FIVE NESTS ILLUSTRATION BY RUTH SANDERSON, On Display at the Free Library of Philadelphia

I was delighted to learn from my friend, librarian Carol Koneff, that an illustration by Ruth Sanderson for my very first published book, Five Nests, is on display in a special exhibit at the Free Library ofPhiladelphia. 

Carol saw the exhibit while visiting the library when she was in Philadelphia for the annual conference of the American Library Association. The exhibit, called Go Birds: Appreciating our Avian Friends, includes items from the library archives and will be up through August 30^th,  2025.

Ruth Sanderson’s illustration for my book depicts a rhea nest. (Rheas are large South American birds related to ostriches.) The rhea is an example of a bird species in which the male, or father bird, is the sole caretaker of the eggs and chicks. The illustration was donated to the library by Ruth.

A number of years ago I met Ruth for the first time at a children’s book conference. (We never met when Five Nests was published in 1980, which is not unusual.) After the conference Ruth sent me the original illustration for another page in the book that depicted Mexican Jays. In this species, multiple generations look after the young. In 2016, when I was in Philadelphia and learned that the library had a copy of Five Nests in their permanent archive, I donated that illustration to the library. I am pleased to learn that Ruth has donated other illustrations from the book as well.

Although Five Nests launched my career as a children’s book writer, it had a rocky start. It received a negative review in SLJ (unfairly, I thought) and as a consequence, many libraries, including my own, chose not to approve it for purchase. By the time Five Nests was named an Outstanding Science Trade Book by the NSTA/CBC the following year, it was too late. The book had already been remaindered. So I am especially pleased to see that it lives on at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

For more about Five Nests and the Free Library of Philadelphia:

My post on the 40th anniversary of the publication of Five Nests.

My post on the Philadelphia Free Library's Children's Literature Research Collection.