Heart Disease is the Number One Killer of Women. 
by Walter Haan 

Heart disease is the number one killer of women, eight times more deadly than breast cancer. Thousands of women like Wanda Haan die every year without any warning and without any history of heart disease. 

She died five years ago today. She was 59 when she had the sudden heart attack that killed her on January 30, 2003 at 6:00 pm. We were talking when it happened but she was gone before I could reach her. She was executive editor of Southfarm Press and edited most of the books we published from 1996 to 2002. 

She was complimented by author Daniel Ford when he reviewed our 1998 title, Janey: A Little Plane in a Big War by Alfred W. Schultz for Amazon.com. Ford is the author of Incident at Muc Wa which is the basis for the Burt Lancaster film, Go Tell the Spartans. Ford said this in his review of Janey: 

“Dawn's first light crested the eastern hills and gave the earth a rosy glow. Flying on such a day was pure joy. Smooth, dense, misty morning air slowly released its grip as light emerged from the countryside, fulfilling the promise of another day. Our fears vanished as we soared above the sleeping ground. We were immortal. From our perch above the commotion, we watched the world come to life to begin another day of killing. 

“Normally I'm turned off by the High Literary Style, but the way that passage ends with the knife-twist—‘another day of killing’--redeems it with room to spare. Time and again in Schultz's book, he and his collaborator pull off that neat trick: loving memories entangled with the ordinariness of war.” 

Wanda was the editor of the book and she had added those words, "…another day of killing." 

Wanda also wrote children’s poetry and we published a children’s picture book of 19 of her poems after she died. The book is titled The Macaroon Moon: A Book of Poems and Rhymes for Children (ISBN: 0-913337-51-X).  

Here is one of her poems for children that is not in The Macaroon Moon but is also about flying: 

Did I just then see the Sun blink? 
No. A big old crow blacker than ink 
Flew past the Sun to take a drink 
From the big blue pond, 
Which is nature’s sink. 
(Copyright © 2006 by Walter J. Haan. All rights reserved.) 

2007 Children’s Poetry and Book Illustration Contest Offered by  
The Macaroon Moon for National Poetry Month 

Middletown, Connecticut (PRWeb) November 21, 2006 -- Just in time for National Poetry Month in April 2007, the publisher of The Macaroon Moon: A Book of Poems and Rhymes for Children is offering its second annual poetry and cut paper book illustration contest. The contest is open to American and Canadian children in kindergarten, first, second and third grades, ages 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 years old. Contest rules require the entrant to submit a poem and a cut paper illustration for that poem. 

Again in 2007, ten prizes will be awarded by the book’s publisher, Southfarm Press of Middletown, Connecticut. Winning entries will be selected by Southfarm Press based on the literary quality of the poems and creativity of the cut paper art submitted to illustrate the poems: 

First Prize: $100  
Second Prize: $75  
Third Prize: $50  
Fourth through Tenth Prizes: $25 

In addition, copies of the children’s poetry book The Macaroon Moon (ISBN: 0-913337-51-X) will be provided to every child in each winner’s homeroom classroom. 

To make it easy for children to enter, the publisher has created The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box. The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box introduces children ages 4 to 9 to poetry by Wanda Haan, an award winning, former managing editor of Weekly Reader™ and to the world of book illustration. 

Each 12 ¼” x 9” x 2” high box contains The Macaroon Moon 32 page, full color, 7 ¼” x 10 ¼” hard cover book by Haan. In addition, the box includes 25 sheets of colored paper, a pair of children’s scissors, a glue stick and an instructional booklet on how to enter the contest, write a poem and make a cut paper illustration for the poem, just as illustrator Donald Christensen did for the poems in The Macaroon Moon. 

The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box may be purchased online at www.wandahaan.com for $17.95 plus shipping. All poetry and book illustration contest entries must be postmarked no later than April 2, 2007 at the beginning of National Poetry Month and received by the publisher no later than April 9, 2007. Winners will be announced on April 23, 2007. Complete contest rules and the company’s address may be found on the home page for www.wandahaan.com. Online entries are not allowed and all entries become the property of Southfarm Press, Publisher. 

It is not necessary to buy anything to enter the contest, but in analyzing the entries for the 2006 contest, the publisher found that having a copy of The Macaroon Moon seemed to aid children in competing in the contest, especially for the book illustration part of their entries. 

Winning entries from the 2006 contest are being shown on www.wandahaan.com. Ten children won prizes in April 2006. While you would expect that more girls than boys would be in the winners’ circle, it turned out that six boys and four girls won, though girls won the first and second place prizes. 

The publisher found that the boys chose subjects that were very creative, even unusual, more so than the subjects chosen by girls. About 1,000 entries were sent in by parents, teachers and children from 18 states. 

Six of the winners were nine years old, while only four were seven or eight. A seven-year-old boy had won for his poem “Joshua, Squashua” and an eight year old boy for his “Soccer Ball” poem and art. 

William Emrich, general manager of Southfarm Press, says there are many reasons for this contest. One reason according to Emrich is to make young children aware that poems are written with as much care and thought as story books. Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) in “Come Hither” makes the point that "...like a carpenter who makes a table, a man who has written a poem has written it like that on purpose."  

Another reason according to Emrich is that young children have the ability to create poetry and should be encouraged to do so. In The Art of Thinking (1928), writer and lecturer Ernest Dimnet stated that "All children under nine or ten years of age are poets and philosophers." 

In other words according to Emrich, poetry by children draws on two natural tendencies of childhood: imagination and play. And poetry can be a good tool to use to teach reading. 

Emrich also wants children to be aware of the thought that goes into illustrating a book. He thought it important for children to realize that the art for a book could be simple and be created from simple things like colored paper, pencils, glue and scissors. 

“We’ve found that parents and teachers both appreciate that last point. No messy paints are needed to create art for a book. That makes clean up for this contest a cinch,” says Emrich. 

Journalist and humorist Franklin Pierce Adams (1881-1960) wrote: 

"I shot a poem into the air,  
It was reprinted everywhere…" 

With the Adams’ poem in mind, Emrich says that he hopes the poetry and cut paper illustrations that the children create for this contest will be widely read and shown. He encourages parents, teachers and children to look at the 2006 winning entries at www.wandahaan.com.  

“Young children are capable of literary criticism, if only at a very simple level. It is very important to recognize the valuable skill-building nature of such reflection and discussion,” adds Emrich. 

Donald Christensen’s Macaroon Moon Original Art on Display 

Middletown, Connecticut, October 27, 2006--An exhibition of art in central New York State will include Donald Christensen’s original cut paper art for four spreads in the children’s poetry book, The Macaroon Moon. Matted and framed, the four spreads will be on display during the month of November 2006 at the First National Bank of Groton in Groton, New York. Groton is near Ithaca in the center of New York State. 

The First National Bank of Groton is located at 161 Main Street, Groton, NY 13073. If in the area, you may phone the bank at 607 898-5871 for information about the exhibit and hours. 

This would be an excellent opportunity for central New York elementary school teachers and students, K –3, to see the original art from The Macaroon Moon in preparation for entering the annual Macaroon Moon Poetry/Book Illustration Contest for National Poetry Month. Entries will be due on April 2, 2007. 

October 17, 2006 NEWS RELEASE 
SOUTHFARM PRESS, Publisher / http://www.war-books.com; http://www.wandahaan.com  
P.O. Box 1296, Middletown, CT 06457  
e-mail: southfar@ix.netcom.com 
Contact: William Emrich, e-mail: macaroon_moon@yahoo.com 

Evelyn Brill Stark, 1913 – 2006 

By Walter Haan 

Middletown, Connecticut, October 17, 2006-- Poet Evelyn Brill Stark of Chester, Connecticut died Saturday, October 7, 2006. Southfarm Press published her autobiography, Life Is a Poem—Often Set to Music (ISBN: 0-913337-34-X) in 1999. The book includes 70 of her inspirational poems. 

Stark was a friend of The Macaroon Moon author Wanda Haan and they had a lot in common. Both were poets and both loved language, that particular form or manner of selecting, combining and editing words. 

Stark received much praise over the years for her poetry, which she had begun writing at the age of six. Robert Nathan, author of over 50 volumes of poetry and prose, including Portrait of Jennie, complimented her for one of her poems: “Your own verses…are full of joy and music. The best of all is…: Genesis Eternal. I wish I had written it.” 

Further evidence of that poem’s power is that Genesis Eternal was used by author Dudley C. Gould as an introduction to his 2001 Paragon House book, Sprinkle Nowhere with Me and You: Science and the Soul. 

While in her twenties, Evelyn conducted a survey in a letter writing campaign to writers, teachers, doctors and business people. Her question in the survey was, “What is the greatest thing in the world?” Among the numerous replies was this one from Thomas Mann, 1929 winner of the Nobel Prize in literature: 

“I think the greatest thing in the world, the most beautiful, fruitful and educational, is admiration. If I ask myself which ability has made me, above all, what I am today, I would say it was the ability to admire and the resulting ability to learn and to equal.” 

There was a lot to admire about Evelyn Brill Stark. From 2000 through 2005, in her late eighties and early nineties, she gave poetry and musical presentations at assisted living facilities and senior citizen centers in central Connecticut. After the readings, as a widow herself, she frequently used her poetry to comfort elderly widows about their losses. She was a great comfort to me after the loss of my wife, Wanda Haan in 2003. 

FEBRUARY 13, 2006 NEWS RELEASE 
SOUTHFARM PRESS, Publisher / http://www.war-books.com; http://www.wandahaan.com  
P.O. Box 1296, Middletown, CT 06457  
e-mail: southfar@ix.netcom.com 
Contact: William Emrich, e-mail: macaroon_moon@yahoo.com 

Children’s Poetry and Book Illustration Contest Offered by  
The Macaroon Moon for National Poetry Month 

Middletown, Connecticut (PRWEB) February 13, 2006 -- Just in time for National Poetry Month in April, the publisher of The Macaroon Moon: A Book of Poems and Rhymes for Children is offering a poetry and cut paper book illustration contest. The contest is open to all American children in kindergarten, first, second and third grades. Contest rules require the entrant to submit a poem and a cut paper illustration for that poem. 

Ten prizes will be awarded by the book’s publisher, Southfarm Press of Middletown, Connecticut. Winning entries will be selected by Southfarm Press based on the literary quality of the poems and creativity of the cut paper art submitted to illustrate the poems: 

First Prize: $100 
Second Prize: $75 
Third Prize: $50 
Fourth through Tenth Prizes: $25 

In addition, copies of the children’s poetry book The Macaroon Moon (ISBN: 0-913337-51-X) will be provided to every child in each winner’s main school classroom. 

To make it easy for children to enter, the publisher has created The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box. The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box introduces children ages 4 to 8 to poetry by Wanda Haan, an award winning, former managing editor of Weekly Reader™ and to the world of book illustration.  

Each 12 ¼” x 9” x 2” high box contains The Macaroon Moon 32 page, full color, 7 ¼” x 10 ¼” hard cover book by Haan. In addition, the box includes 25 sheets of colored paper, a pair of children’s scissors, a glue stick and an instructional booklet on how to enter the contest, write a poem and make a cut paper illustration for the poem, just as illustrator Don Christensen did for the poems in The Macaroon Moon.  

The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box may be purchased online at http://www.wandahaan.com for $17.95, the same retail price that the book was sold, plus shipping. All poetry and book illustration contest entries must be postmarked no later than April 29, 2006 at the end of National Poetry Month and received by the publisher no later than May 6, 2006. Winners will be announced May 12, 2006. Complete contest rules and the company’s address may be found at http://www.wandahaan.com. Online entries are not allowed and all entries become the property of Southfarm Press, Publisher. 

The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box provides children the instructions and materials needed to write a short poem and to make cut paper illustrations. Parents and teachers may have to read the instructions to younger children. 

William Emrich, general manager of Southfarm Press, says there are many reasons for this contest. One reason according to Emrich is to make young children aware that poems are written with as much care and thought as story books. Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) in “Come Hither” makes the point that "...like a carpenter who makes a table, a man who has written a poem has written it like that on purpose." 

Another reason according to Emrich is that young children have the ability to create poetry and should be encouraged to do so. In The Art of Thinking (1928), writer and lecturer Ernest Dimnet stated that "All children under nine or ten years of age are poets and philosophers." 

In other words according to Emrich, poetry by children draws on two natural tendencies of childhood: imagination and play. And poetry can be a good tool to use to teach reading.  

Emrich also wants children to be aware of what thought goes into illustrating a book. For example, in Wanda Haan’s poem “A Storm is Coming Up” on page four of The Macaroon Moon, the poem mentions a bird. 

“Though the illustrator needed to illustrate an approaching storm, he also needed to show the bird mentioned in the poem. Without the bird in the art, children would become distracted from the poem while looking for the bird,” according to Emrich. 

Emrich added that he thought it important for children to realize that the art for a book could be simple and be created from simple things like colored paper and pencils, using glue and scissors to create a piece of art good enough to be used in a book.  

“We’ve found that parents and teachers both appreciate that last point. No messy paints are needed to create art for a book. That makes clean up for this contest a cinch,” says Emrich.  

Journalist and humorist Franklin Pierce Adams (1881-1960) wrote: 

With the Adams poem in mind, Emrich says that he hopes the poetry and cut paper illustrations that the children create for this contest will be widely read and shown. Winning and other selected entries will be shown on http://www.wandahaan.com beginning in mid-May.  

“Young children are capable of literary criticism, if only at a very simple level. It is very important to recognize the valuable skill-building nature of such reflection and discussion,” adds Emrich. 

Though The Macaroon Moon Poetry/Art Box suggested retail price is $24.95, it will be on sale for $17.95 on http://www.wandahaan.com until the end of National Poetry Month, April 30, 2006. 

Books and Funds Given In Wanda Webb Haan's Memory 
by Sharon Trisler, Noblesville, Indiana, Schools’ Director of Public Relations 

Stony Creek Elementary School has accepted the donation of several copies of The Macaroon Moon, a book of poems written by a former teacher, and $500 given in the teacher’s memory by a poet and friend. The money will be used to purchase books for the school library. 

The Macaroon Moon is a collection of poems written by Wanda Webb Haan who taught fourth grade at Stony Creek from 1968-1970.  Mrs. Haan died suddenly of a heart attack in 2003.  It was after her death that her family found about 100 poems she had written.  The book features nineteen of those verses. 

“Even before she went to school she always carried a book in her hand. She loved to read,” said her sister, Burnett McConnell who presented the books and check to Bob McDaniel, principal at Stony Creek. Mrs. McConnell, a Noblesville resident, is a long-time friend of Noblesville Schools.  She retired in 1994 as manager of the Noblesville Middle School cafeteria. 

The $500 donation was made by poet Evelyn Stark of Chester, Connecticut, a 92-year-old friend of the Haans.  Mrs. Stark had donated $500 in 2003 to an elementary school in Bristol, Tennessee, that Mrs. Haan had attended as a child, and wanted to donate $500 to another elementary school with which Mrs. Haan had had ties. Mrs. Haan’s widower, Walter J. Haan, selected Stony Creek. 

Mrs. Haan left Stony Creek to take a position at Weekly Reader.  She was managing editor of the children’s publication until she left that position to join her husband in the operation of their publishing company, Southfarm Press, Publisher.  Southfarm Press published The Macaroon Moon. 

 

Reassure Children Who Have Survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita with Poetry 

(PRWEB) September 29, 2005 -- The insecurities caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita can have lasting  
consequences for children. One little pre-kindergarten boy whose family had fled New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina wound up in Connecticut and was asked why he was sad. His reply, muffled because his head was buried in his  
mother’s skirt, could have come from any number of the hundreds of thousands of uprooted children who suddenly  
found themselves in unfamiliar territory:  

"Because we lost our world."  

