Profile

Martha Simpson

Stratford Library Association

Contact Details

Stratford Library Association

Martha Simpson

Please reference ALA's Personal Data Notification

Bio

After 28 years as Head of Children's Services at the Stratford Library, I retired in February 2022.

I have served on many ALSC committees, including the 2004 Newbery Award, the 2016 Children's Literacy Legacy Award, and the 2019 & 2020 Program Coordinating Committees. I chaired the Library Service to Special Populations and Their Caregivers Committee in 2007-08, when we created the guidelines for the Light the Way Grant and selected the first winners. Later, I worked with the ALSC Board and Candlewick Press  to ensure that it would be awarded annually. I also chaired the 2012 Carnegie/Notable  Videos Committee  and co-chaired the 2017 Annual Preconference Planning Committee. I have attended over 50 ALA conference over the years, often bringing one of my children along. I am proud to report that both of my daughters are now librarians!

At the Stratford Library, I am most proud of creating over 70 Leading to Reading kits containing books and activities that parents can use to help their preschool children gain early literacy skills.

Most recently, I worked on our Healing Library kits, which contain books, activities, and resources to help families cope with difficult life events such as death of a person, death of a pet, or divorce. In 2020, I created an online kit, Coping with the Coronavirus, which can be accessed from the library's website at http://stratfordlibrary.org/healing-library-coping-with-coronavirus/
I also created online kits on Death of a Loved One and Coping with Childhood Anxiety, which are available on the Stratford Library website. For my work in developing the Healing Library kits, I was honored with the Faith Hektoen Award from the Connecticut Library Association in 2021.

I am also a published author. I wrote the very first book about Summer Reading Clubs, published by McFarland & Co. in 1992, as well as four other library resource books. Lately, I have turned my attention toward writing for children and have published three picture books: What Not to Give Your Mom on Mother's Day, The Dreidel That Wouldn't Spin: A Toyshop Tale of Hanukkah, and Esther's Gragger: A Toyshop Tale of Purim. You can find out more about them on my author website, https://www.martha-seif-simpson.com/

As a member of the Association of Jewish Libraries, I am the current chair of the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Awards Committee.