Children’s Literature Assembly Art Auction at the 2022 NCTE Conference

by Peggy Rice and Ally Hauptman representing the Ways and Means Committee

Each year at the NCTE Conference, the Children’s Literature Assembly hosts a breakfast. It is one of our favorite events of the conference because we get to listen to an author speak about their work and we get to see the gorgeous artwork available in the silent auction. This year our speaker is Jerry Craft, Newbery winner and author of New Kid and Class Act. Jerry is also contributing a piece of art to the auction! 

The Ways and Means Committee spends a better part of the year communicating with children’s picture book authors/illustrators about donating artwork to support the major goals of our organization. CLA is committed to promoting high quality children’s books in classrooms and supporting research focused on the importance of children’s literature. 

Ways and Means Committee

Raven Cromwell
Michelle Hasty
Ally Hauptman
Mary Lee Hahn
Rachelle Kuehl
Marion Rocco
Peggy Rice

We are excited to share with you some of the artwork we have received and will be available for purchase through the auction this year. There are more pieces coming, so there will be a second blog coming soon! Without further ado, we invite you to view these beautiful contributions by Kevin Henkes, Grant Snider, Juliet Menéndez, Ellen Heck, Bonnie Lui, Alaina Chau, Amanda Calatzis, Brandon James Scott, Dan Yaccarino, and Elizabeth Erazo Baez. As an added bonus this year, each piece of art will be auctioned off with the book in which it appears!

Elizabeth Erazo Baez

Elizabeth Erazo Baez, talented artist, illustrator, curator and art teacher, is  of Puerto Rican heritage.  Impacted by her experiences growing up in Puerto Rico, she uses bright Caribbean colors and creates lush, tropical views, depicting the cultural lifestyle.

Art for Auction: Elizabeth has contributed three, expressive 11 x 14 pieces, with matting, from Alicia and the Hurricane: A Story of Puerto Rico,  a bilingual picture book written by Leslea Newman (2022). Each illustration includes an image of the coqui, a tree frog that is native to the island and beloved by the main character, Alicia. 

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Amanda Calatzis

Amanda Calatzis, talented author-illustrator, incorporates light into her illustrations to convey warmth.

Art for Auction: This 17 x 11 inch, uplifting illustration is from Mr. Roger’s Gift of Music by Donna Cangelosi (2022), a picture book biography, that celebrates the power of music in his life. It depicts Mr. Rogers and the flow of music in his home.

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Alina Chau

Alina Chau, a talented animator, author-illustrator  grew up in Hong Kong in an Indonesian-Chinese family. Her work is inspired by her unique Southeast Asian heritage. In 2018, a book she illustrated, The Nian Monster by Andrea Wang, received a Picture Book Honor by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA)

Art for Auction:  This 14 x 10 inch watercolor illustration is from Bonnie’s Rocket by Emmeline Lee (2022), a historical fiction picture book inspired by the experiences of the author’s grandfather with the Apollo 11 space mission. It depicts Bonnie, whose father is an engineer for the Apollo 11 space mission, conceptualizing a rocket that she designs, builds and tests.

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Ellen Heck

Ellen Heck, is a talented printmaker who explores identity in her work.

Art for Auction:  This 10 x 8 inch piece includes eye-catching black and white scratchboard images from A is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation (2022), her lavishly illustrated debut multilingual alphabet picture book that was inspired by reading Lithuanian alphabet books to her son. Throughout the book, she has included hidden letter forms to create a seek and find element for readers.

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Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes, is an award-winning, prolific author-illustrator of picture books and novels.  He received the 2020 Children’s Literature Legacy Award for his significant and lasting contributions as an American author-illustrator, publishing books in the United States.  His award-winning works include Kitten’s Full Moon, winner of the 2005 Caldecott and The Year of Billy Miller, the 2014 recipient of a Newbery Honor.

Art for Auction:  This  9.5 x 4 inch illustration of pastel colored, expressive elephants is from A Parade of Elephants (2018), which is an ALA Notable Book. This delightful book for preschoolers focuses on a day-long march of five elephants and includes opportunities for counting, as well as exploration of opposites.

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Bonnie Lui

Bonnie Lui, is a talented illustrator of picture books for children who is also a background painter for Dreamworks and WB. In 2021, she published her first children’s book that she authored and illustrated, “ABC of Feelings.”

Art for Auction:  This 4 x 6 inch otherworldly illustration from So Not Ghoul by Karen Yin (2022), depicts the main character, Mimi, who is a Chinese-American ghost girl haunting a new American school.  In this playful ghost story, Mimi embraces her bicultural identity.    

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Juliet Menéndez

Juliet Menéndez, a talented Guatemalan American author-illustrator, is a former bilingual teacher in New York City. While teaching, she noticed a need for children’s books depicting Latinas.

Art for Auction: This  framed 18 x 23 inch gorgeous illustration is from Juliet’s first children’s book, Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers (2021), a collected biography of influential Latinas who followed their dreams. It depicts Rigoberta Menchu Tum, the 1992 winner of the Nobel Peace prize, in recognition of her work as an advocate of Indian Rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation. Other Latinas included in the collection include Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Evelyn Miralles, NASA’s first virtual reality engineer.

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Brandon James Scott

Brandon James Scott, is a critically acclaimed Canadian, creative director working in animation and an author-illustrator of children’s books. He  created the award-winning animated series, Justin Time.

Art for Auction: This 20 x 20 inch humorous illustration from A Bear, A Bee, and a Honey Tree by Daniel Bernstrom (2022) captures the high energy of the hungry bear and the angry bee. Brandon’s expressive illustrations delight young readers while inspiring them to write poetry

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Grant Snider

Grant Snider, is a talented author-illustrator of children’s picture books and creator of comics that have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review.

Art for Auction: This  14 x 11 inch brightly colored illustration from One Boy Watching  (2022) depicts the boy on his daily bus ride.  Grant’s use of color invites young readers to engage with the outside world through observation.

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Dan Yaccarino

Dan Yaccarino, is an acclaimed author-illustrator of children’s books and creator of animated series based on his books, such as Doug Unplugs (AppleTV) and Oswald (Nickelodeon).

Art for Auction: This 20 x 20 inch graphic style illustration is from City Under the City  (2022). It depicts Bix and her rat friend heading home from the City Under the City with books that they have discovered on their adventure. The charming illustrations and Bix’s appreciation for books inspire young readers to move away from a screen and read a book.

Peggy Rice is an associate professor in the Department of Elementary Education at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. She is a member of the Ways and Means Committee for CLA.

Ally Hauptman is an associate professor at Lipscomb University. She is the chair of the Ways and Means Committee for CLA and a serving CLA board member.

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To be able to participate in this year's CLA Art Auction, don't forget to prepurchase your tickets for the 2022 Children's Literature Assembly Breakfast featuring Jerry Craft. Tickets are available through the registration portal for NCTE2022.