Hollins University honored author/illustrator 亚当·雷克斯 with the second annual Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature during the 2017 Francelia Butler大会 on July 22.

该奖项展示了由评审团选出的最杰出的绘本手稿。 Rex received an engraved medal and a $1,000 cash prize for his book School’s First Day of School, illustrated by Christian Robinson and published by Roaring Book Press.

Hollins established the prize in tribute to one of its best-known alumnae and one of America’s most beloved children’s authors. Brown graduated from Hollins in 1932 and went on to write 《月亮,晚安吧!》, 逃跑的兔子, and other children’s classics before she died in 1952.

In his remarks at the medal ceremony, Rex called School’s First Day of School “my favorite book of mine.” He recounted how the idea for it came to him during a gathering of children’s picture book authors and agents. “We were talking about picture book clichés, books that never needed to be written again. And somebody said, ‘A kid is nervous about his first of school.’ As we were talking about this, I guess the way my mind works I always flip things around, so I [jokingly suggested] ‘A school is nervous about his first day of children.’ The next day as I was having breakfast with my agent I told him my funny joke and he responded, ‘Oh, that’s your next book.’”

In its starred review, 推荐书目 describes School’s First Day of School as a “charming reversal of first-day-of-school nerves [that] will delight little ones and help put their own anxieties at bay, while 学校图书馆学报 calls it “an essential purchase that is simultaneously funny, frank, and soothing. A perfect first day read-aloud.”

The study of children’s literature as a scholarly experience was initiated at Hollins in 1973. In 1992, the graduate program in children’s literature was founded. Today, Hollins offers summer M.A. and M.F.A. programs exclusively in the study and writing of children’s literature, an M.F.A. in children’s book writing and illustrating, and a graduate-level certificate in children’s book illustration.

Photo: Hollins President Pareena Lawrence with 亚当·雷克斯, winner of the 2017 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature