Lerner Publishing Group

• 1. Introduction

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  Lerner Publishing Group started in a single room. Harry Lerner founded the company in 1959 inside the old Lumber Exchange Building in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. His sister-in-law, Marguerite Rush Lerner, M.D., came to him with a request: would he publish her stories about childhood diseases? He said yes. Those stories became the Medical Books for Children series, and that modest beginning set a company in motion that would eventually hold more than 5,000 titles in print. How did a one-room office in a Minneapolis lumber exchange grow into one of the largest independently owned children's book publishers in the United States? The answer involves a doctor's medical stories, a Peace Corps volunteer named Carolrhoda, a Connecticut company built by French publishers, and a scholarship established to honor a woman who shaped the look of children's books for decades.

• 2. A Minneapolis Foundation

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  In 1963, just four years after opening its doors, Lerner made a choice that set it apart from every other publisher in the country. It became the first publisher to print original art featuring multi-racial children. No other house had done it before. That decision reflected something Lerner would describe as a tradition of innovation, one it carried forward through the decades. From its original single-room address, the company eventually spread across four offices: the main Lerner building, the Lerner Distribution Center, Muscle Bound Bindery, and a New York office situated in the Empire State Building. Three of those locations remained in Minneapolis, tying the company to the city where Harry Lerner first answered his sister-in-law's request.

• 3. Carolrhoda and the Peace Corps

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  Carolrhoda Books was begun in 1969, and the name tells a story. Sharon Lerner, the art director who founded it, named the imprint after her close friend Carolrhoda Locketz, who died after serving in the Peace Corps. That tribute became one of Lerner's longest-running imprints. Carolrhoda publishes around 20 titles annually, spanning picture books, fiction, and single-title nonfiction for both trade and library editions. The loss that inspired the name also inspired the Sharon Lerner Scholarship, established in 1983 to honor Sharon Lerner herself. That four-week scholarship promotes understanding and cooperation among international publishers of children's books, carrying a spirit of connection outward from a grief rooted in service abroad.

• 4. Acquiring a Connecticut House

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  Millbrook Press was founded in 1989 in Connecticut by the French publisher Groupe de la Cite. In 1994, a management-led group bought it from its French parent. Lerner then acquired Millbrook in 2004, along with a companion imprint called Twenty-First Century Books. Millbrook operates under three sub-imprints: Millbrook, Copper Beech, and Twenty-First Century. It publishes for both the consumer and school markets. One piece of the Millbrook portfolio did not follow it to Minneapolis. The trade imprint Roaring Brook Press was sold separately to Holtzbrinck Publishers, splitting off on its own path while the rest of Millbrook settled under Lerner's roof.

• 5. Building the Imprint Family

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  Kar-Ben Publishing joined the group in 2001, bringing artwork- and photo-driven fiction and nonfiction aimed at the children's Judaica market. A year before that, LernerClassroom launched in 2000, focusing on educational titles including resources for teachers. Graphic Universe arrived in 2006, publishing graphic novels through two main series: Twisted Journeys and Graphic Myths and Legends. The imprint built its identity by working with well-known artists from the comic book genre. Zest Books, a young adult nonfiction publisher founded in 2006, was acquired by Lerner in 2018. Darby Creek Publishing, based in Columbus, Ohio and established in 2002, was acquired in 2010; Lerner had already been distributing its titles since 2003, so the formal acquisition formalized a relationship already years in the making. Darby Creek's roster includes authors Lurlene McDaniel, David Lubar, and Joseph Bruchac.

• 6. Serving the Classroom

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  Ediciones Lerner prints Spanish-language translations of popular nonfiction titles for elementary school students. Cloverleaf Books targets kindergarten through second grade, using bright, eye-catching art and picture book designs. Searchlight Books, aimed at grades 3-5, takes a simpler approach: straightforward nonfiction texts designed to build reading skills. Lerner Publications, the flagship imprint, publishes 130 books annually for kindergarten through fifth grade, built around photo-driven series for schools and libraries. Across all of these imprints, the company reaches students from kindergarten through twelfth grade with a catalogue that now exceeds 5,000 titles. The Sharon Lerner Scholarship, now decades old, continues to connect children's book publishers across national borders, extending that classroom reach into an international conversation about how children learn to read.