The Banned Classic? Why the New York Public Library Shuttered 'Goodnight Moon' for Decades
By James H. Sterling
To understand how a benign children's bedtime story faced an effective institutional blockade, one must understand Anne Carroll Moore. From 1906 until her official retirement in 1941, Moore served as the Superintendent of Work with Children at the New York Public Library. She practically invented the modern children’s reading room, championing low shelving, child-sized chairs, and open book access. Her power, however, evolved into an absolute cultural monopoly.
Publishers routinely withheld manuscripts until Moore gave her blessing. Authors dreaded her negative assessments. Even after her formal retirement, Moore maintained an office at the central branch on 42nd Street, where library staff continued deferring to her sharp literary prejudices. Moore despised mid-century commercialization. She worshipped traditional European folklore, high fantasy, and tales steeped in didactic moral architecture. When presented with the great green room, an interior world devoid of moralizing lessons, knights, or talking dragons, Moore scoffed at what she perceived as trivial baby talk. Her rejection was absolute, ensuring that throughout the post-war suburban baby boom, branch visitors found empty shelves where Margaret Wise Brown’s masterpiece should have sat.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
