Leonard S. Marcus
Where: Standish Room, Third floor Science Library, University at Albany, SUNY
When: October 23, 2008, 4:00 PM
Leonard Marcus, one of the foremost authorities on the history of children’s literature, will discuss and sign his new book, Minders of Make-Believe (2008, Houghton Mifflin), an animated first-time history of the visionary editors, authors, librarians, booksellers, and others whose passion for books has transformed American childhood and American culture.
What should children read? Marcus tackles this three-hundred-year-old question that sparked the creation of a rambunctious children’s book publishing scene in Colonial times. And it’s the urgent issue that went on to fuel the transformation of twentieth-century children’s book publishing from a genteel backwater to big business. Marcus delivers a provocative look at the fierce turf wars fought among pioneering editors, progressive educators, and librarians - most of them women - throughout the twentieth century. His story of the emergence and growth of the major publishing houses - and of the distinctive literature for the young they shaped - gains extraordinary depth through the author’s path-finding research and in-depth interviews with dozens of editors, artists, and other key publishing figures whose careers go back to the 1930s.
Free and open to the public. Seating is limited. RSVP to: Brian Keough, at bkeough@albany.edu or 518-437-3931
She worked on the art and editorial staff of the State Lion and served as editor-in-chief of The Statesman. Her sketches of mice, lions and other illustrations can be seen in the pages of these publications which are preserved at the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives. These early illustrations provide a strong indication of Brown’s future abilities as an illustrator and author, a career that includes being honored as the only three-time Caldecott Medal winner and six-time Caldecott Honor. 
