Beginning with the 2012 Festival, registration will be done online. Once our flyer is mailed in mid-August, a link will be pasted on the home page for people to use to register. MasterCard, Visa, and e-checks are the accepted forms of payment. Your payment will appear on your bank or credit card statement as "USNH events/dues/gift." Registrants will receive a receipt and can click to receive a parking permit.

Owl #103 was contributed by Giles Laroche of Salem, Massachusetts. His three-dimensional owl is constructed of cut paper and paint. Willow Bascom of Plymouth, Vermont donated Owl #104. It is drawn with pen and markers on paper. Entitled "Mola Owl," it was influenced by the art of the Kuna in Panama.

When E. B. Lewis spoke at the 2011 Festival, he pulled Director Dr. David E. White aside and said, "I have something for you." His gift for the Festival Gallery Collection is an illustration done in watercolor from Little Cliff's First Day of School.

Susan Cooper, who spoke at our 2010 Festival, contacted Director Dr. David E. White to say that she had two illustrations that she wanted to donate to the Festival Gallery Collection. Cooper, well-known for her Dark Is Rising series, is also the author of several picture story books. She collaborated with English illustrator Warwick Hutton on The Silver Cow, The Selkie Girl, and Tam Lin. Warwick Hutton died in 1994 and Cooper was recently able to acquire two pieces from his estate that she donated to our Festival Gallery Collection. One is a working drawing for Beauty and the Beast and the other is a finished illustration from The Nose Tree.

Director Dr. David E. White's 2011 Spring Sabbatical
Festival Director Dr. David E. White was on sabbatical for the 2011 Spring Semester. The components of his work all addressed the Festival Gallery Collection. Spreading the word about our Collection was accomplished by sending emails to 59 faculty at New Hampshire colleges and universities. An email was sent to 260 New Hampshire elementary school principals with the request to forward it on to their teachers. In addition, the Eric Carle Museum in MA, the Mazza Museum in OH, the DeGrummond Collection in MS, the Kerland Collection in MN, and The Hornbook Magazine in Boston were contacted.

Another goal was to acquire art by illustrators not represented in the Collection. A database with contact information for 42 artists not represented was created and they were contacted about availability of art and pricing. Twenty-two pieces by 13 artists was the result. Their art now hangs in an expanded area for the Collection in Rhodes Hall. UV filters were installed in that area to protect the art.

A significant accomplishment was the training of three docents to help Dr. White give tours. A printed Collection Tour Guide was prepared and Dr. White provided the training with the hopes that teachers at all levels, as well as interested individuals, would contact us about providing tours.

26 Pieces by 15 New Artists Added to the Festival Gallery Collection
In addition to the works by 13 artists acquired by Dr. White during his sabbatical, other artists and works have been added. Dr. White donated three pieces from his personal collection, two honoring his sons. The new additions are:

• R. Gregory Christie, Bad News for Outlaws
• Floyd Cooper, Be Good to Eddie Lee
• Lucy Corvino, Conversations on the Ark
• Ed Emberley, Noah's Ark* Donated by Dr. David E. White to honor his son Noah E. White
• Shane Evans, No More
• Kathryn Hewitt, Lives of the Pirates
• Kathryn Hewitt, Lives of the Pirates*
• Trina Schart Hyman, drawing created at the second Festival in 1978* Donated by Dr. David E. White
• Bagram Ibatoulline, Crow Call
• Boris Kulikov, Sandy's Circus*
• Boris Kulikov, The Boy Who Cried Wolf*
• Boris Kulikov, Franklin's Big Dreams*
• Giles Laroche, Down to the Sea in Ships
• Giles Laroche, Down to the Sea in Ships*
• Megan Lloyd, Davey Crockett Gets Hitched
• Megan Lloyd, two pieces from The Mixed-Up Rooster*
• David McPhail, title page of Alligators Are Awful* Donated by Dr. David E. White to honor his son Adam C. White and his wife Heather (Nielsen), a former Festival Scholarship recipient
• Holly Meade, two pieces from In The Wild
• Chris Raschka, cover of his Caldecott Medal book The Hello, Goodbye Window
• Chris Raschka, I Pledge Allegiance*
• Brad Sneed, front and back covers of The Strange and Wonderful Tale of Robert McDoodle
• Brad Sneed, dedication page of The Strange and Wonderful Tale of Robert McDoodle*
• John Thompson, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
• Jeanette Winter, Nasreen's Secret School, used as the 2011 Festival poster
• Jeanette Winter, Biblioburro*

