Children’s Literature Festival Set for April 15

More than 1,400 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students will participate in Truman’s Children’s Literature Festival, which will take place from 9 a.m.-2:15 p.m. April 15 in the Student Union Building.

Visiting authors and illustrators include Phil Bildner, Mary Casanova, Angela Cervantes, Gennifer Choldenko, Adrian Fogelin, Mike Graf, Michelle Houts, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, John Parra, Shelley Pearsall and Maryrose Wood. The authors’ books are available at the Truman Bookstore.

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 but must be pre-registered. 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. At 7 p.m. author Phil Bildner will give a presentation. Registration for the dinner must be completed by April 10.  

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 bring the festival back, and it returned in 2009. For more information about the fund, contact the Office of Advancement at 660.785.4133 or visit giving.truman.edu.

The festival is sponsored by Pickler Memorial Library with financial support from the Freeman Foundation, Follett High Education Group-Truman State University Bookstore and the Truman State University Foundation. Additional information may be obtained from Sharon Hackney at 660.785.7366 as well as the Children’s Literature Festival webpage.

To register for the conference and the dinner, contact Daisy Rearick or call 660.785.4048.