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“Visual Conversations: Childhood, New England, and Picture Book Art.”
August 18, 2022, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
August 18, 2022 at 6:30pm
“Visual Conversations: Childhood, New England, and Picture Book Art.”
Cathryn Mercier, PhD
In-person and via Zoom
FREE for members, $15 for non-members
Children’s Literature scholar, Cathryn Mercier, PhD, of Simmons University, will discuss how the picture book and the role of illustration has changed over the past one hundred years.
As an undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College (BA ’81) Cathie Mercier was drawn to the scientific emphasis and empiricism of experimental psychology. A psychology major, she did not take her first course in children’s literature until her senior year. “Like Alice, I fell down the rabbit hole and I’ve yet to come up,” said Mercier.
Cathie was appointed to Simmons in 1985 and has been teaching in the graduate degree program in children’s literature ever since. She teaches criticism, contemporary young adult realism, the child in fiction, the picturebook, and a survey course. Her thesis, independent study, and internship advising embrace a wide range of topics, from a cultural analysis of Printz titles to an annotated bibliography of historical fiction for curricular use. “As advisor of a thesis that asked, ‘What can queer theory tell children’s literature?’ I met regularly with the student to discuss ideas. We both learned from the books, and I hope she learned from me. But I consider it my best teaching experience because of how very much I learned from her,” said Mercier, who was thrilled when part of her student’s thesis was included in a book of new voices in children’s literary criticism.
In addition to teaching, Cathie has contributed to the journal Children’s Literature and to The Horn Book Magazine. Her skill at “close reading, an ability to talk about books so that others see the book at its most ambitious and complex, and a talent for collaboration” has made her a valuable member of national book award committee. She currently serves on the Subaru Prize Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences/Young Adult Division, and has served on multiple children’s literature award committees.