Baylor Bookstore Event To Feature Artist Tomie DePaola
Popular children's book author/illustrator Tomie dePaola will sign copies of his books and give a short presentation when he visits the Baylor University Bookstore from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 26.
The Baylor Bookstore, which will have a limited number of dePaola's books for sale, is located on Fifth Street on the Baylor campus across Waco Creek from the Bill Daniel Student Center. DePaola is scheduled to meet with fans on the bookstore patio. However, in the event of rain, dePaola's appearance will be moved inside the bookstore.
DePaola has illustrated more than 200 children's books and written the stories for nearly half of them. He has received several significant honors for children's literature, including the Caldecott Honor Award and the Newbery Honor Award from the American Library Association, the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution and the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association. In addition, he was the USA nominee in illustration for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal.
A popular speaker and the subject of numerous print, television and radio stories, dePaola has said that he wants his books to make children laugh and to help them feel safe. The storylines from dePaola's most popular books are taken from his own childhood as one of four children growing up in Meriden, Conn. He has sold more than 5 million books worldwide, including Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka, Strega Nona and the 26 Fairmont Avenue books.
DePaola earned his bachelor's degree in 1956 from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and his master's degree in 1969 from the California College of Arts and Crafts. He taught art at several colleges in Massachusetts and California from 1962-79. Today, dePaola lives in New London, N.H., and works in a studio in a renovated 200-year-old barn.
For more information about dePaola's book signing event, contact Rick Busby, manager of the Baylor Bookstore, at (254) 710-2161.