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Kid Culture Austin’s Top 10 Picks for the 2012 Texas Book Festival

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Kid Culture Austin’s Top 10 Picks for the 2012 Texas Book Festival

One of my family’s favorite yearly events is nearly upon us!  Lounging on the beautiful Capitol grounds and rolling down the hills isn’t an official part of the festival, but it’s become a part of our experience, so I’ll slip it in here before the real list.

Here are ( the rest of) my kid-centric choices for this year’s festival.  Enjoy!

*Some events overlap

SATURDAY  October 27, 2012


10:00 – 11:00

Location: Children’s Entertainment Tent (on west Capitol driveway, near Colorado St.)
Date: Saturday, October 27
Time: 10:00 – 11:00
Authors:  

Hand to Mouth Puppet Theatre

For more than a decade, Hand To Mouth Puppet Theatre has been amazing thousands with the art of puppetry, performing at festivals, museums, clubs, schools, libraries, and in the middle of windy fields. Robbie Lueth discovered puppetry in 1978 and began pursuing it with a passion. Her studies of literature, drama and voice, as well as her sense of humor, have served her well in making the magic of puppetry come to life each time the lights go on. Puppeteer, painter, graphic artist, costume designer, and book illustrator Ellen Turner Scott has been an artist all her life. The variety of her experience makes Ellen a performer who amazes and delights audiences wherever she goes.

11:00 – 11:30

Location: Children’s Read Me a Story Tent (13th & Colorado streets)
Date: Saturday, October 27
Time: 11:00 – 11:30
Authors: Loren Long
Introduction By: Stephanie Kaynes’ 3rd Grade Class, Forest Creek Elementary

Loren Long

In Nightsong, Chiro the bat’s sensible mother has some wise advice: to use his good sense. “Sense is the song you sing into the world, and the song the world sings back to you,” she says. “Sing, and the world will answer. That is how you’ll see.” Long is a two-time Golden Kite award winner and New York Times #1 bestselling illustrator who has illustrated many notable books, including Barack Obama’s Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters and The Little Engine That Could, which reached #1 on the New York TimesBestseller List.

12:00 – 1:00

Location: Children’s Entertainment Tent (on west Capitol driveway, near Colorado St.)
Date: Saturday, October 27
Time: 12:00 – 1:00
Authors: Brain Quest

Brain Quest

With Brain Quest, it’s Fun to Be Smart. Don’t believe us? Come see for yourself! Kids will have the chance to flaunt their smarts by answering questions in a quiz-show setting on stage. Kids are also welcome to stop by the Brain Quest booth and participate in a challenge that includes both questions and physical activities too (jump rope, hula-hoop!).

1:00 – 1:30

Location: Children’s Read Me a Story Tent (13th & Colorado streets)
Date: Saturday, October 27
Time: 1:00 – 1:30
Authors: Peter Brown
Introduction By: Shannon Heinzen’s, 1st Grade Class, Forest Creek Elementary

Peter Brown

Creepy Carrots, a picture-book parable turned thriller, comes to the carrot patch in a clever tale about a rabbit who fears his favorite treats are out to get him. Brown is also the author of Children Make Terrible Petsand the critically acclaimed artist of Chowder and Flight of the Dodo. He is a previous Festival writer.

2:30 – 3:00

Location: Children’s Read Me a Story Tent (13th & Colorado streets)
Date: Saturday, October 27
Time: 2:30 – 3:00
Authors: Liz Garton Scanlon
Introduction By: Suzanne Wofford’s Library Students, Robert E. Lee Elementary

Liz Garton Scanlon

There’s nothing a group of little minds can’t do when they put their heads together, particularly when it’s a group of kids putting on a show. Join five friends and a cat who use their imaginations to dream up their future selves in the rhyming adventure Think Big. Scanlon is the bestselling author of All the World, which received a 2010 Caldecott Honor, and has written many other books, including A Sock Is a Pocket for Your Toes.

