You Can Still Attend “Creating Children’s Books,” the October 2014 Symposium at UPenn’s Kislak Center!

kislak flier croppedIf you are interested in the modern American picture book, but weren’t able to make it down to the Kislak Center in the University of Pennsylvania’s Van Pelt Library on October 18-19 for the “Creating Children’s Books” symposium, it’s possible to watch the videos of the four lively Saturday sessions. Here is a who’s who of the program (the link to the session follows the names of the panelists):

Session 1: “Creating Children’s Books: Authors and Illustrators”

Moderator

Andrea Immel, Curator, Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library

Panelists

Harry Bliss, Children’s book illustrator and cartoonist http://www.harrybliss.com

Richard Egielski, Children’s book author and illustrator http://www.richardegielski.com

Matt Phelan, Children’s book author and illustrator http://www.mattphelan.com

Robert Sabuda, Children’s book author, illustrator, and pop-up artist http://www.robertsabuda.com

For the video recording of session 1: Click here

Session 2: “The Role of Collaboration: Publishers and Agents”

Moderator

Lynne Farrington, Curator of Printed Books, Kislak Center, University of Pennsylvania Van-Pelt Library

Panelists

Wesley Adams, Executive Editor, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, McMillan Children’s Publishing Group

Lily Malcolm, Executive Art Director & Associate Published, Dial Books for Young Readers

Holly McGhee, Creative Director, Pippin Properties, Inc. http://www.pippinproperties.com

For the video recording of session 2: Click here

Session 3: “Diversity in Children’s Books”

Moderator

Ebony Thomas, University Pennsylvania School of Education

Panelists

Jerry Pinkney, Children’s book author and illustrator www.jerrypinkneystudio.com

Deborah  Taylor, Coordinator, School and Student Services, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore

For the video recording of session 3: Click here

Session 4: “The Future of Children’s Books”

Moderator

Leonard Marcus, Children’s book historian, author, and critic

Panelists

Lauri Hornik, President and Publisher Dial Books for Young Readers

Judy Schachner, Children’s book author and illustrator www.judithbyronschachner.com

Laurent Linn, Art Director, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

For the video recording of session 4: Click here

 

 

A Closer Look at Cotsen’s Collection: Audio Interviews with Curator Andrea Immel by Byrd Pinkerton

The text below is adapted from Byrd Pinkerton’s WPRB blog posting and links to the audio interviews that Byrd conducted with Andrea Immel, Cotsen Curator, in June and July, 2013, with additional photographs taken by Byrd of the items discussed. (Byrd Pinkerton ’15 is a German major who works for WPRB, the Princeton student-run radio station.) A Closer Look at Cotsen’s Collection: Audio Interviews with Cotsen’s Curator by Byrd Pinkerton

It’s easy to experience the Cotsen Gallery, with its giant indoor tree and little cottage. But behind the gallery’s glass wall, there are thousands of books–some tiny, some massive, some gilt or marbled. That’s just a fraction of the collection, since more books (and dolls and lantern slides and board games and toy theaters…) are hiding out elsewhere in the vaults of Firestone.

And though they can’t be climbed on or played with in quite the same way as the Gallery furniture is, these treasures are accessible too. This summer, Princeton student and Cotsen staffer Byrd Pinkerton began a series of radio stories on different objects from the Cotsen Collection, which are now posted on Princeton’s WPRB Station blog.

In each piece, she talks to Cotsen Curator, Andrea Immel about an item, its history, what we do or don’t know about it, and why it might be interesting to researchers. The audio is complemented with text and photographs, but listeners can also page the items themselves and enjoy them in the reading room.

Paper People in the Cotsen Library

Paper dolls at a war conference ("The Paper People")

Paper dolls at a war conference
(“The Paper People”)

Taken literally, the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ usually applies to your average book in a bookstore. It also applies, however, to rare books.

When I first decided to highlight pieces of Cotsen Library’s rare book collection for this series, I was eager to talk about some of the showier items the collection has to offer-Queen Elizabeth’s Latin grammar book, the Beatrix Potter original letters or elegant Spanish toy theaters from the 1930s.

Instead, Andrea and I decided to begin with The Paper People an unassuming text, printed and cloth-bound in the 1800s, and see what the information that can be gleaned from the contents, the cover, the catalogue of advertisements, and even the end-papers.

Hear the audio interview, with illustrations, on WPRB blog site.

Jeu de Cavagnole

French game "Jeu de Cavagnole" inside its box

French game “Jeu de Cavagnole” inside its box. [Paris : Aufrère, between 1770 and 1780] (Cotsen)

I’m not a fan of bingo. I would go so far as to say that I strongly dislike it. But even I was delighted to play with this 18th century pre-cursor to the game, the French Jeu de Cavagnole.

During our interview, Andrea and I walked through the complicated apparatus of the game, all kinds of ivory spindles, cages and beads with scrolls…

One of the biggest differences between this game and your average bingo experience is the game board.  Jeu de Cavagnole decorations have nothing to do with the gameplay at all. They’re just conversation pieces, designed to move the experience beyond simple gambling.

Hear the audio interview, with illustrations, on WPRB blog site.

A is for Alphabet

Panorama cylinder strip

Panorama cylinder strip. Panorama of the Letters of the Alphabet. [England?: between 1820]. (Cotsen 26983)

Once we figure out that LMNO isn’t all one letter and S, C and K stop seeming quite so redundant and confusing, we generally don’t spent a lot of time learning the alphabet.

Still, whether we’re thinking about it or not, there’s a new line of alphabet teaching tools for every generation of kids: alphabet puzzles, alphabet blocks, songs and poems and books with associative word pictures.

This week, my conversation with Andrea was all about alphabets throughout the ages. While we’re probably not going to learn a whole about the alphabet itself from these games and books, it turns out that they can tell us a lot about us: the most common parts of our day-to-day, the moral values we want to pass down to our children, even our sense of humor.

Hear the audio interview, with illustrations, on WPRB blog site.