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Page Six PHOENIX June 21, 1973Couple Both Excel as Authors;Children's Books Earn Wide AcclaimBY BARBARA ZELENKO%u201c I was surprised,%u201d admits Arnold Lobe! of Park Slope. His book, %u201c Frog and Toad Together,%u201d had just become Newbery Runner Up for 1973. The Newbery Medal is a national competition for children%u2019s book texts sponsored by the American Library Association. Its sister award, the Caldecott Medal, goes to the children%u2019s book with the best illustrations.%u201c Frog and Toad Together was my first writing award,%u201d explains Arnold. He has been runner up for two Caldecotts: in 1972 for %u201c Hilde of the Night%u201d and for %u201c Frog and Toad are Friends%u201d in 1971. Both %u201c F rog%u201d books are humorous stories about the ups and downs of close friendship. %u201c Frog and Toad are Friends%u201d was also a finalist in the National Book Awards competition.Shortly after the Newbery excitement, Arnold%u2019s %u201c Mousetales%u201d won the first Irma Symington Black Award, established in memory of the children%u2019s librarian at Bank Street College who was brutally murdered in the Village last year.Arnold%u2019s wife, Anita Lobel, is also an author-illustrator. Her book %u201c Little John,%u201d won first prize in the Herald Tribune Spring Books Festival of 1972. Together, the Lobels have turned out 75 children%u2019s books between them.The Lobels have lived in Park Slope for seven years but have only recently become brownstoners.%u201c We never wanted to buy a house,%u201d explains Arnold. %u201c But, we had admired this brownstone across the street for years. We noticed it was on sale and bought it the very next day.%u201dArnold was born in Los Angeles, but quickly denies that that city had any lasting influence on him. %u201c I was six months old when we moved to Schenectady, New York,%u201d he says. He grew up there and came to Brooklyn to study art at Pratt Institute.He majored in illustration and met Anita at the Pratt drama club. She was the daughter of Polish war refugees who had come to America in 1952. They were married the summer after their graduation in 1955 and settled in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn.Their early married life was a classic hardship story of the artist struggling to establish himself. Anita became pregnant and the Lobel%u2019s home, while not a garret, was a 1-room fourth floor walkup ( %u201c 1 room and an alcove,%u201d amends Arnold). %u201c But we were so happy,%u201d laughs Anita. %u201c I remember inviting a friend to visit, telling him about our %u201c great guest accommodations.%u201dArnold worked at various %u201c horrible jobs%u201d before turning to free lance. %u201c Pasteups, mechanicals, that sort of thing,%u201d he says. One job that wasn%u2019t too bad was with the old Cecilia Staples factory near the Manhattan Bridge. The factory made Christmas windowdecorations for the big stores on Fifth Avenue. %u201c My first task was 5000 Christmas pixies,%u201d he recalls. %u201c He%u2019d come home nights completely covered with gold,%u201d chuckles Anita.Why did he decide to write and illustrate children%u2019s books? %u201c I always had a feeling for it,%u201d says Arnold after a moment%u2019s reflection. %u201c I was never athletic, and you were nobody in public school those days if you weren%u2019t. So I started telling stories to the other kids.%u201d In time, he got so good at it that teachers would ask him to tell the class a story when they wanted or needed a break.The storytelling talent came in handy when the Lobel%u2019s daughter, Adrianne, was a little girl. %u201c She was often called Lobelia (shortened to Belia) because of her last name,%u201d explains Anita. %u201c Arnold created a character called Princess Belia and she%u2019d do something different in every story. Later Adrianne did a painting of Princess Belia for one of our friends.%u201d (The Lobel%u2019s daughter, now 17, is a freshman at Marlboro College in Vermont, studying painting.)Arnold went around, showing his portfolio to various publishers. One day, an editor asked him if he could draw fish. %u201c I answered yes without even thinking about it,%u201d says Arnold. Result: he received his first book to illustrate. It was %u201c Red Tag Comes Back.%u201d %u201c 64 pages of salmons swimming upstreamvery boring,%u201d recalls Arnold. He rem embers working on thesalmons during the Kennedy-Nixon campaign of 1960.One unfortunate side effect of Arnold%u2019s new career%u2014he could no longer tell stories to his children for pleasure. The Lobel%u2019s son, Adam (now 14; missed out on the storytelling.Meanwhile, Anita was working as a textile designer and hated it. She quit to freelance in 1965.