2016 Lenski Children's Literature Lecture on History of comics, children & libraries

Comics and young readers will be examined
by Carol Tilley for the 2016 Lois Lenski Children’s Literature

Illinois State University’s annual Lois Lenski Children’s Literature Lecture will feature Carol Tilley, a professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who will present “A Severe Case of Comics: Looking Back at the Problem That Wasn’t.” Her talk will be held Monday, March 21, at 7 p.m. in Stevenson Hall, Room 101.

Tilley is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at UI-UC. She is a nationally recognized expert on children’s comics and comic book history. Her research on comic archenemy Fredric Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent (1954), has been featured in The New York Times and will be a part of her presentation. Tilley has recently been awarded the Arnold O. Beckman Award for her current research project, “Children, Comics, and Print Culture: A Historical Investigation.”  Tilley teaches courses on the readership of comics, media literacy, and youth services librarianship.

Approaching comics from a variety of perspectives, Tilley’s scholarship has appeared in Children’s Literature in Education, Information & Culture: A Journal of History, and The Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.  Tilley’s research focuses on the intersection of young people, comics, and libraries, particularly in the United States during the mid-20th century.

Professor Tilley is affiliated with the Center for Children's Books and the Center for Writing Studies and is the co-editor of School Library Research.  Tilley earned a Master’s of Library Science and a Ph. D. in Information Science from Indiana University.

The annual Lois Lenski Children’s Literature Lecture is co-sponsored by ISU Department of English and Milner Library. The presentation is open to the public. 

Evolution of Alice exhibit at Milner Library

Photos from the new exhibit of "The Evolution of Alice in Wonderland for 150 years" at Milner Library at Illinois State University. 

Title of Alice in Wonderland exhibit near Special Collections on the 6th floor of Milner Library at Illinois State UniversityA first edition of Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and materials inspired by Alice.

Alice puppets from the library's Lois Lenski collections

Upcoming fairy tale films and Alice on TV

While working on materials to teach fairy tales, I realized that there are numerous versions of fairy tale films Angelina Jolie as Maleficentand television shows that are coming out within the next few years.  Here are some links. In 2014: Disney's Maleficent (starring Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning). In 2015 Cinderella (dir. Kenneth Branagh.starring Cate Blanchett), Arabian Nights (starring Liam Hemsworth and Dwayne Johnson).The Guardian also has an article on fairy tale related films.

Maleficent could be interesting with Jolie as the film is supposed to portray the Sleeping Beauty villain in a more sympathetic light than her introduction in the 1959 animated film. Here's more plot synopsis:

"Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal -- an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom -- and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well."

Jolie's young daughter Vivienne Jolie-Pitt will also be in the film from Disney.   According to this article in Entertainmentwise.com, she is the only kid on the set who was not terrified when Angelina came out in full makeup.

The ABC television series Once will be out again this fall as well as a Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Sophie Lowe as Alice on 'Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'inspired version called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.  The link takes you to the ABC page where you will be able to see clips from the upcoming show.  It looks rather dark, as the original Once is dark and spooky. ABC executives have said they wanted to extend the Once fairy tale brand. The most promising casting is John Lithgow playing the White Rabbit.  The most interesting casting choice is The Who’s Roger Daltrey as the hookah-smoking Caterpillar. According to Executive Producer Edward Kitniss this is going to be a feisty, more grown up Alice than the Lewis Carroll books:

"We never wanted her to be a damsel in distress," Kitsis said when asked how they had conceived of their version of the iconic Alice. "We wanted her to go down that rabbit hole, sword in hand, and find her man." In his address to the press, Lee promised that this would be a very "kick-ass" version of the character. Lowe agrees that she is "tough, and both mentally and physically strong."

That sounds promising, but then here's another less promising quotation from Kitniss:

‘‘But of course we’re telling our own story because Alice was never in a love with a genie before,” added executive producer Edward Kitsis.

Well, it should be interesting to see how this all plays out.  The premiere is Oct. 10.  Tune in.

Speaking on children's book censorship on WTVP's "At Issue"

I will be discussing children's book censorship on the Peoria PBS roundtable discussion show, "At Issue."  The show will air tonight (Thurs, Jan 10) at 8:30 pm on WTVP-HD, on FridaJan Susina speaking on WTVP's "At Issue"y at 8:30 pm on WTVP-World and Sunday at 4:30 pm on WTVP-HD.  Click here for a link to the show information.

Moderator H Wayne Wilson asked me to participate in the discussion about issues concerning censorship and banning of children's and young adult books.  Since I talk about this often in class, I was glad to contribute.  While book censorship may be somewhat on the decline, choosing which books to teach in a class is a difficult challenge for all teachers.  So in my classes I focus on helping education majors understand how and why they choose books and to be able to defend them as appropriate for the classroom.  Two librarians discussed issues of censorship by their patrons.  They noted that censorship is not too prevalent in the Peoria region.  However, challenges to books by parents continues throughout the country, including Illinois.

Thanks to H for inviting me.  He was a very thoughtful leader, just like Charlie Rose.  The other panelists -- Genna Buhr of the Fondulac District Library and Robert Koscielski who is the Associate Director of the Peoria Public Library -- were also engaging and had good perspectives on the topic as well.

Is reading dangerous?

Could reading fiction, especially stories with violence and death, be dangerous?  Mark West, my friend who is a professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, addressed this question on a recent segment of the television show "America Now." Here's the link to 'How reading habits affect personality.'

Mark says if a person habitually reads fiction, its likely a way for them to flee their own reality. It takes you out of your world and puts you into a more exciting world, it's a sense of escape essentially."

One of the appeals of reading is that escape from a typical day into a different world.  Readers learn about how the protagonists solve problems, fight demons, slay dragons.  We all don't have dragons to slay, anymore.  But reading fiction often helps get our wheels turning to think about how we can solve problems -- not with swords and guns -- but intelligently and smartly.

By the way, Mark's office, which is lined with books and objects related to contemporary culture, looks very cool. 

While re-reading Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend for the Dickens seminar this week, I am reminded how the novel often parallels contemporary life.  We are still concerned about dust, dirt and recycling, about the rich and the poor, about choosing the right person to marry. Reading Dickens, we can see how the characters approached their problems, and perhaps how we can avoid some of those mistakes, or perhaps not.