Gallery Tours Available
During his sabbatical Dr. White trained three docents to help provide more availability for individual and group tours. Pamela Hoyt is a retired Keene elementary school teacher and was the Festival Assistant Director for 15 years. Two retired Keene elementary art teachers who are now available for tours are Debora Wilson and Martha LaFleur.

In late spring they gave tours to several classes from two Keene elementary schools. The teachers had worked with our tour guides ahead of time to make their visits more meaningful.

These tours are appropriate for very young children, high school and college students, as well as adults interested in learning more about the process in which children's book illustrations are created.

To schedule a tour, either call Dr. White at 603-358-2302 or email him at dwhite@keene.edu.

The Collection is housed on the first floor of Rhodes Hall. It is open to the public during the following hours:

• Monday - Thursday: 7:30 a.m. to midnight
• Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Sunday: 10:00 a.m. to midnight

New Owls
We are pleased to announce that Giles Laroche has donated owl #103 to our collection. What he calls his "paper relief" technique, which includes drawing, cutting, painting, gluing, and spacers, results in a three-dimensional creation.

In addition, we have received word from Willow Bascom of VT that her donation will soon be arriving. It will be owl #104. Illustrators wanting to be included in our owl collection can check the Owl Project on our home page.

Ruth Sanderson Donates To Festival Gallery Collection
Ruth Sanderson, of MA, was one of several hundred people who attended the Children's Literature Festival at KSC on October 30th. Ruth is the author and illustrator of over seventy children's books. She presented Festival Director Dr. David E. White with an original oil painting from her book Goldilocks published in 2009. The Festival thanks Ruth for her generosity and we are proud to add her as yet another artist represented in our collection.

Thank You, Alumni!!!
Each year KSC donate funds to KSC and some of them earmark the Children's Literature Festival Gallery Collection as the recipient of their donations. Festival Director Dr. David E. White recently visited the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton and used the donations to purchase works by 11 artists who were not represented in the Collection. The artists and the books from which their illustration came are:

• Mary Azarian, Tuttle's Red Bar
• Kathryn Brown, Climb into My Lap
• David Hyde Costello, I Can Help
• Jane Dyer, Cookies
• Tony diTerlizzi, Alien and Possum
• Jules Feiffer, Which Puppy?
• Rebecca Guay, The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories
• Nonny Hogrogian, Cook Cat
• G. Brian Karas, Switching on the Moon
• Jon J. Muth, A Family of Poems
• Mo Willems, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed

Thank you, alumni, for being so generous! We look forward to increasing the number of artists with your continued donations.

Festival Gallery Collection Purchases New Works
The Festival recently purchased from the R. Michelson Galleries eight works by artists not represented in the Festival Gallery Collection. The growth of the Collection and the number of artists represented is making us one of the premier collections of this type in the United Stated. This also furthers our stated goal of being one of the leading centers for the study of children's literature in the United States. The new artists and the books from which the art appear are:

• Raul Colón, As Good As Anybody
• Scott M. Fischer, Jump!
• Gary Lippincott, The Mythic Beastiary: The Illustrated Guide to the World's Most Fantastical Creatures
• Turi MacCombie, My First Book of Animals and Marty Stouffer's Wild Animal Babies
• Adam McCauley, Oh No, Not Ghosts!
• David Small, A Surfeit of Similies
• Eric Velasquez, Some Kind of Love: A Family Reunion in Poems
• Mo Willems, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed

U.S. Secretary of Education Visits Keene State College
On Monday, August 30, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Keene State College. He met with a small group of selected guests: administration, faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, system representatives, and teachers.

Among the reasons Keene State College was selected were its innovations in the preparation of teachers and collaborations with local schools. Festival Director Dr. David E. White was asked at the end of the event to present the College's gift.

What an honor for 2009 Festival speaker Lita Judge, of Peterborough, New Hampshire, as well as for the Festival, that the present was a framed poster for this year's Festival. The art is from Lita's book Pennies for Elephants, and the original hangs in our Festival Gallery Collection.

Jane Yolen Donates to Gallery Collection
Shortly after her presentation at last year's Festival, Jane Yolen made a significant donation to the Festival Gallery Collection. She had items from the estate of author Elizabeth S. Helfman and donated a first edition of the book The Bushmen and Their Stories, published in 1971. In addition, she contributed two preliminary pencil drawings by Richard Cuffari for illustrations that will hang in our gallery.

Katherine and John Paterson Donate to Gallery Collection
Also after last year's Festival, presenter Katherine Paterson and her husband John donated art by an illustrator not yet represented in our collection. They donated a preliminary charcoal drawing of a boy studying that was done in Ghana by Tom Feelings. A letter Tom Feelings wrote to the Patersons discussing the piece will be framed with it.

Festival Director Acquires Art by Seven New Artists for Collection
In July, Dr. David E. White attended a five-day conference at the Mazza Museum at the University of Findlay in Ohio. While there, he attended an auction of art by children's book illustrators, the proceeds of which benefitted the Mazza Museum. He was able to purchase for the KSC Gallery Collection original works by seven artists that were not represented in the Collection:

• Leonard Everett Fisher, original oil painting from Little Frog's Song
• Christy Hale, original watercolor artwork from Sky Dancers
• Gloria Kamen, watercolor and graphite original from Warton and the Castaways for WETA-TV
• Doug Keith, gouache and ink on illustration board from A Place for Grace
• Laura McGee Kvasnosky, original gouache resist from Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways
• Yuri Salzman, watercolor and color markers original from Chameleon's Rainbow
• Nancy Tafuri, mixed media original from Blue Goose

Victoria Chess Continues to Support Festival Gallery Collection
Victoria Chess has continued her stated goal of contributing all the art from her books to the Festival Gallery Collection. We now have all the originals for Brenda Berman, Wedding Expert.

Donna Diamond Now Represented in Festival Gallery Collection
We are pleased to announce that Donna Diamond, a presenter at our 1987 Festival, is now represented in our collection. The Collection has purchased three black drawings on acetate from Isaac Bashevis Singer's Joseph and Koza. Also purchased was a painting from Margaret Hodges' retelling of The Arrow and the Lamp: The Story of Psyche.

Gallery Collection Adds Works by Andrew Glass, Steven Kellogg, and Tasha Tudor

The Children's Literature Festival Gallery has added five new pieces to its growing collection, and three of these works are by artists not formerly represented in our collection.

We purchased a double-page spread by Festival 2008 presenter Steven Kellogg from Clorinda by Robert Kinerk (2003). This colorful illustration, in mixed water-based mediums, of the bovine ballerina Clorinda dancing before her barnyard friends will be used for the 2009 Festival flyer and poster. Steven has two other pieces in our collection, including one of the Festival owls.

2009 Festival poster. Artwork by Steven Kellogg.

We've also added two pieces by Tasha Tudor from the book Brite and Fair by Henry A. Shute. The pencil illustration and are from an edition printed in Peterborough, N.H., in 1968. One is of an old man with a turtle and the other is of the father in a doorway. They will be matted and framed together.

2008 Festival presenter Andrew Glass of New York donated two illustrations, both from The Erie Canal Pirates by Eric A. Kimmel (2002) who also presented at our 2008 Festival. The illustrations were created using oil-base paint, colored pencil, and turpenoid on paper. In discussing these works, Glass said, "I tried to approach the illustrations ... reflecting the spirit of half-reality fun in which the story was written, mixing slow-moving canal boats and swash-buckling pirates. There were real canal pirates on the canal, of course, but they weren't very swashbuckling - just armed thugs, probably dozing on the bank, waiting for what must have been an incredibly slow moving boat that certainly wasn't full of gold doubloons. I decided to go with the high-seas version of Bill McGrew, even if he was just the Terror of Buffalo."

