CHARLOTTE HUCK CHILDREN'S LITERATURE FESTIVAL, Redlands, CA

Book signing at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival

A week ago (March 11-12) I took part in the 25th anniversary Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival at the University of Redlands in Redlands, CA--my first in-person author event in two years! The speakers were all excellent and I am so glad that I was able to be part of it. Speakers included Ralph Fletcher, Salina Yoon, James Ransome, Rafael Lopez, Don Tate, In honor of Charlotte Huck, who started the festival, a memorial video was shown at the opening of the program. Dr. Charlotte S. Huck's (1922-1005) classic textbook, Children's Literature in the Elementary School, is now in its tenth edition.

Marjorie Arnett, the director of the festival, had paired me with Redlands kindergarten teacher Ellie Huynh, who was growing a garden with her students. Two weeks ago I did a zoom visit with her class and they gave me a video tour of the garden. She is a great teacher. Together we organized our presentation Planting the Seeds of Ideas: Hands-on Learning in a School Garden, which focused on my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 and on pictures of her class garden project. Our session went well and the participants really enjoyed seeing the photos of the garden she has planted with the children in her classroom. Many of the teachers I spoke to already had gardens at their schools or were in the process of planning them.

Book signing is always part of the festival and it was an opportunity for me to meet and chat with teachers and librarians who had bought my books.

As always, the festival was a stimulating two days, reminding us all of the excellence in children' literature. And brownies made from Charlotte's famous recipe were an extra treat at the opening luncheon!

With many thanks to the hardworking festival committee, who faced many obstacles in putting the festival together this year under Covid restrictions, and did such a terrific job.