Living near the nation's capital does have its perks! One of the best is the annual National Book Festival. It is organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th streets from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The festival is free and open to the public. It is a day-long celebration of reading that features dozens of highly acclaimed and award-winning authors and poets. There will be author presentations, book signings, customed storybook characters, and much much more. The list of authors and poets coming this year is truly impressive. Here are some useful weblinks to the event:Home page for the 2009 Festival: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/
This year's participating authors: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/authors/index.html
Schedule of author presentations: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/schedulePavilion.html
Schedule of book signings: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/scheduleSigning.html
It's a great event for kids who get an upclose look at such favorite authors as Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid books), Kate DiCamillo (Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn Dixie--which we will read in December), Craig Hatkoff (Owen & Mzee--which we read last year), Lois Lowry (The Giver and much more), Megan McDonald (Judy Moody and others), Jacqueline Woodson (Locomotion and many others), etc. Well, there are just too many great authors to mention them all.
If you get the chance to visit the National Book Festival, please post a comment here and tell us who you say and what you thought of the whole experience. I'm hoping to attend, so maybe I'll see some of you down there!