%u201c We get most of our story ideas from life, just as an adult novelist does,%u201d says Arnold. %u201c But neither of us is a %u201c trendy%u201d writer.Their books do not deal with sex education, race relations, feminism, or other current topics of the children%u2019s book world.Unlike so many other husband and wife author-illustrators, the Lobels have never collaborated on a book. Their styles are too different. Anita has a European outlook and writes fairy tales with complicated ideas behind them. Arnold%u2019s books are more like vaudeville%u2014two characters saying funny tilings to each other.They both attest to the advantage of having another creative person in the house. %u201c It spurs you to work longer hours,%u201d says A rnold. %u201c You see things through together. It%u2019s akin to a school situation%u2014you feel the prick of competition and are motivated to do better.%u201dThey work together in an upstairs studio in their brownstone, usually from morning to late afternoon. Arnold doesn%u2019t like todraw in silence. %u201c Drawing is a physical activity,%u201d he explains. %u201c Writing is more cerebral%u2014you have to have silence to hear the words in your own head.%u201dwriting and illustrating were temporarily suspended for both Lobels when they moved into their brownstone. %u201c Some people can live for years in a half-finished house,%u201d says Arnold. %u201c But we can%u2019t%u2014we had to fix ours before we could do anything else.%u201dFortunately the brownstone needed little work. They painted it, built 2 bookcases, and sanded the floors.The Lobels discovered Park Slope seven years ago on one of their frequent walks together. %u201c It was very different then,%u201d recalls Anita. %u201c Park Slope used to be just a stepping stone to Long Island. The people that lived here were older%u2014remnants of old Brooklyn families. But now a lot of young professionals are moving in. At one time you saw Venetian blinds in every window. Now they%u2019ve all got stained glass and plants. And in the downtown section they now have 3 plant stores, an antique shop and a self-sustaining bookstore. Every change has been for the better.%u201dThe Lobels have always been ahead of their time. %u201c During the 50%u2019s, anyone who wore sandals was considered a member of the beat generation,%u201d laughs Anita. When their children were small, Arnold and Anita took turns caring for them. %u201c Arnold was really put downContinued on Page 14iaiNHilllllBIllillillBMIMlIltilHnHIimiiaiy^IiaaiiaHIIWIHaiBBnifllHlilillllMIHiniljllfflimiH^MIHaiiHllillifllliailliiBIlliBlIBHIlllillHIillHIItlBiHHfflmttililHlllillllllHiiiiaMiMiiiaiijiiii^iiBiiaHear the Fantastic Sound ofDON K * t o n yU L 2-8267 I U L ROb fRUCKIN jotQ%u201e7362(ROCK & B LU E S )We play for Block Parties and all occassions.Fed $ to Navy YardThe office of Representative John J. Rooney has announced in Washington that he has receivedST9-9767Joe%u2019s Place264 W averly%u2022Good Food%u2022Quaint Atmosphere%u2022 Near BAM and PRATTAve. %u20224P.m. -closed12P.m.tues.eee%u2022w%u2666%u2666%u2666%u2666%u2666announcesThe Opening of theQueens KitchenWed. - Thurs. 5-10 p.m.Fri,f Sat, 6 - 1 a,m.Sun. 6-10 p.m.Kitchen Now Under the ManagementGerri MassedCorner Hoyt & BergenTel: 858-3392word from the Economic Development Administration of the United States Department of Commerce that during fiscal year 1972 over $2,600,000 had been earmarked for the economic development of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.The funding is part of the Economic Development Act of 1965 and is designed to spark economic growth through a three-phase plan of public works, business development and technical assistance.The largest single outlay was $1,350,000 for the vertical industrial park with an additional $1,000,000 in the form of loans and working capital guarantees to two Navy Yard based firms. The rest of the funds, totaling over $200,000, went h> four other Navy Yard basedfirms for technical assistance.The approval of the $1,350,000 for the vertical industrial park marked a major milestone in a concerted drive to help the nation%u2019s cities provide facilities to encourage private enterprise to expand and create new jobs in inner city areas.The vertical industrial park is being developed as part of a longrange program to revitalize the economy of the Brooklyn Navy Yard area by creating an estimated 500 new jobs. The multilevel industrial park will serve light manufacturing industry, thus complementing the heavy industry being established in the former Navy Yard.C o n g res sm a n R o o n e y %u2019 s statement said that this %u201c demonstrates the effectiveness of cooperation by neighborhood institutions, private industry and government in the field of industrial development.%u201dthe potters%u2019 workshop114 Montagu%u00ae Si!d 624-48!7'Register Now\Summer classes start J u l y 9 t hBring your favorite wine(no liquor license)finest French & Continental cuisine144 Atlantic Ave.I%u2014 n %u2014 n ___ IMS. Hum IV ICJJHI O/O-AOOO