NEWS

By CATHERINE LAZORKO
School of Information and Library Science

CHAPEL HILL – Well-known Brothers Grimm fairy tales like "Hansel and Gretel," "Rumpelstiltskin," and "Rapunzel" come alive for young readers when Caldecott Medalist Paul O. Zelinsky casts them into breathtaking interpretations.

The children's book illustrator will discuss his work at 2 p.m. March 27 at the Susan Steinfirst Memorial Lecture of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science. The free public lecture will be in the banquet room of the Morehead Building off Franklin Street. Children of all ages are welcome.

Visitors attending the lecture should use public parking at the Morehead Building and access the banquet hall from the east entrance facing Coker Arboretum.

Zelinsky has been honored several times by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. He won the association’s 1998 Caldecott Medal, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children, for "Rapunzel."

Zelinsky illustrated three Caldecott Honor books, including "Hansel and Gretel" (retold by Rika Lesser) in 1985, "Rumpelstiltskin" in 1987 and "Swamp Angel" by Anne Isaacs in 1995. He adapted and illustrated "The Maid and the Mouse and the Odd-Shaped House: A Story in Rhyme," "The Lion and the Stoat" and "The Wheels on the Bus: The Traditional Song." The New York Times named his push-pull tabs book, "Knick-Knack Paddywhack!," a Best Illustrated Book in 2002.

As a boy, Zelinsky began drawing to express his creations of imaginary worlds and the stories that took place in them. He writes: "In the third grade I drew bestiaries of ridiculous animals, their habits and habitats; in fifth grade my best friend and I developed an island world of two competing countries. I think they were called Igglebeania and Squigglebeania, and they teemed with wonderful characters and important incidents."

Today he often chooses the historical over the fantastical. His illustrations may begin with research, as in the case of "Rapunzel," when he set out to make the setting as real as possible and investigated the furniture, architecture, clothes, hairstyles and even objects lying on tables, all consistent with a period and a place.

Zelinsky was born in Evanston, Ill. He attended Yale University, where he took a course with Maurice Sendak, children’s author and illustrator. The experience later inspired Zelinsky to pursue a career in children's books. Afterward he received a graduate degree in painting from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Rome. Zelinsky lives in New York with his wife, Deborah, and their two daughters.

Zelinsky’s mother, Zelda Oser Zelinsky, is expected to attend his Saturday lecture. The 1945 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill is a medical illustrator in Wilmette, Ill.

The Susan Steinfirst Memorial Lecture is funded by the family and friends of Dr. Susan Steinfirst, a beloved professor of children's and young adult literature at the school from 1976-1996. Steinfirst died of cancer in March 1997. Past Steinfirst lecturers have included Seymour Simon (2000) and Vera B. Williams (2002).

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Photo note: A photo of Paul Zelinsky and an illustration of Rapunzel are available upon request from Catherine Lazorko.

Contact: Catherine Lazorko, 919-843-8337 or lazorko@unc.edu