Erica’s Five for the Fest (Mt. Airy Kids’ Literary Festival, that is)

I’m not sure how the Mt. Airy Kids’ Lit Fest started six years ago. I suspect that some exceptionally bright five year old—reading at a tenth grade level, of course—stomped his feet and held his breath until some beleaguered staff person broke down and said, “Alright already, Kid! Cool your jets! We’ll get all of our favorite children’s authors and illustrators together for a weekend of free readings, signings, and crafts! There will be music classes and puppet shows! There will be door prizes and giveaways! There will be food! Did I mention that all of this will be FREE?” And then, that genius kid, whoever he was, dried his crocodile tears and popped the snot bubble that had crusted over his left nostril and walked off into the sunset. And lo, a festival was born.

Here are five books by five authors you can see in person at our sixth annual Kids’ Lit Festival, April 13th – 15th!

The Popularity Papers, Book Four: The Rocky Road Trip of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang by Amy Ignatow (Abrams, $15.95)
Mt. Airy’s own Amy Ignatow kicks off our festival with a reading and pizza party on Friday, April 13th at 7:00pm.

Stop Snoring, Bernard! by Zachariah OHora (Henry Holt, $16.99)
This is Zach’s first children’s book and it was chosen as the PA One Book selection for 2012. He’s taking time out of his busy tour schedule criscrossing the state of PA to read us the tale of Bernard, an otter whose LOUD snoring keeps everyone awake at naptime. Saturday, April 14th at 11:00am.

Seriously Just Go to Sleep by Adam Mansbach. Illustrated by Ricardo Cortes (Akashic, $15.95)
You probably know the adult version of this book, New York Times bestseller Go the F*** to Sleep. Not to worry. Ricardo will stop by to read the brand new G-rated version of the story with a slide show of his illustrations on Saturday, April 14th at noon.

Sasquatch’s Big Hairy Drawing Book by Chris McDonnell (Chronicle, $12.95)
Chris has worked as an illustrator and animator on shows like Yo Gabba Gabba! for Nickelodeon and Tim and Eric Awesome Show for Cartoon Network. He’ll be leading a drawing free-for-all on Sunday, April 15th at noon.

Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic by Monica Carnesi (Penguin, $15.99)
Monica is a local artist, illustrator and librarian who was inspired by the story of a curious dog who wandered out onto a frozen river and ended up lost at sea. She’ll tell us all about his daring rescue on Sunday, April 15th at 1:00pm.

Erica David, April 2012