Chappaqua Librarians Get Ready for the Chappaqua Children's Book Festival

While families throughout Westchester County are eagerly awaiting the first Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival on October 5, no one is more excited than the children’s librarians at local libraries, who can’t wait to meet the authors and illustrators that they read and recommend to their toddler-to-teen patrons every day. 

We asked the children’s librarians at the Chappaqua Library what they’re most looking forward to at the October 5 Festival. 

Miriam Lang Budin:

I always, always love talking with our talented local Chappaqua authors and illustrators:  Barbara Dee, Sujean Rim, Matt and Mara Van Fleet and Jean Van Leeuwen.  I want to know what they've been up to, what they have coming out next and what they're dreaming up for the future!

And I can't wait to meet Dean Hacohen, who authored one of my favorite lift-the-flap books for young children:  TUCK ME IN!  I want to ask whether this charmer (which has been a big hit at our story times) evolved from a game he played with his own children.  And I wonder if the comforters on his own kids' beds are as whimsical and delightful as the ones depicted in the illustrations.

Teresa Bueti:

The authors and illustrators I'm most excited about meeting for the first time include Bruce Degen and Michael Buckley. Mr. Degen is probably best known for illustrating the Magic School Bus books by Joanna Cole, but I've always loved the Jesse Bear stories by Nancy White Carlstrom. The cozy details in the pictures tell us so much about the love between Jesse Bear and his parents. I'd love to know what he's working on now. 

And I've enjoyed Michael Buckley's modern take on Grimm classics in his Sisters Grimm mysteries. He's done such a clever job of incorporating all the characters and details we remember from the stories, and weaving them into funny yet gripping adventures--nine of them now! And I LOVE the N.E.R.D.S: Tweens who access a top secret spy center via their school lockers, and get their next mission assignments through their braces? Genius.

Mercy Garland:

I would love to meet illustrator Wendell Minor because I have seen so much of the world through his eyes and his art.  On his website, Wendell says his wish is “to inspire children to go out into the fields and woods and mountains to see wildlife in its natural habitat, and to give the children a positive perspective about the beauty that abounds in the world.”  He achieves his wish in his work in children’s biographies of environmentalist and conservations (including Rachel Carlson, Henry Thoreau and John James Audubon).  

And I cannot think of Wendell Minor without mentioning his work with Jean Craighead George (The Wolves are Back, The Last Polar Bear, Luck: The Story of a Sandhill Crane, Morning Noon and Night, just to name a few). Whether his subject is the Grand Canyon, the seashore, or Buzz Aldrin in outer space, Wendell Minor’s illustrations show our world in all its beauty.

I would love to meet author Elise Broach because she wrote one of my favorite picture books, When Dinosaurs Came With Everything as well as two of my favorite mysteries Masterpiece and Shakespeare’s Secret.   Who can resist a novel about an artistic beetle named Marvin?

Robbin Friedman:

I would be excited to meet Eric Velasquez, who creates wonderful, warm, rich pictures for many talented authors as well illustrating his own lovely words.  His work appears on the pages of lots of books I love (The Rain Stomper, A Sweet Smell of Roses, Houdini: World's Greatest Mystery Man and Escape King) and he has even painted covers for Encyclopedia Brown.  I love his autobiographical picture book Grandma's Gift for its democratic glorification of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and for the genuine thrill he shows in discovering that art can belong to anyone. 

Many years ago, Peter Sis was the artist in residence at the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, a non-circulating library where I volunteered in the summer.  I watched him work on his marvelous, meticulous illustrations--I don't even know for what manuscript--and sneaked into corners to read his books slowly, with the attention they demand. More than once, I spent the afternoon with Starry Messenger, still the best book I know about Galileo Galilei.  Sis's astonishingly intricate images can cause a new reader to overlook the muscle and grace in his writing, but he deserves just as much praise for his language as for the unbelievable artwork.  Maybe I'd have the courage this time to ask him what he's working on. 

Sarah Harshman says:

I am very excited to meet Susan Jeffers, a Caldecott Honor recipient, who is both a gifted writer and an extraordinary visual artist. Although she has penned a number of excellent books herself (My Chincoteague Pony, Silent Night) some of my favorite examples of her work are her illustrations of classic stories like Cinderella, Thumbelina, The Snow Queen, and--my own favorite--The Wild Swans. Jeffers’ nuanced pen, ink, and gouache images breathe new life into these well-beloved stories, always managing to convey a sense of drama and magnitude without sacrificing those details that make for new discoveries even after many inevitable re-readings! I’m especially looking forward to meeting Ms. Jeffers since I have just purchased her newest title, The Twelve Days of Christmas (due out later this month from HarperCollins) for the Chappaqua Children’s Room. Perhaps she will even sign our copy!    

The first-ever Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, Westchester County's only children’s book festival, will take place on October 5, 2013 at the Robert E. Bell Middle School in Chappaqua from 10 am – 4 pm. Families can meet and have books signed by their favorite authors and illustrators, participate in arts and crafts activities and enjoy local food. The Great Chappaqua Bake Sale will be on-site raising money for Share our Strength’s mission of ending childhood hunger, with plenty of baked goods for sale, including Pinkalicious cupcakes. Free admission and free parking at the Chappaqua train station. Books will be available for sale.

For more information about the first Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, visit http://www.chappaquachildrensbookfestival.com/.