Many young children are waking up these mornings in unfamiliar beds, unfamiliar rooms, in unfamiliar towns up to  
1,000 miles from the only homes and towns they've ever known. They are looking for the familiar for comfort and  
one of the most familiar things to children are books.  

In her opening remarks for the fifth annual National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., held on the National Mall on Saturday, September 24th, First Lady Laura Bush noted that "…books have always helped many people through  
difficult times." And books can be used to reassure children that it will all turn out okay in the end. Particularly  
children’s poetry books.  

Consider the poem, "A Storm is Coming Up," by Wanda Haan (1943-2003) from her 2004 poetry book for three to eight year olds, The Macaroon Moon: A Book of Poems and Rhymes for Children. Haan was an editor at Weekly Reader  
for 17 years. In the last seven lines of "A Storm is Coming Up," she wrote,  

                                      The trees are shaking  
                                        Ready to bend.  
                                       My ears are full of  
                                       Sounds of the wind.  
                                        I hope a rainbow  
                                       Comes at the end.  
                                      A storm is coming up. 

Haan’s publisher, Southfarm Press, in Middletown, Connecticut, suggests teachers and parents reading the poem to young survivors of the hurricanes use it to reassure them that their futures may indeed hold rainbows. Rainbows  
such as making new friends in new places.  

Parents know that natural disasters can be particularly tough for younger children to handle. Children may suddenly become clingy or regress to baby-like behavior. They may be more anxious, be unable to sleep and be generally  
fearful. Poetry can help them.  

"Rain," by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), may interest children now that they have survived the hurricanes:  

                                    The rain is raining all around,  
                                     It falls on field and tree,  
                                   It rains on the umbrellas here,  
                                      And on the ships at sea. 

And as all young children love mud, a byproduct of hurricanes, kids will love Polly Chase Boyden’s poem, "Mud," found in The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. The poems were selected by Jack Prelutsky and the book published in 1983. Here are the first few lines:  

                                     Mud is very nice to feel  
                                 All squishy-squash between the toes!  
                                   I’d rather wade in wiggly mud  
                                     Than smell a yellow rose. 

Having experienced wind at over 100 miles an hour, poems about wind may benefit children of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The first poem below is another from The Macaroon Moon, entitled "Wind Race."  

                                         In the house,  
                                      And around the house,  
                                     Through the house, and  
                                          Above it  

                                        Blows the wind  
                                    And the wind’s best friend  
                                         Racing again.  
                                         They love it! 

Or these same kids may identify with Ethel Romig Fuller’s poem, "Wind is a Cat." It begins as follows:  

                                         Wind is a cat  
                                      That prowls at night,  
                                        Now in a valley,  
                                       Now on a height,  

                                       Pouncing on houses  
                                      Till folks in their beds  
                                       Draw all the covers  
                                        Over their heads. 

The complete poem is found in many anthologies of children’s poetry. Ethel Romig Fuller (1883-1965) was the Poet Laureate of Oregon in 1957.  

Parents and educators themselves that lived through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now left to ponder the meanings of their experiences. Not only for their children’s futures and happiness, but for their own as well. Some survivors evacuated to far away states and cities are having to make decisions about whether to return to their lost homes along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In many cases evacuees are turning to their spiritual roots for wisdom and guidance. They are asking the question 92 year old poet Evelyn Brill Stark asks in the last poem in her 1999 book, Life Is a Poem—Often Set to Music.  

                                     I'm waiting to hear  
                                     I'm waiting to know  
                                     What you want me to do  
                                     Where you want me to go. 

"All children under nine or ten years of age are poets and philosophers," according to Ernest Dimnet (1866-1954) in his book, The Art of Thinking. That's another way of saying that children are resilient for reasons science can’t explain. Let us hope so. Meanwhile, expose the eight-year-old and under survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to poetry to teach them about rainbows at the end of storms.  

