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| Bookworm Festival logo from www.bookwormfestival.org |
This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the Bookworm Festival, "a festival for young readers." I was there working an outreach table for my library system. Luckily, enough of us had volunteered to go, which meant we had time to scope out the festival.
This was the fifth year for the Bookworm Festival and somehow it has always slipped below my radar. I first heard about in on Twitter and when my library system asked for volunteers, I was eager to check it out. This is a free family event put on by a committee of librarians and language arts teachers. Through a partnership with Blue Willow Bookshop, young readers are introduced to beloved authors and illustrators. There is a keynote speech and panel discussion sessions. Blue Willow Bookshop had an assortment of the appearing authors' titles for sale that were pre-signed. They even gave an educator/librarian discount! You were then able to get your purchased books personalized by the authors and have a chance to meet them/take photos. The Bookworm Festival also received a grant from the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation which gave funding for bus travel expenses so teachers we able to bring their students on an awesome field trip.
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| I saw Pete and Clifford and thought, "why not"? |
- Music by Emily Arrow: I loved the calm, acoustic music of this artist. She had everyone singing along and doing hand motions. It was very clever of the festival committee to have her go first before the keynote. It helped keep little ones calm and was a great way to kick off the day.
- Keynote presentation by Matt de la Peña and Loren Long: With the recent release of their book, Love, de la Peña and Long discussed putting more love out into the world and they walked us through their writing/artistic process after reading the story. It was really interesting to hear how a picture book is transformed from an idea into a finished product through the collaborative process. I was not able to attend either of the panel sessions, but I'm sure they were great too! I may go next year and not work so I can see more of the festival.
- Giveaways!: There were a few organizations there, including my library system, with fun giveaways and information to hand out. We signed up some attendees for new library cards as well. Someone was kind enough to give me a Pete the Cat poster. I'm not sure who donated those, but thank you! Pete the Cat is awesome.
-Author Book Signings: I only bought one book for my niece because she LOVES Sherri Duskey Rinker's construction books. While there were, of course, lines the authors were wonderfully friendly and seemed genuinely happy to meet their young fans and librarians/educators. Having a book signed is always special and I hope my niece treasures hers for a long time.
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| My niece's copy of Mighty, Mighty Construction Site (please ignore the messy car) |
If you live in the Houston area and you are an elementary educator, a librarian, an author or a parent with a picture book-loving kid, I highly recommend checking out this event. It's free after all, so what do you have to lose?! I'm excited to see how this festival will continue to grow and evolve. They had such a great turn out this year that I think there was already talk of looking for a larger venue. For more information, go to www.bookwormfestival.org and don't forget to look for 2019 dates next winter!
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