This lecture lays out how queer sensibilities have shaped some of the most beloved children’s literature of the mid-twentieth century. Dr. Pyke’s talk recalls visionary editor Ursula Nordstrom who, as Harper & Row children’s books director from 1940 to 1973, nurtured a network of author-illustrators. Among them were Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, and Arnold Lobel, all now recognised as bisexual, gay, or lesbian. As groups such as Moms for Liberty call for children’s books by and about LGBTQ+ people to be censored and banned, Dr. Pyke offers an alternative history of American children’s literature and its queer intimacies.