2009-2010 Festival Scholarship Recipients Named

2009-2010 Festival Scholarship winners Peter Best and Kade Hill

Each year the Festival gives one or two scholarships to deserving students. For eligibility requirements, check our Scholarships page. The selected students serve as student assistants at the Fall Festival, introduce one of the featured speakers, and do a three-credit independent study under the direction of Festival Director Dr. David E. White.

This year's recipients have designed projects directly related to some of the 2009 Festival speakers.

Peter Best, of Bow, NH, is majoring in English and Secondary Education, with a minor in writing. After graduating in May 2010, he will pursue a secondary teaching position, hopefully in New Hampshire. His independent study will examine how 2009 Festival speaker Jane Yolen has envisioned aspects of the Arthurian legend in five of her works.

Kade Hill, of Turner, ME, is also majoring in English and Secondary Education, with a minor in Film Studies. After graduating in May 2010, he will pursue teaching English, Film, and Theater in a secondary school in New England. His independent study will merge his interest in children's literature and film. He will be interviewing three of the 2009 speakers regarding the film adaptations of their novels.

Leonard Weisgard Donations to Festival Gallery Collection

Leonard Weisgard and Others: an Illustrator's Journey, an exhibit showcasing the work of Caldecott Award winner Leonard Weisgard (1916-2000) and other artists, was on display at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College from June 7 to July 27, 2008. His three children, Ethan, Christina, and Abigail Weisgard, who live in Denmark, attended the opening reception on June 13th and presented Festival Director Dr. David E. White with two works for the Festival Gallery Collection.

The first was the cover of The Golden Egg Book when it was republished in 1971. "We were living in Denmark by then, and I think Leonard's choice of flowers is inspired by the Danish summers - lots of poppies and cornflowers!" Abby Weisgard explained. "He used a combination of gouache and collage, often dipping sponges in paint and using stencils. The other illustration is from The Macmillan Science-Life Series."

This second piece was framed with the tissue paper overlay on which Leonard Weisgard had written notes. The Festival is delighted to have these very significant pieces now hanging as part of our collection. We extend deep appreciation to the Weisgard family for their donation.

Three New Artists Represented in the Festival Collection

Three new artists have been added to the Festival Gallery Collection, and all three are from New Hampshire!

Lita Judge
We have sketches and two finished watercolor illustrations from One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of WWII (2007). Lita was honored at the UN in October 2008 for this book. She said:

"These illustrations represent a true story based on the efforts my grandparents made to help people suffering after WWII. I used a realistic style to convey the historical nature of the story and to tie in with actual historical artifacts and photos used elsewhere in the book. 'Dropped From the Heavens' [one of our two illustrations] appears early in the book. The somber, blue and grey color depicts the fact that this is shortly after the war and the mother and daughter have learned how much they need to help people who are suffering in Europe. 'Father is Home' [the second illustration in our collection] appears near the end of the book. The bright, warm colors illustrate that it is a much happier time. Here, the family has succeeded in helping those who were suffering, and life is returning to normal. I spent every summer of my childhood living with my grandparents in their rustic farmhouse. My memory of this place was a great influence to the artwork."

Marty Kelley
We have sketches and finished illustrations from two of Marty's books. We have the cover of Winter Woes (2004) done in transparent watercolor, black ink, and white ink. Marty said, "I chose the basic diagonal composition as a way to visually represent speed. The picture is intentionally close-cropped to leave some mystery about both where the boy has come from and, more importantly, where he might be headed. The text is a goofy rhyming story, so I decided to work in a very stylized cartoon-like way that reflected the light-hearted feel of the text. Working on the paintings for this book was a lot of fun, because spraying all the white ink around was really messy. (Cleaning my studio after making the pictures was not so much fun.)"

Marty also said that the illustrations for Twelve Terrible Things (2008) "were the most difficult and the most rewarding ones I have done yet. The concept of the book is simple - a child's eye view of all the terrible things in life: dropped ice cream cones, the dentist, monsters under the bed, and granny coming to pinch your cheeks. The illustrations themselves were not simple at all ... The humor in this book is much darker than anything else I have done, and I had to be very careful with the ideas and artwork, as it was all too easy for things to go from subtly dark to simply frightening."

