Family, Art & Words: The Legacy of Toni and Slade Morrison’s Children’s Books

Just posted! A special edition BiblioFiles with Dr. Dana and co-host Dr. Jennifer Garcon, Librarian for Modern & Contemporary Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Over the course of a decade, Toni & Slade Morrison wrote nine children’s books together. Today, we are honored to present a Zoom panel discussion with the five artists who brought the Morrisons’ words to life with their beautiful, intriguing, and heartfelt illustrations. We welcome Joe Cepeda, Pascal Lemaître, Giselle Potter, Sean Qualls, and Shadra Strickland. Enjoy!

Follow this link to the BiblioFiles interview


Images courtesy of the artists

Treetop Architects

Design you own tree house complete with tire swing, water bucket, and stunning views of the verdant foliage. Best of all, it can be crafted with just about anything!

We read The Tree House that Jack Built, written by Bonnie Verburg and illustrated by Mark Teague (Orchard Books, 2014). Jack lives in a tree house with his animals friends who cavort and cause a bit of mischief throughout the day. But when it’s bedtime, everyone settles in for a peaceful night of moonlight and ocean waves. Raucous and then relaxing, this is an especially awesome bedtime story choice!

You’ll need:

  • An assortment of small boxes, toilet paper tubes, and paper towel tubes
  • 1 flat corrugated cardboard base (we used a 9.5″ x 13.5″ cake pad)
  • Green poster board
  • Scissors, glue and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

Building off your corrugated cardboard base, simply hot glue boxes, toilet paper, and paper towel tubes in whatever way works for you! We also offered natural craft sticks, wooden letters (leftover from this project), stickers, fabric flowers, and green paper crinkle for added texture. The results were fabulous!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Note: the tire swing is a little snippet of foam pipe insulator you can get in the plumbing section of Lowe’s or Home Depot. It was definitely a big hit! And if you’re looking for a slightly more fantastical spin on this project, please see our fairy houses. Or at the very least, check out Katie’s hilarious real estate listings at the end of the post!

Studio Snapshots: Jorey Hurley

Clean lines, beautiful colors, and simple prose mark the work of Jorey Hurley, whose beautiful children’s books could easily double as artwork on your nursery walls. Hurley started her creative career after law school, when she began designing handbags as a fun outlet. This lead to textile design, children’s books, fine art prints, and partnerships with boutiques, hotels, and retailers. Her most recent book is Beehive, which details the cycle of bees making honey. Join us for a tour of her gorgeous New England studio!


I wake up early and draw every morning with coffee. My studio is on the ground floor of our house. I create my art digitally, and I’ve cycled through various types of tablet and various drawing programs – there are lots of good options. Recently I like Procreate with an iPad pro.

This is the room I use for layout, framing, anything that benefits from great light. It’s basically just windows and a big table.

Here you can see the table in an unusually clean state. Our house, where my studio is, was built in 1845, so it has great natural light. The windows still have the original glass, which is a little wavy, and I love how that softens everything.

I spent most of my time in the computer and printer room. I have my big monitor here and in the winter I put a heated carpet under my desk (we’re in New England so it’s chilly) and my dog loves that. In the late afternoon there’s really great light – it’s my favorite time in the studio especially in the spring and summer when the days are long.

This room is for zoom calls and collaborative work.

The most important tool in my studio is my glasses (!), which are front and center here.


Images courtesy of Jorey Hurley