The Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, gave birth to the Big
Little Book in 1932. The term promised the consumer a great amount of reading
material and entertainment in a small package. Bulky, but easily handled and
read by young buyers, many children fell asleep clutching a thick little book
that featured a favorite character.

Bright spines and colorful covers
captured every child’s attention and enticed them to read the tantalizing tales.
For 10 cents, a child could buy a colorful hard cover book that held stories
about their favorite radio, comic, and movie heroes. Indeed, the material for
most of the Big Little Books came from radio, comic strips, and motion pictures.
Captioned pictures opposite pages of text added visuals to the stories and many
children learned how to read from these minute books. Most Whitman Big Little
Books were 3 5/8″ x 4 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ in size and approximately 320 to 432 pages
in length. In addition to the hard cover, Big Little Books with soft covers
were marketed as premiums for promoting products. Children would badger their
parents to buy certain products simply to obtain a book for their collection.

The first Big Little Book, the Adventures of Dick Tracy, came off the
presses just before Christmas in 1932. Other titles quickly followed suit,
including Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy and Dick Tracy Junior, Little Orphan
Annie and Sandy, and Mickey Mouse. Whitman’s first licensing and rights
agreement with the Walt Disney Studio, which gave Whitman exclusive rights to
licensed Disney characters, jump started an integral component of the Big Little
Books. Soon motion picture stars, radio program characters, and comic strip
characters became the main focus that many stories revolved around.

Big Little Books are defined by three major periods of publication.
Between 1932 and 1938, the Golden Age describes the most influential and
memorable Big Little Books. The effects of the depression were still rampant,
and in addition to Whitman, other publishers also produced inexpensive reading
material. Other forms of entertainment during this time included the 10-cent
motion picture and free radio programs. Radio became a national past time and
many popular comic strip characters found their way on air. Little Orphan
Annie, Buck Rogers, and Dick Tracy captured their audience’s attention produced
many followers. In turn, radio characters such as The Lone Ranger and Jack
Armstrong, found their way into comic strips.

Western, sport, crime,
and fantasy stories were the main themes throughout the 1930s and provided the
population with a means of escape from daily life. These inexpensive forms of
entertainment had a tremendous impact on people’s lives at that time. Without
these, the depression may have been an even sadder time.

The Silver Age,
between 1938 and 1949, was marked by the growing comic book market. The Big
Little Books decrease in popularity was mainly due to the stiff competition from
the comic books as well as the paper shortages during World War II. Other
companies diminished and only Whitman continued production throughout the war
years, though the books gradually became shorter and shorter in length. From
1950 on, the Modern Age is marked by failed attempts to revive the Big Little
Books and Whitman was eventually taken over by the Western Publishing Company.

The Big Little Books came in with a much bigger boom than they went out
with, and it is no surprise that it is the earliest form of the Big Little Books
that most entice collectors to search for. Because the books were so loved by
their little owners, it is extremely hard to find one in fantastic condition.
However, one cannot deny the magic that these books appear to have on people
today, much as they did for children before.