Tomie dePaola to Read from His Children’s

Books at Middlebury College on Oct. 15

Known throughout the world for his

colorful children’s books, Tomie dePaola will share and read stories

and draw pictures on Friday, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Middlebury

College’s Mead Chapel on Hepburn Road, off College Street (Route

125). He has illustrated almost 200 books, a third of which he

wrote. Over five million copies of his books have been sold in

15 different countries around the world. Following the reading,

books will be sold and dePaola will be available for autographs.

The event is sponsored by the Middlebury College Center for the

Arts and is free and open to the public.

Born in Meriden, Conn., in 1934 to

a family of Irish and Italian descent, dePaola taught, painted

church murals, and designed greeting cards and stage sets until

1965 when he illustrated his first children’s book, “Sound,”

by Lisa Miller. It was after the publication of “Sound”

that he was able to devote himself to both writing and illustrating

children’s books full-time. He now lives in New Hampshire with

his four dogs and uses a 200-year-old renovated barn as his studio.

He often draws on folktales and his own experiences as material

for his work.

One of dePaola’s books, “Days

of the Blackbird,” was described by USA Today shortly after

it arrived on shelves as having done so well that, “this

new book already has the ring of a legend.”

The 1976 book “Strega Nona”

is perhaps dePaola’s most well known work, for which he won the

Caldecott Honor Award. Other awards he has won include the Smithsonian

Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, the Kerlan Award from

the University of Minnesota, and the Regina Medal from the Catholic

Library Association. In 1990, he was the sole United States nominee

for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration. For more

information, call the College box office at 802-443-6433.