“Down the Rabbit Hole with Lewis Carroll and Leonard Weisgard”

Alice and Cat
by Leonard Weisgard

The Arne Nixon Center at California State University, Fresno, will offer two coordinating exhibitions in the Henry Madden Library from September 16 - October 26, 2011. 

The second-floor Leon S. Peters Ellipse Gallery will display Lewis Carroll materials from the Arne Nixon Center’s extensive collection, including original art by Leonard Weisgard for his 1949 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Materials on loan will include original Alice-themed art by Charles M. Schulz for his “Peanuts” comic strip (loaned by the Charles M. Schulz Museum), anamorphic Alice bronze sculptures loaned by artist Karen Mortillaro, and original art loaned by author/illustrator Byron Sewell. 

The third-floor Pete P. Peters Ellipse Balcony will showcase additional illustrations from picture books by Leonard Weisgard, on loan from his family. Leonard Weisgard won the 1947 Caldecott medal for illustration for his pictures for Golden MacDonald’s book The Little Island.  

The exhibitions, which are suitable for all ages, will be open:

• Monday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
• Sunday 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. 

Other viewings may be arranged by calling the Arne Nixon Center at 559.278.8116.

Visit our Facebook page for pre-exhibit sneak peek of the collection (and the unpacking process).

Spring Flurries

Koko welcomes spring at the Arne Nixon Center with some friends and flowery decorations.
We also have some spring themed books on display in one of the Center's display cases, while our other display cases are loaned out to the Henry Madden Library's Samurai Exhibit.

Library's Dean, Peter McDonald &
ANC's Curator, Angelica Carpenter,
in front of the donation

We started off spring with the excellent news that Alma Flor Ada and Isabel Campoy are donating their collection of (mostly) Spanish language children's books, from various countries, to the Arne Nixon Center.
This collection is a great addition to the Center's foreign language collection, as well as being a complement to the Center's collection of the author's papers of Alma Flor Ada.
When the donation arrived at the Center last week, we filled almost a whole wall of shelving with these wonderful books.

The Center's preparations for hosting the 9th IBBY Regional Conference "Peace the World Together With Children´s Books" on October 21-23, 2011, are also picking up speed.
The conference will feature wonderful programs and speakers, such as Pam Muñoz Ryan, Peter Sís, Grace Lin, Margarita Engle, and so much more! To register for the conference and to get more information about the schedule, click here

It's a Party to Support ANC ~ Secret Garden Party

04.19.2011 UPDATE:
Photos from this year's Secret Garden Party is available for viewing on our Facebook page. Much thanks Lisa Black, Howard Watkins and Angelica Carpenter for capturing the Party moments!
                                                                                                                                 

Original Post:
Join us this Sunday, April 10, 2011, to show your support for the Arne Nixon Center and get your tickets to attend the Arne Nixon Center Advocates' 9^th Annual Secret Garden Party.

Individual tickets are available for $50/person. Underwriters packages are still available, too. Contact Kellie at kelliew@csufresno.edu or (559) 278-5790, to reserve tickets or sign-up as an underwriter.

Follow the link to ANC website for more information about the party!

Walter R. Brooks Exhibit

In honor of the Friends of Freddy fan club gathering in Fresno, the Arne Nixon Center will exhibit books and artifacts from the library of the late Walter R. Brooks, author of the Freddy the Pig series.Brooks wrote 25 Freddy books, which were published from 1927 to 1958. He also wrote some 200 short stories for adults, 20 of them featuring Ed the Talking Horse, whose adventures formed the basis of the kitsch classic TV show of the 1960s, “Mr. Ed.”

The exhibition includes two cases of books by Brooks and a third case showcasing books illustrated by Kurt Wiese, who provided pictures for all but the first Freddy book. Two pieces of original Freddy art are also included. Wiese became well-known for his illustrations in Felix Salten’s story of Bambi. He won two Caldecott Honor medals, one in 1946 for his book, You Can Write Chinese and another in 1949 for his book, Fish in the Air. He is also the illustrator of the picture book classic, The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack.

