Charlotte S. Huck Children's Literary Festival 2018

In 2015, I was one of the author speakers at the Charlotte S. Huck Literary Festival in Redlands, CA.

My books sold out quickly so I was quickly invited back for this year (actually last year, but I had a scheduling conflict). This year, however, after I spoke, my books again sold out quickly, leaving some attendees disappointed and the bookstore stunned. They said they'd never seen books sell out that fast and asked me "What did you say?"

I love the structure of this event. Each featured author gets to hear every author speak to the entire attendance. (Often at book events, authors are scheduled against each other throughout.)

I had the added privilege of speaking with a group of 4th and 5th graders whose parents drove them to campus. They had done some impressive prep work…

Inspired by Bill Finger, the kids made gimmick books:

Inspired by Bill Finger, I used "bill," "finger," and "bat" puns throughout Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, and the kids discussed this (and alliteration):

They even made a timeline of notable events in comics history, which listed multiple Bill Finger events...including Bill the Boy Wonder and Batman & Bill! Granted they kindly did that because I would be there, but it was still cool to see.

Coolest of all: their nametags indicated their names twice…once correctly, once backwards. As for why, see Bill the Boy Wonder…

Thank you again to Marjorie Arnett, my author "angel" Andy Mitchell, and all the committee members/volunteers who made the festival (and my participation in it) possible. It was an honor to meet James and Lesa Cline-Ransome, whose joint presentation was disarming, modest, and impressive. It was a similar honor to meet Kathi Appelt (and her husband) in person years after I "met" her as both a participant in the "kidlit authors read bad reviews" videos and a keynoter at a particularly dramatic SCBWI conference.

Side note: I started my California week in Los Angeles, where I had the pleasure of having lunch with Scott Valentine, the actor who played Nick, Mallory Keaton's boyfriend on Family Ties. He did not participate in my Family Ties oral history but shared some startling stories over Thai food...

Charlotte S. Huck Children's Literature Festival turns 20

In 2015, I had the honor of speaking at the Charlotte S. Huck Children's Literature Festival in California. It has been one of the most rewarding I've been to.

This year, the festival celebrated its 20th anniversary, and I was again honored by being quoted multiple times in its 20th anniversary celebration pamphlet:

Next year, I will yet again be honored by returning to speak at Huck.

Feedback from the Charlotte S. Huck Festival

On 2/27-28/15, I was a featured speaker at the Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival in Redlands, CA. 

I really enjoyed my audiences and was humbled to discover there was some mutuality to that feeling. A sampling:

• “Wow—incredible! An inspiration—absolutely gripping story everyone should hear”
• “Could listen to him for a long time”
• “Easy and humorous style make his Q&A fascinating”
• “Powerful and engaging”
• “Great message about the hard work of research”
• “Awesome information, stories, advice, and ideas”
• “Amazing researcher! It was cool to learn so many things I never knew about popular culture”
• “Learned so many interesting facts, really enjoyed his process”
• “It ended too fast”

Thank you all!

“If you take a bag of leaves to Kinko’s…” (Charlotte S. Huck Festival)

On 2/27-28/15, I had the honor of being one of the author speakers at the 19th annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival in Redlands, CA.

This was a triple win for me: I love the chance to speak, see publishing friends, and come to California.

In this case, I got to spend time with two of my best author buds in the biz—Peter Brown (met 2008) and Jenni Holm (met 2010). Got to meet some I’d previously only corresponded with—Avi and editor Allyn Johnston. Got to meet a picture book legend (and a regular in my house when my kids were younger)—Lois Ehlert. 

Lois, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Peter, Jenni, me, Avi

And got to mingle with many other lovely authors, attendees, and volunteers. Special shout-out to Andy, who escorted me to my talks, and Pam, who introduced one of those talks.

Lois (age 80) was a crowd-pleaser. She stood for an entire hourlong keynote and, alongside her editor/co-presenter Allyn, served up one zinger after another while explaining her process in creating children’s books, many of which focus on nature.

A one-liner the authors at my table particularly liked involved Kinko’s. First she charmingly explained what it is in case anyone in the audience had not heard of the national copy chain. Then she said she keeps them in business. Then she said “If you take a bag of leaves to Kinko’s, you have to go early.” (Translation: fewer stares to avoid.)

 Avi, Peter, musician Emily Arrow (see below)

Allyn and Lois

Earlier that week, I spoke at two impressive schools, Kimberly Elementary in Redlands and Cajon High School in San Bernadino. The staff at both were so committed to doing as much as possible for their students, and the students were thoughtful and funny.

world cultures on display at Kimberly Elementary, Redlands, CA

At the festival, singer/songwriter Emily Arrow performed songs she wrote about Peter’s The Curious Garden and Lois’s Snowballs and got the crowd involved. She gives off an Ingrid Michaelson/Joni Mitchell vibe (which I hope she will take as a compliment) and I have a feeling she’ll soon be a fixture at kids’ book conferences.

During author Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s moving talk, I caught a glimpse of a book whose title inspired the title of my upcoming WWII picture book. Can you spot it? 

Probably not—the photo is blurry. The blue-spined book with yellow type is called Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo…

I received humbling feedback on my talk, including this:

And a young man named Gino was so moved by Bill Finger’s story that he whipped up this drawing, leaving a blank at the bottom and asking me to fill in a name:

While still at the 19th, I was invited back to the 21st festival. Of course I said yes.