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Remembering Margaret McElderry
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse_at_wisc.edu>
Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:40:06 -0600
Others have written eloquently about the late Margaret McElderry. I can't be eloquent in the daunting chance to write about her, but I keep thinking about Margaret. She wasn't the "late" Margaret McElderry during her career, that's for certain. She was a pace-setter, a progressive thinker about the children's books she wanted to publish in the United States. I understand that after World War Two ended, Margaret was the first U.S. editor to publish a children's book in translation from the German; it was "The Ark" by Margot Benary-Isbert, I think. She also published the first children's book in translation from Japan, as well, a collection of folktales, as I recall.
As luck and the annual competition would have it, it wasn't until 1988 when McElderry Books won the ALA/ALSC Mildred Batchelder Award for publishing the outstanding translated children's book in a given year. This was when the charming short Swedish novel "If I Didn't Have You" by Ulf Nilsson earned Margaret's imprint a Batchelder Award. I realized that this irony hadn't been lost on Margaret, when, as Batchelder chair, I told her that McElderry Books was the 1988 winner. Although she had apparently been bemused about the absence of a Batchelder Award for any of the books in translation she had published in earlier years, she was thrilled.
Throughout her career, Margaret developed a wide network within the international book community. She served as president of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). The list of international artists and authors she nurtured over the decades included many who came to live in the U.S. I especially remember the personal fondness for Margaret expressed time and again by artist Fritz Eichenberg who knew her well as a summer neighbor, as well as an editor.
Most recently in 2007, Margaret was honored by the Catholic Library Association for her lifetime dedication to excellence in children's literature; she was there in person to accept the Regina Award and hear the reminiscences of the fond colleagues who had traveled to the event held in Baltimore to be with her that day.
We could lift a glass to honor Margaret for many reasons. It's been done this time and again over the years. Another way to remember her is to get out your grapefruit spoon & knife in order to dig with zest into a fresh grapefruit, something Margaret enjoyed on a daily basis. And another is to realize that she received her imprint Margaret McElderry Books at the time when having a personal publishing imprint was a singular career honor. Here's to the one and only Margaret McElderry!
Ginny Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse_at_wisc.edu
Received on Wed 02 Mar 2011 11:40:06 AM CST
Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:40:06 -0600
Others have written eloquently about the late Margaret McElderry. I can't be eloquent in the daunting chance to write about her, but I keep thinking about Margaret. She wasn't the "late" Margaret McElderry during her career, that's for certain. She was a pace-setter, a progressive thinker about the children's books she wanted to publish in the United States. I understand that after World War Two ended, Margaret was the first U.S. editor to publish a children's book in translation from the German; it was "The Ark" by Margot Benary-Isbert, I think. She also published the first children's book in translation from Japan, as well, a collection of folktales, as I recall.
As luck and the annual competition would have it, it wasn't until 1988 when McElderry Books won the ALA/ALSC Mildred Batchelder Award for publishing the outstanding translated children's book in a given year. This was when the charming short Swedish novel "If I Didn't Have You" by Ulf Nilsson earned Margaret's imprint a Batchelder Award. I realized that this irony hadn't been lost on Margaret, when, as Batchelder chair, I told her that McElderry Books was the 1988 winner. Although she had apparently been bemused about the absence of a Batchelder Award for any of the books in translation she had published in earlier years, she was thrilled.
Throughout her career, Margaret developed a wide network within the international book community. She served as president of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). The list of international artists and authors she nurtured over the decades included many who came to live in the U.S. I especially remember the personal fondness for Margaret expressed time and again by artist Fritz Eichenberg who knew her well as a summer neighbor, as well as an editor.
Most recently in 2007, Margaret was honored by the Catholic Library Association for her lifetime dedication to excellence in children's literature; she was there in person to accept the Regina Award and hear the reminiscences of the fond colleagues who had traveled to the event held in Baltimore to be with her that day.
We could lift a glass to honor Margaret for many reasons. It's been done this time and again over the years. Another way to remember her is to get out your grapefruit spoon & knife in order to dig with zest into a fresh grapefruit, something Margaret enjoyed on a daily basis. And another is to realize that she received her imprint Margaret McElderry Books at the time when having a personal publishing imprint was a singular career honor. Here's to the one and only Margaret McElderry!
Ginny Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse_at_wisc.edu
Received on Wed 02 Mar 2011 11:40:06 AM CST
