Magic Mirror no 8

              INSIDE THIS ISSUE
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
TThe Arne Nixon Center has received a donation of what is arguably the world’s
largest collection of books on cats—some 6,000 volumes published from 1727 to
2001. The next-largest collection is 3,500 volumes at Yale University.
The donation is from the collection of the late Helen Monnette Amestoy of
Santa Monica, the daughter of the founder and president of Bank of America and
a prominent library director for more than 20 years. She was a former president of
the California Society of Librarians.
Goldsmid & Allen Appraisers of
Claremont, which appraised Mrs.
Amestoy’s collection, called it “re-markable
in its breadth and inclu-siveness.”
They said the collection is
notable for its size, the inclusion of
many very important and scarce
18th- and 19th-century works, and
its emphasis on literary works, on
children’s literature, and on illus-trated
books generally. It also offers
a window into 19th- and 20th-century
American popular culture,
the appraisers said.
The donation is valued at $187,500, the most valuable single collection donated
to date to the Arne Nixon Center. The gift reflects the growing stature of the
Center’s repository.
Amestoy’s daughter, Kami Amestoy Lee of Guatemala, said the family selected
the Center from among several libraries interested in acquiring the collection for
several reasons, two of which were that the collection would be kept in California
and that the Arne Nixon Center “is well established, professional, organized and
has attracted key donors and speakers.”
“Cats have a particular appeal in literature,” said Curator Angelica Carpenter.
“They are domestic, artistic, and folkloric. They have been iconic in human
culture throughout history, from their portrayal as gods in Egypt up through the
European folk hero Puss in Boots to the Three Little Kittens, a treasured
childhood image. In story books they serve often as stand-ins for children.”
The most valuable book in the collection, appraised at $4,000, is a signed and
numbered (353 of 500) copy of the 1930 volume Book of Cats, Being Twenty
Number 8
(September 2005)
“It is the function of some people to be a lamp and some to be a mirror. I have
been very pleased to function as a mirror of others’ work.” – Arne Nixon
2
“Magical Sabbatical”
Joyce Carol Oates
“Tales & Tidbits”
7
Leo Politi tour of L.A.
Featured illustrations
ANC on the move
3 Curator’s Corner
4 Comparisons & Contrasts
5 Aliki donates artwork
Harry Mazer’s new books
THEMAGIC MIRROR
Arne J. Nixon taught chil-dren’s
literature and storytelling
for many years at California State
University, Fresno. In 1995, he
gave 22,000 children’s books to
the Henry Madden Library and
when he died, in 1997, he left the
Library a generous bequest to en-dow
the Arne Nixon Center for the
Study of Children’s Literature.
The ’Dogs at Fresno State are welcoming
cats to the campus–6,000 of them!
by Shirley Armbruster, University Communications
Kami Amestoy Lee, Margot Amestoy
Antinoja, and a fuzzy-wuzzy puddycat.
(See Cat Books on next page)
2
Tales & Tidbits
from ANCA
Cat Books, from previous page
(Arne Nixon Center Advocates)
Joyce Carol Oates in November
oyce Carol Oates will speak at Fresno State on November
1 as part of the University Lectures Series. One of America’s
most distinguished authors, Oates is known for her novels,
short stories, poetry, plays, and literary criticism. In recent
years she has turned to writing young adult fiction, includ-ing
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, Freaky Green Eyes, and
Small Avalanches. The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. at the
Satellite Student Union; the public is invited. General admis-sion
is $10; discounts are available for Fresno State alumni,
faculty, staff, and students, and for high school students
with ID. Free parking is available in lots J, O, and P, start-ing
at 6:30 p.m. For advance tickets call (559) 278-2078.
“Magical Sabbatical” travelogue
veryone is invited to attend ANCA’s annual meeting, to
be held Saturday, October 8, from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the
Residence Dining Hall on the Fresno State campus.
Angelica Carpenter will give a slide-illustrated travelogue
on her “Magical Sabbatical: A Children’s Literature Tour of
England and Other Places.” Her books will be available for
sale and autographing. The program will include a display
of posters and books acquired for the Arne Nixon Center
on her travels. A short business meeting will also be in-cluded.
Refreshments will be served, starting at 9:30 a.m.,
with the program to begin at 10:00 a.m. Free parking is
available in Lot G, on the northeast corner of Cedar and
Shaw Avenues. Enter from Cedar via Scott Avenue, the
first street north of Shaw. Admission is free, but reser-vations
are required by calling (559) 278-8116 or addres-sing
E-mail to jcrow@csufresno.edu.
Drawings by Japanese painter and etcher Tsugouharu
Foujita (1886-1968), who is renowned for his stylistic
Expressionism. The book’s illustrations are combined with
the “prose poems” of London author Michael Joseph
(1897-1958).
Other highly appraised books are: a sub-collection of
“Puss in Boots” books, valued at $4,500; an early 19th cen-tury
edition of Katzengruppen, by Gottfried Mind,
valued at $3,500; twenty editions of Orlando the Marma-lade
Cat books, by Kathleen Hale, valued at $2,500; and a
first edition of Les Chats, by Francois Augustin Paradis
de Moncrif, bound with Moncrif’s Histoire des Rats pour
Servir à l’Histoire Universelle, valued at $2,500.
A bibliography of the bulk of the collection was pre-pared
by students in the UCLA Graduate Library School.
