Tag Archives: book

They’ve Got Game: The Children’s Books of Toni & Slade Morrison

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CAAHB4 Jun 18, 2003; New York, NY, USA; TONI and SLADE MORRISON at the Who's Got Game? Book signing at Barnes and Noble Union Square on June 18, 2003.

CAAHB4 Jun 18, 2003; New York, NY, USA; TONI and SLADE MORRISON at the Who’s Got Game? Book signing at Barnes and Noble Union Square on June 18, 2003.

This winter, it was our honor to curate “They’ve Got Game: The Children’s Books of Toni & Slade Morrison,” an exhibit that runs in the Cotsen Children’s Library gallery until June 4, 2023. It’s part of the larger, absolutely magnificent exhibit “Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory,” which is currently in the Milberg Gallery of Princeton University’s Firestone Library.

In a nine book collaboration spanning well over a decade, Toni and Slade Morrison deftly crafted stories around themes such as individualism, independence of thought, family connections, freedom, imagination, and the empowerment of self

The Cotsen gallery exhibit primarily features the Morrisons’ Who’s Got Game? series, which reimagined Aesop’s fables without any concrete morals. Instead, the stories put that decisive power on the reader. Morrisons’ characters are not good or evil, smart or foolish, weak or strong. Rather, they are more flexible, and offer different perspectives, leaving it to the reader to ultimately ask themselves: who’s got game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake?

Visitors can enjoy viewing handwritten pages by Toni Morrison, the charming illustrations of artist Pascal Lemaître (interviewed here), and even some 2004 fan art from a New Jersey third grader! Please stop by, or take a look at the online companion to the exhibit.

We were also delighted to host a Zoom panel with the five artists who illustrated Toni & Slade Morrison’s children’s books! You will find that here.

Go Snail Racer Go!

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Who says a snail can’t be speedy? Start your engines, we’re putting it in 5th gear with a remote control snail racer rally!

We read Snail Crossing by Corey R. Tabor (Balzer + Bray, 2020). When Snail spots a delicious cabbage field across the road, he decides to motor over. However, many obstacles (birds, cars, rain, his own sense of direction) deter him from his goal. Thankfully, with the help of some new friends, it’s cabbage soup and tea for all! This book is hilarious and SO much fun to read aloud. Lots of laughter at story time! Highly recommend!

You’ll need:

  • 1 box (ours was 4” x 4” x 4”, but a small tissue box works too)
  • Poster board
  • 1 wheel assembly (more on that below)
  • 1 RC car or pull string
  • Scissors, tape and/or glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

The snail part of this project is very simple. Decorate 2 poster board snail shells and attach them to both sides of a small box. To make the snail’s head and neck, round one end of an 8″ strip of poster board, then fold to create a head. Don’t forget the eye stalks! We also added a paper racing helmet, but that is optional. Tab the other end of the strip and attach it to the underside of the box.

If you are going to eventually make this a pull string snail like we did, you will find the wheel assembly instructions here. Finish the whole look off with color masking tape stripes and star stickers, or just use markers to decorate. We added red dot sticker taillights and a sticker license plate as well.

Now to get your snail moving! We thought an RC snail rally would be super awesome, so I made a quick trip to Jazams, our local toy store. I found these RC trucks for $17.

One quick note: You’ll notice that the RC truck in the picture above has a nose that sticks out. There was another box, exact same recycling truck, except it had a flat front (see below). Turns out the truck with the flat front held the snail box MUCH better. So aim to find a flat front truck if at all possible!

I removed the green recycle section from the back of the truck, cut a hole in the bottom of each snail box, and then slid the snail onto the cab of the truck like so:

Then we headed out to the big lobby to race our snails! As you can imagine, it super chaotic (we had four running at once). So we waited until a slightly calmer time to video these two racers in action!

Is There a Library in the House?

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There’s no place like home! Katie found this amazing abode in our special collections vaults, and we just had to share it. It was created by The Book House for Children, a company founded by Olive Beaupré Miller (née Olive Kennon Beaupré). Miller was an American writer, publisher and editor. Her company was industrious, publishing over thirty books in the 1920s and 1930s. It was also notable for its extensive female staff.

As you can see, this particular item houses nine books, and the quality of the illustration and print is remarkable. Just look at the end papers for Tales Told in Holland:

And here’s a lovely page from Little Pictures of Japan:

And just in case you thought the wooden house that shelves these various volumes wasn’t completely adorable, it appears the company released another version as well!

Image courtesy of robinseggbleunest

Collections images from The Bookhouse [realia]. Miller, Olive Beaupré. Chicago ; Toronto. The Bookhouse for Children. 1925-1935. Cotsen Children’s Library, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library.