The brief quotations of poetry included in this critical article are used for review purposes only and are copyright protected. The complete poem, "A Storm is Coming Up," is available at http://www.wandahaan.com along with suggestions on how teachers and parents can use the poem. The Macaroon Moon (ISBN: 0-913337-51-X) may be purchased at http://www.wandahaan.com/order.htm. Life Is a Poem—Often Set to Music (ISBN: 0-913337-34-X), by Evelyn Brill Stark, may be purchased from Amazon.com.  

                                            #### 

OCTOBER 9, 2004 NEWS RELEASE 
SOUTHFARM PRESS, Publisher / http://www.war-books.com; http://www.wandahaan.com  
P.O. Box 1296, Middletown, CT 06457  
e-mail: southfar@ix.netcom.com 
Contact: William Emrich, e-mail: macaroon_moon@yahoo.com 

WHAT IS A MACAROON?  
Americans are marooned on an island of ignorance about macaroons  

  (PRWEB) October 9, 2004 -- When the publisher of The Macaroon Moon: A Book of Poems  
   and Rhymes for Children (visit www.wandahaan.com) issued the book this year, it was in  
   for a surprise. Children across the country don’t know what a macaroon is!  

   Well versed in Oreos and Hydrox cookies, kids at focus groups and readings from the book  
   were all unsure about the meaning of macaroon. One brave, little boy at the Cheshire,  
   Connecticut Public Library guessed that macaroons were sneakers. He may have been  
   influenced by the bright red sneakers worn by an Hispanic girl in the cut paper art on the  
   cover of the hardback, full-color, 32-page book.  

   Many children in the three to eight age group, the target audience for the book, thought a  
   macaroon might be associated with a Big Mac or macaroni and cheese.  

   Even parents were confused by the marvelous morsel known as a macaroon. After all, the  
   cookie doesn’t receive much shelf space in the average supermarket. Suddenly, The  
   Macaroon Moon children’s book was taking on the mission of helping to take macaroons off  
   the endangered cookies list!  

   After the initial surprise, the fact that parents and their children were confused by  
   macaroons started to make sense to the publisher. Donald Christensen, the artist and art  
   director for the book, and the staff for the publisher, Southfarm Press in Middletown,  
   Connecticut, had many discussions about how to illustrate a macaroon. Because Wanda  
   Haan, the book’s author, had passed away in early 2003 before the book was published,  
   she couldn’t be consulted.  

   Anyone who knows about the cookie has a different idea about what constitutes a  
   macaroon. To some, the macaroon is a soft, 3/8th inch high, coconut cookie similar to what  
   Archway Cookies sells as macaroons on supermarket shelves. But to macaroon purists, the real  
   macaroon is something completely different.  

   Brainydictionary.com defines a macaroon as a small cake, composed chiefly of the white of  
   eggs, almonds and sugar. Purists don’t consider coconut to be an ingredient of a true  
   macaroon. Cookie history has it that macaroons originated in an Italian monastery around  
   1790. The cookie’s name itself is derived from the Italian dialect word, maccarone, which  
   means dumpling. However many cultures are familiar with the macaroon. In German, the  
   macaroon is makrone; in Norwegian it’s makron; and in Spanish it’s macarron.  

   If you are already mooning over macaroons, and don’t have time to make your own, there  
   are several Web Sites that offer the endangered cookie:  

   For two macaroons stuck together with a flavored filling, two bakeries in Paris have a  
   wonderful selection of flavors-- www.crustulum.com and www.laduree.fr; for lightly toasted  
   coconut macaroons online, click on www.vermontcountrystore.com (they recommend  
   microwaving their macaroons for 10 seconds); www.melfersmacaroons.com states that  
   each of its macaroons is a decadent dessert; and www.mcaroons.com offers a mound of 
   coconut with slivered almonds dipped or drizzled in or with chocolate.  