Beth Krommes (this year's recipient of the Caldecott Award)
We have sketches and finished art done in scratchboard, then printed on acid-free paper, to which watercolor is later added. Our selection is from the second book Beth illustrated, The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish (2001). Beth pointed out that this "is the true story of the survivors of the boat called 'Fish,' part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, after it became trapped in the ice off the coast of Alaska in 1913. Abandoned by the leader of the expedition, the scientists, crew, and an Inupiaq family lived for a time in a makeshift camp on the ice floe around the boat. They then walked almost 100 miles over the sea ice to Wrangel Island, where they struggled to survive until they were rescued months later ... This particular scene takes place during to walk to Wrangel Island over the sea ice."

Festival Display Cabinet Dedicated

In February 2004, as part of his sabbatical project, Dr. David E. White, Festival Director, initiated a fund-raising project to have a special Festival Collection display case built in Rhodes Hall, site of the Gallery Collection. Rhodes Hall is the most popular building on campus according to institutional research. Prospective students and their families tour the building when they visit our campus. In the middle of the Gallery is a large, curved cherry wall.

Left to right: Kevin Hawkes, Patricia MacLachlan, Paul O. Zelinski, Tracey Campbell Pearson, P.J. Lynch, and David E. White

After two years, Dr. White was successful in raising enough money to have designed and constructed a lockable display case for this wall. The back of the cabinet is the cherry wall; the wood molding of the cabinets is cherry, as well. This cabinet will be used for rotating shows of various illustrations, displays of books by speakers at our annual October Festival, and additional educational presentations. The cabinet was designed by Maynard & Maynard Furnituremakers who also submitted the winning bid for its construction.

Left to right: Dr. David E. White, Mrs. Polly L. Croteau, and Dr. Mel Netzhammer, Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs

There were 70 donors who met the requirements for three different classifications of giving. Seven were in the highest donor category and they are Great Gray Owl Donors. Three of these donors are Mrs. Polly L. Croteau, former professor of Children's Literature at Keene State College, and her daughter and son-in-law. One donor was in the Snowy Owl category and 62 were in the Elf Owl classification. The display case was dedicated on Saturday, October 28, 2006 prior to the 30th Festival. It contained works by some of the 2007 Festival speakers.

Great Gray Owl Donors
Eileen Christelow
Polly L. Croteau
Sydney Croteau-Frechette (in honor of Polly L. Croteau)
David Frechette (in honor of Polly L. and Bob Croteau)
Henry W. Maier
Jane Yolen and David Stemple

Snowy Owl Donors
Hans Wilhelm, Inc.

Elf Owl Donors
Janine and Lloyd Alexander
Gail Ancliffe
Natalie Babbitt
Julie and Jim Bannon
Angela Marie and Bruce R. Breton
Joseph Bruchac
Ashley F. Bryan
Betsy Byars
Susan S. Callahan
Corporate Board Books
Susan Cooper Cronyn
Lulu Delacre
Tomie dePaola
Debra S. Finelli
Russell Freedman
Jean Fritz
Jack Gantos
Jean Craighead George
Gail Gibbons
Diane Goode
Diane L. Janson
Judy J. Kalich
Helen and Steven Kellogg
Elaine L. Konigsburg
Lesa A. Lakeman-McDonald and Douglas McDonald
Carol García Landry and Family
Blair Lent
Betsy and Ted Lewin
Debra and Donald Libby
Peter Lourie
Kathy and Steve Mallat
Patricia C. and Fredrick McKissack
Florence and Wendell Minor
Amy Elizabeth and Dennis Shea Mullen
Katherine and John Paterson
Jerry Pinkney
Kim and Robert Rayevsky
Gloria and Ted Rand
Ruth C. Sanderson
Trina Schart Hyman
Marcia Osgood Sewall
David Shannon
James Skofield
Chris K. Soentpiet
Eileen and Jerry Spinelli
Claudia M. Sysyn
Mark Teague
Cynthia Voigt
Vera B. Williams
MaryLou and Stanley J. Yarosewick