Planning for 2011 Programs

Save the date, and please plan to come to one (or some, or all!) of our programs this year. We have collaborated with some wonderful people and organizations, on-campus and off-campus, to offer these great programs in 2011.
So, here is a quick run-down of all the programs and exhibitions that the Arne Nixon Center is planning for the first half of this year:

• February 3: Exclusive Film Screening
  Everyone is invited to see an exclusive Central Valley film screening of The Library of the Early Mind: A Grown-Up Look at the Art of Children's Literature, on Feb. 3 at the Henry Madden Library. This event is free for the public, but space is limited to the first 100 people. To see the trailer (and 'Like' it!) and get more info on the film, click here.
  
• February 10: A Child's Garden of Verses Recital
  The public is invited to a recital of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poems set to music and performed by pianist Hatem Nadim and Fresno State vocal students from the Voice Studio of Professor Emerita Helene Joseph-Weil. This event is free for the public, the recital will start at 12:30 pm at the Henry Madden Library. For more info, click here

ARE YOU SCARED YET?

Robert San Souci speaks for the Big Read Program

Everyone is invited to a talk by author Robert D. San Souci at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 17, at the Woodward Park Library, 944 East Perrin Avenue in northeast Fresno. The program, which is co-sponsored by the Arne Nixon Center, is part of the Fresno County Public Library’s Big Read program. This event is FREE and open to the public.

The Big Read theme this year is the works of Edgar Allan Poe and other scary stories, like Haunted Houses (Are You Scared Yet?) by Robert San Souci. The Big Read will offer more than 100 programs in October and November, including this one, which is suitable for readers of all ages. Refreshments will be served. The author’s books will be available for sale and autographing from Petunia’s Place bookstore.

Click here for more info.

ANCA 2010 Annual Meeting with Virginia Pilegard

Children's book author, Virginia Pilegard

The Arne Nixon Center Advocates invite everyone to their annual meeting, featuring picture book author Virginia Walton Pilegard. The program will be held on Friday, September 17, at the Henry Madden Library, 5200 N. Barton Avenue, Fresno. The evening will begin with a reception, featuring Chinese hors d'oeuvres, wine, and soft drinks at 6 p.m. The meeting will begin at 6:45 p.m.

Virginia Pilegard began writing for children while teaching math to third and fourth graders. Her Warlord series of seven picture books features well researched adventure stories set in ancient China, each demostrating a math concept.

Friends of Freddy to flock to Fresno (EVENT UPDATE)

The Friends of Freddy will gather at the Arne Nixon Center from March 26-27, 2011 (date changed from March 19-20), to celebrate that pig o'their hearts, Freddy, the talking animal hero of 25 children's books written by the late Walter R. Brooks and published by Alfred A. Knopf from 1927 to 1958, the year of the author's death.
This gathering is free for members and $25 for non-members (Friends of Freddy membership info: http://www.freddythepig.org/MemOrder.html). RSVP are required by calling 559-278-8116 or email to mrianto@csufresno.edu.

In addition to the Freddy books, Brooks was the author of more than 200 short stories for adults, 20 of them featuring Ed the Talking Horse, whose adventures fromed the basis of the kitsch classic TV show of the 60s, "Mr. Ed."

Leo Politi Garden Dedication

The dedication ceremony for Leo Politi Garden were held on June 2. It was a very nice event attended by the Center's community supporters and fans of Leo Politi.

The garden honors the friendship between children's illustrator and author, Leo Politi, and his friend, the late Professor Arne Nixon. Politi, who was born in Fresno, lived most of his adult life in Los Angeles, but returned many times to speak at, and draw and paint at, workshops put on by Nixon.

The garden is funded by ANCA, the Arne Nixon Center Advocates. ANCA is the support group for the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature.

Oz: The Books Conference Round Up

Oz: The Books Conference was held on May 14-16, 2010 at Fresno State Campus, and so-sponsored by the Arne Nixon Center and the International Wizard of Oz Club.
Renowned Oz experts and speakers such as Gregory Maguire, John Fricke, Eric Shanower, and many more, shared their Ozzy experiences.
See some of the photos from the conference at Arne Nixon Center's album.
Thank you to all the speakers, performers, and everyone that helps to make the Conference a success!

