Fabulous Fall Festival Fun!

Like many, I look forward to the fall festival season.  This time of year brings to mind hot apple cider, haunted hay rides, and strolls through a pumpkin patch.  As fun as all those things are, however, my all-time favorite is the one and only Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors at the Lincoln School in Providence.  It always takes place the Saturday after Columbus Day, and it's the one fall event that I look forward to all year!

I found one of my students in the auditorium listening to an author presentation.  She was happy to show off some of the books she discovered!

As always, there was a line-up of extremely talented authors and illustrators who gave very entertaining and informative presentations.  Throughout the day there was also opportunities to meet these special guests to get your own copies of their books signed.  (You can read an excellent overview of the festival and all it had to offer, including a link to many remarkable photographs, by clicking here!) 

I stood in line with another one of my students while we waited for our turn to meet the remarkably talented author and illustrator Meghan McCarthy!







For me, a highlight of the festival was the hilarious Chris Grabenstein, author of the 2015 Rhode Island Children's Book Award for Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library.  Honestly, I could have listened to him talk all day.  Not only was he a charismatic speaker but his storytelling ability had his audience's full attention.  (To my first graders who keep hearing me belt out in a deep tone of voice, "That's awesoooooooooome!", I totally picked that up from him!)  With his permission, I recorded some segments of his presentation to share with you here.  It was difficult to pick just a few to feature, but it was so much fun watching all of my footage again while trying to make my selections! 

Like all authors, Chris was asked, "Where do you get all of your ideas?" 

Another common theme in author presentations is the message to keep trying.  I think it's important for students to know that success is something one needs to work hard for.  Here is Chris's take on persistence:

As a fan of alliteration (see this blog title for an example!) I was happy to hear Chris's comments about the topic:

Many people have compared Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library to Roald Dahl's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  While similarities certainly do exist, Chris explains where the inspiration for his story really came from:

Well, I've saved the best for last!

Chris reads aloud the beginning of his upcoming sequel to Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library!  It won't be released until next year, but here's a sneak peek of Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics!!!  

(Yes, he's reading it from his iPhone!)

A heart-felt and enormous thank you goes out to Meagan Lenihan, Colleen Zeitz, and Kate Lentz of Lincoln School for organizing this event.  It was an amazing day and I know I'm not alone when I say that it was a truly remarkable celebration!  :D