By Denise Sciandra,
ANCA President
Tales & Tidbits
from ANCA
Betty Jo Peterson
1932–2002
The Arne Nixon Center Advocates, ANCA, is thriving.
There are 300 members including 20 Life Members. They
live in Great Britain and 11 states in the U.S—California,
Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington.
Members distinguish themselves in unique ways. Carol
Brown of Corvallis, Oregon, joined ANCA at some 30,000
feet in the air somewhere between Atlanta and L.A. Lisa
Schoof of El Cerrito, California, sent photos from the March
Festival to be published in Martha’s Kidlit Newsletter.
There has been transition on the ANCA Board. Found-ing
members Betty Jo Peterson and Jane Fischer have been
replaced by Cynthia MacDonald and JoEllen Misakian.
Betty Jo died unexpectedly in September. Her calm, cheer-ful
manner and thoughtful contributions are already
missed. Jane continues to be active doing what she loves,
calling people, for ANCA, on the telephone. Cynthia, Youth
Services Manager for the Fresno County Public Library,
and Jo Ellen, Director of the Library Media Credential/
Master’s Program at Fresno Pacific University, bring
much expertise. A quirky statistic: this 12-member board
now has 5 left-handers.
At the beginning of 2002, I had no idea that the ANCA
annual meeting in October would be my first outing
following four weeks of confinement after surgery. No one
was happier to be at that event than I was. Out of the
house AND hearing Richard Peck speak. Newbery
award-winning author Peck exceeded expectations. He
spoke primarily from his book, Invitations to the World,
about teaching and writing for the young based on his
experiences as a teacher. The many teachers in the
audience could be seen nodding emphatically as he spoke.
In November, ANCA sponsored Peter Hanff, Deputy
Director of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, President
of The International Wizard of Oz Club, and author of
Bibliographia Oziana, who shared his knowledge of Oz
books. He even interested several people in attending the
Winkie conference at Asilomar in July. Performers from
New Wrinkles dressed as Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin
Woodman, and the Lion (see photo on page 7), treated the
audience to Oz songs and Sandy Stubblefield prepared
Ozzy refreshments. All in all, an informative, enjoyable
morning. Many worthwhile programs that perpetuate the
work begun by Arne Nixon are planned through June
2004. Members of ANCA will receive the earliest notice of
all of these.
Would Arne be proud of what the ANC/ANCA team
2 has accomplished so far? I think so!
Answers to quiz:
1.The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
2.Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling
3.Goops and How to be Them, by Gelett Burgess
4.Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery
Betty Jo Peterson, the founding Vice President and
Membership Chair of the Arne Nixon Center Advocates,
died September 23, 2002, in Fresno.
She received her M.L.S. from UC Berkeley in 1956. She
worked as a children’s librarian and later as children’s
services coordinator at the Kern County Library in
Bakersfield from 1956-1973 and as Curriculum/Juvenile
Librarian at the Madden Library at California State Uni-versity,
Fresno, from 1973-1996.
As a member of the American Library Association,
she served on the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Committee,
the Notable Children’s Books Committee, the Newbery
Medal Award Committee, and the Caldecott Medal Award
Committee. She also served on the John and Patricia Beatty
Award Committee of the California Library Association.
An active member of the Fresno Area Library Council, the
California Media and Library Educators Association, and
the Fresno Branch of the American Association of Univer-sity
Woman, she was for many years a judge for the story
writing contest of Fresno’s William Saroyan Festival.
Her family donated her collection of more than 600
children’s books and other materials to the Arne Nixon
Center and asked that donations be made to the Center in
her memory. To date, more than $1,800 has been received.
The donations will help to fund the Frances Hodgson
Burnett conference,
which she was help-ing
to plan.
Betty Jo Peterson’s
accomplishments and
leadership touched
the lives and hearts of
many people, and
helped to establish the
Arne Nixon Center.
Her friends miss her
very much.
