It's been 9 days since we attended the Central Missouri University's annual Children's Literature Festival. I've been meaning to write about it ever since!! Irony of ironies the festival is all about kids going to meet some favored authors and listen to them speak about their careers and the books they wrote. I'm sure they NEVER had writer's block (note the sarcasm).
The authors were SO inspirational! I can remember going to this festival when I was in 4th grade too. It was really neat to meet some of my favorite authors from this age as well.
To prepare Gman for the day, we read books written by the authors we were meeting. I didn't want one of the authors to ask Gman, "which was your favorite?" and have the blank stare of "um...I haven't actually read any of your books..." meeting them back! So, he was well versed in all of the author's work BEFORE we arrived.
We had to wake up pretty early to drive all the way to Warrensburg! I'm so proud of the boys for getting ready and heading out without a hitch!
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Gman doing some "cram" reading
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Our first stop was the book sale! Thankfully, I'd had the opportunity to pre-order books from each author we were meeting that day. We wouldn't have to fight the throngs of students at the tables. Unfortunately, when we got to the table to pick them up...they'd lost the order. Thankfully (yes, again), a very organized and speedy employee gathered up the books we'd ordered and we were quickly on our way.
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A little rain didn't get us down! |
Our next stop was the Kirkpatrick library. T-Bo and I can not say either of us spent much time in this building during our stay at (then) CMSU...that's a story for another day!
We registered and picked up our schedule. MUCH to our dismay, one of the authors we were most looking forward to meeting was sick and cancelled for that day! There was a substitution, an author I'd never heard of, so we were bound to learn something!
Our first author scheduled was C.S. Adler. Gman read and very much enjoyed
Ghost Brother. We purchased (and had autographed!)
Magic of the Glits.
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| Gman and C.S. Adler |
Because Kiki is 2+, we knew he wouldn't want to sit quietly and listen to the authors speak. Therefore, T-Bo and I took turns listening to the authors. T-Bo took the first round!
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| Kiki and I goofin' during the first session |
Ms. Adler spoke to the kids about her journey as an author. She said her love of writing came from her love of reading. She said she as an only child, putting her thoughts on paper was her way of expressing her emotions. She said she didn't become a published author until she was in her 40's. She said part of becoming a published author is rejection--lots and lots of rejection.
To me that helps the kids realize that just because one person says, "no," or "change this," that they should quit.
The second author we met was Ms. June Rae Wood. She wrote
The Man Who Loved Clowns, one of my absolute favorite books as a kid. I was SO excited to meet her and get her autograph!! Gman read and loved this book several months ago, so when we saw she'd be at the festival she was the first one we signed up for!!
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Gman and June Rae Wood. I admit, I was a little jealous
I didn't get my picture with her! |
Ms. Wood spoke so eloquently for 40 minutes. She spoke about her brother, Richard, who had Downs Syndrome and for whom
The Man Who Loved Clowns was written. Reading and loving this book, then hearing the story behind it was so meaningful to us. Several times during her oration she had me in tears! I don't think I was the only one!
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After lunch, headed to our 3rd session.
No, he's not quite that tall. I was stooping! |
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| A new favorite? Gman and A. LaFaye |
After lunch we were scheduled to see Mary Downing Hahn. Since she canceled at the last minute they had a substitute, Alexandria LaFaye. Never heard of her...but she was very entertaining! I thought we'd really be in for something interesting when she began speaking in an English accent--then later she confessed that she'd never even been to England and that, to her, speaking to students was like performing. Because we didn't know we'd be seeing her we were not familiar with any of her books. I can say with utmost confidence we will definitely be checking them out. She writes fiction. One of her books,
Worth, is about two young boys, one of whom was in a terrible farming accident and the other an adoptee from the Orphan Train. If you've never heard of the Orphan Train, you should really read about it; it's very fascinating. I was first introduced to it in 4th grade (of course) through the
Orphan Train Quartet series by Joan Lowry Nixon. Find them. Read them.
Ms. LaFaye continued to talk to the students about her career, being bullied as a child and overcoming the difficulties of dyslexia. I found the idea of her having dyslexia particularly interesting. Not knowing a whole lot about the "condition" myself it seems very impressive that she would overcome a reading disability to become a very successful author! I think this is another GREAT lesson for the students there that day.
Our last author was Ms. Veda Boyd Jones. Admittedly, another author I was not familiar with. Because we were prepping ahead of time I googled her and found a list of her books. She does write some fiction, mostly of the adult romance genre. But some of her most impressive work includes biographies of people written for children. It just so happened that Gman had recently been assigned to write a biography! So I gave him a list of people Ms. Jones had written about and he picked one from there. I won't deny that I was so very proud when he picked President George W. Bush.
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| She's not stooping. |
Our local library did not have her book on GWB in house but we were able to locate it through Inter Library Loan. He received it just in time to read it before attending the festival!
Ms. Jones spoke a lot about rejection! She said one of her books was rejected 50 times before it was published. This really made me think. She could have easily given up but she persevered and became a successful author. Yet another great lesson for the kids (adults too!)!
Our day was so wonderful! I'm so glad we decided to go. It was a great experience!
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| Even big kids get tired! |
I can relate to Gman's excitement as I remember a day as a young Girl Scout getting to be on the news for being a top cookie salesman. Enough about me...
The day finally arrived for our tour and Gman was beside himself with excitement! We arrived at our designated time and was greeted by the station's sports broadcaster, Chris Gervino. Pretty exciting stuff for an eleven year old football fan. He'd heard Chris Gervino's broadcasts many times.
