Announcements
Send items of interest to the Children's Literature Association office for posting. Kathy Kiessling

— Colleagues,

It is with great sadness that I tell you that J.D. Stahl passed away yesterday, July 15, 2010. J.D. had long suffered from leukemia, and the pneumonia that he contracted last week was too much for him.

J.D. was an influential scholar, an award-winning teacher, past president of ChLA (2001-2002), and conference planner (Roanoke, 2000); more important, he was one of the most generous, patient, and genuinely good human beings that I have ever known.

J.D. earned degrees from Goshen College, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Connecticut. At Connecticut he studied with and was influenced to study children’s literature by the legendary Francelia Butler. Upon graduation in 1982, he took a job at Virginia Tech as a Twain scholar, and there he would develop graduate and undergraduate courses in children’s literature and help form the Hollins University summer program in children’s literature, in which he taught every year since its inception.

It was J.D.’s children’s literature class in the fall of 1984 at Virginia Tech that introduced me to the seriousness and the importance (but also the joy) of children’s books. He introduced many of us in the Association to the study of children’s literature, and his influence will continue to be felt through the people he inspired to study in this field, the programs he developed for its study, and the scholarship he contributed to help form it. His absence will be especially poignant at next year’s conference, which returns to the city to which he introduced the Association in 2000.

The Board will discuss just and fitting ways to provide tribute to J.D.’s memory. We welcome suggestions, which can be sent to the Association office: info@childlitassn.org.

Mike Cadden
President, ChLA

J.D. Stahl's Obituary (as published in the Roanoke Times on July 18, 2010) 

— Colleagues,

Last week was a sad time for ChLA. The day after the passing of former president J.D. Stahl, another past president passed away. Malcolm Usrey,
ChLA president for the year 1985-86, died on July 16, 2010 after a long illness. ChLA member Lucy Rollin, a professor emerita at Clemson
University and former colleague of Malcolm’s shares that he, “a professor of English at Clemson University, was an early supporter of children's literature as a discipline and profession. He created his own annual children's literature symposium at Clemson University in which many of the best-known authors and illustrators participated.”Michelle Martin continues the tradition of that children’s literature symposium at Clemson to this day.

Mike Cadden
President, ChLA

Malcolm Usrey's Obituary (as published in The Greenville News on July 20, 2010)

— Clearance Sale of Back Issues of ChLA Journals and Publications

Back issues of the Association journals as well as other ChLA titles are now being offered at a substantial discount. Past issues of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly issues have been reduced to $3 per issue or 4 issues for $10 and issues of Children’s Literature have been reduced to $10 per issue or 3 issues for $25 (plus postage for all orders). Members are encouraged to share this information with their institution's library or department as this special offer is extended to all.

Click here for ordering information and a listing of available titles. 

Special note for ChLA Quarterly contributors: If your article appears in an issue of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, you may request copies of that particular issue for the cost of postage only (the issues would be free for those that contributed articles to the specific issue). Write “Contributor” on the order form and send to the ChLA office with payment to cover shipping costs.

If you have questions regarding ordering, please contact Kathy Kiessling at the ChLA office,by e-mail  info@childlitassn.org or phone (269) 965-8180.

— Digitization of ChLA Journals

ChLA is delighted to announce that all issues of Children's Literature and Children's Literature Association Quarterly are now available through The Johns Hopkins University Press online collection, Project Muse. See http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/