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December 14, 2007 by Betsy Bird

Sculpture Fun II

December 14, 2007 by Betsy Bird   6 comments

Remember that post I wrote earlier in December about sculptures of children’s literary characters and where they could be located?  Good times, eh?  Well, apparently I missed a couple things here and there.  And since I’m fascinated with statuary and wish to catalog the lot of it, I’m keen to get down even more images.  Woo-hoo!

So the most egregious absence in my last post was the Pollyanna statue of Littleton, New Hampshire.  I even blogged about this statue earlier in the year.  It’s located in front of the Littleton Public Library and is just the sweetest l’il ole thing you ever did see.  Check it out.

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Awwww.  Thanks for reminding me, Brooke.

The second most egregious absence (I just like writing the word "egregious" over and over) was the delightful Paddington Bear statue found in Paddington Station, London.  Oh, oversight of oversights.  Here then, from deepest darkest Peru, is the marmalade (not marmite?) loving bear.

My readers are the ones who know far far more than I, though.  Brooke, for example, let me know that there’s a Robin Hood statue in Nottingham, UK.  So, naturally, I had to find it.  And find it I did!

According to The Robin Hood Picture Gallery, "Many locals aren’t too fond of the statue and have dubbed in the World’s Largest Garden Gnome."  They may be on to something there.  And you can find others here and here and here, if you’ve a mind to.

Brooke also let me know that Virginia Lee Burton’s husband carved a statue of her before her death called "Ginny Goes to Heaven", but no image of it exists online.  Ah well.

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Author Emily Jenkins let me know that in deepest darkest Brooklyn there also appears to be a statue of Peter and Willie from the Ezra Jack Keats books in Prospect Park.  Here they are looking very very chilly:

Julia Sarcone-Roach sent me an e-mail with the following information as well: "in Collodi, Italy there’s a whole Pinoccio themed sculpture park complete with gigantic whale to walk inside that blew my mind as a child – www.pinocchio.it/pinocchio/index.php And I think Abilene TX has a couple of William Joyce inspired creations – There’s a sculpture based on ‘Santa Calls’ in their National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature ( http://nccil.org/ ). AND evidently a Dinosaur Bob who’s facing extinction atop a parking lot – www.tellform.com/dino/"


Here’s a portion of the Pinocchio statue:


And here is poor almost extinct, Dinosaur Bob.

Finally, Jennifer Schultz was kind enough to mention that child-friendly sculpture gardens brimming with characters don’t come any clearer than the New Orleans Storyland.  There was even an NPR piece about it in October of 2005.  It was, as you can imagine, hit a little hard by Katrina.

And then, in my travels, I run across this page on Google.  Looks like I have plenty of material for a third posting on this subject, what hey?  Still, if you can think of anything I’ve missed, please let me know.  I’m keen on these creations.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jennifer Schultz says

    December 14, 2007 at 7:29 am

    Storyland is fine now! The park’s beautiful wooden antique carousel (100 years old) was flooded, but it’s been restored and is now running. They just restarted the carousel a few weeks ago (restarted the streetcars-albeit on a shortened route-recently as well.).

  2. Jennifer Schultz says

    December 14, 2007 at 7:33 am

    (Other parts of City Park still have work to be done.)

  3. Elizabeth Fama says

    December 14, 2007 at 12:13 pm

    Oz Park in Chicago has four sculptures: the tin man, the scarecrow, the cowardly lion, and Dorothy with Toto. (I can’t put links in these comments, can I? Actually, you can google the images pretty easily.)

  4. Mary says

    December 14, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    Don’t forget the ducks on the Boston Commons in Boston from Make Way for Ducklings! Or were you going only for sculptures of human beings from literature?

  5. Fuse #8 says

    December 14, 2007 at 2:14 pm

    No, but I did mention the ducks in my last posting. Thanks!

  6. WendieO says

    December 14, 2007 at 8:30 pm

    I’ve found pictures of the two library sculptures I mentioned in earlier messages: http://www.bcpl.info/branches/branch_wh.html (is a small picture of the Red Queen running at the entrance to the White Marsh branch of Baltimore County Public Library……….

    http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/main/exhibits.asp (is the
    Amelia Valerio Weinberg Memorial Fountain which is located in front of the Main branch of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Library. Conceived and executed by former Cincinnati sculptor Michael Frasca, ….Affectionately known as the “book fountain,” the sculpture features water cascading over a stack of ceramic tile books, representing the free flow of information and ideas through the printed word. The fountain is a popular spot for school groups and tourists. -WendieO (Librarian, writer, mom)

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