Millicent Selsam

Millicent Ellis Selsam (born May 30, 1912 – died October 12, 1996) was an American children’s author.

Selsam was born in New York City May 30, 1912. She became interested in biology during her high school years. She took this interest to college when she studied biology at Brooklyn College. She was then offered a fellowship teaching at Columbia University while completing an M.A. in botany.

After receiving her M.A., Selsam taught high school science before deciding to write science discovery books for children in 1946. Her first book was Egg to Chick. After that her work found outlets at Harper & Row, Morrow, Macmillan, Doubleday and Walker, among other publishers.

Selsam wrote over a hundred children’s books and was married to the philosopher Howard Selsam. During her career, she was the recipient of many awards, including the 1965 Thomas Alva Edison Mass Media Award for best children's science book, Biography of an Atom.

Selsam died on 12 October 1996, and she was survived by her son Robert, a daughter-in-law, Priscilla, and two grandchildren, Margaret and Daniel.

Selected works

• Greg's Microscope, illustrated by Arnold Lobel
• A First Look at Animals With Horns, with Joyce Hunt, illustrated by Harriett Springer
• A First Look at Ducks, Geese, and Swans, with Joyce Hunt, illustrated by Harriett Springer
• A First Look at Bats, with Joyce Hunt, illustrated by Harriett Springer
• A First Look at Animals That Eat Other Animals, with Joyce Hunt, illustrated by Harriett Springer
• A First Look at Dinosaurs, with Joyce Hunt, illustrated by Harriett Springer
• Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints, illustrated by Marlene Hill Donnelly
• Questions and Answers About Horses, illustrated by Sandy Rabinowitz
• Birth of an Island
• Tony's Birds
• Biography of an Atom, with Jacob Bronowski
• Mushrooms, illustrated by Jerome Wexler
• Egg to Chick, illustrated by Barbara M. Wolff
• Seeds and More Seeds
• How to Be a Nature Detective, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats
• More Potatoes
• Benny's Animals and How He Put Them in Order
• How Puppies Grow, with photographs by Esther Bubley
• How Kittens Grow, with photographs by Neil Johnson
• Terry and the Caterpillars,illustrated by Arnold Lobel
• Plenty of Fish
• Sea Monsters of Long Ago
• Stars, Mosquitoes, and Crocodiles : the American Travels of Alexander von Humboldt
• Let's Get Turtles
• Benny's Animals and How He Put Them in Order
• Birth of an Island, illustrated by Winifred Lubell
• Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints, illustrated by Marlene Hill Donnelly
• The 'Don't Throw It, Grow It' Book of Houseplants
• Keep Looking!, with Joyce Huntby, illustrated by Normand Chartier
• Backyard Insects
• All Kinds of Babies, illustrated by Symeon Shimin

External links

• Millicent Ellis Selsam Papers in the de Grummond Collection