Letter from Rachel Alexander to William Steig Announcing His Win of the Jo Osborne Award

This is a copy of a letter sent from Rachel Alexander to William Steig, announcing his selection as the 2000 winner of the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature, which was established in memory of librarian Jo Osborne.

William Steig was a cartoonist, author and illustrator of numerous books for children, including the Caldecott-Medal-winning "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" and "Shrek," on which the film series is based. His other books have received honors such as the Caldecott Honor, two Newbery Honors and a National Book Award finalist.

Jo Osborne was a children's librarian at Worthington Libraries from 1979 until her death at age 59 in 1995. The Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature was established in 1996 to honor her commitment to bringing children, books and humor together. The award recognizes the art of humor in either a single children's book or in the body of work of a children's literature author. As described in the brochure for the award, Jo "sought out the silly, the funny, the poignant, the witty for storytelling and puppet shows to impart a love of books to all the children who were lucky enough to cross her path" during her years as a librarian.

Children's book historian Leonard Marcus accepted the award on behalf of Steig during a ceremony at The Ohio State University's Children's Literature Conference, which took place on February 11, 2000. In a handwritten letter to Rachel Alexander, dated June 14, 1999, Steig wrote: "Needless to say (I'll say it) I'm delighted to be considered worthy of the Jo Osborne Award!...I wish I could turn up in person, but, as you seem to know, a man my age 'don't get around much any more.'" (Steig was 91 at the time.) In a second letter to Alexander, dated November 2000, Steig wrote "Thank you for your heartwarming letter...I am in the unusual position of being rewarded for enjoying myself--writing books for children, illustrating them, drawing for the New Yorker, and other such healthy activities."

In addition to Steig's receipt of the award in 2000, the other Jo Osborne Award winners were Patricia Polacco (1996), Sid Fleischman (1997), Steven Kellogg (1998), Jon Scieszka (1999), Rosemary Wells (2001), Kevin Henkes (2002), Tomie dePaola (2003), Paula Danzinger (2004), Daniel Pinkwater (2010), and Betsy Lewin (2011).

Rachel Alexander was the chairperson for the Jo Osborne Award selection committee. She worked for Worthington Libraries from 1976 to 1985, and again from 1997 to 2008; during that time she served many roles, including community services librarian, children’s librarian, youth services manager and youth services materials selector.

The letter pictured here has been altered to remove addresses and contact information of the recipient and sender.