NonFiction Picture Books at the Gaithersburg Book Festival 2014

Another wonderfully full day at the 5^th Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 17^th, 2014. (You can read my summary of the 2013 festival here and here.) There was so much to see and hear that this is just a small sampling!

The festival began at 10, but I arrive around 9:15 to park in the activity center. By the time I started walking over to the festival at 9:30 the parking lot was full! Cars were weaving through and heading out to look elsewhere. (They had a shuttle running from the mall to the festival.)

I wondered around a bit, while all the booths were just about to open. I wanted to stop in the Politics and Prose tent before jumping into the day. As usual the book store brought a wonderful selection to the festival and I had a difficult time choosing what picture books were going to join my library. I went in knowing I would pick up MOONSHOT by Brian Floca and found LIFETIME by Lola M. Schaefer. The cover illustration caught my eye and with just one look inside I knew this would be a great addition to our home library. 

Then I was off to hear Tanya Lee Stone and Deborah Heiligman speak on Writing Picture Book Biographies. Brilliant talk! 

Tanya Lee Stone began by speaking about her process and how she chooses topics. “[I discovered I] had to be passionately enthralled, it had to come from within,” she said. She looked to “capture their essence and how cool they were” and asked “who is this person really?” 

Deborah Heiligman shared that “ I tend to fall in love with people I’m writing about. Then I realize they’re dead. I fall in love with dead people.” For her book, THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH: THE IMPROBABLE LIFE OF PAUL ERDOS, she said she had over 50 drafts over two years, conducted many interviews and was lucky to receive a DVD about Paul Erdos including the outtakes. “You have to respect the people you are writing about,” she said. There is a balance between writing about a hard life and writing a story that relates to kids. The key is to “figure out your themes.”

Both stated you do not need permission to write a biography about someone, but Tanya Lee Stone noted that she sends the story to the person if they are living. And both authors stressed needing expert reviewers. When researching, Tayna Lee Stone mentioned to use discretion when working with primary sources. People remember things differently and if you are working on an event that happened many years ago details may not be remembered the same by all parties. She also mentioned when crafting a nonfiction story, it is “just like fiction, but everything is true.”

I caught the end of Tad Hills talk where he drew a few characters for the crowd. Here’s the video of him drawing Rocket. (Yes, it’s sped up a bit. He’s fast, but not that fast. :) )

A big highlight of the festival for me was listening to 2014 Caldecott Medal winner Brian Floca. As he was talking a train whistle blew as it sped past. “I can’t believe I’m being interrupted by a train,” he said.  He spoke a lot about the endless nature of his research for LOCOMOTIVE. He called it a “bottomless subject.” He said the “most important part of making a book, is not getting it right. It’s getting it started.” He started writing and illustrating while continuing to gather research.

In addition to reading what ever he could get a hold of, he was able to operate a steam locomotive in Essex, CT, spend hours up close with engines drawing their details, and he drove the Continental Railroad (which “opened the book again” after seeing the landscape and gaining an appreciation of the trip.) He showed a few copies of book dummies he worked on while writing LOCOMOTIVE and mentioned that he made many many more during the writing of the book. 

Start your engine!

Finished Engine

Adding details

Here’s a short video of Brian Floca drawing a truck from his airport transportation book. Unfortunately, my video cuts out at the end, but you can see most of the finished vehicle. 

Lastly, I caught the end of Lola M. Schaefer and Kate Samworth’s talk on How Animals Adapt to their Environment. I was able to hear the last few pages of LIFETIME read by the author and the kids in the audience where captivated by her words and the illustrations of all the animals. Each spread in LIFETIME is a number one thing an animal does in a lifetime for example, “In one lifetime, this bottle nose dolphin will use the same 100 teeth to grab food from the sea.” Lola M. Schaefer said that there were seven people who checked the illustrations marking each item to make sure the numbers were correct on each spread. She also stressed the importance of experts when writing a nonfiction book.

I truly enjoy this small festival. The amazing authors and illustrators they are able to bring in is fantastic. And if you want something signed, this is a great place to meet the them. I was able to meet all the authors I saw speak as well as the illustrator, Vanessa Brantley-Newton, of WE SHALL OVERCOME by Debbie Levy. They all are amazingly gracious and easy to talk with. While talking with Brian Floca I mentioned the word count of LOCOMOTIVE and he laughed saying “sometimes you can break the rules.”

Looking forward to next years festival on May 16^th 2015!