Here are some of the press coverage links for the Oz Conference:

A Wicked Secret Garden Party

Update 04/14/04: It was a rather rainy party but wonderful nevertheless, with great food, entertainments, awesome decorations, and pretty umbrellas. Thanks to all that came out to support the Center! Some pics from the party can be viewed right now at our Facebook page, the rest of the pics will be up through a link from our website soon... 

ANCA, the Arne Nixon Center Advocates, invites everyone to its eighth annual Secret Garden Party, on Sunday, April 11th, from 3 to 5 p.m. There will be no cyclones, flying monkeys, or apple-throwing trees, but you might see a Wicked Witch in this spacious north Fresno garden. The party will feature songs from “Wicked,” the hit Broadway musical, and other Ozzy surprises. The exact location of the garden party will be revealed to underwriters and ticket holders upon registration.

Underwriters are needed; they will receive tickets to the party and acknowledgements in promotional materials. The $1,000 Sponsor fee includes up to eight tickets; Patrons, for a $500 fee, get up to six tickets; Contributors, for $250, receive up to four tickets. Individual tickets are also available for $50. The garden party is ANCA's major annual fundraising event; all profits benefit the Arne Nixon Center, this year helping to support the Center’s programs and collections, including the national Oz conference planned for May 14-16, 2010.

For more information about the secret Garden Party and its underwriting opportunities, or to purchase individual tickets, please call 559.278.5790 or e-mail kwillis@csufresno.edu.

Leo Politi Garden Groundbreaking & Construction

The groundbreaking for the Leo Politi Garden is being planned for Monday morning, March 8, at 10 a.m. 

Construction begins Monday, March 8, on the Leo Politi Garden, on the east side of the new Henry Madden Library. The garden honors the friendship between Fresno's most famous children's illustrator and author, Leo Politi, and his dear friend, the late Professor Arne Nixon. Politi, who was born in Fresno, lived most of his adult life in Los Angeles, but returned many times to speak at, and draw and paint at, workshops put on by Nixon.

Oz Conference Registration Info

At last...the registration information for Oz: The Books Conference (May 14-16, 2010) is now available!  Go to  Arne Nixon Center's website to download the form, read about the marvelous line-up of speakers, or to see the conference schedule.

Register Early! Discounted prices available for early registration, ANCA members, IWOC members, and students. Call 559.278.8116 for more information.

Lodging Information:
The Piccadilly Inn-University offers an “Oz Conference” rate of $98, per night, per room (includes tax and continental breakfast). Reserve early because room rate will increase after 4/14/2009. Call (800) HOTEL-US (468-3587) or (559) 224-4200

Oz: The Writing Contest

Calling all young writers!   

Write your way to Oz!

Create an original story based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the other Oz books by America’s foremost author of fairy tales, L. Frank Baum.



Rules:

• Contest open to all students, grades 4–12, residing in California.
• Submission must be accompanied by the Entry form and Permission form. (Find entry forms and rules at www.arnenixoncenter.org, call us at 559.278.8116, or visit your nearest Fresno County Public Library branch)
• Complete rules available at the www.arnenixoncenter.org

Division A 4th – 7th grade (500 words)

Division B: 8th – 12th grade (1500 words)

Awards for each Division:

• 1st Place: $150
• 2nd Place: $100
• 3rd Place: $50

All winners will receive ten copies of their stories, embellished with illustrations provided by art students at Fresno State. Winners will be honored at the “Oz: The Books” conference on Sunday morning, May 16th, at Fresno State. Their families will also be invited as special guests.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Fresno

The Arne Nixon Center and The International Wizard of Oz Club invite everyone to a national Oz conference, “Oz: The Books,” May 14-16, 2010, on the Fresno State campus.

Featured speakers will include Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked; Michael Patrick Hearn, author of The Annotated Wizard of Oz; John Fricke, co-author of The Wizard of Oz: An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Movie Classic; Kathleen Krull, author of The Road to Oz: Twists, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum; and graphic novelist Eric Shanower, author/artist of Adventures in Oz.

The conference will feature a musical, “Time Again in Oz,” produced by the Fresno State Theatre Arts Department and directed by J. Daniel Herring. Playwright Suzan L. Zeder, who based this play on the third Oz book, Ozma of Oz, will also be a speaker.

