May Hill Arbuthnot

May Hill Arbuthnot (August 27, 1884 – October 2, 1969) was an American educator, editor, writer, and critic who devoted her career to the awareness and importance of children's literature. Her efforts expanded and enriched the selection of books for children, libraries, and children's librarians alike. She was selected for American Libraries article "100 Most Important Leaders we had for the 20th Century".

Early history and education

Born in Mason City, Iowa, to Frank and Mary (Seville) Hill in 1884, May Hill grew up in many different cities, going to school in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Illinois. She grew up fond of books, with both a mother and father who were avid readers, and spent time reading the Book of Common Prayer. May Hill graduated from Hyde Park High School in Chicago, Illinois, in 1912. Because of financial issues, May Hill did not attend college towards her baccalaureate until nine years later. Instead, she received a k-primary supervisor certificate from the University of Chicago in 1913. Hill eventually went on to receive her baccalaureate from the same university in 1922. May also earned her graduate degree from Columbia University in 1924.

Career

Early career May Hill Arbuthnot held many jobs while she was continuing her education. She was a kindergarten teacher and director in Wisconsin, lead a teacher training program in New York City, and taught children's literature at the University of Chicago. In 1964, she was recognized with the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association. This medal honors excellence in the field of children's literature. Its recipient is recognized for their "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature without regard to the nature of the contribution".

The Arbuthnot Honor Lecture and Arbuthnot Award

First established in 1969 by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and in conjunction with Scott, Foresman and Co., the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture is put on by a person in the profession of children's literature. This includes historians, librarians, educators, critics, or authors. In the inaugural lecture, Arbuthnot spoke of the importance of the "spoken word", that she spent many years "…bringing children and books together by way of spoken word".

Conclusion

Her philosophy can be further explained by her introduction to the book, The Real Mother Goose, by Blanche Fisher Wright. In this introduction, she explains her idea of the importance of books for children. She believed a very simple philosophy of books to be possible of garnering huge interest from children, and in turn, children will increase their literacy skills by enjoying and rereading them over and over. Also, parents have the ability to help children learn just by reading and interacting with them. She describes how the hardware of the book helps to facilitate learning. She goes on to describe this learning style by saying, "As a result, children will know more words and speak them more crisply and clearly than they would have without Mother Goose. Above all, they will carry with them some feeling for the fun, freshness and sheer delight of poetry. All this because of Mother Goose."

Selected works Four editions appeared with Arbuthnot as sole author; four more editions had appeared by 1991 with Zena Sutherland as the first author, jointly with May Arbuthnot (8th ed. has ).