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The new NCLC blog will replace this page to provide the latest news. Blog entries will also appear on the NCLC's Facebook page. Check often and let the curator hear from you.

Natalie Babbitt interviewed on NPR

Natalie Babbitt was interviewed yesterday by NPR host Rachel Martin to talk about Natalie's new book "The Moon over High Street" published by Michael diCapua Books. Hear the interview and read the transcript at http://www.npr.org/2012/03/18/148858044/the-moon-childrens-book-tackles-lifelong-themes?sc=emaf.

Chris Raschka Wins the 2012 Caldecott Medal!

Congratulations to Chris Raschka for winning the 2012 Caldecott Medal for A Ball for Daisy, a wordless book about a little dog whose favorite possession is accidentally destroyed.  When interviewed on NPR, Raschka tells Robert Siegel of All Things Considered that creating the book was “certainly a challenge. It went through many, many variations.”  This is Raschka’s second Caldecott Medal; his first was for Hello, Goodbye Window in 2006 and in 1994 he received a Caldecott Honor  for his Yo! Yes?  Raschka appeared at the 2008 Connecticut Children’s Book Fair and we hope to see him again soon.  Congratulations, Chris!

Katie Davis, Grace Lin Win 2012 SLJ Trailee Awards!

Many congratulations to NCLC donor and Connecticut Children's Book Fair favorite, Katie Davis, for her well-deserved School Library Journal Trailee Award given annually at ALA for the video trailers that best promote books for children and teens.  “Book trailers raise awareness about the big power of little books to reach readers,” said Davis after learning that she had won. Davis, who also illustrated the book that she co-authored with her husband Jerry Davis, thanked “all those nice little chickens (and people!) who voted” for her entry. In the category of Publisher/Author Created for Elementary Readers , the trailer tells the story of Little Chicken’s Big Day, when Little Chicken goes with his mother to do errands and gets lost.  The School Library Journal web site has more information about the Trailee Awards including winners in other categories, such as Grace Lin’s Award in the Student Created for Elementary Readers category for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown, 2009; Trailer by the members of the Bookie Woogie Book Blog).  Grace Lin appeared at the 2011 Connecticut Children’s Book Fair and we hope to see her again soon.  Congratulations, Katie and Grace!

Nellie and Pinocchio go a-roaming

The Wenham Museum in Wenham, Massachusetts is borrowing artifacts, sketches, and illustrations from the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection for their upcoming exhibit Picture This: 90 Years of Storybook Art (February 3- May 6, 2012). Classic toy stories will come to life through more than 50 original illustrations, vintage toys, and antique books in a colorful display that is engaging for all ages. In the gallery visitors will be able to make their own picture book to take away after their visit, dress in costume to become part of the story, and use story cubes to create their own picture stories all while enjoying the illustrations and reading classics of children’s literature.

The NCLC is lending two artifacts from Nellie, a cat on her own, written and illustrated by Natalie Babbitt and published in 1989 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Ms. Babbitt was born in 1932 in Dayton, OH, the daughter of Ralph Zane and Genevieve (Converse) Moore. She received her B.A. from Smith College in 1954. That same year she married Samuel Fisher Babbitt, who also collaborated with her on her first book, The 49th Magician.

The Babbitt Papers hold the manuscripts, preliminary sketches, finished artwork and models for this and many other Babbitt titles, including her most famous work, the multiple award-winning Tuck Everlasting. Seven paintings and two sketches by Ms. Babbitt will accompany Nellie and her hat to Wenham. To keep Nellie company, eight collages by Ed Young will be featured in the Wenham show as well. These collages are the finished works of art for his Pinocchio, published in 1996 by Philomel. Mr. Young, a children’s book author/illustrator and winner of many awards was born in Tientsin, China and raised in Shanghai and Hong Kong, where he was interested in drawing and storytelling from an early age. He moved to the U.S. in 1951 to study architecture but quickly changed his focus to art. Mr. Young has illustrated over eighty books, many of which he also wrote.

The mission of the Wenham Museum is to protect, preserve, and interpret the history and culture of Boston’s North Shore, domestic life, and the artifacts of childhood. The Museum was established in 1922, making 2012 its 90th anniversary. It began as an historic house museum, but the first donor, Elizabeth Richards Horton – who also happened to be the last child to grow up in the house – donated nearly 1000 dolls to the museum that had been her childhood home, thus establishing the Wenham Museum as one of the premier museums of dolls, toys, and the artifacts of childhood from the 17th century to the present. Since then the museum has maintained a tradition of celebrating childhood and domestic life through its exhibitions of artifacts that have been a part of childhood for the past 400 years, including children’s books, toys and dolls of all kinds, electric trains, and textiles and objects of domestic life.

Oral Histories added to NCLC's site

In April, 2011, Ms. Kena Sosa became the 4th recipient of a Billie M. Levy Travel and Research Grant. Her topic of research is the experience of Jewish children who escaped Nazi persecution to England and other countries by means of the Kindertransport program. This link (or click on Oral Histories in the left navigation bar) goes to a full description and access to the transcripts of two oral histories conducted with women who were transported to England as children in the Kindertransport program.

We've added some great activities for the kids (and their grownups, too) to the Connecticut Children's Book Fair this year. On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 12-13 from 10-12, Paws 4 Books in Mansfield will bring their pet therapy dogs for kids to read to. Each day from 2-4, Tails of Joy will bring their doggies for a visit, too.

Tomie dePaola celebrates Wilder Award in style (of course!)

Suzy Staubach and I were invited to attend a lovely brunch at Tomie’s house to celebrate his being awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, given by the American Library Association which “…“honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”  The dePaola house is absolutely charming, with room after room where wonderful sculptures, artwork, toys, candles, antiques, and dePaola creations abound.  One piece of artwork in particular caught my eye:  a pencil and ink drawing of Tomie as a Saint, with a drink in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, surrounded by children holding their hands out in begging posture.  Trina Schart Hyman, one of Tomie’s dear friends, was working on the drawing when she left for the hospice care where she later passed away.  The drawing was still on her drawing table.  She didn’t have time to ink in the entire piece but she did get the drink glass done!

Check out Suzy’s blog at www.willowtreepottery.us/Willow_Tree_Pottery/BiblioPotter/Entries/2011/8/1_Tomie_dePaola_Pot_Collector.html and Elizabeth Bluemle’s post with lots of photos at http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/shelftalker/.
Tomie’s home is surrounded by elegant gardens, with benches in strategic places to best view the grounds.  There is a small hidden garden outside of a sliding glass door and a very inviting swimming pool.  Almost heaven, New Hampshire.

Salley Mavor at CT Children's Book Fair

Salley Mavor, award-winning fabric artist from Woods Hole, will appear at the 2011 CT Children's Book Fair and will exhibit works from her Pocketful of Posies (Dodd Center gallery, mid-October through December). This amazing book won the 2011 Boston Globe Horn Book Award and the 2011 Golden Kite Award. Congratulations, Salley!

For a short film about Salley and her work, go the new film on vimeo at http://vimeo.com/25766618.

The family (Genevieve Athens and brothers) of the late Coleen Salley have donated James Marshall’s book dummy for his “The Cut-ups cut loose” to the NCLC. The charming, 32-page dummy is accompanied by a letter from Mr. Marshall to Ms. Salley with a note about “our little book.” The dummy is black and white with some color on the title page. The book was published in 1987 by Viking Kestrel and is dedicated to Ms. Salley. This piece is the only item in the Marshall Papers for this title.

Thank you, Salley Family, for this important addition to the NCLC.

NECBA holds conference at Dodd Center on June 15, 2011

Thanks, Nan Sorensen, Scholastic, and the rest of the New England Children's Booksellers for the donation of books by the wonderful authors at your conference on June 15.  It was fun to give tours to such knowledgeable and engaged listeners.  And your speakers were delightful:  M.T. Anderson, Nan Rossiter, Joyce Baskin, Angela DiTerlizzi, and all the rest of the stellar lineup.  I had the pleasure of awarding Matt Collins the CT Book Award for Children's Illustration last year at the CT Center for the Book's celebration so it was great to see him again.  What a talented group of folks you are!

Inaugural Connecticut Book Festival Gets Great Review!

In addition to lovely comments from our presenters, exhibitors, and attendees, the Windsor Patch posted this great review of the first ever Connecticut Book Festival.  Many thanks go to everyone involved,  especially to the wonderful authors and  presenters, volunteers and workers, food vendors, exhibitors, performers, therapy dogs and their friends, and of course the attendees who came out to enjoy the Festival.  Special thanks go to Bill Thomson for judging our Sidewalk Chalk contest and generously providing signed posters to loads of kids (some bigger than others), and for handing out four copies of his book Chalk to contest winners.  The Mystic Paper Beasts were also a hit with children of all ages. See more photos at the NCLC's blog.

The countdown is on for the CT Book Festival this weekend! The weather will be great, there are lots of wonderful authors and panels to hear, there will be tons of books for sale and all sorts of stuff for kids to do, too. See you at Book Fest!

Neill wrote three Oz books after Thompson resigned from writing the series in 1939. This story contains the original characters, Dorothy Gale, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion and of course the Wizard of Oz. Jellia Jam (“Jamb” in the original Baum) is the Wizard’s “pretty little serving maid” who does not appear in the movie version. The Soldier with Green Whiskers and Nick Chopper join everyone for a dinner party at the Wizard’s home so the Wizard can show off his new inventions, two Ozoplanes named Ozpril and Oztober. The Soldier, Tin Woodman, and Jellia board the Oztober and through the Soldier’s bad luck, take off through the roof on a long adventure.

20th Connecticut Children's Book Fair news flash

Tomie dePaola will be joining us again for the 20th CT Children's Book Fair! His newest book, Strega Nona's Gift, will be out from G.P. Putnam's Sons in time for the Fair on Nov. 12-13, 2011. Welcome back, Tomie!

Major award winners at 2011 ALA

Congratulations to these NCLC donors for their recent awards: Mo Willems won a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book Award for "We are in a book!" and Weston Woods won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's video for "The Curious Garden" written and illustrated by Peter Brown. Congratulations to all!

Announcing a new digital project

A new project to digitize TV interviews by Billie Levy featuring authors, illustrators, editors, and collectors in the field of children's literature is now available . They are from the "Children's Books: Their Creators and Collectors" series filmed at WHC-TV. Go to http://www.lib.uconn.edu/services/video/streams.php and scroll down, or go the web page at http://www.lib.uconn.edu/services/video/levy.php.

This project was made possible by the generosity of Susan Aller of West Hartford, in honor of our MIss Billie. The project was also made possible by West Hartford Community Television. Ms. Aller is the author of more than a dozen biographies for young people, including the stories of J. M. Barrie, Florence Nightingale, George Eastman, Louisa May Alcott, and Mary Jemison.  She has worked as a magazine editor in New York City, and her essays on a variety of topics have appeared in The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and other publications.  Ms. Aller is a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and lived for extended periods in Spain and France, before coming to Connecticut in 1979.   As a collector of antique children’s books, she has been an active supporter of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.  She participates weekly in a long-standing writers’ group and is a member of the Saturday Morning Club of Hartford, a women’s writing group founded in 1876. Ms. Aller is the mother of two married sons and has six grandchildren.

Tomie dePaola wins 2011 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award!

The Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. For complete information, go to the home page for the Wilder prize. Now a resident of New London, New Hampshire, Tomie was born in Meriden, CT, and established his Papers with the NCLC in 1998. The finding aid for his Papers describes the extensive holdings of illustrations, sketchbooks, paintings, ornaments and other marketing items held in the NCLC.

Congratulations, Tomie! Very well deserved!

Ed Young adds to NCLC

Ed Young, a children’s book author/illustrator and winner of many prestigious awards including a Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po:  a Red Riding-Hood Story from China, two Caldecott Honor Awards, and two nominations for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, has added to his Papers held in the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection.  Mr. Young was born in Tientsin, China and raised in Shanghai and Hong Kong, where he was interested in drawing and storytelling from an early age.  He moved to the U.S. in 1951 to study architecture but quickly changed his focus to art.  Mr. Young has illustrated over eighty books, many of which he also wrote. 

The 19 beautiful collage illustrations for his 2010 book, Moon Bear, written by Brenda Z. Guiberson and published by Henry Holt, are new to the NCLC and were deposited following his recent appearance at the 19th Annual Connecticut Children’s Book Fair.  Moon Bear is the story of one moon bear, or Asiatic black bear, as she goes through the annual cycle of hibernation, awakening, foraging, and procreation.   In the author’s note, Ms. Guiberson describes the tragic plight of thousands of Asiatic black bears who are imprisoned in tiny cages on bear farms throughout Asia.  For over 3,000 years bears were hunted in Asia for their gall bladders and bile, thought to cure disease.  Laws enacted in the 1980′s took steps to ban bear hunting but wild bears are still caught and farmed.  

Several organizations are working to create sanctuaries where sick bears can be treated and rehabilitated, such as Animals Asia Moon Bear Rescue Center in China.  For more information, go to http://www.animalsasia.org.  A portion of the proceeds of each book is donated to this worthwhile organization devoted to ending animal cruelty and restoring respect for animals throughout Asia.  Mr. Young says in his dedication:  “To Integrity, ‘the Spiritual Bear,’ so that we may reclaim green humanity lost to unharnessed ‘wants’ disguised as our needs.”

The Book Fair is coming, the Book Fair is coming!

November 13-14, 2010, on the Storrs Campus of the University of Connecticut at the Rome Ballroom

The Connecticut Children's Book Fair is two days of fun for the whole family and features presentations and book signings by well known authors and illustrators. We also have storytelling, crafts, holiday shopping, balloon animals on Saturday and a puppet show, City of Hamburgers, on Sunday! Maisy, Danny the Dinosaur, Biscuit, and of course Clifford the Big Red will be visiting throughout the Book Fair.

Go to the Book Fair's web site for the schedule of presentations and signings!

See you at the Fair!

The Dodd Research Center is one of the sponsors of the first state-wide book festival, to be held at UConn's Greater Hartford campus on May 21-22, 2011.  In addition to the Dodd Center and UConn, other sponsors include the CT Center for the Book at the Hartford Public Library, the UConn Co-op, the CT Library Association, CT Humanities Council, CT State Library, and the CT Commission on Culture and Tourism.  The Honorary Chair of the Festival is Wally Lamb, award-winning author of She's come undone, I know this much is true, and The hour I first believed, among other fiction and non-fiction works.  Mr. Lamb will be the featured speaker at a Gala Reception on November 20, 2010 at the Town and County Club in Hartford and the public is welcome to attend.  For tickets and other information, please go to the Festival's web page at http://ctbookfestival.org/ or send an email to ctbookfestival@gmail.org.    

Other authors appearing at the Festival will include Dick Allen, Connecticut's award-winning Poet Laureate for 2010-2015; Ronald L. Mallett, a physics professor at UConn and author of Time traveler; Diane Smith, an Emmy Award-winning TV journalist and author of six books based in Connecticut, and many others listed on the Festival's web site.  The Festival will bring together writers of books for adults and teens and activities will include readings, signings, storytelling and other presentations, great food offered by area restaurants, and an activity tent for kids aged 3-12.  Watch the web site for the schedule of events.   See you at the Fair!

Pegi Deitz Shea wins CT Book Award!

Congratulations to Pegi Deitz Shea, NCLC donor, for winning the CT Book Award for Children’s Author for Noah Webster: Weaver of Words. Published by Calkins Creek and beautifully illustrated by Monica Vachula, Noah Webster tells the story of “a mighty patriot with a pen.” Congratulations, Pegi!

The 19th Annual Connecticut Children’s Book Fair needs your help!

Our funders are struggling through this recession just like everyone else. We’re very grateful to our donors who have been able to help but with less than three months to go before the Book Fair, we are still about $15,000 short. We’ve reached out to the local business community with some success but not enough to close the gap. Our large funders are providing a fraction of their traditional donations, if anything at all. As you may know, the Book Fair is an independent project of the UConn Coop and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and receives no funding from the University or the Libraries. So in these challenging times, if you can help the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair in any amount, please go to http://bookfair.uconn.edu/support.htm or send a check made out to the University of Connecticut Foundation with “CT Children’s Book Fair” in the memo line to Terri J. Goldich, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, 405 Babbidge Road, Storrs, CT 06269-1205. Very sincere thanks for any help you can give!

