Logo for the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature

This is the original ink drawing of the logo for the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature. It was hand-drawn by Mary Morrison, who worked for the Worthington Public Library along with Jo Osborne, for whom the award was named. The logo features a smiling, friendly-looking troll over an open book holding the letter "J," with the letter "O" framing the picture, spelling the name "Jo." Osborne was a fan of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, and so the troll features prominently in the logo's design.

The Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature was established in 1996 in honor of Jo Osborne, who was a children’s librarian at Worthington Libraries from 1979 until her death at age 59 in 1995. It sought to honor her commitment to bringing children, books and humor together, and recognized the art of humor in either a single children's book or in the body of work of a children's literature author. As described in the brochure for the award, Jo "sought out the silly, the funny, the poignant, the witty for storytelling and puppet shows to impart a love of books to all the children who were lucky enough to cross her path" during her years as a librarian.

Winners of the award were chosen by a committee of librarians, teachers and other specialists in children's literature. They were: Patricia Polacco (1996), Sid Fleischman (1997), Steven Kellogg (1998), Jon Scieszka (1999), William Steig (2000), Rosemary Wells (2001), Kevin Henkes (2002), Tomie dePaola (2003), Paula Danzinger (2004), Daniel Pinkwater (2010) and Betsy Lewin (2011).

Artist Mary Morrison worked for the Worthington Public Library as an administrative secretary. In addition to her administrative work, she used her artistic skills to design newsletters, decorations and drawings for children's activities.