Random House Books for Young Readers

Random House Books for Young Readers is an imprint of Random House Children's Books, the children's division of Penguin Random House. Penguin Random House calls that division the world's largest English-language children's trade book publisher. The Random House name goes back to 1927, when Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer started the company in New York. Today it belongs to Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media group Bertelsmann.

The imprint's best-known author is Dr. Seuss, and the link runs through Cerf, who was his editor. Cerf bet him fifty dollars that he could not write an engaging book using only fifty different words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham. In 1957 Phyllis Cerf, Seuss and Helen Palmer founded Beginner Books at Random House, and its first title was The Cat in the Hat. Beginner Books is now listed as a separate imprint in the same children's division.

This imprint is mostly about picture books and classics that stay in print. The Lorax first appeared on August 12, 1971. It tells of the Once-ler and the small creature who speaks for the trees, and it is still sold here as part of the Classic Seuss line. Oh, the Places You'll Go! is listed under the imprint in hardcover, with a January 1990 date. A newer title is Too Loose, Too Tight, Just Right, by Stan and Jan Berenstain, updated by Mike Berenstain.

A reader arriving from The Lorax can expect illustrated hardcovers meant to be read aloud, built on rhyme, strong visual character and a clear message. Penguin Random House's imprint list points to where to go next within the same children's division: Beginner Books for early readers, Step Into Reading, Golden Books, and Random House Graphic for comics.