Calendar

The recipient of numerous awards, Peter Sís is, among other things, a seven-time winner of The New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year and a three times Caldecott Honoree. He is the first children’s book illustrator to win the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

Peter' newest book, Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued, tells the story of Nicky (Nicholas Winston), a quiet Englishman who, in December 1938, cancelled his vacation to go to Prague, where he ultimately organized the transportation of almost 700 children to safety. He never told anyone, until 50 years later, his wife discovered his records, kept in boxes in the attic.

Peter weaves Nicky’s experiences and the story of one of the children he saved, Vera Gissing. “The story unfolds on parallel tracks, beginning, for both Nicky and Vera — an unusual and exquisite narrative choice — in childhood. Born into different worlds, they intersect briefly at one crucial moment in time, then split apart before coming together again at the end” (Jennifer Krauss, The New York Times).

To view Peter's (and all of the illustrator's works) online, please visit the Friends of the Ashland Library's website. The auction will be from Wed Dec 1st - Wed Dec 8th on Ebay. 

Please register for this program and you will be sent instruction on how to participate in the event. We are so pleased to be partnering with the Putnam Valley Library and a consortium of additional libraries, to bring this program to Ashland and to help kick off our Children's Illustrators Auction! You can find Peter's books at the library or buy copies from Split Rock Books (or any local Indie bookstore!).