Celebrating William Steig’s Birth At Jewish Museum

As part of this celebration, The Jewish Museum is presenting a major exhibition of the artist’s work including over 190 original drawings, many of which have never before been on display. From The New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig is on view at The Jewish Museum from November 4, 2007 through March 16, 2008.

Participants in a special Celebrate Steig program for schools will receive free William Steig books donated by Farrar Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers and Square Fish. A total of 2,250 books have been donated to The Jewish Museum for this purpose including 1,000 copies of Abel’s Island and 250 copies of The One and Only Shrek from Square Fish, and 1,000 copies of Doctor De Soto from Farrar Straus and Giroux. Those classes who participate in The Jewish Museum’s Steig school program will receive one copy of The One and Only Shrek for their classroom or school library. Each class will also receive a set of either Doctor De Soto (grades K to 2) or Abel’s Island (grades 3 and 4) for the students. It is expected that approximately 100 classes, grades K to 4, from public, parochial and independent schools in the New York metropolitan area will participate.

Other highlights of Celebrate Steig in November include a free November 5th workshop for school and public librarians, a free November 29th educator workshop, and a William Steig Storybook Family Day on Sunday, November 11th from noon to 4 pm, where the DreamWorks’ Shrek character will appear and the first 250 families to arrive that day will receive free Shrek DVDs.

At branches of the New York Public Library, free Steig story time activity sheets will be given out to children visiting those libraries.

In addition, The Jewish Museum will be presenting a panel discussion on November 15th at 6:30 pm, with panelists Roger Angell, a writer and fiction editor for The New Yorker; Edward Sorel, a regular contributor to The New Yorker and Vanity Fair; Holly McGhee, William Steig’s longtime literary agent; and moderator Lee Lorenz, a cartoonist for The New Yorker, former Art Editor of the magazine, and author of The World of William Steig. -- www.thejewishmuseum.org