This study deals with the policies and practices of "The Horn Book Magazine" and explores the attitudes and convictions of editors and writers who determine the magazine's content. Moreover, it attempts to assess "The Horn Book" interpretation of the function of literature, in terms of its aesthetic, cultural, educational, and socializing uses. The assumptions about literature apparent in "The Horn Book" have their roots in the personalities and convictions of Bertha Mahoney Miller, the founder and first editor of the magazine; Elinor Whitney Field; Alice M. Jordan; Anne Carroll Moore; and Louise Seaman Bechtel. Review evaluations of children's books, which are a significant part of "The Horn Book," appear to have been made primarily on literary and artistic standards, emphasizing the aesthetic pleasure to be found in books. The magazine, as a major source of literary criticism of children's books, closely follows trends and movements in the criticism of adult literature, although many "Horn Book" critics oppose sociological criticism. Also, though "The Horn Book" is not an education journal, its writers have participated in much of the debate surrounding American education. (Author/LL)