Published by
The Arne Nixon Center for the
Study of Children’s Literature
Henry Madden Library
California State University, Fresno
5200 North Barton Avenue 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.
Staff
Angelica Carpenter, Curator
E-mail: angelica@csufresno.edu
Jennifer Crow, Library Assistant
Matt Borrego, Student Assistant
Dearley Amara, Student Assistant
Maria Carrizales, Student Assistant
ANCA Board of Directors
Denise Sciandra, President
Phone (559) 229-5085
E-mail: deeceebee@psnw.com
Jackie Sarkisian, Vice President
Helen Teichman, Corresponding Secretary
Angelica Carpenter, Recording Secretary
Nancy Hill, Treasurer
Laurel Ashlock
Audry Hanson
Jessica Kaiser
Theresa Pallares
Sandy Stubblefield
Magic Mirror
Angelica Carpenter, Editor
Janet Bancroft, Designer & Co-editor
MAGICMIRROR
MAGICMIRROR by Angelica Carpenter
CORNER
CURATOR’S
The Secret Garden was my favorite book (well,
one of my favorites) when I was a child. I read it over
and over. It has healing powers: at age twelve I
spent a homesick week at church camp. On my
first day back, I celebrated by rereading The
Secret Garden on my front porch in Omaha.
In 1990 my mother, Jean Shirley, and I
published Frances Hodgson Burnett: Beyond the Secret Garden, a
biography for young people. When I tell people about this book, their eyes
glaze over and they say, “The Secret Garden was my favorite book when I
was young.” This response occurs in America or Britain in the very same way.
Soon after moving to Fresno, I was invited to give a talk at the Unitarian
Universalist Church, where Denise Sciandra and her committee have
organized a fine children’s library. Speaking outside in the sunny church-yard,
I noticed a large vegetable garden next door. It was a community
garden, I learned, and the gardeners were Hmong immigrants.
Teacher Richard Moats, whom I met that day, was teaching English to a
class of these Hmong men and boys. He had planned to use children’s books
in this effort, but the books he had selected were not needed; the class he took
over had already started reading a long novel written for children, The Secret
Garden. Richard worried that this book might be more appropriate for female
readers and he feared also that its Yorkshire dialect might prove confusing to
people who were struggling with English.
But the book came through for him. The Hmong men and boys loved The
Secret Garden. They, and all the book’s fans, could identify with the idea of
planting a garden in a strange land in order to make a new home.
In April Fresno will bloom with scholars and fans from around the world,
meeting to celebrate the life and works of Frances Hodgson Burnett. We hope
to see you at the conference!
Happy reading!
3
Curator publishes fourth book
Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking Glass is Angelica Carpenter’s fourth
biography for young people. The book, dated 2003, was released late in 2002
by Lerner Publications Company of Minneapolis.
Lewis Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, wrote
children’s books under a pseudonym, probably to protect his academic rep-utation.
As principal mathematics tutor at Christ Church, a college at Oxford
University in England, he published many books on mathematics and logic. He wrote
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for a child friend, daughter of the college dean.
Born in 1832, the son of an Anglican minister, Lewis Carroll grew up in a large,
happy family, telling stories to his ten brothers and sisters. At Oxford he took up the
newly invented hobby of photography. Today he is considered the Victorian era’s
finest photographer of children. Photography gave him an entrée into artistic circles in
London where his friends included the most famous authors, artists, and actors of his
time. His photographs, some of nude children, make him a controversial figure more
than 100 years after his death.
Angelica Carpenter traveled to England several times to do research for this book
and to take photographs, her first to be published.
Graham Rust kindly granted permission for the
use of his illustrations (on front and back pages)
from The Secret Garden.