B
E
J
y now, millions of Harry Potter fans have read the
652-page Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The
six books in this series total 3,385 pages. Whoever thought
that children would read books of such length? Many have
read each volume several times! Kudos to J.K. Rowling for
promoting reading in Muggles of all ages.
I’m a fan of Harry myself. By happenstance, I’ve been
away from the United States on the release date of the last
three books.
On a trip in June 2000 that started as a pilgrimage to
Beatrix Potter’s Hilltop home, I ended up in London where
I attended a midnight party celebrating the release of Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was there that I discov-ered
how different the British edition of Harry is from the
American one. It’s smaller and has fewer pages. The dust
jacket illustrations are different. The British art is done in
bright colors on glossy paper whereas the American art is
done in soft, often earthy colors with a matte finish.
The British edition of Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix was released in Toronto when I was attending
the American Library Association conference in June 2003.
Scholastic, Inc. seized the opportunity to host a spectacular
indoor carnival ending at midnight.
When I realized that I would be in Costa Rica on the
release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
I was disappointed at the thought of missing out on the
frenzy surrounding the release of the new book.
As it turned out, you would think I had a hand in
planning the itinerary. On a 20-day trip during which my
tour group stayed mostly in remote locations, we were in
San Jose on July 16th. We stayed in the Marriott right
across the street from Libreria Internacional, a large
bookstore that hosted a midnight Harry Potter party.
I arrived at the bookstore at 10:30 p.m. and was greeted
by a witch serving purple punch. Why did I drink the
punch when I had been drinking only bottled water? I’m
happy to report that I suffered no ill effects.
Inside, a magician and storyteller entertained the chil-dren
in Spanish. In a country where Spanish is the primary
language, the bookstore was packed with people waiting to
buy the British edition of Harry Potter at a price of 12,800
colones, about $27.
Did I start reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince while in Costa Rica? Yes, while lying in a shaded
hammock on Punta Coral, amidst a dry tropical forest
looking out on the Gulf of Nicoya.
I wonder where I’ll be when the seventh and final
Harry Potter book is released?
by Denise Sciandra, ANCA President
by Angelica Carpenter
CORNER
CURATOR’S
Happy reading!
3
ichard Peck lives several months of each year in London, in an elegant flat, furnished with
antiques and a marble fireplace. The decor includes his latest finds at British antique sales and a
framed photo of himself with Laura Bush at the White House.
I am proud to say that while I was in England on sabbatical, he invited me to lunch. It was
a lovely meal, mostly from the food court at Marks & Spencer: butternut squash soup topped
with chives and crème fraiche, French bread, a glass of white wine, and, later, coffee and
chocolate cake. The famous author, who was packing to depart for the States the very next day,
had prepared a salad with his own hands. It involved kidney beans, grapes, and several other
foods that he was trying to use up. This concoction, while picturesque and practical, demon-strated
that he had made the right decision to become a novelist rather than a chef.
Sadly, his books are hard to find in the U.K. “They think I’m too American,” he said, despairing of his British pub-lisher
and waving the lone paperback edition of A Year Down Yonder that he had been able to find on this trip. I had
looked, too, in vain, for a copy of his newest book, The Teacher’s Funeral, to take for him to sign. Luckily I was able to
order it online.
Need I mention that this is a wonderful novel, one that makes you laugh and cry, and keeps you in suspense until the
very last sentence? That is just what we expect from Richard Peck, but it’s worth repeating.
The Teacher’s Funeral, set in 1904 in a small town in Indiana, was inspired by Peck’s mother, who attended a
one-room schoolhouse. As the book opens, the entire town crowds into the Methodist church for the funeral of the
town’s only teacher. The minister offers a eulogy:
“‘Miss Myrt was not one of us,’ Preacher Parr recalled. ‘She served here only twenty-two years, a foreigner in our
midst, as she came from up around Crawfordsville. She was an old maid and a teacher, so you couldn’t call her a full
member of our community. But we done the best by her we could.’”
“The British think they invented the village novel,” said Richard Peck, and he’s right. Even in America, stories about
British villages fill shelves in libraries, bookstores, and people’s homes. Village life . . . hmm, have those British publishers
read any of his recent novels? Frankly, I don’t get it, but I’m looking forward to his next book, Here Lies the Librarian.
I know he’ll kill her off in a positive way, one that imparts a humorous but important message to young readers.
During our lunch, Richard Peck was looking forward to
a celebration, the 150th anniversary of Cerro Gordo, Illinois.
This small town, founded by his family, appears in A Long
Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder as the
home of the infamous Grandma Dowdel.
As guests of honor at the celebration, Peck and his sister
were scheduled to ride in a Corvette convertible in the
anniversary parade.
Their mother, aged 99, heard about the plans. “Well, I’m
not going to participate in that,” she sniffed.
“No, Mother,” reassured the brother and sister, “of
course not—it would be much too much for you.”
But she changed her mind and rode in the parade in a
vintage Ford Falcon, accompanied by the members of her
book club. A wonderful time was had by all and I hope that
I’ll get to read a book about it someday.
Richard Peck and Angelica Carpenter visit one of The Dinosaurs
of Waterhouse Hawkins at Crystal Palace Park, near London.
