Lilian Moore

Lilian Moore (pen name, Sara Asheron; March 17, 1909 – July 20, 2004), was a writer of children's books, teacher and poet. She founded and edited for Scholastic's Arrow Book Club, a low-cost mail-order paperback service for children. She also helped found the Council on Interracial Books for Children.

Early life Lilian Levenson was born in The Bronx, New York City on 17 March 1909. She began work as a freelance editorial consultant for children's books in 1950. After publishing Old Rosie, the Horse Nobody Understood in 1952, her published books became more frequent. She also began work as a reading specialist in 1952. She went to work as an editor for Scholastic Corporation from 1957 until 1967. In 1957, she suggested that Scholastic make its books more accessible to children by offering low-cost mail-order paperbacks. This was a rather novel concept at the time. This led to her founding and becoming the first editor for Scholastic's Arrow Book Club in 1957. The Arrow Book Club targeted students in fourth through sixth grade. She served as an editor from 1957 until 1967. In 1960, she also became an editor for Grosset & Dunlap publishing in the How and Why Wonder Books division editing easy readers. Her first poetry book came out in 1967. Moore also wrote under the name "Sara Asheron". From 1968 to 1969 she edited history and biography series. She was also a series editor for Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, New York. She later became the director of Brooklyn Community Counseling Center.

Moore died in Seattle, Washington on July 20, 2004.

Awards In 1960, Moore won The New York Times Best Books of the Year selection. In 1985, she won the National Council of Teachers of English Award for excellence in poetry for children. Moore also was awarded the Child Study Association Children's Books of the Year five times.