Our History

In December of 1993, former Abilene mayor Dr. Gary McCaleb was invited to a local elementary school to read William Joyce’s Santa Calls.  Inspired to learn that Joyce had set his story in Abilene, Dr. McCaleb invited Joyce to speak at the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council luncheon. When the two men met, they formed an immediate friendship.  From this meeting the concept originated of a place that would honor the artwork of children’s picture book illustrators.  In March of 1997, the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL) was incorporated as a non-profit organization. In 1999, a statue depicting the children from Santa Calls, “Childhood‘s Great Adventure" by Rick Jackson, was erected downtown. On September 14, 2000, the beautifully renovated Rhodes Building, circa 1920’s, was opened to the public as the permanent location of the NCCIL.

Here’s the story as told by William Joyce...

“You know sometimes luck, fate, chance—whatever you want to call it—shines down so bright it makes life seem like something from a storybook.That’s how it happened for me and the city of Abilene. By chance I set my book Santa Calls there. The main character’s name was Art Atchinson Aimesworth and I wanted him to wear a cowboy hat. So obviously he couldn’t be from New Jersey or Boca Raton. Abilene, Texas fit like a four Beaver Stetson. It sounded just right.Of course I’d never actually been to Abilene. I don’t often visit the places I write about. Not the North Pole, or Mars or the Lost City of Atlantis. How was I supposed to know Abilene was a city of cock-eyed optimists and dreamers. The book had been out for about two weeks when I got a call from the Mayor. The next thing I know they’d built a museum, and erected a statue of my characters.The NCCIL is a great achievement. They put art and literature on a pedestal there. They’ve made life more vivid and dreams come more alive for countless children and grown-ups.Things like that don’t happen in real life very often.So in true storybook fashion I’m sure that the NCCIL and the town from which it sprang will live ‘happily ever after.’”