Children’s Book Festival @ Bernardsville Library

Children and parents will have the chance to meet award-winning authors and illustrators Danny and Kim Adlerman, Pat Cummings, Doris Ettlinger, Megan Halsey, Dar Hosta, Trinka Hakes Noble, Lena Shiffman, and Javaka Steptoe on Sunday, November 7 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm at Bernardsville Public Library during the opening of an exhibition of original illustrations from popular children’s books. This is an opportunity to speak with the authors and illustrators, purchase books and have them autographed. The exhibition will be on view throughout the month of November.

Husband and wife team Danny and Kim Adlerman, who live in Middlesex, NJ, often write under the pen name Kin Eagle. Their Africa Calling, Nighttime Falling was named a New Jersey State Library Pick of the Decade 1995-2005. Together they have created a series of award-winning books, many of which are accompanied by musical CDs. Their collaboration, Oh No, Domino, was written and illustrated by Mrs. Adlerman and is accompanied by a CD featuring Mr. Adlerman singing “Oh No, Domino” with their daughter singing background. Another collaboration by the Adlermans is How Much Wood Could A Woodchuck Chuck? The manuscript was inspired by a song on Mr. Adlerman’s CD, One Size Fits All, which won a 2001 Children’s Web Award. Their most recent book, Mommy’s Having a Watermelon, was published last year.

Author and illustrator Pat Cummings grew up traveling with her military family all over the world. She found inspiration in the many different cultures she experienced, developing a fondness for fantasy as well as a commitment to diversity in her work. After graduating from the Pratt Institute in New York City, she received her “break” in book illustration with the book Good News by Eloise Greenfield. Since then she has written and illustrated many books, including Jimmy Lee Did It, C.L.O.U.D.S., Petey Moroni’s Camp Runamok Diary, Carousel, and “C” is for City. Cummings also illustrated Just Us Women and My Mama Needs Me, both recognized for excellence by the American Library Association. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Doris Ettlinger is an illustrator whose work features fine draftsmanship as well as use of traditional media, including watercolor and pencil. Ettlinger began her career as a magazine and newspaper illustrator, but has been illustrating children’s books for over twenty years. She illustrated Sugar Snow and A Little House Birthday, both adapted from the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Ettlinger has also illustrated many other books, including Pilgrim Cat by Carol Antoinette Peacock, G is for Garden State by Eileen Cameron, and, most recently, The Orange Shoes, by Trinka Hakes Noble. Her next picture book, A Book for Black-Eyed Susan by Judy Young, is scheduled for release in March 2011. Ettlinger lives, works and teaches art in an old grist mill in Warren County, New Jersey.

Megan Halsey began her study of art in eighth grade, majored in printmaking and illustration in college, and received her Masters in studio art and illustration from Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She has been illustrating children’s books for over eighteen years and has illustrated over 40 books, including Two Blue Jays, Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night, Four Seasons Make A Year. She has also authored several books herself, including Circus 1-2-3 and 3 Pandas Planting, to be released in February 2011. Halsey has received many awards throughout the years, including Bank Street College Book of the Year, National Publications Gold Award, and the Children’s Choice Award. She teaches at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia and at Marywood University. She lives in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.
Dar Hosta lives in the Flemington area and is an author and collage artist. Her If I Were a Tree won the Teachers’ Choice Award, National Arbor Day Foundation’s Media Award, and American Horticultural Society’s “Growing Good Kids” Book Award. Other award-winning books by Ms. Hosta are I Love The Alphabet and I Love the Night.

Trinka Hakes Noble of Bernardsville is an author and illustrator specializing in picture books. Her titles include the popular Jimmy’s Boa series, illustrated by Steven Kellogg. The Scarlett Stockings Spy was awarded an IRA Teacher’s Choice, 2005. Her most recent titles are The Legend of the Cape May Diamond, which was placed on the Keystone to Reading Book Award List 2008-2009, and The Orange Shoes. A member of the Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature, she was awarded Outstanding Woman 2002 in Arts and Letters in the state of New Jersey for her lifetime work in children's books.
Illustrator Lena Shiffman grew up in Sweden and cannot remember a time when she didn’t draw or paint. Her first book, Keeping a Christmas Secret, won a Christopher Award in 1989. She has also illustrated My First Book of Words and many of Scholastic’s “Hello Readers” series, including the book Dancing With Manatees, which has sold over half a million copies. Her most recent books are When I Lived With Bats and Playing With Dolphins by Faith McNulty. She is working on writing her first book, based on her Scandinavian roots.

Brooklyn resident Javaka Steptoe is an author and eclectic young artist, designer and illustrator, specializing in dynamic cut paper and mixed media collage using everyday objects. His book, In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall, won the Coretta Scott King Award for best illustrator, as well as the Firecracker Alternative Book Award. It was named both a PBS Kids Recommended Book and a PBS Parents Recommended Book. His most recent books, Do You Know What I’ll Do by Charlotte Zolotow and A Pocketful of Poems by Nikki Grimes, received starred reviews from both Publisher’s Weekly and the ALA Booklist. His newest book, Amiri and Odette, a hip hop version of “Swan Lake” written as a poem by Walter Dean Myers, features Steptoe’s collage-on-cinderblock illustrations.

There is no charge to attend the event on November 7 and no sign-up is needed. For further information, call the library at 908-766-0118.

*Photo: Trinka Hakes Noble reading her book for Bernardsville Library's Totsline (908-953-TOTS).