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At the SCBWI meeting held on Tuesday 20 November 2007 at UNISA Penny Hochfeld discussed the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Awards.

Exclusive Books, in association with IBBY S.A., has taken on the sponsorship of the award for the best original children's picture book or illustrated children's story book published in South Africa.

For the EXCLUSIVE BOOKS IBBY SA AWARD for 2007, they invited submissions of books published between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2007. Fifty-six entries were received and evaluated by the jury.

The jury consisted of various people associated with publishing of children’s books as well as experts in Fine Art and book illustration. Other members comprised the Chairperson of IBBY SA, the IBBY SA Executive member responsible for the awards portfolio, and members co-opted from the areas of design, public and school libraries, academic librarianship, and book-selection for children.

The rules require that the award is for a picture book or illustrated children’s story book adjudged the best in the period of adjudication. The writer and illustrator must be South Africans, whether living in South Africa or not; or non-South Africans living and working in South Africa. The book must be an original work written in any of the official South African languages and it must have been published in South Africa.
Importantly, the award is given to a book that is recognisably South African in character.

The shortlist of five titles was published some weeks before the final award was announced. The award was announced at an Exclusive Books event on 11 September in Johannesburg.

Robin Malan announced that the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Award was awarded jointly to:

The Cool Nguni (written by Maryanne Bester, illustrated by Shayle Bester, published by Jacana Media) to award and reward adventurousness and a quirky sense of fun in the jaunty image projected through both text and illustrations.

Fynbosfeetjies (written by Antjie Krog, illustrated by Fiona Moodie, published by Umuzi) to award and reward professional excellence and artistry in both the writing and the illustration of the funky fairies.

Ouma Ruby’s Secret (written by Chris van Wyk, illustrated by Anneliese Voigt-Peters, published by Giraffe Books Pan Macmillan) for the humanity and the homespun South African authenticity of both text and illustrations.

UTshepo mde / Tall enough (written by Mhlobo Jadezweni, illustrated by Hannah Morris, published by Electric Book Works) for the magic of its story and the sophistication of its illustrations.

Zanzibar Road (written and illustrated by Niki Daly, published in English by Pan Macmillan and in Afrikaans by LAPA Uitgewers) for the professionalism and experience of the writer and illustrator as much as for the fun he has and gives young readers.

Excerpt from presentation by Robin Malan (Chairman of IBBY SA) at Awards Event held on 11 September 2007.

The award will be made every second year, from 2007 onwards. Exclusive Books and IBBY SA hope that this new Award will encourage the publication of wonderful new South African children's books, as it rewards talented authors and illustrators.

A first edition copy of The Little House, the 1943 Caldecott Medal winning book, is coming up for auction on July 12, 2007 at PBA Galleries.

The first edition The Little House is very difficult to find, and some have estimated the book will sell for close to $10,000. The Children's Picturebook Price Guide estimates The Little House to be valued at $5,000 in Very Good condition. The first edition book being auctioned is in Fine condition, with a Fine dust jacket, so is likely to bring quite a bit more.

Written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1942, The Little House first edition books do not surface for sale very often. There are currently none on the market.

The photographs being displayed on this page are from the actual book being auctioned.

The July 12, 2007 PBA Galleries auction includes a rare first edition Curious George, along with a first edition The Gremlins, and a a first edition Pumpkin Moonshine.

The Little House Background

From the University of Oregon's Exhibit on Children's Literature:

The Little House is the story of a house that is swallowed up by a growing city but is rescued in the end by being moved to the country. Like the machine-heroines in her other books, the house has human characteristics and feelings such as curiosity, loneliness, fear, and happiness--feelings with which children can identify.

Upon receiving the [Caldecott Medal], Burton said, "In [my] creative collaboration with children I have learned several things. First, one must never 'write down' to children. They sense adult condescension in an instant, and they turn away from it. Moreover, their perception is clear and sharp ... every detail, no matter how small or unimportant, must possess intrinsic interest and significance and must, at the same time, fit into the big design of the book."

From the School Library Journal:

Accolades for The Little House came early and have continued over the years. Writing in the New York Times in 1942, reviewer Anne Eaton mentioned its "lively imagination and genuine power"; the 1943 Caldecott committee selected it as the "most distinguished book of the year"; librarian Anne Carroll Moore, known for her tough criticism, praised it as a "honest-to-goodness picture book"; and it has subsequently appeared on several "best of the century" lists.

Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Anne Tyler, in a 1986 essay in the New York Times , said that The Little House introduced her to "the realization of the losses that the passage of time can bring." As a child, she liked the book's tone—"quiet but rhythmic"; as an adult, the illustrations "spelled out for me all the successive stages [of time]; the sun rises and sets across one entire page and a whole month of moons wheel across another."

Prior to The Little House, Burton had written and illustrated Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel in 1939, another book that is now considered a children's classic (and also very difficult to come by in a first edition book). She also won a Caldecott Honor award in 1948 for Song of Robin.

In 1952, Maybelle, The Cable Car was published, based upon memories of her childhood in San Francisco, and helped to preserve the cable car in the city. In 1967 Burton donated the original artwork for Maybelle, The Cable Car to the San Francisco Public Library. Virginia Lee Burton died in 1968.

First Edition Identification - Book

The key identifying point is the '1942' on the title page, and no additional printings stated on the copyright page.

First Edition Identification - DJ

The key identifying point is the '$1.75' price on the front DJ flap.