R
4
Comparisons & Contrasts
lthough I would dearly love to attribute this unity of
theme to the finely-honed planning skills of our
hard-pressed committee members, I suspect it was a happy
accident that the two speakers at this meeting had set
themselves the same aim: both of them compared and
contrasted Carroll with artists they regarded more highly
—although only one of the speakers confessed openly to
their partiality! To indicate my own partiality in this
respect, I would suggest that the fact that two very
different specialists were able to speak in such detail about
two very different aspects of Carroll’s talent in itself served
to prove our author’s peerless position in the cultural
canon; this is a point I shall return to at the end.
As our first speaker, we had the pleasure of welcoming
Angelica Carpenter to the rostrum. Angelica is well-known
to many of us as a long-standing member of both the
Lewis Carroll Society [LCS] and the Lewis Carroll Society
of North America, and has an enviable professional role as
the founding curator of the Arne Nixon Center for the
Study of Children’s Literature at California State Uni-versity,
Fresno. With her husband Richard, she is spend-ing
a few months on sabbatical in the U.K., researching
children’s literature at a variety of venues across the
country, but she was kind enough to take an evening from
her busy schedule to come to University College and talk
to us about her major passion.
And her major passion—I defy her to refute this—is
the Land of Oz. Angelica is currently President of The
International Wizard of Oz Club, and as there are
inevitable comparisons to be made between L. Frank
Baum’s Oz and Carroll’s best-known fantasy worlds
(particularly by the majority of people whose knowledge
of the former is restricted to the 1939 Judy Garland film,
which differs in many significant respects from the book
on which it is based and which has a close structural
resemblance to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), it
would have been unforgivable for the LCS to neglect this
rare opportunity of hearing the person best-placed to talk
about how these literary creations and their two creators
relate to each other.
Angelica began by introducing herself and giving a
brief history of the Arne Nixon Center, including the fact
that it hosted last autumn’s meeting of the Lewis Carroll
Society of North America, which was attended, among
others, by Linda Sunshine who has compiled and edited
books on both Oz and Alice and by Robert Sabuda, who
has created remarkable pop-up versions of both. Angelica
spoke about the literary biographies she has written, the
first ones co-authored with her mother, Jean Shirley, who
sadly passed away in 1995, which unsurprisingly include
one of L. Frank Baum. She explained that she long wanted
to write one of Carroll too, but her publishers were ner-vous
as their books were aimed at young people and they
felt that the controversy which is nowadays unfortunately
associated with his child-friends and photography might
make it hard to market them to schools and libraries. But
after years of trying, Angelica eventually prevailed, and
her frank but sensitive book, Lewis Carroll: Through the
Looking Glass, was finally published in 2003.
Having set things in context, Angelica went on to
provide us with a definitive beginner’s guide to Baum. She
explained Oz’s wide scope and geography and ran quickly
through the plots of the first few novels in the series,
which introduced most of the main characters. Baum
himself wrote 14 Oz novels, but other authors took up the
baton after his death, and new stories are still being pro-duced.
Angelica detailed several points of comparison
between Oz and Wonderland, the most notable being:
Oz has been mapped while Wonderland has (can?) not.
Oz and its numerous inhabitants appear and reappear
in multiple books averaging 285 pages each, while Alice
appears in only two slim volumes with few shared
characters.
Oz is meant to be a real place (except in the film),
while Alice’s excursions are dreams.
These particular contrasts suggest to me that there is a
down-to-earth solidity about Oz, while Alice moves
through more ethereal and ambiguous realms. And I
would contend that this difference in material—using the
earth element and the air element respectively, as it were
—is reflected in the major difference between Baum and
Carroll themselves.
Angelica likened Baum to Carroll in ways which
proved them to have had remarkably similar lifetime
experiences: both were born into large families, both
attended boarding school, both ‘published’ amateur peri-odicals
in their boyhood, both were interested in the
theatre (Baum started out as an actor, and certain of his
later Oz books were specifically intended to be made into
stage plays), both practiced photography, both loved
gadgets, both relished telling stories to children, and from
such ad hoc stories their best-known literary worlds were
formed, and both employed illustrators whose seminal
images became inextricably identified with the books.
But the dissimilarities between the authors’ lives is as
telling as the likenesses. Baum was a New Yorker and was
born 24 years later than Carroll; Baum senior bought a
By Michael O’Connor
A
This report, about a meeting of the Lewis Carroll Society, held on
March 11, 2005, at University College, London, was originally
published in the Society’s newsletter, The Bandersnatch. Michael
O’Connor is a British collector and writer who has had stories,
poems, articles, and reviews published in a large number of U.K. /
North American print and online magazines, as well as in the
journals of The Lewis Carroll Society and The Baum Bugle.
