Speech at the United Nations By Mary Pope Osborne
Friday, April 29th, 2011 On April 27, I had a great adventure with my husband Will and my sister Natalie — we went to the United Nations in New York City! We attended a conference on Health and the Environment where I gave a speech called A Bridge of Children’s Books.
Friday, April 29th, 2011
I’d like to thank Dr. Durbak and the World Information Transfer for inviting me to speak at this conference on health and the environment.
At first, as an author of children’s books, I was unclear what I would have to contribute to your discussions about nuclear security, energy resources and environmental health.
But then I realized that no conference on health and the environment would be complete without addressing the needs of children, as they will eventually have the responsibility of solving many of the problems discussed today.
I derived the title of my talk, A Bridge of Children’s Books, from the title of an out-of-print autobiography written by a remarkable woman little known by most of the world: Her name was Jella Lepman.
Jella Lepman escaped the Nazi’s in the 1930s; but after Hitler was defeated, she returned to war-ravaged Munich as an advisor for the needs of women and children. Jella quickly decided that Germany’s traumatized children needed more than food and shelter. They needed to reconnect with the world of the imagination.
So Jella began collecting children’s books from all over the world. She believed that a bridge made of children’s books would move the children beyond the landscape of their bombed-out surroundings. Books would not only link them to the playful realm of folklore and fairytales, but would also connect the children to history and to cultures outside of Hitler’s Germany.
Friday, April 29th, 2011 On April 27, I had a great adventure with my husband Will and my sister Natalie — we went to the United Nations in New York City! We attended a conference on Health and the Environment where I gave a speech called A Bridge of Children’s Books.
Friday, April 29th, 2011
I’d like to thank Dr. Durbak and the World Information Transfer for inviting me to speak at this conference on health and the environment.
At first, as an author of children’s books, I was unclear what I would have to contribute to your discussions about nuclear security, energy resources and environmental health.
But then I realized that no conference on health and the environment would be complete without addressing the needs of children, as they will eventually have the responsibility of solving many of the problems discussed today.
I derived the title of my talk, A Bridge of Children’s Books, from the title of an out-of-print autobiography written by a remarkable woman little known by most of the world: Her name was Jella Lepman.
Jella Lepman escaped the Nazi’s in the 1930s; but after Hitler was defeated, she returned to war-ravaged Munich as an advisor for the needs of women and children. Jella quickly decided that Germany’s traumatized children needed more than food and shelter. They needed to reconnect with the world of the imagination.
So Jella began collecting children’s books from all over the world. She believed that a bridge made of children’s books would move the children beyond the landscape of their bombed-out surroundings. Books would not only link them to the playful realm of folklore and fairytales, but would also connect the children to history and to cultures outside of Hitler’s Germany.