 Best Books for Children and 500 Great Books for Teens. She also penned a young adult book on women soldiers in the American Civil War, I'll Pass for Your Comrade. In 2008, she wrote an influential article in School Library Journal in which she "criticized the Newbery selections as too difficult for most children." A series of interviews with people from all walks of life was published in Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book in 2009.

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