Julia Lina Sauer was born April 8, 1891, in Rochester, New York. When she was nine, she happened to witness the fatal shooting of a man on the sidewalk outside her home and she testified at the trial. She attended the
University of Rochester and the
New York State Library School at Albany. Sauer then returned to Rochester, where she was the head of the children's department at the Public Library from 1921 to 1958. Though she lived most of her life in Rochester, Sauer spent many summers in
Little River, Nova Scotia, Canada. That area became the setting for the first of her award-winning books; the second is set off the coast of Nova Scotia. As a librarian, Sauer became involved in the new medium of radio through the School of the Air, broadcasting programs for fifth through eleventh graders directly into schools. She eventually edited
Radio Roads to Reading, a book on radio
book talks for children. Her early work as a children's librarian brought her recognition with the
American Library Association, and in 1939 she was appointed chairman of the Committee on Planning and Equipping Children's Libraries for the ALA. By the early 1940s a debate, at times acrimonious, had developed about whether children's books should be imaginative escapes from reality or reflections of the trials and difficulties of modern life, including the Great Depression and developments leading to World War II. The side supporting fantasy was symbolized by the nightingale, a figure of ethereal beauty from fairy tales. Realists often pointed to the character of Janey Larkin from
Doris Gates' book
Blue Willow, the first realistic American
problem novel for children. The ALA asked Julia Sauer to address the controversy, and in 1941 the
Library Journal published her article "Making the World Safe for the Janey Larkins". In it, Sauer wrote that children should not be protected from the realities of their world. But, she argued, they need both realism and imagination. She finished with an appeal to her fellow librarians: "We need many more books about the Janey Larkins in our literature for children. And when we get them we will need the courage to give them to our children... before a world can be made safe even for nightingales, it must be made safe for the Janey Larkins." Sauer presented the paper "Library Services to Children in a World at War" to the 8th Pan- American Child Congress in Washington, DC, in 1942. Her final children's book appeared in 1954. It tells the adventures of a small boy who checks out
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel so many times that he calls the library ''Mike's House
. At the behest of the Atlantic Monthly'', in 1955 Sauer and two others,
Virginia Haviland and Elizabeth Gross, compiled a list of "50 Outstanding Books Published Since 1940". As well as writing, Sauer spoke throughout her life at colleges, library institutes and national meetings. Julia Sauer died June 26, 1983, in Rochester, New York. Her papers are held at the Rochester public library ==Reception and legacy==