BENTONVILLE -- The Public Library is expanding the footprint of this year's Youth Literature Festival.
Authors and illustrators visited about 11,000 students in 26 schools Friday to kick off the event. The four-year-old event grew this year to two days and extended to include the schools.
Presenters
The annual Youth Literature Festival will feature 14 authors and illustrators. Of those, 10 have presented at the festival in past years and four are new presenters. There will be eight national authors and illustrators and six from the region.
Those participating include:
• Janet Wong
• Kazu Kibuishi
• Mary Casanova
• Evin Demirel
• Alan Gratz
• James Babb
• Caroline Tung Richmond
• Karen Akins
• Rich Davis
• Kristin Gray
• Ellen Airgood
• Thomas Cochran
• Roland Smith
• Ard Hoyt
Source: Staff report
Web watch
For a full schedule or more information, visit http://bentonvillel…">bentonvillelibrary.….
"Our goal is to provide broad-reaching access where young learners can be inspired by the stories behind the books," said Hadi Dudley, library director.
Mary Casanova and Ard Hoyt, author and illustrator of Utterly, Otterly Day, saw their book performed by first-graders at Osage Creek Elementary School as an original musical written by Kenny Timbrel, the school's music teacher.
"It opens up their world and allows them to dream big," said Carol Halbmaler, Osage Creek librarian. "It helps them believe that they can be anything they want to be. It promotes reading and writing in such a real way to our students that the lessons they've learned in their classroom become more meaningful."
Connections to school reading initiatives were a consideration in presenter selection, Dudley said. For instance, authors on the middle schools' Battle of the Books list and Arkansas State Charlie May Simon Award reading list are featured presenters.
"It also motivates students to learn more and makes them more excited about going to the festival," Halbmaler said.
Today's events will highlight "Dia," also known as Children's Day, Book Day. Dia is a celebration of poems and stories from a variety of cultures. It's on April 30 each year and is often observed the last weekend in April, festival officials said.
Janet Wong, an award-winning author of children's books and poetry, will kick off today's activities at 10 a.m. at Old High Middle School with an event during which local teenagers and parents will read poems in a variety of languages. The audience will be encouraged to participate by learning some words in different languages.
"By celebrating diversity and engaging multicultural families in our community, the festival emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds," Wong said.
Graphic novelist Kazu Kibuishi also will have a presentation at Old High Middle School.
Wong and Kibuishi are expected to draw large crowds, especially from English as a Second Language students, Dudley said.
They are two of 14 authors and illustrators participating this year.
Festivities move to the Public Library at 405 S. Main St. from noon to 3 p.m. for author and illustrator sessions, book sales and signings.
Wong will lead The Poet and The Pooch at noon.
"Reading to an animal, like a therapy dog, boosts a child's confidence because that child can read without fear of being judged," she said.
This will be Wong's fourth year to participate in the festival, and the same goes for local author Karen Akins, who won the 2016 Arkansas Teen Book Award for her young adult time travel novel Loop.
Akins will lead a breakout session about the publishing process at 1 p.m.
"Hopefully, after my session, students will be able to identify a goal they have in their life and come up with some concrete, doable action steps to achieve it," she said.
The festival is free and open to people of all ages.
The festival's presenters are "excellent examples of working hard to achieve your dreams," said Bethany Culpepper, festival co-founder and chair. "It is inspiring for everyone."
NW News on 04/28/2018