SPEAKER at CHARLOTTE HUCK CHILDREN’S LITERATURE FESTIVAL, Redlands, CA

Book signing at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival

Last week on Friday and Saturday I attended the 27^th annual Charlotte Huck Children’s Literature Festival at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California--two full days of inspiring keynote speakers, stimulating breakout sessions, and the opportunity to meet and chat with teachers, librarians and other authors. 

Festival Program cover, Art by Dan Santat

Keynote speakers were Tami Charles, Dan Santat, Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, Mac Barnett and Gennifer Choldenko. Breakout sessions were led by a variety of authors, librarians and educators, including me.  In addition to all the talks and breakout sessions, there were book signings, book sales, opportunity drawings for baskets of books, and tasty lunches and food at the Friday reception.

With Rachel Kendall and her 6th grade class from Redlands Adventist Academy

On Friday morning I presented a breakout session with teacher Rachel Kendall from the Redlands Adventist Academy. The title of our session was Graphic Picture Books Keep Young Readers Turning the Page. I gave an overview of graphic picture books, showing how they combine text, images, word balloons, sound effects and panels to tell the story and then shared my book My Friend from Outer Space. Earlier this year I had read the book to Mrs. Kendall’s 6^th grade class and then each of the students made their own graphic picture book using my book as an inspiration. 

Cover of student book, The Blue Water Bottle

Page from student book Dot's Perfect Day

Mrs. Kendall brought her students to the festival and at the end of the session they shared their books with the audience. Everyone in the audience was impressed by the variety of subjects the students had chosen for their books and the creativity of their stories and illustrations. If there was one thing they all learned, it was that it is not easy to be an author! 

Charlotte Burgess awarding Janet Wong with the Charlotte Huck Honoree Award

I thank all the people on the planning committee who make this festival possible, especially Marjorie Arnett, Festival Coordinator and founder of the festival twenty-seven years ago, and Charlotte Burgess, Festival Chairperson, niece and namesake of Charlotte Huck. I have been to this wonderful festival of books and reading numerous times in the past and it was a pleasure to participate once again. Each year it gets better and better.

Author/Poet Janet Wong

 

ZOOM AUTHOR VISIT with 4th GRADERS at Judson and Brown School, Redlands, CA

A week ago I had a wonderful Zoom author visit with the 4^th graders and their teachers at Judson and Brown School in Redlands, California. They had all read my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog. I shared some of the highlights of the book and a power point showing how I researched the story. The students then had a chance to ask me questions. One boy wanted to know how long it took me to write the book. In fact, it was ten years from my first visit to Angel Island in 2012 to the publication of the book in 2022. I explained that the process of writing a book involves many rewrites.

Manuscript pages for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

I was interested to know how the students reacted to the story. I asked them, “What kind of person do you think Juliet had to be to take on the job of lighthouse keeper?” Their answers were very perceptive. She had to be brave. Determined. Take her job seriously. One boy said she was the Savior of the Ships.

Illustration by Rachell Sumpter for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

In advance of my visit, the students had used the book as inspiration for several projects, which they shared with me. One class combined art and a creative writing project—writing their own log entries as if they were lighthouse keepers—and then illustrating them with a watercolor painting. 

Watercolor painting by 4th grade student.

Another class painted four types of weather on a piece of paper folded into four rectangles, using one word to describe each type of weather—eg sunny, cloudy, rainy, foggy. 

Weather paintings and labels by 4th grade student.

The students in the third class made their own weather logs, noting the temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and description of the sky, following the model of Juliet Nichols' official lighthouse log.

Pages from Julie Nichols Angel Island Lighthouse log.

I was pleased to see how much the students had enjoyed learning about Juliet Nichols, lighthouses, and what it takes to be a lighthouse keeper and to see their enthusiasm for the projects inspired by the book. While we met on the last day of February, KEEPER OF THE LIGHT is a perfect lead-in to Women’s History month in March.

I want to thank Todd Rossi, principal of Judson and Brown School for setting up this cooperative endeavor with the fourth-grade students and teachers at his school. And I want to thank teachers Brooke Nakaoka, Stephanie Howard and Mary Ann Ufkes, for sharing the book with their students and leading the follow-up projects. They did a terrific job.

I shared the students’ response to KEEPER OF THE LIGHT in my presentation at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival at Redlands University, March 2-3, 2023.  I want to thank Marjorie Arnett for connecting me with Todd Rossi and the 4^th grade team at his school. I loved finding out how real students are responding to my book and using it to expand their knowledge of California history, and in particular women’s history. Juliet Fish Nichols battled the fog in San Francisco Bay more than one hundred years ago, but her grit and determination to do her job well make her an excellent role model for young people today.

 

THE 26th CHARLOTTE HUCK CHILDREN’S LITERATURE FESTIVAL, Redlands, CA

Last week I participated in the wonderful Charlotte Huck Children’s Literature Festival, held at the University of Redlands, in Redlands, California, named in honor of Charlotte S. Huck (1922-2005), who championed children’s literature throughout her long life and career. The festival brings educators, librarians, parents and students together with award-winning speakers and celebrates children's literature and the inspiration it brings to young readers. Featured speakers this year included Cynthia Leitich Smith, Lee Wardlaw, Liz Garton Scanlon, Marla Frazee and Deborah Hopkinson. Between the featured speeches we had many choices of breakout sessions.  I presented a breakout session on Saturday morning called Unsung Women in California History: Putting Them On the Map in Picture Book Biographies, featuring fun projects and classroom activities linked to my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT, about Angel Island light keeper Juliet Nichols. I thoroughly enjoyed going to several of the other breakout sessions. I heard Deborah Hopkinson, Kristine O’Connell George, Joan Graham and Lisa Silverman. It was hard to choose! At the book signing table. Participants in the conference had the opportunity to buy books and have them autographed during the festive (and delicious) reception at the end of the afternoon on Friday. This was my fifth time at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival and I thoroughly enjoyed it once again. The success of the conference is due to Chair Marjorie Arnett and the hardworking Festival committee, whose members work tirelessly throughout the year to make sure everything runs smoothly. They are already at work on next year’s Festival!

View from the Redlands University campus of the San Bernardino Mountains.

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.