Illustrations for Books
One of the major enhancements to the Lucile Clarke Memorial Children's Library has been the donation by Francis and Mary Lois Molson of approximately seventy pieces of original art created for publication in children's books, including Willy Pogany's Brer Rabbit printed to the right.
Those involved in children's literature have long understood how pictures and words are integrally connected. Illustration is a fundamental bridge linking the visual to the textual in the minds of children. The Molson art helps make that bridge more explicit and understandable. The art serves as an important teaching tool that helps explain to future artists, illustrators, and teachers how the subtle process of illustration is undertaken, and the interplay of author, illustrator, and publisher that ultimately results in a published book.
As a result of the acquisition of these pieces of art, the library has consciously worked to expand the visual component of the collection by obtaining exemplary publications displaying the illustrators art, printed both in the United States and internationally.