   However, none of these online offerings are a traditional macaroon. To make your own,  
   simple traditional macaroon, try the following recipe for 30 macaroons from an old Fanny  
   Farmer Cookbook:  

   “Mix thoroughly with your hands ½ pound almond paste (homemade or packaged). Add,  
   little by little 1 cup sugar and 3 egg whites, unbeaten. Blend thoroughly and sift in 1/3 cup of  
   powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons pastry or cake flour and 1/8 teaspoon salt.  

   “Cover cookie sheets with unglazed paper. Put teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the paper or  
   shape with a pastry bag and tube. Flatten with fingers dipped in cold water. Cover and let  
   stand 2 hours or more. Bake 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Put the paper on a damp cloth  
   and remove the macaroons.”  

   It was this traditional macaroon that art director Donald Christensen illustrated in The  
   Macaroon Moon. The children’s book can be ordered at http://www.wandahaan.com/order.htm.  

                                                     # # # 

LEVI E. COE LIBRARY IN CONNECTICUT RECEIVED SMALL PRESS AWARD 

March 26, 2003 -- The Wanda Haan Small Press Advocate Award for 2003 had been awarded to the Levi E. Coe Library in Middlefield. Director Mary K. Dattilo accepted the award from Middletown’s Southfarm Press book publisher Walter Haan on March 26, 2003. As winner of the award, the Levi E. Coe Library received a check for $500 from Southfarm Press and copies of an additional nine Southfarm Press books currently in print to round out the library’s collection of books published or distributed by Southfarm.  

According to Ms. Dattilo, the library will use the monetary award to purchase more books from small presses to further enhance the variety of its collection, further distinguishing it from other public libraries in Connecticut. The award is given annually in March because it is Small Press Month.  

The broad purpose of the Wanda Haan Small Press Advocate Award is to encourage those who support book  
publishing by small presses or publishers. Candidates for the award are libraries that support small presses by buying their books, bookstores that consistently stock small press books, and media that support small presses by bringing them and their books to the attention of the public.  

The Levi E. Coe Library has purchased more Southfarm Press military history titles than any other public library in Connecticut in the 20 years Southfarm Press has existed. “Because Southfarm Press titles are not distributed by large wholesalers, Ms. Dattilo and her staff have had to go out of their way to order Southfarm Press books,” Haan said.  

One of the books purchased by Ms. Dattilo is Janey: A Little Plane in a Big War by Alfred W. Schultz with Kirk Neff. Though the book was praised in a 1998 American Library Association Booklist review for librarians, no library in Connecticut purchased the book until Ms. Dattilo added it to the Levi E. Coe collection in 2001. The Middlefield library’s copy is still the only copy in any Connecticut public library. Nationally, Janey: A Little Plane in a Big War is in about 100 libraries in at least 28 states.  

The award is named for the late Wanda Haan, 1943 - 2003, former executive editor and elementary education  
consultant of Southfarm Press in Middletown, Connecticut. She was an author, award-winning editor of children’s educational material and editor of nonfiction military history books for the adult market. Southfarm has specialized in books about Piper Cubs used as artillery spotter planes during World War II. Books in this series, edited by Mrs. Haan, have been praised by Booklist, World War II Magazine, and the American Aviation Historical Society. Three Southfarm military history titles edited by Mrs. Haan are currently being offered by The Military Book Club. Mrs. Haan was a former managing editor of Weekly Reader in Stamford and Middletown, Connecticut. 

Southfarm Press hopes the award will highlight the diverse, quality books produced by small publishers or presses and particularly those institutions or organizations that support small press efforts, ensuring that every voice be heard, including voices of authors published by small presses.  

“Small publishers are not just the little presses that can,” said Haan, “they are the alternatives to corporate publishing where large media corporations own dozens of imprints, control what mainstream books are published and subsequently offered in bookstores and libraries. Small presses are the lifeblood of book publishing; they provide the means for alternate voices and opinions to be published and available in the marketplace. Small Presses help ensure that democracy survives in this country, particularly during the times of unrest and war that we are experiencing now.”