(See O’Connor on page 6)
Life Membership
Laurel Ashlock
Donna Bessant
Shirley Brinker
Michael Cart
J. Delbert Crummey
Maurice Eash
Fawzi E. Farah
Fresno Area Reading Council
Robert and Linda Glassman
Pamela Goodrich
Carmen Farr Gregory
Coke and James Hallowell
Joy Heisig
Christy Hicks
Nancy Hill
Pat Hillman
John and Lollie Horstmann
J. D. Heiskell & Co.
Rosellen Kershaw
Priscilla Ketscher
Mrs. Deran Koligian and
Debbie Poochigian
Marion Kremen
Eleanor Larsen
Don and Carol Larson
Frank and Jean Ray Laury
Warren and Susan Lev
Gary and Barbara Marsella and
Joy Erro
Brenda Martin
Helen Jane McKee
Roxie Moradian
George Pappas
Alice Peters
Betty Jo Peterson
Elizabeth Peterson
Patricia Pickford
Jim and Kay Provost
Tom and Louise Richardson
Evelyn Sanoian
John and Kristene Scholefield
Lisa Schoof
Denise and Salvatore Sciandra
Harold Silvani
James and Edna Smith
Edith Stock
Dennis and Sandy Stubblefield
Jerry and Lois Tarkanian
Juan and Clara Touya
Patron Membership
Paula Ametjian
Baker, Manock & Jensen
Dale Blickenstaff
Shirley Canales
Carolrhoda Books
Susan Cooper Cronyn
Cynthia Merrill School of
Performing Arts
Edward D. Fanucchi of Quinlan,
Kershaw, & Fanucchi
Edward L. Fanucchi of Quinlan,
Kershaw, & Fanucchi
Don and Sheli Glasrud
Nancy Hatcher
Heartland Regional Library Network
Beanie Irola
Daniel and Debra Jamison
Lydia Kuhn
Claribel Lagomarsino
Lerner Publications Corporation
Jo Ellen Misakian
Hilda Montoy
Richard and Lee Anne Rossiter
Kay Waite Walsh
Howard and Chris Watkins
Robert Wilkinson and Nancy Tholen
William Lanier Thomas
Paul and Jane Worsley
Lisa Zylka
Robert and Doe Clark
Luis and Wendy Costa
Anne Dee
Mary Delk
Virginia H. Dix
East Shaw Optometric Group
Jeri Echeverria
William and Karen Eropkin
Alyce and Dick Fourchy
Michael Gorman
Cherrill A. Gragg
Mary A. Graham
Ken Groth
Ara and Louise Hairabedian
Stephanie Horal
Michael and Linda Hovsepian
Gray and Geraldine Hughes
Burton R. James
Douglas Jensen
Richard and Althea Johanson
Gordon and Frances Johnson
Daniel and Jessica Kaiser
John and Ruth Kallenberg
George and Elizabeth Knapp
Patricia Lavigna
Lee Lockhart
Herbert and Patricia Lyttle
Margaret MacMillan
Dick and Wilda Moller
Marcie Morrison
George and Mary Nasse
Stan Norsworthy
Robert and Stephanie Oliver
George Ollikkala
Rose Gendusa Peer
Eugene and Mary Ann Richardson
Alicia Rivera
Joan Russell
Terry and Ann Sadler
Edward and Jackie Sarkisian
George and Ruth Schwartz
James and Lisa Scroggin
Sherry Shahan
Ronald and Patricia Shein
Mark and Lisa Slater
Sharon Smart
Amy Sherman Smith
Sally Stallings and Steve Dzerigian
Rae Swiger
John and Patricia Taylor
Anna Turnipseed
Ellis Vance
Sponsor Membership
Betty Aller
Arbor School of Arts & Sciences
Gary and Lorraine Bacome
John and Nancy Baker
Jean Beardsley
Desa Belyea
Robert W. and Elaine Bender
Gus and Greti Bonner
Tom and Vallorie Borchardt
Mark and Janet Cameron
Lucille Carnahan
Richard and Angelica Carpenter
Patricia Carriveau
Benefactor Membership
Tina Bruno
Ramona Cheek
Patience Milrod
Gerald and Geraldine Tahajian
ANCA members
Sponsor Membership, continued
Barbara Vartan
Polly Victor
Hilda Wiens
Larry Wilder
Michael T. Woolf
Gary and Carol Yoder
Advocate Membership
Allen Agnew
Nazik Arisian
Verna Arnest
Benjamin M. Bakkegard
Edward and Joyce Bergtholdt
Ernest and Jeanne Berry
Jerry and Pat Bird
Joan Bishop
John and Frances Blair
Hal and Janet Bochin
Ron and Megan Bohigian
Caroline Bohrman
Terry Brazil
Fred Brengleman
Ronald and Cecelia Byrd
Jesus and Mary Lou Carrillo
Beverly Ann Carstens
Central Valley Business Incubator
Janet W. Claassen
Brian and Linda Clague
William and Carmen Clanin
Ginny Colver
Paul and Martha Connor
Ken and Betty Cornelisen
Jennifer Crow
Elizabeth Donaldson
Neil Edwards and Ethel Spencer
Bill and Jane Fischer
George and Anidelle Flint
Leigh Anne Flores
Kathleen Fulton and Stan Sieler
Rutherford Gaston, Sr.
