How and Why Wonder Books - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

How and Why Wonder Books were a series of illustrated American books published in the 1960s and 1970s that was designed to teach science and history to children and young teenagers. The series began in 1960, and was edited under the supervision of Dr. Paul E. Blackwood of the Office of Education at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The series was published by Wonder Books, Inc., a division of Grosset & Dunlap

Grosset & Dunlap

Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....

.

There were 74 unique titles in the series, each one starting with the phrase The How and Why Wonder Book of... as a key component of the book's name. All 74 volumes were published in a softcover format, with pages measuring 8 1/2 X 11 inches in size. A number of the titles were also produced in hardcover versions, too; these being referred to as either the "Trade Editions" or the "Library Editions." The softcover books were numbered consecutively in series starting at 5001 (with the only exception being the final book in the series entitled Fossils). The hardcover versions were numbered differently from the softcover issues.

Each How and Why Wonder Book uniformly contained a total of 48 pages, with the only exception being The Environment and You, which contained 64 pages.

List of U.S. edition titles, How and Why Wonder Books

...5001 Dinosaurs
...5002 Weather
...5003 Electricity
...5004 Rocks and Minerals
...5005 Rockets and Missiles
...5006 Stars
...5007 Insects
...5008 Reptiles and Amphibians
...5009 Birds
...5010 Our Earth
...5011 Beginning Science
...5012 Machines
...5013 The Human Body
...5014 Sea Shells
...5015 Atomic Energy
...5016 The Microscope
...5017 The Civil War
...5018 Mathematics
...5019 Flight
...5020 Ballet
...5021 Chemistry
...5022 Horses
...5023 Explorations and Discoveries
...5024 Primitive Man
...5025 North America
...5026 Planets and Interplanetary Travel
...5027 Wild Animals
...5028 Sound
...5029 Lost Cities
...5030 Ants and Bees
...5031 Wild Flowers
...5032 Dogs
...5033 Prehistoric Mammals
...5034 Science Experiments
...5035 World War II
...5036 Florence Nightingale
...5037 Butterflies and Moths
...5038 Fish
...5039 Robots and Electronic Brains
...5040 Light and Color
...5041 Winning of the West
...5042 The American Revolution
...5043 Caves to Skyscrapers
...5044 Ships
...5045 Time
...5046 Magnets and Magnetism
...5047 Guns
...5048 the Moon
...5049 Famous Scientists
...5050 The Old Testament
...5051 Building
...5052 Railroads
...5053 Trees
...5054 Oceanography
...5055 North American Indians
...5056 Mushrooms, Ferns and Mosses
...5057 The Polar Regions
...5058 Coins and Currency
...5059 Basic Inventions
...5060 The First World War
...5061 Electronics
...5062 Deserts
...5063 Air and Water
...5064 Stars
...5065 Airplanes and the Story of Flight
...5066 Fish

...5067 Boats and Ships
...5068 The Moon

...5069 Trains and Railroads
...5070 Ecology

...5071 The Environment and You
...5072 Extinct Animals

...5073 Snakes
...5076 Fossils

How and Why Activity Books
A matching series of activity books were released that contained mazes, puzzles and games about the subject they contained. Titles released in this series were:

...Beginning Science"
...Cats"

...Dinosaurs"
...The Earth"

...Four Famous Dinosaurs"
...Human Body"

...Insects"
...Prehistoric Animals"

...Reptiles"
...Rocks and Minerals"

...Sharks"
...Space"

...Wild Animals"
...Wild Animals of North America"

Price Stern Sloan How and Why Editions
Price Sterm Sloan took over the publication of the How and Why series and released many of the existing titles with new covers. In addition they added some new titles to the list:

...Ships and Submarines"
...Robots"

...Motorcycles"
...Radiation"

...Automobiles"

The Mystery of the Missing Series Numbers Explained

When publication of the How and Why Wonder Book series first commenced in 1960, only the initial 18 titles in the series had been produced. As time went by, and as the series proved to be highly successful, more new titles were added to expand its scope.

