Richards Free Library Blog

The Trustees of the Richards Free Library are pleased to announce that renowned children’s author and illustrator, Tomie dePaola, will receive the 2007 Sarah Josepha Hale Award for distinction in writing by a New Englander on October 27th at 4:00 p.m. at the Newport Opera House. Tomie has written or illustrated over 200 books for children. Born in Connecticut, he has lived in New Hampshire for more than thirty years. His illustrations often depict New England, from the villages of New Hampshire to the suburban landscape of the Connecticut of his childhood. He is truly a New England treasure. Tomie dePaola and his work were recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award in 1976 for Strega Nona and the Newbery Honor Award in 2000 for 26 Fairmount Avenue. In 1999 he won the Lotte Jacobi Living Treasure Award, a New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award, which “…recognizes a New Hampshire artist, in any discipline, who has made a significant contribution to his or her art form and to the arts community of New Hampshire, reflecting a lifetime of achievement.

In Children's Books and their Creators, editor Anita Silvey declares, “Tomie dePaola's popularity and volume of work assure him prominence in the world of children's books. The variety, wit, and child appeal of his books should make a lasting contribution to the field.”

Tomie has a special place in Newport’s heart as he illustrated Sarah Hale’s “Mary’s Lamb.” In his interpretation of Sarah’s poem he drew Mary and the lamb passing Newport landmarks, including the Richards Free Library, on their way to school.

For fifty years, the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, has been given by the trustees of the Richards Free Library, in recognition of a distinguished body of written work in the field of literature and letters. Named for Sarah Josepha Hale, the award honors the contribution of one of America’s most powerful women of the Nineteenth Century. Hale, author of several books and hundreds of poems, shaped the opinion of American women for forty years through her editorials and essays in Godey’s Lady’s Magazine.