This year the National Book Festival left it’s home on the Mall and set up inside at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Even as we were packing up to leave I was ready to bring sunscreen. Not needed. :)
My first impression as we walked in was “wow, this was an undertaking.” They did a wonderful job with signage and the information booth had as many people as they could fit inside to help.
First we caught the end of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Kate DiCamillo. She was answering questions to a PACKED house. Side note: her book signing line was so long they were moving the authors after her because she said she would stay and sign a book for everyone who was in the line. That’s a few hours or signing. So nice!
Next, I grabbed an almost front row seat to see Peter Brown. What a funny guy! If you have a chance to see him talk it is a treat. In each kids session, they invite the younger ones to sit on the floor in front of the chairs and Mr. Brown kept them all engaged and usually laughing. I can imagine that he is a blast at school visits. One of the kids asked what his favorite thing to draw is and he answered, “trees, that’s easy.” He said once he figures out how the trees look in a book he knows the style the rest of the book will follow.
Just a short clip of Peter Brown’s animated reading style. A snippet of MY TEACHER IS A MONSTER:
And then, of course, a drawing:
Great guy right? I hope to see him speak again sometime.
Then we ventured into the huge ballroom where we found the Pavilion of the States, Scholastic, PBS and Wells Fargo. It was JAMMED! I mean wow. I was not expecting so many people. Since the festival was shortened from two days to one with the move into the convention center, I should have predicted that. We visited a few states and of course my three year old wanted to see Clifford, but it was hard to move around with our stroller. Very DC, the people traffic.
Before we ended our day, my older two and I stayed to hear Andrea Beaty speak. We saw her at the Science and Engineering Festival in April and she was even more wonderful this time. She shared her newest book HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADAME CHAPEAU(it was her first time reading it to an audience!) and ROSIE REVERE, ENGINEER (one of our favorites!) Both books are illustrated by David Roberts. She told the crowd that when she sent her editor HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADAME CHAPEAU she sent it in a hat box! Her editor loved it wrapped it back up and sent the hat box to the illustrator, who also loved it. When asked about her inspiration for Rosie Revere and Iggy Peck, she answered “every kid has so many good ideas.”
I’m glad we faced the crowds and I was able to share the day with my kids. Continuing the love of books in our house is always a joy.
Where you at the festival? Who/what was the highlight for you?