At the same time, a handful of titles also disappeared from the comprehensive "checklists" (located on back covers) when these volumes were revised and re-published under a different title and/or series number. Specifically, there were six titles that were removed from checklists when they were re-issued with a later series number. They were:

...5006 Stars (reissued as 5064 Stars)
...5019 Flight (reissued as 5065 Airplanes and the Story of Flight)
...5038 Fish (reissued as 5066 Fish)
...5044 Ships (reissued as 5067 Boats and Ships)
...5048 The Moon (reissued as 5068 The Moon)
...5052 Railroads (reissued as 5069 Trains and Railroads)

Although some of the titles were not altered from earlier versions, both the cover artwork and the interior content was changed. Thus, it is easy to distinguish the difference between the early versions and the latter issues simply by the cover art alone.

The first 69 books in the series were issued with beautifully illustrated cover art, otherwise referred to as Painted Covers, during the 1960s. Later re-prints in the 1970s, however, switched to Photo Covers. In fact, four of the last five volumes in the series were only produced in a photo cover version (Ecology, Extinct Animals, Snakes and Fossils). Strangely enough, one the final five titles (The Environment and You) was only issued in a painted cover, in spite of the fact that it was not released until the 1970s.

Because of the striking cover artwork, and thanks largely to the nostalgic appeal of these books, they have become collectable items once more today. Yet, one of the great mysteries for collectors is the absence of How and Why Wonder Book volumes numbered 5074 or 5075. While it may well have been the original intent of publishers to fill in these missing gaps in the series sequence, this was never done. With the advent of the ISBN numbering system, the 5075 number was eventually assigned to a 1985 hardcover re-print of Earl Schenck Miers

Earl Schenck Miers

Earl Schenck Miers was an American historian. He wrote over 100 published books, mostly about the history of the American Civil War...

book America and Its Presidents (ISBN 0-448-05075-7). The ISBN number associated with number 5074 (ISBN 0-448-05074-9) has never been assigned.

The U.K. Series

During the 1960s and 1970s, the How and Why Wonder Book series was concurrently published in the United Kingdom by Transworld Publishers of London

Transworld (company)

Transworld Publishers Inc. is a British publishing division of Random House and belongs to Bertelsmann, one of the world's largest media groups. It was established in 1950, and for many years it was the British division of Bantam Books. It publishes fiction and non fiction titles by various...

. For the most part, both the cover artwork and the inner content of the U.K. volumes were identical to those of the U.S. publications. But, a handful of the U.K. versions contained either revised text and/or unique cover art. Many of these revisions were done to reflect European species (Birds, Insects) or to emphasize regional conditions.

The UK series was published using a completely different numbering sequence from the U.S. series (Dinosaurs is number 6501, Stars is 6503, etc.). Also, the U.K. version of Extinct Animals has a painted cover as opposed to the U.S. version's photo cover.

The following standard series titles were released in the UK by Transworld Publishers

Transworld (company)

. Unless otherwise indicated, both the content and cover art used was identical to that of the American versions:

6501 Dinosaurs
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
6502 Weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
6503 Stars
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
6504 The Human Body
Human body
The human body is the entire structure of a human organism, and consists of a head, neck, torso, two arms and two legs.By the time the human reaches adulthood, the body consists of close to 100 trillion cells, the basic unit of life...
6505 Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
6506 Horses
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
6507 Planets and Interplanetary Travel
6508 Wild Animals
6509 Lost Cities
6510 Dogs
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
6511 Fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
6512 Caves to Skyscrapers
6513 Our Earth
6514 The First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

(different cover art from US version)
6515 Explorations and Discoveries (different cover from US softcover, same as US hardcover)
6516 Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
6517 Primitive Man
6518 Science Experiments
6519 The Microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
6520 Flight
6521 Prehistoric Mammals
6522 Atomic Energy
6523 Robots and Electronic Brains
6524 Ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
6525 Electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
6526 Machines
Machine
A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...
6527 Sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
6528 Ants and Bees
6529 Light and Colour
6530 Reptiles
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
6531 Rocks and Minerals
6532 Beginning Science
6533 Famous Scientists
6534 The Polar Regions
6535 North American Indians
6536 The Lady of the Lamp (identical to US Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...

version, but unique title)
6537 Winning of the West
6538 Time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
6539 Basic Inventions
6540 Magnetism
6541 Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
6542 Oceanography
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
6543 Building
6544 Deserts
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
6548 Rocks and Minerals (Revised Edition of #6531)
6550 Electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
6551 Air and Water
6552 Railways
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

(new text and cover art as compared to US Railroads edition)
6553 Birds
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

(revised text and unique cover art)
6554 Coins
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

(new text and cover art as compared to US Coins and Currency edition)
6555 Extinct Animals (was UK release first, subsequently released in US with different cover)
6557 World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

(revised text and unique cover art)
6561 Wild Flowers
Wildflower
A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...

(revised text and unique cover art)
6562 Trees
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

(unique cover art)
6564 Fossils
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

(was UK release first, subsequently released in US with different cover)
6568 Butterflies and Moths (revised text and unique cover art)
6571 Insects
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

(revised text and unique cover art)
6572 Robots and Electronic Brains (Revised Edition of #6523)
6575 Electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

(Revised Edition of #6550)
6579 Ships
6580 Dogs
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

(Revised Edition of #6510)
6581 Beginning Science (Revised Edition of #6532)
6585 Snakes
6586 Planets and Interplanetary Travel (Revised Edition of #6507)
6592 Weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

(same cover image as U.S. edition, but revised content to #6502)
6595 Deserts
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

(Same content as US edition but unique cover as compared to #6544)

In addition to the foregoing, Transworld

Transworld (company)

expanded the UK series with the release of the following new, unique titles:

6545 The Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
6546 Stamps
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
6547 Seashore
6549 Castles
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
6556 The Spoilt Earth
6558 Communications
6559 Dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
6560 Kings and Queens
6563 Photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
6565 Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
6566 Common Market
6567 Volcanoes
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
6569 Vikings
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
6570 Cats
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
6573 Costume
6574 The Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
6576 The Motor Car
6577 Energy and Power Sources
6578 Radio and TV
6583 Heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
6587 Deep Sea
6589 Pets
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
6591 Arms and Armour
6596 Rare Animals
6597 Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
6598 Oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
6599 Parliament
6600 The Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
6601 Arab World

Early editions of the U.K. volumes had a "checklist" on their back covers, similar to American copies. This format was used up until #6536 (Lady of the Lamp); released in 1967. However, soon thereafter, the format of the back cover was revised to show a photo of a random selection of some of the volumes available in the series.

In addition, Transworld

Transworld (company)

published two How and Why BUMPER WONDER Books which were "puzzles, quizzes, jokes, amazing facts" using content and images from the various How and Why editions.

Bumper Wonder Book #1 (#6584) (ISBN 0-552-86584-2)
Bumper Wonder Book #2 (#6593) (ISBN 0-552-86593-1)

One feature of most UK editions of the How and Why books was that the back inner cover featured an advertisement for a "Collector's Binder" to hold your How and Why books. The ad read "The new How and Why collector binder holds 12 titles; a wonderful way to build your own reference library! It is available from the publishers of the How and Why books for only 16'-. Supplies are limited so send for yours now." This back inner cover ad was a standard feature for many years.

It also appears that four of the ISBN series numbers contained within the sequential Transworld

Transworld (company)

numbering block were never assigned to volumes within the How and Why Wonder book series; these being volumes #6582 (ISBN 0-552-86582-6), #6588 (ISBN 0-552-86588-5), #6590 (ISBN 0-552-86590-7) and #6594 (ISBN 0-552-86594-x). An ISBN search of these numbers indicates that they were never assigned to published volumes.

Although the above lists are comprehensive for How and Why Wonder Book volumes published by Grosset & Dunlap

Grosset & Dunlap

and Transworld

Transworld (company)

in the 1960's and 1970's, it should also be noted that certain volumes in the series continued to be published by Price Stern Sloan

Price Stern Sloan

Price Stern Sloan or PSS! is a publisher that was founded in Los Angeles in the early 1960s to publish the Mad Libs that Roger Price and Leonard Stern had concocted during their stint as writers for Steve Allen's Tonight Show and also the Droodles...

into the 1980's and that additional unique titles were added to the series. New How and Why Wonder Book titles included Radiation, Ships and Submarines, Planet Earth, Living Things, Automobiles, Motorcycles, Space, Robots, Aircraft, and the Solar System. None of these titles were available earlier than 1987 and thus do not appear in the foregoing checklists.

