Most readers associate the Little Golden Book series, which began more than 80 years ago, with “The Poky Little Puppy” and “The Little Engine that Could.” The next generation may be unable to escape from a very different title: “Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography.” It has now sold 1 million copies, becoming the fastest-selling title in the series’s history.
While Random House Children’s Books has been publishing Little Golden Books biographies of historical figures for some time, it was only more recently that the books started covering contemporary figures, such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Dolly Parton.
A typical Little Golden Book biography will sell an average of 5,000 to 6,000 copies in its first four weeks, and some titles’ popularity — Betty White, Queen Elizabeth II — builds over time. According to NPD BookScan, the Taylor Swift title sold 167,872 copies in the same period.
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We spoke with author Wendy Loggia, herself a lifelong collector of the Little Golden Books, over Zoom.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: How did you get involved with this project?
A: I started my career working in kids’ book publishing at an imprint called Grosset & Dunlap, which is now part of Penguin. A lot of editors were asked to write baby books, board books, that sort of thing. I started doing it, and I just really liked it, so I threw my name into the ring when they were looking for writers for movie tie-ins. At first, I thought I would write under a pseudonym, because I wanted to keep my editing life separate. And then my kids were like, “Mom, nobody believes us that you wrote these,” so I thought, “Okay I’ll start using my name.”
For the Little Golden Books, I think, most are written by authors out of house; I don’t think a lot of internal people have written them. I mean, they might want to now! [Laughs.]
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When I was watching internally how the series was developing, I initially had the idea of doing a Lucille Ball book and a Taylor one — two iconic women with incredible fan bases. I pitched them in February 2021. The irony is that they immediately said yes to Lucille, but they wanted to think about Taylor. I got the green light for her in July.
Q: Why do you think there was hesitation? Is it because Taylor Swift is so contemporary?
A: I think possibly. They had a Dolly Parton book, but she’s obviously a different generation, and they hadn’t really started going younger. I think they were looking at figures who had lived very colorful, long lives. Taylor is relatively young. But she is really someone readers would be interested in — kids, teachers, educators — so they were willing to take a chance. And I think now just following the response and reading the reviews on Amazon and being tagged in [Instagram] Reels and TikToks, you can see how the book really has appeal to readers of all ages, whether you’re a mom, a grandma, a mini-Swiftie. I think a lot of people didn’t even realize Little Golden Books were still around.
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Q: What were the elements that you knew you wanted to include right away, as the main beats of the book?
A: It’s funny because with Lucille Ball, you have a beginning and an end, right? Her whole life is complete. With Taylor being so young, I thought: What would readers want to know? The books are for kids, so I was approaching it without a lot of facts, details about awards ceremonies, how many Grammys she’s won and all that. I wanted to focus on her being a kid with big dreams and speaking her truth and going for what she wanted, even though kids made fun of her and were mean to her — all that public lore.
Luckily, with Taylor Swift, there’s so much footage, and she has told us so much. I’m a big fan, but this fandom, they know it all.
Q: How did the timeline for the book end up overlapping with what was going on in Swift’s career? It sort of seems amazing that there was any hesitation, because she is so ubiquitous now.
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A: I turned in the first draft in August 2021. Just after the “Bejeweled” video had come out, at the very end [of the publication process], the illustrator was able to add an earring on the very last illustration of the book, as a nod to it.
The book went on sale in May 2023, and with the Eras Tour and the release of her “Taylor’s Version” albums, it felt like there was always a new moment to celebrate, so it all just kept snowballing. As an author, you wouldn’t normally be sitting in a print meeting, but because I’m an editor, I was sometimes in meetings where the book would be discussed. I would hear the print run and I would think, “I think we could print more,” but I wouldn’t say anything. They kept reprinting and upping the print run. Everybody thought it would be big, but nobody thought it would be this big.
Q: You were mentioning that, because this is a children’s book, there are themes that you want to hit and are easier for kids to relate to — so yes to the Christmas tree farm, but no to the Kim Kardashian video. Can you talk about your decision to write about Swift having what you call a “big reputation” for “speaking up about racial injustice” and encouraging people to vote? I could imagine different authors taking different approaches to that. There’s a contingent of people who would rather these matters not come up in kids’ books at all —
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A: Oh, they’re out there.
Q: Right — and though Swift has become more vocal about some of her beliefs, she’s not exactly at the vanguard of pop stars who talk about politics. So you could see an argument for just leaving it out.
A: I don’t think that we would think of her as an extremely political figure. But I knew from reading about her and watching the movie “Miss Americana” that she had definitely tried — and in more recent years she had come into her own and had more of a voice. I didn’t want to get too in the weeds or too specific, but I wanted to touch on that in a kid-friendly, general way — alluding to it and leaving it for readers who wanted to learn more.
Really, I wanted to focus on the songwriting and the fact that it really is like reading her diary and that she speaks from her heart and that she’s always evolving — and encouraging kids to dream. Which sounds corny, but she really is inspirational for so many people.
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Even when I wrote about Lucille Ball, l knew she had such a colorful life, and there were things that we didn’t need to put in there. Not that I’m not trying to tell the whole truth, but I think there are things kids are more interested in.
Q: The sales figures alone suggest that this is a much bigger audience than usual, but are you noticing anything different about the way people are relating to this book? Are there a lot more people treating it as a novelty object, for example?
A: It’s really everything. It’s very giftable. There are whole TikToks of people taking the book, cutting the artwork out and framing it. Some people turn it into a junk journal where they rip out the binding and add pages to make a scrapbook. People are buying multiple copies: one to read, one to keep on the shelf. People have whole collections with their CDs and merch and all sorts of beautiful Taylor Swift objects and then add the book to it. They give concert tickets in the book as a gift. You see it at baby showers where it’s the theme.
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It’s also a good reminder that, in publishing, we think that everybody must know about a book by now — I’m almost sick of myself talking about it — but I still see videos where people are saying, “Guys, look what I found!” For them, it’s new.
Q: Are you working on another Little Golden Book that you’re excited about?
A: It hasn’t been announced, but there is an upcoming Little Golden Book next fall about another pop culture icon. But it’s hard to think of anybody topping Taylor.
I have been getting some messages where people are asking if there’s going to be a Travis Kelce book. [Laughs.] I don’t know about that.
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