Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 27-October 4, 1999

Volume 28, Number 6

Symposium and exhibit mark 'Celebration
of Very Young Children and Books at Yale'

Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist and professor Dr. Lynn Reiser, who is the author and illustrator of several acclaimed children's books, will be among the featured speakers in "A Celebration of Very Young Children and Books at Yale," a symposium and exhibition taking place on campus on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 1 and 2.

The weekend celebration will mark two events -- the opening of the Neison and Irving Harris Building of the Yale Child Study Center and the gift to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of books for children published by William R. Scott '31.

In 1938 Scott pioneered sensitively written and well-designed and illustrated books for the very young. With his wife, Ethel, and her brother, John McCullough, as his collaborators, and the children of the Bank Street School in New York as his test marketers, Scott published books by such authors as Margaret Wise Brown and Gertrude Stein and such artists as Maurice Sendak, Jean Charlot, Edward Gorey and Esphyr Slobodkina. The firm disbanded in 1973, having produced three Caldecott "Honor Books" among its nearly 300 publications.

An exhibition of books by William R. Scott, Inc., will be on view through Nov. 10 at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 121 Wall St. There will be an opening reception at the Beinecke on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The Elm City Girls' Choir conducted by Tom Brand, will sing songs by Aline Shader. A history of William R. Scott, Inc. by Barbara Bader will be available as a keepsake.

The conference sessions on Friday and Saturday will take place at the Yale Child Study Center's new Neison and Irving Harris Building at 230 South Frontage Rd.

There will be a panel discussion on the theme "Learning from Children: The Scott Publishing Company and a New Kind of Book for Young Children" 1:30-4:30 p.m. on Friday. Dr. Lynn Reiser, author and illustrator of such children's books as "Bedtime Cat," "Any Kind of Dog" and "Margaret and Margarita, Margarita y Margaret," will moderate. Reiser, who has always liked to draw, began writing children's books at the urging of an editor to write a narratie for her illustrations for the 1991 book "Bedtime Cat." Reiser's other works are "Beach Feet," "Best Friends Think Alike," "The Surprise Family," "Two Mice in Three Fables," "Night Thunbder" and "The Queen of the Wild Horses."

Panelists are Carla Stevens, an editor and author at William R. Scott, Inc.; Leonard Marcus, the biographer of Margaret Wise Brown (see Visiting on Campus, page X); and Jan Murray, graphic designer and chair of the art department at the University of Mississippi.

On Saturday at 10:30 a.m., Vivian Paley, a kindergarten teacher in Chicago and author of "The Kindness of Children" and "The Girl with the Brown Crayon," will present a program titled "The Storyteller in the Classroom: A Schoolteacher Looks at the Books We Read to Children and the Stories They Tell to Each Other" at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

In conjunction with the conference, there will be a gathering of authors on Saturday 2-4 p.m. at the Yale Bookstore, 77 Broadway. Vivian Paley and Leonard Marcus will be available to sign their books, and local picture book authors and illustrators Nancy Antle, Kate Duke, Patricia Hubbell, Dr. Lynn Reiser and Nancy Wallace will read from and sign their books. The Racebrook Road School Choir conducted by June Hale will sing songs by Aline Shader. The Yale Children's Theater will offer a dramatic presentation. Refreshments will be served.

The Yale Bookstore will contribute a portion of the proceeds from sales of children's books on Oct. 1 and 2 to the Yale Early Childhood Education Consortium, Reading Is Fundamental and the New Haven Public Schools.

Those attending the Yale Bookstore event are invited to bring new or gently used books for contribution to Reach Out and Read, a program of the Fair Haven Health Center.

This weekend event is sponsored by the Yale Child Study Center, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Yale Bookstore, Davenport and Calhoun colleges, Yale-New Haven Hospital Day Care Center, and the Yale Early Childhood Education Consortium. The latter includes the Calvin Hill Day Care Center at Yale, the Phyllis Bodel Childcare Center at the School of Medicine, YLS Early Learning Center, Yale Divinity Nursery School, Edith B. Jackson Child Care Program, the New Haven Public Libraries, Southern Connecticut Library Council, HarperCollins Publishers, Yale Children's Theater Seymour L. Lustman Memorial Fund, and Reach Out and Read

The programs are free and open to the public. Space is limited, and reservations are suggested. For further information contact 203-432-2962 or email patricia.willis@yale.edu.

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