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AREA PANEL: THE CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATOR, EDITOR, AND CRITIC IN THE MIDWEST Moderator: Constance Gremore, University of Minnesota Panel Members : Susan Pearson, author/editor, Editor-in-Chief, Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis. Karen Ritz, illustrator. Jane Resh Thomas, author/critic, Minneapolis Tribune ¦ Moderator: In putting together the program for the conference, the Program Committee wanted events not only to reflect the theme: Children's Books : From Creation to Criticism, but we also wanted to introduce you to some of the unique resources for research in children's literature in the area and to some of the creators of children's books who live in Minnesota. Our discussion this morning will focus on how the author, illustrator, editor, and critic contribute to and influence the creation of children's books, and what effect their doing what they do, not in New York and Boston but here in the Midwest, may have on their work. To address this topic we have invited three persons who bring a variety of interests and backgrounds to the panel: Karen Ritz, who grew up in Delmar, New York, graduated from the University of Minnesota's Inter-College program with a degree in Children's Literature and Illustration. Her book was illustrated for Carolrhoda Books. It is entitled: Cornstalks and Cannonballs. She is currently working on a history of Valentine's Day for Carolrhoda and is also working on two other books, one on Victorian dolls, the other on Victorian counting rhymes. Jane Resh Thomas grew up in Michigan. She was trained as a nurse, so she has a somewhat different background. After working for a number of years, she decided to go back to school, and she attended the University of Minnesota, receiving a BA and an MA in English literature. She has taught English composition at the University of Minnesota; she has reviewed both adult and children's books for the Minneapolis Tribune. She has contributed reviews to The New York Times Book Review. She's contributed articles to The Horn Book. Last year she served on The American Book Award Committee, and her two books: Elizabeth Catches a Fish and The Comeback Dog, which will be out two weeks from now, are her two published works. Susan Pearson was born in Boston. She grew up in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Minnesota, attended St. Olaf College, and received her bachelor's degree in English, so she comes from yet another background. For a while she worked for VISTA doing social work; she next moved on to selling Quaker Oats. Then she took manuscripts and illustrations in hand to New York and began banging on the doors of children's book publishers. She found one that didn't want her manuscripts, but wanted her, instead, as a children's book editor. That was The Viking Press. The following year she moved to The Dial Press where she worked as a children's book editor from 1972 to 1978. Since 1978 she has been the Editor-in-Chief, Children's Book Division, Carolrhoda Books, a subsidiary of Learner Publications. In addition to having considerable editing experience, Susan has also published seven books. Her eighth is coming out this year: Saturday J1 Ran Away. Susan has a wonderful story about how she went from becoming a children's book editor to a children's book author that I think I would like her to share with us now. Susan: I should clarify one thing. I did not start out at The Viking Press as a children's book editor. I started out as a "gopher," basically reading a lot of unsolicited manuscripts and doing a lot of secretarial work. I had been there about eight or nine months, I guess, and it was the middle of August that year. It was a particularly hot year in New York. The spring had lasted a long time, and the following summer seemed like it was going to go on forever. My main emotional support in New York had been — though I was reluctant to admit it — my boy friend, who had moved to California in June. By August a lot of things seemed to be falling apart around me. The story...

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