4
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$10 Student Membership
and Other Members
Janice Hallaian
Tirian Klein
Chris Peters
Ashley Peters
Aaron Rapp
Mercy Rubio
Melanie Tatco
In Memory of Betty Jo Peterson
AAUW-Fresno Branch
Jean Anderson
Janet Bateson
Judith Board
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Lanette Ching
Wilma Conner
Carol Cousineau
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Agriculture Foundation of CSUF
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Sciences and Technology
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In Memory of Suzanne Cates
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(those joining before January 1, 2002, are considered Charter Members)
* Membership upgrade/Additional donation
Memorial donations
ANCA members (joining April 1–December 31, 2002)
5
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
$ 250 Patron membership
$ 100 Sponsor membership
$ 50 Advocate membership
$ 25 Sustaining membership
$ 10 Student membership
$ Other amount
Donations of materials
April–December 2002
Curriculum/Juvenile Collection, Henry Madden Library:
66 books in foreign languages, 34 books in English
de Grummond Collection: 6 books, 49 periodicals
Lois Duncan: 12 foreign language editions of her books
Lynne Edwards: 24 books
Family of Betty Jo Peterson: 600 of her books and other
materials
Louise Feinberg: book and other materials
Ramona Frasher: 387 books from China
Friends of the Fresno County Library and Rosellen Kershaw:
81 books
Michael Gorman: 29 books
Henry Holt and Co.: 46 books
Holiday House: 38 books
Houghton-Mifflin: 68 books
Carol and Don Larson: 23 books
Lerner Publications: 21 books
Rudy Najar: 5 books
Oakland Public Library: 146 books
Richard Peck: 6 books
Penguin Putnam: 10 books
Mary Purucker: 188 books
Random House: 133 books
Richmond Public Library: 30 books, 336 periodicals
Bertina Richter: 7 books
San Francisco Public Library: 142 books
Scholastic: 138 books
Sciandra Family: 16 books
The value of materials donated to the Arne Nixon Center since
its opening is estimated at more than $70,000! To list every gift
would overflow this newsletter. Thanks to all our donors!
Not just for children
The Arne Nixon Center and Sunnyside Regional Library, a branch of the Fresno County Public
Library, will co-sponsor a program funded by a grant from the California Center for the Book.
“Not for Children Only: Classic Children’s Literature for Adults” is a book discussion group to be
led by Dr. Glenn DeVoogd from the Literacy and Early Education Department at California State
University, Fresno. The books to be discussed are:
From March 4 through April 1, the program will meet every Monday at Sunnyside Regional
Library, 5566 East Kings Canyon Road, Fresno, at 7 p.m. The library will lend books to program
participants. There is no charge. For more information, call (559) 255-6595.
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Classic Fairy Tales, by Iona and Peter Opie
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White
Dragonwings, by Laurence Yep
Conference, from page 1
6
Pulitzer Prize winner
Alison Lurie will
speak at a luncheon on April 26.
Participants will stay at the Piccadilly Inn–University
(phone (559) 224-4200; ask for “Burnett Conference” rates).
Conference meetings will take place on campus and at the
hotel. The conference will conclude with brunch in a
beautiful Fresno garden.
Featured speakers for plenary sessions:
Phyllis Bixler, author of Frances Hodgson Burnett
(Twayne’s English Authors Series).
Angelica Shirley Carpenter, Curator of the Arne Nixon
Center and author of Frances Hodgson Burnett: Beyond
the Secret Garden.
Michael Cart, librarian, teacher, Booklist columnist, and
author of From Romance to Realism, a History of Young
Adult Literature.
Penny Deupree, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s great-granddaughter.
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, Professor of English, Vassar
University, author of Black London: Life Before Eman-cipation
and Carrington. Her new biography of Burnett
will be published in 2003 by Rutgers University Press.
Alison Lurie, Professor of
English, Cornell University,
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist,
author of Foreign Affairs, Boys
and Girls Forever: Children’s
Classics from Cinderella to
Harry Potter, and Don’t Tell the
Grown-Ups: The Subversive
Power of Children’s Literature.
Ann Thwaite, Burnett’s principal biographer, author of
Waiting for the Party: The Life of Frances Hodgson
Burnett, 1849-1924. Thwaite, the esteemed British author of
A. A. Milne: The Man Behind Winnie-the-Pooh, will deliver
a pre-conference lecture, “Who Wrote Winnie-the-Pooh?”
at the Satellite Student Union at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April
24, as part of the University Lecture Series.
Presentors and their topics:
Amy Billone, Professor, University of Tennessee.
“‘Almost Like Fear’: Doubling and the Sublime in Frances
Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess.”
Nancy Chinn, Associate Professor, English Department,
Baylor University. “A Little Princess and Two Film Ver-sions:
Changing Images of American Girls.”
Carole Dunbar, Lecturer, St. Patrick’s College, Drum-condra,
Ireland. “Rats in Black Holes and Corners: An
Examination of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Portrayal of
the Urban Poor.”
