Webster-Doyle Papers hold key to ending bullying

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Jean Cardinale

Established in 2004, the Terrence Webster-Doyle Papers contain materials having to do with bullying prevention, conflict management, peace studies, emotional response, and how psychological conditioning prevents peace and creates conflict, individually and globally. Influenced by Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1968, Webster-Doyle began to teach classes at Sonoma State University in the search for understanding the cause, nature, and structure of conditioning. Webster-Doyle also studied the work of Dr. David Bohm, a physicist who studies the relationship between thought and reality; A. S. Neil, the founder of the Summerhill School, an intentional community in England; and Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World which explored the nature and effect of negative conditioning.

Webster-Doyle is a sixth Dan in Take-Nami-do karate, and utilizes his extensive martial arts experience as a focus for the exploration of the nature of conflict and its ramifications for the individual, schools, society and the world. With his wife Jean, they founded the Atrium Society and its subgroups, Martial Arts for Peace, Youth Peace Literacy Project, and Education for Peace (http://martialartsforpeace.com/index-2.html). His published works usually contain not only a main work but also guides for students, teachers, martial arts instructors, and parents, with worksheets, group and individual activities, with tools to chart progress in conflict resolution.

Webster-Doyle’s books, archives, and audiovisual materials are held by the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. His books are also on permanent display at the International Museum of Peace and Solidarity in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the Commonwealth of Independent States and at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan.

–Terri J. Goldich, Curator, Northeast Children’s Literature Collection

Claudia Rueda wins Nati Per Leggere Award

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Claudia Rueda

Claudia Rueda, a former Billie M. Levy Travel Grant recipient, reports some very good news:

The Italian edition of my book NO (published in English by Groundwood) has been the recipient of this year’s Nati Per Leggere (Born to Read) Award!!! This award aims to support the best editorial production for preschoolers in Italy and to recognize the creativity and commitment to the Born to Read project.

The national programme “Nati per Leggere” is meant to inspire an early interest in books and reading. The project is supported by the Italian Library Association (AIB), the association of pediatricians (ACP) and the child health centre (Centro per la Salute del Bambino, CSB).

Here’s the link to their site http://www.natiperleggere.it/index.php?id=174

Congratulations, Claudia!

NCLC remembers Maurice Sendak

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Jean Cardinale

My favorite memory of Mr. Sendak comes from a dinner at Dean Emeritus Dr. David Woods’ house. Dean Woods had invited a few folks over following Sendak’s visit to UConn to deliver the inaugural Robert Gray Memorial Lecture. Another of the guests was Etienne Delessert, also a well-known children’s illustrator from western Connecticut. They discussed politics.

The NCLC holds original Sendak illustrations from the book he did with Ruth Krauss in 1952, A hole is to dig. It was one of his first major books arranged by Ursula Nordstrom. The NCLC also hold a few illustrations for Somebody else’s nut tree by Krauss, published in 1958.

What a wonderful, scary, brilliant man.

–Terri J. Goldich, Curator

Natalie Babbitt Interviewed on NPR

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Jean Cardinale

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.

Malka Penn Children’s Book Collection on Human Rights

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Jean Cardinale

In 2005, Michele Palmer of Storrs, Connecticut, established the Malka Penn Children’s Book Collection on Human Rights as part of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. The picture books, young adult novels and non-fiction works address issues such as the Holocaust, racism, prejudice, war and conflict. The works below were published in 2010 or were made available in the U.S. for the first time in 2010.Ms. Palmer, who has written several children’s books under the pseudonym Malka Penn, is also a volunteer for the Windham Textile and History Museum.

Chapman, Fern, Is It Night or Day? (New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010).

Ellis, Deborah, No Safe Place. (Toronto : Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2010).

Engle, Margarita, The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba. (New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2010).

Jablonski, Carla, Resistance: Book 1 (New York : First Second, 2010).

Lottridge, Celia, Home is Beyond the Mountains. (Toronto : Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2010).

Molnar, Haya, Under A Red Sky: Memoir of a Childhood in Communist Romania. (New York : Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2010).

Shimko, Bonnie, The Private Thoughts of Amelia E. Rye. (New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010).

Warner, Jody, Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged. (Toronto : Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2010).

Chris Raschka wins 2012 Caldecott Medal!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Jean Cardinale

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!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Jean Cardinale

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!

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

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Jean Cardinale

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

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Jean Cardinale

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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.

Ruth Plumly Thompson 1939 “Oz” Book Donated to NCLC

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Jean Cardinale

Following the death in 1919 of L. Frank Baum, the author of the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson was hired by Baum’s publisher to continue the Oz series. Ms. Thompson of Philadelphia wrote one Oz book a year from 1921 to 1939 when Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz was published by Reilly & Lee. The phrase “The Wizard of Oz” was added to coincide with the release of the movie, The Wizard of Oz, by MGM the same year. The illustrator is John R. Neill, who illustrated many of Baum’s Oz books after Baum and the original illustrator of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, W. W. Denslow, parted ways after a dispute over royalties.

Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz, by Ruth Plumly Thompson

Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz (Chicago: Reilly & Lee, 1939). By Ruth Plumly Thompson, illustrated by John R. Neill.

Neill wrote three Oz books after Thompson resigned from writing the series in 1939. The 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.

–Terri J. Goldich

UConn Library NE Children's Lit Collection

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