Karen Gist
Ellen Gorelick
Sue Haffner
Richard and Joyce Hall
Ruth H. Hansen
Merle and Audry Hanson
Pat Hardebeck
Kathy Haug
Betty P. Hicks
Kenneth and Joan Hieb
Bob and Francene Hill
Stephanie Hillman
Verda Hoveiler
Joyce Huggins
Dorothy Hughes
August and Clare Imholtz
Donna Joe
Aladdine Joroff
Nancy Joroff
Bob and Joyce Kierejczyk
League of Women Voters of the
Monterey Peninsula
Barbara Leal
Harriet Leonard
Patricia and Robert Libby
Stephanie Lovett
Phyllis Mann
Shirley Masengill
Sharon Matson
Anita McCready
Mary Helen McKay
Betsy Mitchell
Colleen Mitchell and Loy Bilderback
Laraine Miyake-Combs
Gerald and Lyla T. Mon Pere
Louise Moises
Stephen Mooser
Michael Motta
Jo P. Murray
Carolynne Myall
Thomas and Vicie Nagy
Frances Neagley
Susan Neufeld
Bette Noblett
R. Suzanne Noia
Wendy Nugent
Alexis O'Neill
Virginia Lee Owens
Sylvia Owens
Robert and Sylvia Pethoud
Jean Piston
Kathie Reid
Bertina Richter
Chris Rogers
Lester and Luzerne Roth
Marilyn Rudzik
Coleen Salley
Dale Schafer
Marvin and Nancy Schultz
Lisa Sciandra
Aaron Sciandra
Sally Serpa
Sue Shannon
P. Susan Silveira
Barbara Smith
Vincent Smith
Gayle A. Sobolik
Edward and Valerie Spongberg
Patrick and Mary Ellen Stuart
Cecelia Svenson
Morva Taylor
Helen Teichman
Beth Vancil
Suzy Vandermolen
Robert and Shirley Valett
Keith and Ione Waite
Barry and Kathy Webb
Mary Weerts
Lucile Wheaton
Anne Wick
Caroline Williams
Wendell and Phyllis S.Wilson
Melba Winer
Linda Zinn
Sustaining Membership
AAUW Hanford-Lemoore Branch
Susan Abair
Don Albright
Joanne Alden
Sue Alexander
Ben and Eleanor Amirkhanian
Merilee Amos
Ruth Elaine Anderson
William and Shirley Armbruster
Al and Ann Avenenti
Mary F. Bailey
Neil and Linda Baird
Margaret Baker
Paul Beare
Marcia and Steve Becker
Bonnie Jo Bevans
Stephen and Sharon Blumberg
Bev Broughton
Carol Lynn Brown
Cheryl Caldera
Elizabeth Calderwood
Jane Cleave
Robbie Cranch and Richard Moats
Robert and Pamela Davies
Joan De Yager
ANCA members
Sustaining Membership, continued
Delta Kappa Gamma Society Epsilon
XI Chapter
Jeannie DeGroot
Karen Dennison
Barbara D. Denton
Glenn and Karen DeVoogd
John and Elizabeth Dodds
Virginia Dow
Sandra Dralle
Louise Feinberg
Jeri Chase Ferris
Mary Fifield
Ivadelle Garrison-Finderup
James and Joyce Fisher
Josephine Fox
Mary Fry
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Kathleen Godfrey
Lynne Enders Glaser
Frances Graves
Betty True Gruen
Virginia Hall
Carin Halper
Peter Hanff
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Jennifer Harris
Harriet Sappenfield Harris
Sylvia E. Hart
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Lyman and Ardis Heine
Karen Hill
Carolyn Johnson
Melba Johnson
Valerie Johnson and Stephen Sacks
Carol Jones
Isabel Kaprielian
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff
Barbara Koelle
Françoise Kinzel
Lois Langer
Margaret Lee
Jean Linder
Ivonne Litman
Anne Lundin
Daryl Lusher
Cynthia MacDonald
Barbara Jo Maier
Terry Marinaro-White
Bill and Sandy Marsh
Margaret McMahon
Student Membership
and Other Members
Jean Anderson
Hollister Bernstein
Rosemary Coleman
Esther Franklin
Martha Froelich
Janice Hallaian
Sandra Hammond
Catherine D. Hopson
Sara I. Kahn
Tirian Klein
Barbara McColm
Becky Modesto
Peter Neumeyer
Chris Peters
Ashley Peters
Bernice Peukert
Heidi Pretzer
Aaron Rapp
Carroll Rippey
Mercy C. Rubio
Martha Salazar
J. Glenn Simpson
Lynn Gwyneth Smith
Joseph Spano
Susan Smith
Melanie Tatco
John and Ann Van Patten
Beatrice Woof
Linda Minier
Marisa Montes
Patricia Moore
Tim Morris
Arlene Motz
Larry and Susan Muenster
George and Joanne Nance
Anne Neal
Carl and Kathryn Nichols
Charlotte Orton
Richard Osterberg
Etta Paladino
Theresa Pallares
Leo Pedretti
R. W. and Grace Pengilly
Susan Pennel
Kim Peters
Wendy Peterson
George P. Pilling
Ransom and Carola Poythress
Barbara Price
Rhea Rehark-Griffith
Jay Reinfeld
Christy Reinold
Marilyn Renna
Whitney Rimel
Conrad and Randie Rios
Norman and Evonne Rogers
Gary and Sharon Rossi
Balzer and Blondia Scherr
Joan Schoettler
Mary Schrader
Sandy Schuckett
Patricia Semrick
Kathryn Shepler
Allan and Bernice Shields
Bernadette Siegel
Mary Slater
Britta O. Smith
Paul and Lorraine Smith
Annie Soo
Joan Sparks
Ann Stalcup
John W. Stewig
Elizabeth Sullivan
Amy Teeter
Karen Thomas
Sandy Wee
Stuart and Anne Weil
Francis and Mary Anne Wells
Tekla White
Susan M. Wickham
Chris Williams
Diane M. Winning
Andrew and Carolyn Wright
Bill and Marion Young
Roberta Young
