Francelia Butler

Francelia McWilliams Butler (April 25, 1913 – September 17, 1998) was an American scholar, pioneer and writer of children's literature.^[1] She is also known for creating the International Peace Games.

Biography

Butler was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She received a BA from Oberlin College, an MA from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.

Francelia married Jerome Butler who worked as a journalist for the Paris Herald Tribune (which became the International Herald Tribune). Her husband died in 1949.

First a journalist then a professor, Francelia Butler taught at the University of Connecticut from the 1960s to the early 1990s. Officially "Children's Literature 200," students affectionately nicknamed the class "Kiddie Lit". Its class schedule included guest lecturers such as Dr. Benjamin Spock and Madeleine L'Engle. Butler retired from UCONN in 1992.

Francelia Butler created the International Peace Games, now Peace First. She founded the scholarly journal Children's Literature at Hollins University. When much of the university's collection was ruined in a flood, Butler donated her own extensive collection of children's literature. The Graduate Program of Children's Literature at Hollins University founded an annual conference in her memory.

Books and articles

• The Lucky Piece
• The Relationship Between Moral Competence and Old Age in Richard II, 2 Henry IV, and Henry V
• Sharing Literature With Children: A Thematic Approach to Children's Literature
• Skipping Around the World: The Ritual Nature of Folk Rhymes
• The Melted Refrigerator; Comedy and Combat in the Life of a Woman (2013)

References

External links

• PeaceFirst
• International Peace Games
• An article about Francilia Butler in leading newspaper of India
• The Francelia Butler Conference