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At noon on a dress-down Friday a few weeks ago, the bright white offices of Simon & Schuster Children's Books were empty. The corridors, lined with colorful books and posters, were deserted. The large conference room, however, was jammed, warm and smelled of sandwiches. The entire staff, about 75 people, from editors and assistants to receptionist, casually attired, had gathered for a brown-bag lunch, to hear Margaret K. McElderry answer questions about a publishing career that spans more than half a century. She began her career by following the adviser's suggestion. After a year at the Carnegie Library School in her hometown, Pittsburgh, Ms. McElderry came directly to the New York Public Library. In retrospect, the library was perfect training for editing children's books, the ones that endure and are read by succeeding generations: ''The Borrowers'' or ''Ginger Pye'' or ''The Dark Is Rising'' or ''The Changeover,'' all of which Ms. McElderry published. During World War II, Ms. McElderry left the library to work in the office of war intelligence in London. On her return to New York, she took over the children's department at Harcourt Brace. The children's book editors of the day -- Ms. McElderry, Ursula Nordstrom at Harper & Row, Elizabeth Reilly at Thomas Y. Crowell, Mae Massie at Viking and others -- worked with great independence. They nurtured artists and writers, building up the backlists of titles that demonstrate the development of talent over decades and continue to bring in revenues.

Margaret McElderry, a long-time figure in the children's literature publishing business, is interviewed. Among other things, she discusses her involvement with IBBY, the impact IBBY has on publishing houses, and trends in publishing.

Margaret K. McElderry, a book editor who employed shrewd intuition, critical acumen and a nurturing way with authors to help shepherd children's literature from a prewar cottage industry to today's billion-dollar business, died on Monday at her home in Manhattan. Ms. McElderry came to be called the grande dame of children's publishing, having transcended the typical anonymity of book editors by riding the crest of the postwar baby boom, helping to provide it with a new breed of engaging, nonpatronizing literature.

* War correspondent Charles Jaco will discuss and sign copies of his new book, \"Live Shot,\" at 7 p.m. Monday at Sarasota News and Books, 1341 Main St. Jaco gained worldwide fame with his reports of SCUD attacks on Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. During his career with NBC, CNN and CBS, he has covered nine wars, many insurrections and disasters and has won dozens of journalism awards. * Sarasota children's author Amy Knapp was thrilled to see her first book, \"Caps and Crowns,\" being read by the youngest cast member on the CBS show \"Judging Amy\" earlier this month.

[Alan Katz], shown here, has won Emmys for his writing for work on \"The Rosie O'Donnell Show\" and Disney's \"Raw Toonage.\" He joined with illustrator/editorial cartoonist David Catrow for the spoofy songbooks, which include \"Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs\" and \"I'm Still Here in the Bathtub: Brand New Silly Dilly Songs.\"

Mr. [Hutton]'s characters are not, however, always painted as convincingly as their surroundings. In the illustration showing their farewell meal together, Beauty and her father react with wooden alarm when Beast abruptly enters to remind them of their harrowing bargain. Such imprecision would undermine anyone's belief in the fantasy's mood; for as Jean Cocteau says: ''Strangeness exists only in precise things.''

Although Mr. [Helme Heine] never formally introduces any of these friends, many seem familiar from some of his previous books. Indeed three books about the adventures of a trio of animal friends - ''The Visitor,'' ''The Racing Cart'' and ''The Alarm Clock'' -have just been reissued in paperback by Atheneum. In ''The Pearl'' the popular West German author and artist seems to have achieved a new ease of expression - the illustrations seem at once more spontaneous and sophisticated.