SUNDAY  October 28, 2012


11:00 – 12:00

Location: Children’s Entertainment Tent (on west Capitol driveway, near Colorado St.)
Date: Sunday, October 28
Time: 11:00 – 12:00
Authors:  

Magician Kent Cummins

“The Fantastic Kent Cummins” is a magician, juggler, puppeteer, teacher and writer. His first “Big Show” was at his dad’s dance recital in 1952, as “Mysto the Magician.” At age 9 he gave his first paid performance for $3.00. It was the first of many shows, and it marked the beginning of a life-long pursuit and love of magic. During graduate school at The University of Texas at Austin in 1971, Kent and a friend started the SamWitch shops, a chain of restaurants that they sold in 1986 when Kent became a full-time magician. In 1993, Cummins started the Magic Camp as a way to give back to the children of Central Texas. He and his wife Margot live in Central Texas.

11:30 – 12:00

Location: Children’s Read Me a Story Tent (13th & Colorado streets)
Date: Sunday, October 28
Time: 11:30 – 12:00
Authors: Jon Klassen
Introduction By: Scarlett Steele’s 3rd Grade Class, Old Town Elementary
 

Jon Klassen

“This hat is not mine. I just stole it,” confesses a wide-eyed small fish who found the perfect blue bowler hat. But the little fish better swim fast, because the hat belongs to a much larger and hungrier fish who is about to wake up from a nap. Jon Klassen is also the author of the bestselling I Want My Hat Back, which received many honors including being named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book, and a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year.

2:00 – 2:45

Location: Children’s Activity Tent (on Colorado St. between 12th & 13th)
Date: Sunday, October 28
Time: 2:00 – 2:45
Authors: Bob Shea
Loren Long
Jon Klassen

Animals, Animals, Animals!

Learn from your favorite children’s authors how to draw some of the most vibrant animals being published in picture books today! Join Jon Klassen, author and illustrator of This Is Not My Hat; Loren Long, illustrator of Nightsong; and Bob Shea, illustrator and writer ofDinosaur vs. Santa, as they reveal their creature drawing techniques.

3:00 – 3:30

Location: Children’s Read Me a Story Tent (13th & Colorado streets)
Date: Sunday, October 28
Time: 3:00 – 3:30
Authors: Eric Rohmann
Introduction By: Chere Al-Bassam’s Art Class, Rawson Saunders School

Caldecott winner Eric Rohmann

Young children will delight in repeating the refrain and title “OH, NO!” as one animal after another falls into a deep, deep hole in this lively read-aloud. Oh No!is an irresistible picture book by hugely popular picture book creators – Candace Fleming and Caldecott medalist Eric Rohmann – and feels like a classic-in-the-making.

3:00 – 4:00

Location: Children’s Entertainment Tent (on west Capitol driveway, near Colorado St.)
Date: Sunday, October 28
Time: 3:00 – 4:00
Authors:  

Todd Simpson

Todd Simpson is young man from a small town in Alabama. He has spent the last three years playing well over 400 shows, from small towns in the Mississippi Delta to the world famous Whisky A-Go-Go. Todd is living his, dream which is quite remarkable when you know the struggles he has faced daily. It was discovered at birth that Todd had a severe heart defect requiring two open heart surgeries, the first when he was only days old. Along with his heart defect he had other health issues as well.Todd was diagnosed with Variant DiGeorge Syndrome with severe immune deficiency when he was nine years old, requiring monthly IV treatments that he continues to this day.

One of Todd’ s biggest hurdles has been severe dyslexia which has prevented him from reading and writing, yet he has written over 200 songs, all in his head. Perhaps the most amazing part of Todd’s story is that when he was 18 years old he picked up the guitar for the first time after watching a Jimi Hendrix video and played it as if he had been playing for years.

He knows no notes, he sees colors when he plays, he describes it as “playing the colors.” He never plays a song the same way because he said he never sees the colors exactly the same. Although Todd has a speech impediment, he sings without one. Perhaps because of his struggles, he champions others who have to overcome huge obstacles. Todd has spoken at many schools and one-on-one with many young people trying to get out his message: being different is okay.

Do you have any recommendations that you’d like to share?

You can view the complete Texas Book Festival Calendar here.

Follow my blog and get all my latest posts!

-Jennifer Rustgi, Kid Culture Austin


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