Charlotte Huck Children’s Literature Festival, Redlands, California

The Charlotte S. Huck Children's Literature Festival is held every year at Redlands University, in California

A week ago, on March 8 and 9, I participated in the 23d Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival at the University of Redlands, in Redlands, California. This was my third time to be a speaker at the festival, an annual event that celebrates children’s books and is a wonderful opportunity for teachers and librarians to get together and have a chance to meet authors and other professionals in the field. Featured speakers this year were Joe Cepeda, Sharon Draper, Bethany Hegadus, Richard Michelson, Doreen Rappaport and Joyce Sidman–an impressive array of authors and illustrators. The Festival is chaired by Dr. Marjorie Arnett and a very hard working planning committee makes sure that everything runs smoothly.

Signing books at the Festival

At one of the Festival breakout sessions I gave a workshop called Butterflies and Chicks: Hands on Science in the Classroom. I worked with two classes at Ramona Alessandro School in San Bernardino, California, who had been reading my books. The classes completed writing and art projects in a unit they called “Feathers and Forests, Wings and Wombats, an author study of nature and animal books by Caroline Arnold."

Samples of art and writing projects by Ramona Alessandro students that were displayed at the Festival

Their teachers, Kristy Forsythe and Arlene Asuelime, had done a fantastic job with the children. The visit to the festival was coordinated by parent volunteer Stephanie McNairy. I thank them all for helping to make my session a special experience for all. Two weeks earlier I had had the pleasure of visiting the children in their classroom where I got to see their penguin projects and we talked about the other books in my black and white animal series. Both classes had a chance to act out the story of A Polar Bear's World. They had also read Hatching Chicks in Room 6. I was impressed by their art projects showing a chicken’s life cycle and the stories they wrote to go with them. At my workshop session I shared my new book Butterflies in Room 6.

One of the special parts of the festival for me was meeting Joyce Sidman, who has a new book called The Girl Who Drew Butterflies, How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science. Her book, meant for older readers than my butterfly book, is the fascinating story of a young woman who was the first to understand the process of metamorphosis. Like me, Joyce Sidman raised her own painted lady butterflies while she was working on her book so she could see the process up close.

Joyce Sidman, Author

I always enjoy going to the Charlotte Huck Festival and find it inspiring on so many levels. This was another great year! Thank you, Marjorie, for inviting me!

Dr. Marjorie Arnett, Chair of the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival