Curator's Corner

Chris Raschka wins 2012 Caldecott Medal!

tgoldich — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:04:42 +0000

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!

tgoldich — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:14:04 +0000

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!

UConn Today recognizes the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection

tgoldich — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:20:22 +0000

http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2012/01/children%E2%80%99s-literature-speaks-to-all-generations/

Nellie and Pinocchio go a-roaming

tgoldich — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:02:28 +0000

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 90^th 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 17^th 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.

Picture Book Manifesto

tgoldich — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:01:52 +0000

Oral Histories added to NCLC’s website

tgoldich — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:25:08 +0000

l-r: Terri J. Goldich, Curator; Billie M. Levy, Donor; Kena Sosa, Researcher. Seated: Mrs. Eva Greenwood.

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 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. Ms. Sosa’s PowerPoint presentation, a requirement of the Levy Travel and Research Grant, is also available from the web site. This was the first grant presentation to leave the audience in tears.

Pet Therapy Dogs to visit CT Children’s Book Fair

tgoldich — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:21:20 +0000

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 the Wilder Award in style (of course)!

tgoldich — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:20:05 +0000

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.

l to r: Suzy Staubach, General Books Manager, UConn Co-op; Tomie dePaola, Wilder Award recipient for 2011; Terri J. Goldich, Curator, Northeast Children's Literature Collection

New James Marshall book dummy donated

tgoldich — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:31:20 +0000

Click to view slideshow.The family 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.

Thanks, NECBA and Scholastic!

tgoldich — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:14:20 +0000

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!

–Terri J. Goldich, Curator