Lorna Zurilgen
ANCA members
In Memory of
Betty Jo Peterson
AAUW–Fresno Branch
Don Albright
Jean Anderson
Janet Bateson
Judith Board
Hal and Janet Bochin
Elizabeth Calderwood
Richard and Angelica Carpenter
Lanette Ching
Wilma Conner
Carol Cousineau
Melva Cousins
Richard and Sandra Crow
Elaine Callaway Frankian
Michael Gorman
Jerry and Sandra Gothe
Frances Graves
Sue Haffner
Christy Hicks
Stephanie Hillman
Joyce Huggins
Ruth and John Kallenberg
Rosellen Kershaw
Russell and Kathy Kirkpatrick
Lydia Kuhn
Bernice Lacks
Howard and Mary Ann Latimer
Susan Mangini
Howard and Eileen Michaelis
Evelyn Moon
Carolyn Noah
Lola Owensby
Lillie Parker
James and Dolores Pires
Paul Priebe
Family of Helen Monette Amestoy,
6,000+ cat books and other re-lated
materials
Aliki, artwork and related
materials for 3 picture books
Alicia Arenas, 12 books
Peter Barlow, 2 Albanian books
Les Bohem, 29 boxes of books,
catalogs, and artwork
Children’s Book Press, 8 books
Michael Gorman, Edward Gorey
print
Polly A. Gray, 1 book
Caroline Harnly, 15 books
Holiday House, 21 books
Houghton Mifflin, 64 books
Ruth Kallenberg, 1 book
Rosellen Kershaw, 8 books
Jeannette Kok, 3 Dutch books
Stephen Mooser, papers
Blossom Norman, 9 alphabet books
Paula Popma, 6 books
Random House, 79 books
Mark Richards, 1 book
Scholastic, 70 books
Linda Joy Singleton, autographed
copy of her book, Don’t Die Butterfly
Janey Southey, 1 book
John Taylor, 2 books
Tricycle Press, 9 books
Alice Weiner, 9 books
Betty Jo Peterson, continued
Bertina Richter
Walter and Nancy Rowland
Denise and Salvatore Sciandra
Edward and Valerie Spongberg
Morva Taylor
Bill and Marion Young
Marilyn Zitterkopf
In Memory of Jose Canales
Agricultural Foundation of CSUF
Dean’s Club, School of Agricultural
Sciences and Technology
Sue Fung
Ivadelle Garrison-Finderup
Virginia Kamimoto
Rosellen Kershaw
Joseph Koontz and Kathleen Scheer
Susan E. Korsinen
Claude Laval III
Helen Ogle
Charles and Beverly Onken
Ernest and Pamela Pero
Alicia Rivera
Edward and Jackie Sarkisian
Robert and Carolyn Shorb
Robert and Jill Smetherman
Phillip and Evelynne Walker
Hope Woodhouse
In Memory of Jack Fiorentino
Toby Lawless School Staff
Jackie Sarkisian
In Memory of Sharon Blumberg
Christy Hicks
Denise and Salvatore Sciandra
In Honor of Jackie Sarkisian
Roger and Ivonne Litman
Denise and Salvatore Sciandra
In Memory of Ruth Kuhn
James and Edna Smith
In Memory of Frances Hedgpeth
Bob and Dorothy Daniel
Betty Graham
Mary Ellen Graham
Grant and Ruth Erikson
Reynold and Doris Laubhan
Judy Rosenthal
In Memory of Suzanne Cates
Michael Gorman
John and Ruth Kallenberg
In Memory of Lorraine Hood
Anne Bennington
Teri and Drew Hood
In Memory of Maribelle Smith
Ruth Andersen
Merle and Audry Hanson
In Memory of Laura Luzerne Roth
Angelica Carpenter
Roslyn Dienstein
Lester Roth
Denise Sciandra
Memorial donations
Honorific donations
(Monetary donors become members of ANCA and of the Friends of the Madden Library.)
Donations of books and materials
(February 1 – June 30, 2005. Our thanks to all!)
5
The Arne Nixon Center for the
Study of Children’s Literature
Henry Madden Library
California State University, Fresno
5200 North Barton Ave. M/S ML34
Fresno CA 93740-8014
Phone: (559) 278-8116
Web site: www.arnenixoncenter.org
Open weekdays 1 – 4:30 p.m.
and by appointment.
Angelica Carpenter, Curator
E-mail: angelica@csufresno.edu
Jennifer Crow, Library Assistant
Matt Borrego, Student Assistant
Maria Carrizales, Student Assistant
Angelica Carpenter, Editor
Janet Bancroft, Designer & Co-editor
Michael Gorman
Michael Cart
Maurice J. Eash
MAGIC MIRROR
MAGIC MIRROR
Published by
Staff
ANCA Board of Directors
ANC Governing Committee
Magic Mirror
Aliki donates art to ANC
hanks to artist/author extraordinaire Aliki for donating the finished
artwork, dummies, and related materials for three picture books to the
Arne Nixon Center. The books are I’m Growing, written by Aliki; Leo and
Emily, written by her husband Franz Brandenberg; and Evolution,
written by Joan Cole.
Aliki, who lives in London, read in The Magic Mirror of Angelica
Carpenter’s sabbatical stay there and E-mailed to offer the art, “a suitcase
full,” she said. By the the next day, when Angelica and her friend Marcia
Rogers arrived at Aliki’s lovely Regent’s Park home, the art had been packed
into two shopping bags, just right to be carried on the tube and train. It has
since arrived in Fresno, where it is now stored in acid-free boxes.
