Dorothy Kunhardt
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Dorothy Kunhardt is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. The selected book was chosen for how precisely it meets children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About Dorothy Kunhardt
Dorothy Kunhardt (1901–1979) wrote Pat the Bunny, published by Simon and Schuster in 1940. Her family's archive notes she published more than forty books in three decades, and that Pat the Bunny is still in print and has sold nearly ten million copies.
She wrote it first for her youngest child, Edith, rather than for publication. Later in life she took up a second career as a scholar of Abraham Lincoln.
Also by this author: Pat the Cat · Tickle the Pig
Official legacy site: www.gordonparksfoundation.org/archives/dorothy-kunhardt
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.