Editor's Note: The Year of Noteworthy Losses

Abstract

Thanks to the pandemic, 2020 will go down as a total blur, a dumpster fire, one big Zoom meeting. But 2021 has its own notorious distinction—the year of unspeakable losses for children’s literature.

If it weren’t a list of obituaries, it would read as a Who’s Who of children’s lit greats—Jerry Pinkney, Eric Carle, Floyd Cooper, Gary Paulsen, Lois Ehlert, Beverly Cleary, Patricia Reilly Giff. Their individual contributions have been notable and memorable. But collectively, it has librarians and children’s book lovers saddened en masse.