# Is "Smoky Night" by Eve Bunting (illus. David Diaz) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Smoky Night by Eve Bunting (illus. David Diaz) (Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994) is identified by: First printing is identified by Harcourt's letter line ending in A (not a number line); Harcourt Brace & Company imprint (San Diego); Diaz acrylic-and-collage illustrations on glossy laminated pictorial boards. The US Harcourt Brace 1994 edition is the true first; it won the 1995 Caldecott Medal, so the first-printing jacket predates the medal.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing is identified by Harcourt's letter line ending in A (not a number line)
- Harcourt Brace & Company imprint (San Diego)
- Diaz acrylic-and-collage illustrations on glossy laminated pictorial boards
- True first jacket has no Caldecott seal
- Publisher imprint reads Harcourt Brace & Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Eve Bunting (illus. David Diaz) |
| Publisher | Harcourt Brace & Company |
| Year | 1994 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | First printing is identified by Harcourt's letter line ending in A (not a number line) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing is identified by Harcourt's letter line ending in A (not a number line); Harcourt Brace & Company imprint (San Diego); Diaz acrylic-and-collage illustrations on glossy laminated pictorial boards. True first jacket has no Caldecott seal.

## Is this the true first?
The US Harcourt Brace 1994 edition is the true first; it won the 1995 Caldecott Medal, so the first-printing jacket predates the medal. A second printing in the same year exists with the letter line ending in B.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings add the Caldecott seal; the same-year second printing ends in B; book-club editions are unpriced.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Smoky Night* by Eve Bunting (illus. David Diaz) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/smoky-night
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.