Anita Riggio's new musical Brindlebeast!

Congratulations to Anita Riggio! This wonderful member of our NCLC family of donors has collaborated with composer Larry Farrow and other Broadway professionials to create a new musical based on her book Brindlebeast.  We have the manuscript materials for the book in the NCLC.  For more information, go to http://www.brindlebeastmusical.com/Home.html.

Bill Thomson establishes his collection

Bill Thomson, of Southington, CT, has established his papers here! Bill is the illustrator for Carol Nevius' works Building with Dad, Karate Hour, and Baseball Hour. His newest work, Chalk, is a wordless book filled with elegant, highly detailed illustrations of a wonderful day in the park. Welcome to the NCLC family, Bill!

Simmons Class visits NCLC on 5/27/2010

Anita Silvey brought her History of Children's Book Publishing class to visit the NCLC yesterday (5/27/2010) and a good time was had by all.  They had requested to see materials from James Marshall, Natalie Babbitt, Oliver Butterworth, Tomie dePaola, Ruth Krauss, Crockett Johnson, Barbara Cooney, Eleanor Estes, Richard Scarry, and Ed Young, in addition to, as Anita put it, "...anything else you think shows the collection well."  Thanks, Anita, for the visit and hopefully your students get some good ideas for research.  

UConn Graduate Student Catherine McKenna Wins Children’s Literature Association Award for Research based on Natalie Babbitt Papers at Archives & Special Collections, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center

Dr. Katharine Capshaw Smith, professor in the English Department at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, announced on March 25, 2010, that a submission from MA student Catherine McKenna was named the runner up for the 2010 Graduate Student Essay Award sponsored by the Children's Literature Association. This is an international competition for graduate students in English. Her paper is entitled "The Magical and Mundane: Mother Goose and the 'Elfin Music' of Tuck Everlasting" and was based on research in the Natalie Babbitt Papers housed in Archives & Special Collections. Congratulations to Catherine!

Early Children's Literature Collection donated by ASD Archivist Gary Wait

A " treasure trove" of children’s literature from the 19th century has been donated to the Northeast Children's Literature Collection by Gary E. Wait, archivist at the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford. These approximately 150 books and serials are a very welcome addition to the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection and are a rich resource for any researcher in early American children’s literature, culture, education, history, and society. The donation has been made in honor of Billie M. Levy, Susan Bivin Aller, and LaVerne Mahoney, all members of the local chapter of the ABCs, or American Collectors of Children’s Literature. The full article by Suzanne Zack appears in the April/May 2010 issue of University of Connecticut Libraries, page. 3.

New Class Guide for Children's Literature

A new guide is available for the Northeast Children's Literature Collection. This guide describes what the NCLC is and how it is used, how to find books and articles, provides links to selected important collections of children's literature around the country and other pertinent web sites, provides a list of reference works housed in the Dodd Center and next door in the Babbidge Library, and has links to the Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery service. You may also provide comments in each section. Suggestions for additions, updates, etc., are welcome.

Another award for Wendell Minor!

On May 20th, Wendell Minor will be awarded the 2nd NCLC Distinguished Service Award. This award is in celebration of Wendell's service to the state and the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. The 1st NCLC Distinguished Service Award was given to Tomie dePaola in 2007. Congratulations again to Wendell!

Visitors to NCLC

Laurie Swartwout, Coordinator for the Instructional Materials Center at Cardinal Stritch University in Miwaukee, will be touring

the NCLC on May 7, 2010. Cardinal Stritch University offers several children's literature courses, including Children's theater

and Integrating children's literature across curricula. Welcome, Laurie!

Wendell Minor to be awarded honorary degree

Archives & Special Collections hosts Open House

On April 16, 2010, the staff of Archives & Special Collections held our second Open House to showcase archival materials in University archives, natural history, children's literature, railroad history, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian studies, the alternative press, human rights, and other curatorial areas.  Our reproduction services were highlighted as well as our extensive multimedia collections.  The new search feature on our web site that allows keyword searching across all finding aids was demonstrated as well as how to access photographs, maps, and other digital collections.  Sam Charters (in the blue shirt below) delighted the audience by playing the Victrola he donated for the Samuel and Ann Charters Multimedia Room and discussing the music of the era. Marisol Ramos is shown with graduate student Sergio Mobilia, and Laura Smith speaks to two graduate students in Psychology about her collections. For a copy of the handout informing our guests about our collections and services, click here.

A new search tool for manuscript collections

It is now possible to search across all of the finding aids using XTF. A search box has been added to the Collections page and will search for your keyword(s) in all of the processed manuscript collections. Go to http://nclc.uconn.edu/Collections/index.htm and try it out.

The rich resources of the University of Connecticut Libraries’ Archives & Special Collections, which encompass holdings as diverse as human rights, the alternative press, 20 th century American poets and authors, and Connecticut’s history, are now easier than ever to discover online. A new online tool enables users to search, either by key word or subject, the inventories and detailed descriptions of over 600 collections that are housed in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.

For example, a search of the word “ecology,” returns the papers of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group, the first state-based consumer interest group created in 1971 by Ralph Nader, the poem, “The Ecology of the Soul,” by Joel Oppenheimer, a poet affiliated with the experimental Black Mountain College, as well and the papers of Walter Landauer, a professor in animal genetics at UConn’s Experiment Station, best known for his research on chickens. Archives & Special Collections includes manuscripts, organizational records, family papers, early printed books, broadsides, photographs, artists books, audio visual materials, the University Archives, and more. The inventories reveal the strength and variety of its holdings which extend to railroad history, Connecticut business, labor and industry, ethnic heritage, immigration, politics, and social movements throughout the world.

Raab Associates Prizes for Illustration and Writing 2009 Press Release

The Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, the School of Fine Arts and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are proud to announce that 2009 constitutes the eleventh anniversary of the Raab Associates Prize for Illustration and the first annual Raab Associates Prize for Writing. The Illustration Prize began in 1999, initiated by a 1980 University of Connecticut Alumna, Susan Salzman Raab. Ms. Raab’s experience in the retail book business led her to found with her husband David their own children's book marketing agency, Raab Associates, based in Chappaqua, New York. Ms. Raab approached the curator of the Northeast Children's Literature Collection at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center with the idea of creating a contest open to UConn students of art to bring attention to the field of children's book illustration as well to e ncourage students interested in the arts and publishing. A cooperative agreement was developed with School of Fine Arts Professor Cora Lynn Deibler, who assigns an entry for the contest as part of her fall curriculum. Each year the students produce diverse and wonderful works of art. The prizes are awarded by Ms. Raab at the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair. In addition to a cash award, the winners receive a year's membership in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators courtesy of SCBWI President Stephen Mooser. Beginning in 2009, Ms. Raab and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences introduced the Raab Associates Prize for Writing, open to students at the University interested in creative writing. For more information on either prize please go to http://bookfair.uconn.edu/raabprize/index.html or contact the curator at 860.486.3646 or terri.goldich@uconn.edu . For a PDF version of all of the submissions, click here. NOTE: All images are the property of the artists. Unauthorized reproduction is not allowed by any means, electronic or other, without express written permission of the copyright owners.

"A Celebration of Anita Riggio"

The Papers of Anita Riggio will be featured in the Dodd Center gallery from October 19 to December 30, 2009. This is the inaugural exhibit in the Roger L. Crossgrove Exhibit Series.

Malka Penn Children’s Book Collection on Human Rights 2008

In 2005, Michele Palmer of Storrs, Connecticut, established the Malka Penn Children’s Book Collection on Human Rightsas part of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. Each year, Ms. Palmer donates picture books, young adult novels and non-fiction works published in the previous year that address issues such as the Holocaust, racism and prejudice, war, and survival.  The books this year have some themes in common, such as music and its curative powers in the face of conflict, and the presentation of the true story, whether through letters and photos or the memories of a young girl imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII.  

Silent music : a story of Baghdad, by James Rumford (New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2008).

The works on exhibit in the John McDonald Reading Room until November 30, 2009, represent twelve of the best books for 2008 chosen by Ms. Palmer, Terri J. Goldich, curator for the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, and Victoria Pryke, Human Rights Intern for Fall 2009.

Malka Penn Children's Book Collection on Human Rights 2008

*starred items = Best for 2008

Adler, David A., Don't Talk to Me about the War (New York : Viking, 2008).

Alma, Ann, Brave Deeds: How One Family Saved Many from the Nazis (Toronto : Groundwood Books, 2008).

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell, the Boy Who Dared: A Novel Based on the True Story of a Hitler Youth (New York : Scholastic Press, 2008).

*Bunting, Eve, Walking to School (New York : Clarion Books, 2008). Illustrated by Michael Dooling.

*Capaldi, Gina, a Boy Named Beckoning: The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero (Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, 2008).

Clinton, Catherine, Phillis’s Big Test ( Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2008). Illustrated by Sean Qualls.

Coleman, Evelyn, Freedom Train (New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008).

*Dray, Philip, Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist (Atlanta, Ga. : Peachtree Publishers, 2008). Illustrated by Stephen Alcorn.

*Engle, Margarita, the Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom (New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2008).

Faulkner, Matt, A Taste of Colored Water (New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2008).

Kidd, Ronald, On Beale Street (New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2008).

*Layson, Annelex Hofstra, with Herman J. Viola, Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp During World War II ( Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, 2008).

LeZotte, Anne Clare, T4: A Novel in Verse (Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008).

*Lord, Michelle, A Song for Cambodia (New York : Lee & Low, 2008). Illustrated by Shino Arihara.

McClafferty, Carla Killough, In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry (New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008).

Michelson, Richard, As Good as Anybody:Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March toward Freedom (New York : A.A. Knopf, 2008). Illustrated by Raul Colón.

*Morpurgo, Michael, The Mozart Question ( Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2008 (1 st U.S. edition)). Illustrated by Michael Foreman.

Negron, Ray, the Greatest Story Never Told: The Babe and Jackie ( New York : Collins, 2008). Illustrated by Laura Seeley.

Rinaldi, Ann, the Letter Writer (Orlando, Fla. : Harcourt, 2008).

*Rumford, James, Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad (New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2008).

Shapiro, Eda & Rick Kardonne, Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank (J erusalem [u.a.] : Gefen Publ., 2008).

Shulevitz, Uri, How I Learned Geography ( New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008).

*Slier, Deborah and Ian Shine, Hidden Letters ( New York : Star Bright Books, 2008). Translated by Marion van Binsbergen-Pritchard.

*Swain, Gwenyth, Riding to Washington ( Chelsea, MI : Sleeping Bear Press, 2008). Illustrated by David Geister.

*Tafolla, Carmen & Sharyll Teneyuca, That's Not Fair! Emma Tenayuca's struggle for justice (San Antonio, TX : Wings Press, 2008). Illustrated by Terry Ybáñez .

*Vander Zee, Ruth, Always with You ( Grand Rapids MI : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008 ). Illustrated by Ronald Himler.

Tedd Arnold adds to NCLC

One of the aims of the Archives is to add collections that enable us to fulfill our mission of teaching, research and service. The Connecticut Children’s Book Fair gives us the opportunity to make our repository, services, and collections known to the authors and illustrators who participate in the Fair each November. At the recent 18 th annual Fair, one of our guests was Tedd Arnold, author and illustrator of the popular Fly Guy and Green Wilma series of children’s books. In 2008 Mr. Arnold won the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery in the Young Adult category for Rat Life, his first novel.

Each of the presenters at the Fair is invited to talk about their experiences, or how they approach their work, or whatever strikes their fancy. Illustrators often draw as part of their presentations and the on-the-spot creations become part of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. Mr. Arnold created two drawings, one of Fly Guy and another of Green Wilma.

© 2009 Tedd Arnold. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any kind is prohibited.