Children’s Literature Festival Set for April 21

The Truman State University Children’s Literature Festival will take place from 9 a.m.-2:15 p.m. April 21 in the Student Union Building for more than 1,400 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students.    
                            
Visiting authors and illustrators include Rob Buyea, Leslie Connor, Michelle Cuevas, Chris Grabenstein, Katherine Hannigan, Fred Koehler, Ingrid Law, Natalie Lloyd, David Schwartz, Liesl Shurtliff and Tricia Springstubb.  

Students will participate in 30-minute sessions with the guest authors and illustrators. All children attending must be pre-registered. University faculty, staff, students and other interested adults are welcome at any of the sessions. Contact Daisy Rearick or call 660.785.4048 to register.

Anyone interested is welcome to attend an informal meeting and book signing with the authors and illustrators from 3-4 p.m. in the Student Union Building Conference Room. Refreshments will be served.

The festival will conclude with a dinner at 6 p.m. in the Student Union Building Activities Room. The dinner is limited to pre-registered adults and children accompanied by an adult. The cost of the dinner is $12.50. To register, contact Daisy Rearick at 660.785.4048. At 7 p.m. author Chris Grabenstein will give a presentation. Those interested in attending the dinner should register by April 14.

The Children’s Literature Festival was an annual event for 21 years. Due to severe budget cuts, the festival was discontinued in 2004. A Children’s Literature Festival Fund was started in 2007 in an effort to revive the event, and the festival returned in 2009. For more information about the fund, contact the Office of Advancement at 660.785.4133.

The festival is sponsored by Pickler Memorial Library with financial support from the Freeman Foundation, Follett Higher Education Group--Truman State University Bookstore and the Truman State University Foundation. Additional information may be obtained from Sharon Hackney at 660.785.7366 or shackney@truman.edu as well as the Children’s Literature Festival webpage, library.truman.edu/Children’sLiteratureFestival.htm.

The authors’ books are available at the Truman State University Bookstore.