Authors, Illustrators and Photographers

Many individuals contributed to the How and Why Wonder Book series. They consisted of a wide spectrum of authors, artists and photographers. Some of these individuals contributed to several volumes in the How and Why Wonder Book series, while many others appeared on a one-time basis only. A partial listing of many of the individuals that contributed to the series is outlined below.

AUTHORS - Darlene Geis, George Bonsall, Jerome J. Notkin, Sidney Gulkin, Nelson W. Hyler, Clayton Knight, Norman Hoss, Ronald N. Rood, Robert Mathewson, Felix Sutton, Martin L. Keen, Donald F. Low, Donald Barr, Earl Schenck Miers

Earl Schenck Miers

Earl Schenck Miers was an American historian. He wrote over 100 published books, mostly about the history of the American Civil War...

, Esther Harris Highland, Harold Joseph Highland, Lee Wyndham, Margaret Cabell Self, Irving Robbin, Grace F. Ferguson, Robert Scharff, Gene Liberty, Jean Bethell, Dr. Gilbert Klaperman, Geoffrey Coe, Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Dr. Paul J. Gelinas, Clare Cooper Cunniff, Shelly Grossman, Mary Louise Grossman, Matthew J. Brennan and Georg Zappler.

ILLUSTRATORS and PHOTOGRAPHERS - Kenyon Shannon, George Pay, Robert Patterson, Charles Bernard, James Ponter, Cynthia Koehler, Alvin Koehler, Darrell Sweet

Darrell K. Sweet

Darrell K. Sweet is a professional illustrator best known for providing cover art for science fiction and fantasy novels, in which capacity he was nominated for Hugo award in 1983. He also produces art for trading cards and calendars. He is famous for providing the covers of the fantasy epic saga...

, Douglas Allen, Ned Smith, Walter Ferguson

Walter Ferguson

Walter William Ferguson was born in New York City in 1930. He received his formal art training under scholarship at Yale School of Fine Arts and Pratt Institute. He has exhibited widely in Israel and abroad and his paintings are in many private collections....

, John Hull, George J. Zaffo, William Fraccio

Bill Fraccio

William Fraccio was an American comic book artist whose career stretched from the 1940s Golden Age of comic books through 1979, when he turned to producing advertising art and teaching...

, Tony Tallarico

Tony Tallarico

Tony Tallarico is an American comic book artist, and children's book illustrator and author. Often paired in a team with his generally uncredited penciler, Bill Fraccio, Tallarico drew primarily for Charlton Comics and Dell Comics — including for the comic book Lobo, the first to star an...

, Leonard Vosburgh, Rafaello Busoni, Matthew Kalmenoff, Denny McMains, William Barss, Robert Doremus, Shannon Stirnweis, Shelly Grossman, Dougal MacDougal and John Barber.

Spotlight Wonder Books and the 7900 Series

Closely associated with the How and Why Wonder Book series are two other series of softcover books produced by publisher Grosset and Dunlap in the 1960s under the Wonder Books banner. They are the Spotlight Wonder Book series and the otherwise nameless "7900" series.

Spotlight Wonder Books

The Spotlight Wonder Book series focused on famous people or institutions as opposed to science topics. They were identical to How and Why Wonder Books in terms of their size (8 1/2 X 11 inches) and the fact that they also contained the standard 48 pages. Titles included the following:

...6900 The Story of John F. Kennedy
...6901 Into Space with the Astronauts
...6902 The Story of Winston Churchill
...6903 The White House and the Presidency
...6904 The Capitol and Our Lawmakers
...6905 The Story of the American Negro
...6906 The Story of the F.B.I.
...6907 The Story of Pope John XXIII

The 7900 Series

Similar in size and style to How and Why Wonder Books and Spotlight Wonder Books, the 7900 series pertained to television personalities/programs or fictional characters. Titles included:

...7900 Portrait of Skipper
...7901 Monsters
...7902 Bewitched
...7903 The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
...7904 Soupy Sales

External Links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

List of U.S. edition titles, How and Why Wonder Books

How and Why Activity Books

Price Stern Sloan How and Why Editions

The Mystery of the Missing Series Numbers Explained

The U.K. Series

Authors, Illustrators and Photographers

Spotlight Wonder Books and the 7900 Series

Spotlight Wonder Books

The 7900 Series

See also

External Links