The Graduate School of Library and Information Science will host Caldecott Medal-winning children's book illustrator Ed Young for its inaugural Butler Lecture on Friday, February 22. The lecture, titled "The House Baba Built," will be held at 6 p.m. in the Bluhm Lecture Hall, Parmer Hall Room 108. The lecture is generously supported by the Butler Family Foundation.

"We are excited to underwrite this lecture series, which we envision to become a signature event of the Butler Center at Dominican University," said Lynne Butler Adams, Butler Family Foundation trustee.

Renowned children's illustrator and author Ed Young, best known for Lon Po Po, will give the inaugural Butler Lecture February 22 and keynote address at the Butler Children's Literature Center's professional development conference February 23.

Young is the illustrator of more than 80 picture books for children. He is best known for the Caldecott Medal winner Lon Po Po (Philomel, 1989), and two Caldecott Honor Books, Seven Blind Mice (Philomel, 1992) and The Emperor and the Kite (World, 1967).

Born in China, Young grew up in Shanghai and later moved to Hong Kong. As a young man, he came to the United States on a student visa to study architecture but turned instead to his love of art. A graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Young has since taught at the Pratt Institute and Yale University, among other institutions.

His first children's book, The Mean Mouse and Other Stories, was written by Janice Udry and published by Harper in 1962. The House Baba Built (Little, Brown, 2011) an autobiography about the artist’s childhood in Shanghai, received starred reviews in Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.

"Ed Young is a visionary author and illustrator possessed of a seemingly inexhaustible creative spirit. He never tires of pushing at artistic boundaries, and the results are always surprising and never disappointing," said Thom Barthelmess, lecturer in Dominican's Graduate School of Library and Information Science and curator of the Butler Children's Literature Center.

The event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required as seating is limited. To register, visit dom.edu/gslis/events. For more information, contact the GSLIS at (708) 524-6844.

The Butler Children’s Literature Center​ at Dominican University commits itself to imagination and wonder, encouraging and supporting adults in libraries, classrooms, childcare centers, and homes to engage young people with good books.