Jerry Griswold, Professor of English and Comparative
Literature, San Diego State University, author of
Audacious Kids: Coming of Age in America’s Classic
Children’s Books. “Snugness: The Robin in its Nest.”
Ariko Kawabata, Assistant Professor, Aichi Prefectural
University, Japan. “A Fair Barbarian and ‘the Noble Bache-lor’:
The Transatlantic Marriage Plot in Burnett and Doyle.”
Megan Lambert, Youth Services Librarian, Gaylord
Memorial Library, South Hadley, Massachusetts. “Just a
Whisper: Connecting Burnett’s Secret Garden with Other
Touchstone Works of Children’s Literature in an Under-graduate
Survey Course.”
Anne Lundin, Associate Professor, School of Library
and Information Studies, University of Wisconsin, author
of Victorian Horizons: The Reception of the Picture Books of
Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, and Kate Greenaway.
“Cultural Work: The Critical and Commercial Reception of
The Secret Garden.”
Tim Morris, Professor and Chair in the English
Department, University of Texas at Arlington, author of
You’re Only Young Twice: Children’s Literature and Film.
“Shifting Secrets in Burnett’s Surly Tim (1877).”
Sylvia Nosworthy, Professor, Walla Walla College,
Washington. “A Comparison of Frances Hodgson Bur-nett’s
Two Little Pilgrims’ Progress with Louisa May
Alcott’s Little Women and Richard Peck’s Fair Weather.”
Sally Stokes, Curator, National Trust for Historic
Preservation Library Collection, University of Maryland.
“The Influence of Burnett on Noel Streatfeild, Particularly
as Manifested in Streatfeild’s Movie Shoes.”
Midori Todayama, Associate Professor, Hachinohe
National College of Technology, Japan. “Those Abandoned
Children: The Children and Sexuality in The Turn of the
Screw and The Secret Garden.”
Additional speakers will be announced. The deadline for
conference registration is April 11. For more information,
check our Web site at www.arnenixoncenter.org, contact
the Center via E-mail at anc@listserv.csufresno.edu, or call
(559) 278-8116.
Bring Alice to Fresno!
March 17
Tea for Life Members
April 6
Secret Garden Party
April 24
Ann Thwaite
“Who Wrote Winnie-the-Pooh?“
7:30 p.m., Satellite Student Union
April 25–27
Frances Hodgson Burnett:
Beyond the Secret Garden Conference
October 17 & 18
Society of Children’s Book Writers
and Illustrators regional workshop
June 10–13
Children’s Literature Association
Annual conference.
Theme: “Dreams and Visions”
2003
2004
CALENDAR
CALENDAR
7
The Arne Nixon Center wishes to acquire a unique research collection of
materials related to Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The 1,900 items, primarily
books, were collected by Hilda Bohem, rare books librarian and scholar and
bibliographer of Carroll’s work. Bohem, now in her 80s, hopes that the
collection will stay together, in a library with access for researchers.
The Bohem collection, including hundreds of editions, illustrations by 300
artists, 100 foreign language translations, 250 imitations of Alice, and many
other rare items, is of international importance. Lewis Carroll’s great
classics and characters—Alice, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat—are
instantly recognizable the world over.
The collection is valued at $150,000. Development efforts have resulted in
pledges totaling $59,000. The Center needs your generous support to
acquire this outstanding collection.
To help, contact the
Madden Library’s Di-rector
of Development,
Marcie Morrison, at
(559) 278-7177 or by E-mail
to marciamo@csufresno.edu.
The Arne Nixon Center and the Arne Nixon Center Advocates will co-sponsor
a regional workshop for the Society of Children’s Book
Writers and Illustrators on October 17 and 18, 2003. Speakers will in-clude
Stephen Mooser, President of the SCBWI, author Alexis O’Neill,
illustrator/author Deborah Nourse Lattimore, and author Patricia
McKissack. Optional credit will be available. Details to be announced.
ANC pairs with SCBWI
Snapshots of past events
NEAR: Newbery winner Richard Peck,
shown here with Denise Sciandra, spoke
at an ANCA luncheon on October 12.
FAR: Actors from the “New Wrinkles
2002” show greeted guests at Peter
Hanff’s Oz program on November 16.
