a festival for the rest of us (book lovers)

It's been two weeks since my favorite Saturday of the year- the National Book Festival. Oh, what a day it was. When we checked the forecast on Friday evening, it showed significant rain all day, so hubby and I decided it would be best to not bring the whole crew down for the day. JAM, however, said he was dedicated enough to stand around in the rain with me, and I found myself loving him even more than ever. He and I might even get seats for some talks if the rain kept some less dedicated book lovers than us at home.

Then, Saturday morning's forecast was quite different, and while the clouds weren't expected to clear away completely, they were most likely not going to open up on the Washington bibliophilic crowds. Suddenly, we were back on for a full family trip to the book festival. And, did I say this already? What a day it was.

While I was still checking in as "Press" and getting to wear the totally nifty pass, I declined the opportunity to conduct any interviews this year. Not because I didn't want to chat with some of the incredible authors who were going to be present, but because I knew I wouldn't be able to give the attention necessary to the whole process. Ah well, maybe next time.

And on that note, when I checked in at the Media Tent, I was happy to see my contact for the last few years there, and I happily donned my Press Pass. Then, another representative from the PR group told me that Jennifer Egan was standing "right over there" and was able to do an interview right now. You know, Jennifer Egan, the winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Holy crap, the guy was going to walk over and grab her right at that moment, and I had to stop him from doing that because... I've never read any of Egan's books, and I couldn't possibly interview her without being the slightest bit familiar with her work. Yeah, not my highest moment.

Then we were off to spend our day experiencing the festival. I did not approach the festival in the way I've done it in the past, in that we did not have a minute-by-minute schedule charted out. There were a few folks I really wanted to see talk, but I really just wanted to walk around and see what we could see.

Our first stop was going to be the Children's Tent, because I had a curiosity about Julianne Moore's talk. See, I'm generally not a fan of celebrities being given children's book deals, but the character of her picture books, Freckleface Strawberry, had me interested... you know, if you've ever seen a pic of the girl with the online moniker Red, you'd understand why. So we headed over to the tent, and I saw Julianne Moore herself standing off to the side of the tent a bit behind the stage, and I made a in-the-moment decision right then and there to shamelessly use my daughter to meet a movie star.

Yup, I asked Red to come over and stand nearby, and I pointed out JM, saying that she was going to talk about her books about a little girl with red hair and lots of freckles, just like her. My plan only took a few minutes to work, because Red's hair must have set off a Redhead Radar in the beautiful JM, for she immediately took notice of my darling daughter, and the official NBF camera crew was right behind her. The pictures from this year's festival are not yet up on the site, but thankfully, my own camera crew (aka lovely hubby) was at the ready.

 I'm happy to report that not only is Julianne Moore an incredible actress, she's naturally beautiful, and she's quite gracious and lovely. Her talk about her books, which also included some clearly informed opinions about reading and children's literature. My surprise at her ability to be there as an actual author and not as an accomplished actress prompted my musings over at 5 Minutes for Books in an essay, On Reading: Revisiting My Take on Celebrity Authors.

After our brush with fame, we met up with hubby and JAM again, who had left so that JAM could get in line to meet an author he loves, Gordon Korman. While Red, Pudge and I enjoyed a book together, JAM got his own speechless moment with a famous writer.

After a lunch eaten on the steps of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, we split up again so that the older guys could go one way and we could go another, more preschool-y way. Red, Pudge and I ended up in the PBS Kids tent, where we happily found our good pal Steve of SteveSongs on stage! We settled down on the ground right in front of the stage, and I swear to you that Steve looked at us and had a moment of recognition. Let me have that, okay?

Soon enough, Steve was introducing someone who made us smile- Harry Bliss! The kids and I have been enjoying Bailey since I reviewed it last month, and suddenly there was the author/illustrator right in front of us. Rather than read or talk about his new book, he opted to play a cool game in which he invited a child up on the stage to make a doodle on a piece of big chart paper, which he then turned into a one-of-a-kind, wacky and awesome illustration. Guess who raised her hand enthusiastically, got called on, hopped up on stage, confidently said her name into the microphone and drew a jaunty squiggle on the paper? Yup, this was totally Red's day! (In related news, guess who somewhat reluctantly raised his hand, did not get called on, and cried when Red was the last one called? Fun times.)

 

Isn't that really terrific? Now we have an original Harry Bliss illustration, which he joked could be sold on ebay for probably twenty bucks. We're going to skip the cash payout and frame it for Red's bedroom instead.

After Harry Bliss's time was up, Steve came back on stage to introduce, via song of course, the next author appearing on stage. Lo and behold, it was Red's new BFF, Julianne Moore! She read her first book, Freckleface Strawberry to the crowd, and I was even more excited to witness that she is of the camp of authors who actually do know how to read a story aloud to a group of kids!

Soon, it was time for the one part of the day that was nonnegotiable for me, an author talk in the Children's Tent by a picture book author and illustrator who has delighted me for years and years. I anticipated that the crowd would be huge, and since Red and Pudge have very little tolerance for standing in a crowd to listen to some grown-up talk, even if that grown-up is one of the most prolific and wonderful and amazing authors who they love to read. So, hubby took the younger ones and JAM came with me to try to scope out a few seats for what was to be the highlight of my day.

Tomie dePaola.

What can I say? The crowds were enormous, and a seat was not in our destiny. But, I would stand for a long, long time to hear TdP speak, and he didn't fail to delight. I will shamelessly admit that my eyes welled up with tears as he took the stage, somewhat gingerly holding both handrails up the few steps. But then when he stood before the mike, his booming voice was just what I hoped for, and he soon had the entire crowd laughing as he taught us the PROPER way to blow three kisses, Italian style. I think Strega Nona would have been proud of us!

His talk was just so much fun, and I hope I remember to post the link to the videocast once the Library of Congress gets them uploaded to their site. I recorded part of it, but the view is terrible and my hand is a bit shaky from a mixture of excitement and exhaustion. Just before he finished his talk, I made JAM come over with me to where he would exit the pavilion to get into his awaiting golf cart, not so that I could ambush him, but I hoped to get a closer picture than I had of him on stage.

Not too shabby, huh?

Well, at this point, it was close to 4 pm, and since we had been there for about five hours, which involved skipping nap for two hot and tired kids, we hopped back on the Metro and came home, happy to have rubbed elbows with some authors and illustrators who make us happy. I was thrilled to have once again spent a day among my people, the folks who will show up rain, shine, heat, humidity, whatever, simply to be in the presence of authors and book people.


Ready for September 2012,



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For more musings on how I want my legacy to my children to be all about a love of reading, please read my related Patch column- Literary Indoctrination.