Anita Silvey, one of the nation’s leading experts on children’s literature, will speak Nov. 9 on “100 Best Books for Children: Our Greatest Children’s Books and the Stories Behind Them” for The Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences.
The illustrated lecture stems from Silvey’s book 100 Best Books for Children (2004), an in-depth survey of children’s literature between 1902-2002.
In addition, Gerald L. Early, Ph.D., the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and director of The Center for the Humanities, will discuss the center’s new Children’s Studies minor, which will begin offering classes in the spring.
The event is free and open to the public and will begin at 4 p.m. in McMillan Café in McMillan Hall.
Silvey estimates that she has read 125,000 children’s books, starting from childhood and continuing through her 11-year tenure as a reviewer and editor of The Horn Book Magazine, a publication that has been called “the bible of children’s literature.”
From 1995-2001, Silvey oversaw all children’s book and young-adult publishing for Houghton Mifflin. In 2002, she edited The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators.
She is a member of the editorial board of Cricket Magazine and editor of the Vermont Folklife Center Children’s Book Series.
She teaches courses at Simmons College in Boston and St. Michael’s College in Burlington, Vt.
The new Children’s Studies minor will allow students to examine childhood as a cultural, scientific, historical, aesthetic and theoretical construct. It will require 15 units of credit, including two required courses, “Introduction to Psychology” and “Child Development.”
Three additional electives must also be taken from at least two of the following Arts & Sciences disciplines: education, English, history and African & African-American Studies.
Seating for Silvey’s talk is extremely limited. For more information or to reserve a seat, call 935-5576.