Children's Author/Illustrator Breakfast

Saturday we got up bright and early to drive 2 hours to an independent children's book store in the big city. It is an amazing place. Those independent booksellers are unfortunately very rare things. This one offers amazing programs, author visits, and Saturday they had an author/illustrator breakfast. My mom, being the amazing mom and children's librarian that she is, got us tickets--me, Miss O, Miss E, Mr J, and my mom. (Miss A and Ben were not able to attend. They drove 5 hours that morning to the Winter Quarters Temple for Miss A to be able to do baptisms for the first time, then drove 5 hours back. Long day for them, but they both loved it.) We enjoyed a yummy breakfast at the bookstore, then were able to hear from 10 different children's authors/illustrators. It was a cool thing.

Mr J, my mom, Miss E, Miss O, and me getting ready to eat breakfast at the bookstore.
This is Miss O with author Laura Manivong (they look like they could be related, huh?). She recently came out with her first novel called Escaping the Tiger which Miss O has read. Miss O really enjoyed it and said it was kind of scary at times because it is about war and escaping from a country during war, but it was exciting. Laura is married to a man from Lao who didn't come to the US until he was 19. The story is based on his life there and his family's. His family was held in a prison camp in Lao, and his father, Laura's father-in-law, was held in one for 12 years. She has an amazing story to tell. We enjoyed visiting with her. She is very personable, kind, and easy to talk with. This would be a great book for older kids (one especially for boys) or adults.

This is Miss O, Mr J and I with illustrator Laura Huliska-Beith. She illustrated one of our family's favorite picture books The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill. She has illustrated several others also. I really like her style--she incorporates real materials for different items in her drawings like using real fabric material for a kid's shirt in a drawing. It is a very fun, funky art style. If you haven't read The Recess Queen
you need to check it out---ringity, zingity, yesssssssssssssssss!

Me with children's poet and illustrator Jenny Whitehead. She was great! So fun to listen to, and her art style is so cute! We got her Holiday Stew "A kid's portion of holiday and seasonal poems." It is great. She also has done Lunch Box Mail. Of course we bonded because we are both Jennys :) Her husband is also a children's illustrator--Pete Whitehead. He was there and talked also. Another author that was there was Christine Taylor-Butler. She was a civil engineer who gave up that job she said, "to be poor and be a children's author, and I love it a whole lot more and am so happy!" She has done lots of different kids' books--several kids' science books, and recently a Mt. Everest picture book (if you didn't know, I am a huge Everest fan--it totally fascinates me) called Sacred Mountain Everest. Children's history author/illustrator Cheryl Harness was also there along with author/illustrator Lisa Campbell Ernst. We love, love, love Lisa's stuff. So, if you need some ideas for you or your kids' summer reading, hopefully you got some here today!!