Aliki, who visited Fresno as Arne Nixon’s guest in 1991, wrote of this
donation: “It is not easy to give away artwork. I tell children in the schools
I visit that it is my soul. But I do so now with pleasure.
“Arne Nixon entered my life briefly, though I never
forget the impact he had. He was unique. I might
have met him only three or four times, but with
him, it was quality, not quantity. Each meeting
was memorable, most of all my first and only
visit to Fresno and his Children’s Literature
students.
“Thank you, friends at the Center, for
keeping alive Arne’s love of books, literature,
people (especially children, his contemporaries)
and literacy. His unique dedication will remain an
inspiration to all whom he touched.”
We thank Aliki for this wonderful donation and for
adding to Arne Nixon’s legacy.
T
A
Harry Mazer’s hot new books
uthor Harry Mazer, who visited the Arne
Nixon Center in 2002, has published three new
young adult novels about World War II. In A
Boy at War, set in Hawaii, Adam, an American
boy loses his father in the attack on Pearl Har-bor.
In A Boy No More, the family has moved to
Bakersfield. Adam tries to help a Japanese
American friend whose family has been interned
in Fresno and later in Manzanar. Mazer, who
now lives in Vermont, did research for the
second book while a guest speaker for the
Summer Arts program, during some hot July
days. The third book in this trilogy is called
Heroes Don’t Run.
Denise Sciandra, President
Phone (559) 229-5085
E-mail: deeceebee@psnw.com
Jessica Kaiser,
1st Vice President, Programs
Jackie Sarkisian,
2nd Vice President, Membership
Audry Hanson,
Corresponding Secretary
Angelica Carpenter,
Recording Secretary
Nancy Hill, Treasurer
Laurel Ashlock
Ruth Kallenberg
Cynthia MacDonald
Jo Ellen Misakian
Richard Osterberg
Ellis Vance
Aliki
6
string of opera houses in which his son could produce the
plays he had written, an act Dodgson senior is most un-likely
to have contemplated even if he could have af-forded
it and if bookish young Charles had wanted to be a
playwright and actor; Baum married and had four sons,
whereas Carroll famously remained single and celibate all his
life; Baum wrote quickly and prolifically, some of his books
betraying the need for a decent editor, while Carroll was
methodical and painstaking to a fault; Baum wrote for a liv-ing,
while Carroll did it primarily as a hobby and one from
which the money he made was of little importance to him.
I suggest, therefore, that these biographical facts
indicate that the same elemental difference which I have
proposed lies between the works of Baum and Carroll also
lies between the natures of the two authors. Baum was a
professional writer with a wife and family to support who
had tried his hand at a number of worldly careers
including that of travelling salesman, whereas Carroll was
the façade behind which dwelt a pedantic don who spent
his whole adult life in the comfortable but rather un-worldly
cloisters of Oxford. I think Angelica touched on
this literary and personal contrast—which encompasses
both nineteenth-century social class and U.S./U.K. modes
of behaviour—when she referred to a scene at the end of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in which the sturdy little
farm girl Dorothy pragmatically sweeps up the remains of
the melted Witch: if Alice had been there in place of Doro-thy,
I suspect she would have blithely called for a house-maid
to attend to the unpleasant chore!
But there isn’t much original Alice for us to read,
sadly, and her sequels and later variations on a theme
tend to be disappointing for the most part, whereas there
is a lot of Oz which Carrollians may not have come across,
and those who love Carroll are very likely to warm to
Baum. I for one will take Angelica Carpenter’s advice to
track down good versions of all his Oz books—she
recommends the Books of Wonder editions—and lose
myself for as long as possible in the Emerald City with the
Hungry Tiger and the Patchwork Girl and Polychrome,
the daughter of the Rainbow, and all the other wonderful
characters he brought to life. I doubt my lifelong alleg-iance
to Carroll will ever diminish, no matter how much I
might come to appreciate Baum, but no-one said you
could only like one of these writers: they are comple-mentary,
not in competition.
After a break in the LCS meeting (a planned one,
rather than the enforced one when the slide projector
malfunctioned) during which attendees mingled, viewed
the fascinating display of Carrollian advertising material
arranged by Catherine Richards, and enjoyed the Madeira
and home-cooked snacks generously provided by Sarah
Jardine-Willoughby which disappeared at a rate the Knave
of Hearts could not have matched, we were introduced to
our second speaker of the evening. This was Colin Ford
[founding Head of the National Museum of Photography,
Film and Television in Bradford, England, and co-author
of Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photo-graphs,
published by the J. Paul Getty Museum], whose
Roger Lancelyn Green Memorial Lecture on Carroll’s
photography last year generated so much interest and
enthusiasm on that occasion that he had agreed to return
for an informal question and answer session. The main
topic which arose was Carroll’s ranking as a photographer
compared to that of Julia Margaret Cameron. Ford, whose
long-standing importance and eminence in this field
could never have been deduced from his self-effacing
words, eventually joked that we had backed him into a
corner when he admitted that he considered Carroll to be
an excellent technical photographer, and felt that some of
his portraits of children were superb, but that he un-questioningly
regarded Cameron to be the true artist of
the pair. He pointed out that it was not unusual for a
Carroll photograph to be attributed to someone else, and
vice versa, whereas the same confusion would be ex-tremely
unlikely with a Cameron photograph. He con-cluded
(if my aging memory is not warping his words)
that Carroll was a genius amongst writers of children’s
fantasy, and that it might be asking too much to expect
him to be a genius in other artistic fields too.
