SUTHERLAND, Zena Bailey 1915-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born September 17, 1915, in Winthrop, MA; died of cancer June 12, 2002, in Chicago, IL. Educator, critic, editor, and author. Sutherland may have possessed a more comprehensive knowledge of children's literature than any living person without ever having been a children's author herself. For nearly thirty years as an editor and reviewer for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books at the University of Chicago, beginning in 1958, she is credited with reading and reviewing tens of thousands of children's books. Sutherland's reviews differed from the standard fare of her day. She treated her subjects as she would treat adult literature, providing substantive descriptive information and adding her own critical interpretations. Sutherland was also a children's literature columnist for the Saturday Review in the 1960s and a children's book editor and columnist for the Chicago Tribune in the 1970s and 1980s. Upon the death of May Hill Arbuthnot in 1969, Sutherland succeeded her as the author of the classic textbook Children and Books, continuing as editor through its ninth edition in 1996. She also wrote History in Children's Books, The Best in Children's Books, and Children and Libraries, and edited a handful of anthologies. Sutherland taught librarianship at the University of Chicago from 1972 to 1986; the Zena Sutherland lecture series of the University of Chicago and the Chicago Public Library was established in her honor. She also served on the International Board on Books for Young People and judged prestigious literary awards, including the Newbery Award, the Caldecott Award, and the National Book Award.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2002, p. B19.

New York Times, June 15, 2002, obituary by Eden Ross Lipson, p. A27.

Washington Post, June 16, 2002, obituary by Richard Pearson, p. C8.