I've heard so many things about Anne McConnell," the student said, "that I wish I had known her. I know she used to teach here, but what, exactly, was she?" Indeed, what, exactly, was she? At the time of her death, on April 3, 2006, Anne McConnell was 88 years old and a retired University of Kentucky library school professor. She was a product of the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky – a woman born to comfortable circumstances in Bourbon County, who spent much of her life in neighboring Fayette County, home to the University of Kentucky. But her influence extended throughout the state and reached many Kentuckians whose circumstances were far from comfortable. She reached some directly, initially through her several years as a public school teacher and librarian, and later through her greater number of years as a university professor. But she reached far more people indirectly, through the work of those she taught, encouraged, and inspired. Although Anne McConnell had only two biological children, she had countless professional offspring – the many children's librarians she sent out into Kentucky's counties and communities, large and small, urban and rural. And through the work of the men and women whom Anne McConnell prepared, she enriched the lives of many of Kentucky's children.
Anne Young McConnell
February 24, 2006
Teacher
In a long and productive life, Anne McConnell was many things, but in her professional life she was first and foremost a teacher – a teacher students did not forget. "She taught with a passion,…" said a person who knew her well. At the University of Kentucky, she was a popular instructor who was known to be demanding. Her courses filled quickly, and her course evaluations consistently were at the top of the scale. She taught sections of the introductory children's literature course, as well as a seminar in the critical analysis of children's literature. And she was especially fond of the course in which she introduced future children's librarians to the principles of storytelling. Terry Brackett, a school librarian in Kentucky's Lincoln County and a former student of Anne's, said of her:
Whenever I think of the perfect teacher, I think of Anne. I was in two of her classes at UK during the early 90's. We launched the "Catch 'Em In The Cradle" program for area hospitals in one class. The other class was storytelling. Anne knew just how to make you feel like you were her most important student. Whenever Anne critiqued my "Little Match Girl" story I videotaped for her class, she was so generous with her praise...telling me that I was a "natural". That's one of the ways she made me feel special.
A person who teaches for a number of years, as Anne did, influences many people. She may become respected, perhaps even revered. Anne became more. She became genuinely loved by many of the large number of people who were her students over the years. This was brought home by the outpouring of emotion and sense of loss as people learned that Anne McConnell had died. "She would invite her classes to her home at the end of the semester," Terry Brackett recalled. "I loved being in her house! The memories of those times bring tears to my eyes as I type."
Advocate
The person who said of Anne, "She taught with a passion…." added, "…as she did everything else." She was a passionate advocate for the importance of library service to children. Anne McConnell was a woman with a mission, and though she may not have developed a mission statement, if she had, the language of the ALSC mission statement would have been in hers. More than to any other goal, she devoted her life to developing and supporting "the profession of children's librarianship by enabling and encouraging its practitioners to provide the best library service to our nation's children." Anne's mission statement would have read, "to Kentucky's children," for in spite of national work and recognition, she decided early to concentrate her efforts on Kentucky. She did not hesitate to criticize Kentucky, but when she did, she was quick to add that those who criticize have an obligation to work to make things better. She devoted her life to making things better.
Anne was passionate also about children's literature She served on the Newbery-Caldecott Committee in 1977 and on the ALSC National Planning of Special Collections Committee 1979-1983. Less than six weeks before she died, Anne attended the 38th annual McConnell Children's Literature Conference, which was named in her honor when she retired from teaching. Each year several hundred school and public librarians attend the conference, which for many years was the sole form of continuing education for Kentucky's librarians serving children. Soon after joining the University of Kentucky faculty, she established, at the School of Library and Information Science, what is one of her finest legacies, the McConnell Center for the Study of Children's Literature, a resource for Kentucky's librarians, teachers, and students.
