Never Meant for Children: The Odd Consumer-Driven Rise of the Graduation Book

This comes just on the tail end of graduation season, but I’m sure we’ve a couple schools going through the process here and there even now.  And across this great nation, at graduation parties for high schoolers and college grads alike, gifts will be exchanged.  And inevitably some of those gift will be children’s books.  Inspirational graduation-style children’s books.

The graduation book as a genre has fascinated me for years.  Where did it come from?  How did it start?  And precisely at w...