Julia Sauer facts for kids

Julia Sauer (April 8, 1891 – June 26, 1983) was an American writer of children's fiction and librarian. Two of her books, Fog Magic and The Light at Tern Rock were among the annual Newbery Medal runners-up. Both are set in Canada, where Sauer frequently vacationed.

Life

Julia Lina Sauer was born April 8, 1891, in Rochester, New York. She attended the University of Rochester and the New York State Library School in Albany, NY. Sauer then returned to Rochester, where she was the head of the children's department at the Public Library from 1921-1958. Though she lived most of her life in Rochester, Sauer spent many summers in Little River, Nova Scotia, Canada. That area became the setting for both of her award-winning books.

As a librarian, Sauer became involved in the new medium of radio through the School of the Air, broadcasting programs for fifth through eleventh graders directly into schools. She eventually edited a book on giving radio book talks for children. Her early work as a children's librarian brought her recognition with the American Library Association, and in 1939 she was appointed chairman of the Committee on Planning and Equipping Children's Libraries for the ALA.

By the early 1940s a debate, at times acrimonious, had developed in the children's literature field about whether children's books should be imaginative escapes from reality or reflections of the trials and difficulties of modern life, including the Great Depression and developments leading to World War II. The side supporting fantasy was symbolized by the nightingale, a figure of ethereal beauty from fairy tales. Realists often pointed to the character of Janey Larkins from Doris Gates' book Blue Willow, the first realistic American problem novel for children. The ALA asked Julia Sauer to address the controversy, and in 1941 the Library Journal published her article "Making the World Safe for the Janey Larkins". In it, Sauer wrote that children should not be protected from the realities of their world. But, she argued, they need both realism and imagination. She finished with an appeal to her fellow librarians: "We need many more books about the Janey Larkins in our literature for children. And when we get them we will need the courage to give them to our children... before a world can be made safe even for nightingales, it must be made safe for the Janey Larkins."

Sauer presented the paper, "Library Services to Children in a World at War," to the 8th Pan- American Child Congress in Washington, DC, in 1942. Her final children's book appeared in 1954. It tells the adventures of a small boy who checks out Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel so many times he calls the library Mike's House. At the behest of the Atlantic Monthly, in 1955 Sauer and two others, Virginia Haviland and Elizabeth Gross, compiled a list of "50 Outstanding Books Published Since 1940". As well as writing, Sauer spoke throughout her life at colleges, library institutes and national meetings.

Julia Sauer died June 26, 1983 in Rochester, New York. Her papers are held at the Rochester public library and the University of Minnesota.

Works

Fiction

• Fog Magic, Viking Press, 1943, ;
• The Light at Tern Rock, Viking Press, 1951, ;
• Mike's House, Viking Press, 1954, .

Other

• Radio Roads to Reading: Library Book Talks Broadcast to Boys and Girls, (editor), Wilson, 1939, .

– interview with librarian Augusta Baker with a brief mention of Sauer as a leading librarian