Mentor
Anne McConnell was friend, mentor, and at times nag. At one time or another she said to many of those who knew and loved her, "you can do that," or, "you should do that," or, "you can do better." And if we didn't always succeed at whatever it was, we always tried – because of Anne. When Denise Newbolt learned Anne had died, Denise, an elementary school librarian in Kentucky, wrote:
When I was in graduate school, Anne was my advisor. Poor Anne. She received a young woman who was coming out of a bad divorce and a home where her mother had been diagnosed with a form of a terminal illness. Anne patiently listened and encouraged me to continue my education. She listened when some people would have kindly set me on the door of their office and told me to "come back later".
Tres Seymour is a Kentuckian and children's book author and one of many former students whom Anne McConnell influenced greatly. Soon after her death, he wrote:
I learned this afternoon with shock and sadness of my mentor's passing. One didn't question Anne; one just did as she said if one had any sense. One day when I was in her office, she said, "Tres, you need to write a picture book." I replied, "No, that wouldn't work for me. I only do novels." She had a way of pointing her finger when she was determined to be heard and understood, something like pinning a beetle to a piece of cardboard. She pointed at me. "No," she said, "you're going to write a picture book." Anne had spoken. Within a week's time, I penned Hunting the White Cow, which is still in print in paperback. When I showed it to her, she just said, "See? I told you you could do it."
Children's book author George Shannon is another former student on whom Anne made a lasting impression. George lives in the state of Washington, but through Anne's network of friends word of her death reached him quickly, and it prompted him to write:
Puget Sound felt especially far, far away yesterday. I spent the day working with teachers and their students so in many ways it was a good way to honor Anne. But still...far, far, away. And oh how fortunate we were to have known her so long. I can honestly say that I am me because she was Anne.
Inspiration
Anne McConnell was determined, persistent, uncompromising, and inspiring. She caused those she influenced to be better than they would have been otherwise. She made people believe in themselves. She made those who talked about what they were going to do stop talking and produce. She made those who doubted themselves become believers in themselves. Although she said many things to many people over the years, she had one, central message: Kentucky's children deserve the best we can give them, and we have an obligation to give them nothing less than our best. Susan Moore is one of Kentucky's many public librarians whose commitment to children's services reflects Anne McConnell's influence. Soon after Anne's death, Susan wrote:
She helped me to know what education could be and to have experiences that tremendously influenced my ideas of what a librarian and libraries could be. She believed in the greatness in all of us. She is one of those I look to for inspiration and think of often. She gave me something special by believing in me and just knowing what I might do.
Denise Newbolt, the woman who in graduate school had the good fortune to have Anne McConnell as her advisor, and whom Anne encouraged to continue her education at a time when personal problems would have made it easy to drop out, has been a school librarian for 27 years. This spring semester, in addition to her work as a school librarian, Denise has taught a college-level course in children's literature at another of Kentucky's public universities, filling in for an instructor on leave. She wrote about the experience, and about Anne McConnell's influence:
When I walked into room 525 in Founder's Hall, I thought of Anne, and I smiled. She would have been surprised to see me in that room, no doubt. But there I was, and have been for a whole semester, reading all those stories that she loved and some new ones. I have managed, at times, to make my students laugh, and sniffle. Slyly, I am hoping to pass the love of reading to young teachers.
But surely Denise is wrong to think that Anne would have been surprised to see her in a university classroom, teaching children's literature. We believe Anne would have said that is as it should be – those she taught succeeding her, to teach and inspire another generation. "Anne gave me the courage to continue to love books all that time ago in her small office," Denise continued, "and I am listening to another young woman with domestic problems and a young father with a just-born baby. I am looking at a pregnant young mother in my class. We are reading children's books, together, every Tuesday evening." Nothing could have pleased Anne more or seemed to her more natural.
* * *
To return to the student's question, what, exactly, was Anne McConnell? She was teacher, advocate, mentor, inspiration – and more. She was a beacon, whom we assumed would always be among us, showing us the way. "Of all her virtues," Tres Seymour wrote, "it's her wisdom I most valued, and will most miss." Anne's University of Kentucky colleague, Professor Joe Miller, spoke for many of us, when he said of Anne, as word of her death spread, "when a light such as hers goes out, we are all the poorer."
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