Wrap-up and Pics from 2009 ANCA Annual Meeting with Margarita Engle

The 2009 ANCA Annual Meeting was a great fun! We had about 140 people RSVPd, and perhaps a bit more attended that day.

Thank you so much for everyone that joined us last Friday for some delicious Cuban-themed food and wonderful presentation from both Margarita Engle and WILPF's Jane Addams award.

Here are some more pics, courtesy of Howard Watkins, from the event. If you missed this one -- just remember to join us next time!

Award winning author, Margarita Engle, to guest speak at ANCA 2009 Annual Meeting

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with author Margarita Engle at the annual meeting of ANCA, the Arne Nixon Center Advocates. The meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, September 25, at the Henry Madden Library Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno (location change due to mandatory furlough at CSU Fresno campus). Following a reception at 6:00 p.m., the program will begin at 6:45 p.m.

Margarita Engle, who lives in Clovis, CA, is the Cuban-American author of three novels, written in free verse, for young people:

• The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, won the 2008 Pura Belpré Award (honors Latino authors whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in children’s literature), the Americas Award, and many other national awards.
• The Surrender Tree, about a freed slave who treated the wounded from both sides in Cuba’s 19th-century struggle for independence, won the 2009 Pura Belpré Award, the Americas Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, and it is a 2009 Newbery Honor book.
• Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba, published in April 2009, is already winning rave reviews

This event is open to the public and there is no fee to attend. Free parking is available. Reservations are required by sending email to mrianto@csufresno.edu or by calling (559) 278-8116. The author’s books will be available for sale and autographing.

For more information about the program: http://bit.ly/1zkhiD

'Stories of Our Lives' with Katherine Paterson

Two-time Newbery Medalist, Katherine Paterson, will speak on 'The Stories of Our Lives' at Fresno State Campus on April 17, 2009. Lecture will begin at 7:30 pm at the John Wright Theatre. This event is free and open to the public, however reservations are required at 559.278.8116 or mrianto@csufresno.edu.

Paterson won the Newbery for Jacob Have I Loved and Bridge to Terabithia. Her other best-selling titles include The Great Gilly Hopkins, The Same Stuff as Stars, and many other children and young adult books.

Katherine Paterson’s books will be available for sale and signing at the event. Her books are also available before the event from Petunia's Place bookstore.

Registration open for Beatrix Potter Conference

Registration is now accepted for the Beatrix Potter Conference on April 17-19, 2009 (click here for registration form).

This event will feature speakers such as Newbery medalist Katherine Paterson and Beatrix Potter biographer Judy Taylor, among others. It will also includes a special performance of a musical play 'The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck', as adapted by Katherine Paterson. Conference goers will also get a chance to experience Arne Nixon Center annual Secret Garden Party with,of course, Beatrix Potter theme.

Continuing Education credit is available to conference participant while attending the conference. For more information on this, please contact Arne Nixon Center at 559.278.8116

This conference is hosted by the Arne Nixon Center at the California State University, Fresno, in association with the Beatrix Potter Society. If you're interested in children's literature, nature conservancy, or Beatrix Potter, you would not want to miss this event.

For more information on the conference contact Arne Nixon Center at 559.278.8116 or arnenixoncenter@csufresno.edu.

Save The Date for Beatrix Potter

The Arne Nixon Center will host a Celebration of Beatrix Potter on April 17-19, 2009, at the California State University, Fresno campus, in association with the Beatrix Potter Society, featuring:

• Judy Taylor – Beatrix Potter Society chairman and author of Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller, and Country Woman, and Beatrix Potter: The Artist and Her World.
  
• Emma Laws – Frederic Warne Curator of Children’s Literature at the National Art Library in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
  
• Selwyn Goodacre – Noted British collector and expert on Beatrix Potter and Lewis Carroll.
  
• Katherine Paterson – Author and Newbery Medal winner for her novels, Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved. Ms. Paterson is also the co-author of a musical play based on Beatrix Potter’s book The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck.
  
• Performance of The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck musical, as produced by Fresno State’s Theatre Arts Department under the direction of Associate Professor J. Daniel Herring.
  
• The Arne Nixon Center’s annual Secret Garden Party.

Registration information and other details will be available soon at www.arnenixoncenter.org.