The Babbitts collaborated to create "The Forty-ninth Magician", a picture book, that he wrote and she illustrated, published by Pantheon Books in 1966. Samuel became too busy to participate but editor Michael di Capua, at Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, encouraged Natalie to continue producing children's books. After writing and illustrating two short books in verse, she turned to children's novels, and her fourth effort in that vein, "Knee-Knock Rise", was awarded a Newbery Honor in 1971.   "The John Newbery Medal". ALSC. ALA. Retrieved February 5, 2013.</ref>