We LOVE educators at The Carle and we try to show it as much as we can! Every year we host an annual free night for teachers, professors, and librarians and this year’s event is tomorrow night, Thursday, November 10th.
We leave the museum open after hours for educators to browse the galleries, our non-circulating library, our hands-on art studio and, of course, our fabulous bookstore. There are goodies to nibble on in the café and lots of mingling and the making of new friends. We fill the great hall with freebies for the teachers and their classrooms and libraries – posters, bookmarks, lesson plans, tote bags, (sometimes even free books!) all generously donated by publishers, so no one leaves here empty handed. In addition, each year our Education department books amazing presenters from the children’s book industry to talk to the educators in the Auditorium. It is always an inspirational and fun-filled night. Past speakers have included Jon Scieszka, Tomie dePaola, Katherine Paterson and Michael Rosen.
Previous National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, Jon Scieszka with The Carle's Curator of Education, Rosemary Agoglia
Tomie dePaola with Strega Nona
Britain's Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen and National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Katherine Paterson.
This year we’re thrilled to announce we’re welcoming back Renaissance woman, the-one-the-only Anita Silvey, super woman blogger Betsy Bird and media and publishing mastermind Lisa Holton.
Anita Silvey was Publisher for Houghton Mifflin, Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book Magazine, and is the author of nonfiction books for children as well as numerous tomes for recommending books for young readers. She currently writes the fabulous Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac, which posts fun and insightful facts about a different children’s book each day of the year. I was lucky enough to have Anita as my professor for The History of Publishing as part of my Master’s from Simmons College and let me tell you, she is an amazing resource and expert on children’s literature.
Betsy Bird is a children’s librarian at The Children’s Center at the 42nd street branch of the New York Public Library. And, unless you’ve been living under a rock (or maybe you’re Sylvester and have actually been a rock) you know of her fabulous must-read children’s book news and review blog, A Fuse #8 Production. We’re excitedly anticipating her new book, a collaboration with two other exceptional children’s book bloggers, Julie Danielson (Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast) and Peter Sieruta (Collecting Children’s Books) due from Candlewick next year.
Lisa Holton is the Founder and CEO of Fourth Story Media, a media company that connects children and literature through traditional and nontraditional channels, including print and digital books, apps and the web. Lisa has an amazing resume of publishing history that includes President of Scholastic Trade Publishing and Book Fairs, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Disney Global Children’s Books and Vice President, Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Harper Collins Children’s Books. Lisa has an amazing wealth of knowledge of the children’s book industry and we are so proud to have her on the Board of Trustees of The Carle.
It’s sure to be a fun, exciting and, dare I say it?, EDUCATIONAL. Hope to see some of you there!
It’s really hard to believe that children’s book legends 
