by William H. Hooks
[Note: This essay is an adaptation and update of the Keynote Speech for the 1997 Irma S. and James H. Black Picture Book Award, given by the late William H. Hooks, former Director of the Bank Street Publications Division, 1972-1992, and himself a prolific author of children's books.]
In 1958, I had the great good fortune to discover and gain employment at a small temple of learning on a tree-lined street in Greenwich Village. Its guardian was a new president, John H. Niemeyer, who had recently succeeded Lucy Sprague Mitchell, the founding mother of the temple, known as the Bank Street College of Education.
To my surprise, I was soon aware of a small, errant nymph skipping about the temple in a rather joyous, almost irreverent, and slightly mischievous manner. My surprise changed to delight as I came to know her by name, Irma Simonton Black.
Irma had come to Bank Street in 1931. She and Lucy Sprague Mitchell were close friends who shared two cherished passions: a love of children's books, and the talent to produce them. Over her busy and productive lifetime, Irma published more than twenty children's books. Among other books, Lucy had authored a landmark collection, The Here and Now Story Book, in 1921, which caused a sensation because it reflected the everyday life and concerns of modern-day children: a no-no in those days. I also learned that in October 1937, Lucy had established the Bank Street Writers Lab, a workshop for children's book writers imbued with the Bank Street philosophy, where they came together to read and share works in progress, as well as to exchange information about the publishing industry.
The Writers Lab attracted a remarkable group of creative writers and illustrators, many of whom authored, illustrated, or otherwise contributed to many Bank Street books. They included the whimsical Ruth Krauss, who brightened children's literature with books such as I Can Fly and A Hole is to Dig. Eve Merriam, with her gift of poetry that touched children's everyday lives. Edith Thacher, a talented writer, and Clement Hurd, an inspired illustrator, who met at the Writers Lab and married (their son, Thacher Hurd, is himself a well-known children's book author and illustrator). Claudia Lewis, a member of the Lab from its inception until her death in the 1990s, and who produced a splendid body of work, and stories and poems for children, as well as one of the best guides ever written, Writing for Young Children.
Irma and Lucy both published many of their own books during this early period. But the star of the Lab was a writing student of Lucy's: Margaret Wise Brown, whose genius produced more than 100 books, including the timeless classics, Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, both superbly illustrated by Lab member Clement Hurd. The Lab attracted many other stellar talents: Maurice Sendak first came as an illustrator, but soon found his voice and began his remarkable voyage as a world-renowned prize-winning writer/illustrator. Newbery Award winners Emily Neville and Joan Blos were members, as was recent Caldecott winner Mordicai Gerstein.
New members continued to find their way to the Lab through the 1960's and onward into the present day. They included, and include, such writers as Barbara Brenner, Doris Orgel, Barbara Seuling, Ronni Schotter, Doreen Rappaport, Diane Volkstein, Seymour Reit, Robert Welber, Mary Louise Cuneo, Marylin Singer, Ellen Schecter, Barbara Shook Hazen, Caron Lee Cohen, Dorothy Carter, Ann McGovern, May Garelick, to name a few, and of course Claudia Lewis, who was always there.
In the early 1960's, President Jack Niemeyer created a Publications Division, with Irma as chairperson, while the Writers Lab continued on separately, but still as an important part of Bank Street. Jack came to Irma with the idea for what was eventually called The Bank Street Readers, the first basal readers in the United States that would feature multi-ethnic urban children. The Civil Rights movement was in its beginning stages and Jack's close look at public school readers then being used showed them to be populated by suburban middle- or upper-class white families, with one or two children, and a dog called Spot. In essence, these books disenfranchised non-white children. I and several other members of the Publications Division met in Irma's Greenwich Village apartment to discuss what was then a revolutionary undertaking.
"I remember that wonderful evening well," recalled Jack Niemeyer in an interview. "We had wine and stew...[and] kicked around the idea of our own readers and everybody got excited...everybody went away from that very inspired. And by golly, that writing team (all writers of books for children themselves) began pouring out stories..."
Irma persuaded well-known artist Leonard Weisgard to do the first illustrations on speculation. Under Irma's direction (she also did some of the writing), and later that of myself, the Publications team produced two Preprimer Readers and six Readers for Grades One through Three (two for each grade), all lavishly illustrated. It was a struggle to get a publisher, but finally the Readers were published by Macmillan in 1965 and 1966 (with revised editions in 1972). They were accompanied by extensive Teacher's Guides and Pupil Workbooks. In addition, ancillary materials comprised of 20 Unit Readers, ranging from preschool to third grade, were also published between 1965-1972.
By the end of the 1960's, The Bank Street Readers had buried Dick and Jane and their dog Spot, who had dominated school reading programs for decades. All major literacy programs since then have featured multi-cultural casts and at least some urban settings.
A long line of print and media materials flowed from the Publications Division through the 70's, the 80's, the 90's. Irma did not live to see us enter such diverse fields as television and computer software, and I wonder what she would have thought about our collaboration with some industry giants, such as IBM, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and the National Football League, for all of which we created learning materials for children. My guess is that Irma would have been right out front, pushing into all these new frontiers.
Over the years, Irma used to enter a state of high dudgeon when book award time rolled around: especially Caldecott Award time. She stopped smiling, and the twinkle in her eyes changed to something resembling darting sparks. "How on earth can you give an award to a picture book that considers only the art?" she'd proclaim. "Don't they know that a great picture book is a synthesis of text and art, each enhancing the other to produce a synergistic effect that makes the whole greater than its parts?" Then she'd mumble, in a dark and troubled tone, "They must have forgotten that in the beginning, there was the word."
Irma's life was tragically ended in 1972. This award was established that same year to honor her life, and, later, starting in 1992, also that of her husband. The criteria for the award, originally arrived at in consultation with Irma's husband, James H. Black, and her daughter, Connie Black Engle, was derived from the concerns expressed in Irma's annual "high dudgeon" state. That is, the award would be given each year to an excellent new book for young children that embodied the seamless synthesis of text and illustration that Irma so ardently admired.
As an extra recognition of the audience for whom the book was intended, children themselves have always made the final choice of the winner.
Maurice Sendak, an old friend of Irma's and a former member of the Bank Street Writers Lab, designed a wonderful seal to be placed on the covers of the award-winning books.
Take a close look at the seal: you will see three merrily dancing figures (left to right): Irma with a book crowning her head; Maurice's beloved dog, Jenny, holding a book in her mouth; and Maurice clasping a book in his hand.
And so it is fitting that every year we honor a book that is guaranteed to return the sparkle and twinkle to Irma's eyes and restore that broad smile she wears as she happily cavorts with her friend Maurice and his dog Jenny on the seal.
The Irma S. and James H. Black Award is an affiliate of the Bank Street Center for Children's Literature.