Letter from Rachel Alexander to Steven Kellogg

This is a copy of a letter sent from Rachel Alexander to author Steven Kellogg, announcing his selection as the 1998 winner of the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature, which was established in memory of librarian Jo Osborne.

The author and illustrator of over 100 books for children, Kellogg graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. His picture books include "Paul Bunyan," "Pecos Bill," and the Pinkerton series of books about a Great Dane named Pinkerton. He is the recipient of the prestigious Regina Medal for lifetime contribution to children's literature, as well as numerous other honors including the Irma Simonton Black Award, the IRA-CBC Children’s Choice Award and the Parents’ Choice Award. Throughout his career, Kellogg has celebrated love of reading by giving presentations across the country at schools, libraries and colleges.

Jo Osborne was a children's librarian at Worthington Libraries from 1979 until her death at age 59 in 1995. The Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature was established in 1996 to honor her commitment to bringing children, books and humor together. The award recognizes 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.

Kellogg received his award during a ceremony at The Ohio State University's Children's Literature Conference, which took place on January 30, 1998.

In addition to Kellogg's receipt of the award in 1998, the other Jo Osborne Award winners were Patricia Polacco (1996), Sid Fleischman (1997), 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).

Rachel Alexander was the chairperson for the Jo Osborne Award selection committee. She worked for Worthington Libraries from 1976 to 1985, and again from 1997 to 2008; during that time she served many roles, including community services librarian, children’s librarian, youth services manager and youth services materials selector.

The letter pictured here has been altered to remove addresses and phone numbers of the recipient and sender.