ALA Youth Services Librarians and the CARE-UNESCO Children's Book Fund: Selecting the Right Book for Children in Cold War America, 1950-1958

In 1950, as part of a general U.S. impulse toward post-World War II reconstruction, ALA's Division of Libraries for Children and Young People (DLCYP) joined with the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE) in a collaborative project, the CARE-UNESCO Children's Book Fund, through which librarian-selected American children's books were sent to children overseas. This research traces DLCYP members' involvement in the Book Fund from 1950 to 1958 and the ongoing tensionbetween DLCYP's goal of satisfying children's diverse reading interests and CARE's Cold War agenda of showcasing American political ideals. Surviving records recall the political, cultural, and economic tensions of the 1950s as they impacted the * 'right book'' choices for children overseas.