Book excerpt: For her gorgeously illustrated and deeply researched contribution to the prestigious Grolier Hundred series, Chris Loker has assembled one hundred of the best known and most admired children's books from the English language canon of classics. Organized chronologically, One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature invites readers to follow the development of books written for children and printed between 1650 and 2000--from early forms of instructional primers and devotional readers, to exuberantly entertaining nursery rhymes, fairy tales, children's novels and works of verse. Also represented are alphabets, folktales, fables, and legends; a touch-and-feel book, a rebus book, a pop-up book, and, of course, picture books. Supplementing the informative essays that accompany each selection are illuminating contributions by five internationally recognized experts in children's literature: Brian Alderson, Nick Clark, Andrea Immel, Jill Shefrin, and Justin Schiller. This charming and intellectually stimulating volume, accessibly written to appeal to both scholars and the general public, has quickly become the classic checklist for book collectors, scholars, and anyone who loves children's literature.