In many countries, April 2, the anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen, is International Children's Book Day.
In that spirit, an enthusiastic audience of 200 gathered in the Mumford Room on April 28 to celebrate the work of children's book author and illustrator Vera Williams, 1995 honoree of the Library's Children's Literature Center.
Welcomed to the Library by Sybille Jagusch, chief of the center, Ms. Williams charmed her audience, admitting that this was her first time in the Library. Ms. Williams was obviously delighted to have been chosen to exhibit the spirited watercolors and gouaches she created for her award-winning children's books.
Ms. Williams told of her first contact with a library, more than 60 years ago. She was 6 when she and her mother walked eight blocks from their apartment to the Tremont Branch of the Bronx Public Library. "I could barely read. I had to stand in front of a desk at the children's room and read the statement of responsibility -- the rules of the library -- written at the top of an outsized ledger book with ruled pages."
Then, the future Caldecott honor winner was handed an old-fashioned nib-point pen, which she solemnly dipped into an ink bottle before carefully writing her name in her best penmanship. Ms. Williams recognized the moment as a rite of passage. In her words, "I entered the tribe of those who read. I had become a mensch."
Ms. Williams has used that same signature to illustrate "The Big Picture Sign," on view in the exhibition in the Mumford Foyer.
The trip to the library was the beginning of Vera Williams's love affair with books. She began writing and illustrating her own books for children while she was in grade school. Her parents, Polish-Russian- Jewish immigrants, enrolled Ms. Williams and her sister in a free art school during the Depression. Despite the schooling, Williams admits their life was difficult:
"A family had a hard time making a living, staying together, paying the rent and just resisting despair." She recalled how her parents had few possessions. But Ms. Williams also said she grew up among people who were hopeful that their lives would improve. And her parents took full advantage of free museums, lectures and exhibitions available in New York City.
As a youth, Vera Williams always believed she would write children's picture books. While in high school, she wrote, illustrated and bound The Very Big Banana, a book about a banana so big it could feed an entire family. She knew what she wanted to do; she just didn't know it would take so long.
Although Ms. Williams was born in 1927 (in Hollywood, Calif.) the first book that she both wrote and illustrated, The Great Watermelon Birthday, was not published until 1980. What had she been doing during the intervening years?
After graduating from Music and Art High School in New York City, she attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina. There, she studied art, worked a printing press, learned typography and did farm chores. She married Paul Williams, an architecture student she had met in college, and they eventually had three children and founded a community in Stony Point, N.Y., with writers, artists and other friends. Despite many domestic responsibilities, Ms. Williams found time to teach, paint, become a committed community activist and, with her husband, establish the Collaberg School, an alternative school, where she also taught.
During the the 1970s Ms. Williams's life changed. She and her husband divorced, and she returned to work in New York City, her present home, where she finally realized her dream of becoming a children's book writer.
Her stories have a unique flavor; they are not "pretty" books about middle-class youngsters living comfortably in one-family suburban houses. She remembers her own early years and her family's struggle. Her characters are inner city, latch-key kids who live in public housing projects, usually with only one parent.
A Chair for My Mother, a Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the Boston Globe-Horn award, was written as a tribute to her mother, who long ago had saved coins to buy a special chair in which to rest after a long day on the job.
She never begins a book with "once upon a time" because she said she wants to create real people in real situations, to show what life is like for poor children in ordinary and extraordinary situations.
Ms. Williams also discussed her creative process. For her, the words come first, and, when characters begin to emerge, "their presences come and go shyly, and from the first these presences are very interested in the piece of paper."
Her art is filled with intense colors that captivate readers of all ages. Ms. Williams said her favorite part of putting a book together is going to the art supply store -- "a toy store" -- she called it, and choosing all the colors she will use, plus a new brush.
The problem is to bring order and discipline to her illustrations without sacrificing emotion. "The joy and spontaneity must remain, as well as the imagination."
Ms. Williams concluded her talk by reading a selection from Scooter, her latest book and winner of the Boston Globe-Horn award.
What will be her next book? "A poem story for young children is in the cards," she concluded.
Vera Williams's art, which includes 50 sketches, drawings and paintings, will remain on view through July 14 in the Mumford Foyer, sixth floor of the Madison Building, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. only.