This, I think, is where I might at last indulge my own
partiality, referred to above. Baum is universally known as
a writer of inspired and enduring children’s fantasy.
Cameron is universally known as a ground-breaking
Victorian photographer. But Carroll is universally known
as both of these things, and in addition is widely
respected as a gifted mathematician and logician, an
ardent contributor to academic and wider social debates,
an essayist, and a prolific deviser of games and puzzles. He
was better than some of his peers at some of these things
and not as good as others—but I doubt any of those peers
had his unique range of talents. It was the breadth of
Carroll’s abilities which was brought into sharp relief for
me by the two speakers we had at this meeting: they each
magnificently championed their particular luminary—but
in doing so, reminding us Carrollians that our luminary
could do the same things as both of theirs plus a whole lot
more besides!
The evening ended with Anne Clark Amor touchingly
expressing her warm thanks and appreciation to both the
speakers, and all the attendees applauding enthusiastically
what was in my experience one of the most enjoyable and
informative LCS meetings I’ve ever attended, with two of
the most knowledgeable and entertaining speakers we
have had. They might rate Baum and Cameron more
highly than Carroll in their individual fields—but they
clearly rate Carroll very highly indeed all the same.
O’Connor, from page 4
SIGN ME UP!
I/We would like to join the Arne Nixon Center
Advocates and enclose a donation. (Donations
are tax deductible as allowable by law.)
Make check payable to CSUF Foundation.
Mail to: Angelica Carpenter
California State University, Fresno
Henry Madden Library
The Arne Nixon Center
5200 North Barton Ave. M/S ML34
Fresno CA 93740-8014
Phone: (559) 278-8116
FAX: (559) 278-6952
E-mail: angelica@csufresno.edu
Name (s)
Address
City/State/Zip
Phone
E-mail
(Please circle one) Ms. Mr. Mrs. Mr. & Mrs.
New membership Renewal
1,000 Life membership
Patron membership
Sponsor membership
Advocate membership
Sustaining membership
Student membership
Other amount
$
$ 250
$ 100
$ 50
$ 25
$ 10
$
Leo Politi tour of Los Angeles
Featured illustrations from
our collections
Front page: Entre Chats, by Docteur F. Mery, illus. Dubout
Page 2: The Louis Wain Nursery Book, by Louis Wain
Page 3: A Book of Kitties, by John Horina Radnor
Page 4: Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll,
illus. John Tenniel
Page 5: Cats! Cats!, by Diane Elson
Page 6: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, by L. Frank Baum,
illus. John R. Neill
Page 7: Nicky’s Christmas Surprise, by Harriet Ziefert,
illus. Richard Brown
Back page pawprints: The Way of the Cat, by D. J. Enright,
illus. Emma Chichester Clark
Insert (ANCA Members): illustration by Aliki
he Arne Nixon Center will host a Leo Politi bus tour of Los
Angeles, tentatively planned for May 9-11, 2006. The cost will
be approximately $500 per person, based on double occupancy.
This includes transportation, hotel rooms for two nights, and
most meals. Single rooms will be available for an additional
fee, to be determined. Plans include walking tours of Olvera
Street and China Town (including a visit to Mr. Fong’s shop);
talks by Leo Politi’s children, Paul Politi and Suzanne Bischof;
a presentation by Ann Stalcup, author of Leo Politi: Artist of
the Angels; a tour of the Los
Angeles Public Library; and
visits to Leo Politi Park, Leo
Politi School, and other sites
associated with Fresno’s most
famous illustrator/author. Please
call (559) 278-8116 or address
E-mail to jcrow@csufresno.edu
if you are interested in partici-pating.
These plans may change;
your input is invited.
The Arne Nixon Center is on the move!
ike the rest of the Henry Madden Library, the Arne Nixon Center is on the move in preparation for the construction of
a new University Library. The building where the Center has been housed will soon be demolished. During the con-struction
period, predicted to last for three years, the Arne Nixon Center will be housed on the fourth floor of the South
Wing, near the Special Collections Library. The Center’s materials will still be available to researchers; appointments are
strongly recommended. Large groups cannot be accommodated for tours during the interim period, but the Center can
arrange presentations in other venues.
When the new building is completed, the South Wing will be remodeled. The Arne Nixon Center will eventually be
located on the third floor of the South Wing.
L
T
3Al Capone Does
4Harry Potter
AAnswers to quiz: 1Song of the Swallows, by Leo Politi
2The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton
My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko
and the Half-Blood Prince, by J. K. Rowling
California State University, Fresno
The Arne Nixon Center
for the Study of Children’s Literature
Henry Madden Library
5200 North Barton Avenue M/S ML34
Fresno CA 93740-8014
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Fresno, California
Permit No. 262
Can you identify book titles from these first lines?
Q1“At the foot of the low and soft hills near the
sea, lay the small village of Capistrano.”
Q3“Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement,
topped with bird turd and surrounded by water.”
(Answers on page 7)
“When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the
darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my
mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.” Q2
“It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his
office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain
without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. Q4