By comparing translations and retranslations of several children’s books into Hebrew done over a span of 70 years the author tries to find out what linguistic and translational norms prevailed at different periods and what changes occurred in these norms, in a framework of the changing historical, cultural and linguistic situation. In recent years there has been a growing tension between the acceptability of the “commissioners” and that of the “customer” – the child. This study found that recent retranslations tend to lower the high literary style customary in previous translations and comply with up-to-date linguistic norms. This concurs with a tendency to put “readability” as a central issue.