Step 63: Have a Literacy Filled Weekend

All this excitement happened last weekend, and I've needed all week to recover before I could write about it. On Saturday, September 20, the day started with children's stories and ended with drunken librarians and authors. ;)

Now, I don't know if the librarians from my new work went home and got drunk themselves, but they certainly deserved it after pulling off such a huge (and pretty successful) early literacy fair called BOUNCE at the Carmel Clay Public Library. They had at least 500 kids and parents going from one fun station to another, making crafts, singing songs, and listening to stories. I helped man a few of these stations, and even got to dress up as Pete the Cat. The kids loved getting hugs and high-fives from some of their favorite book characters.

After BOUNCE, I could have continued to be Pete the Cat--people came to the Indianapolis Literary Pub Crawl dressed up as all kinds of different book characters--but it's really hard to walk in those costumes, and while it's called a "crawl," I didn't think you were actually supposed to drag yourself along. Plus, the people attending this event were of a more mature nature, so a children's book character might not have been the best choice. So I ditched the costume and just enjoyed the themed drinks and the conversations. Inebriated librarians and book nerds are very fun to talk to. And Mike Mullin, author of the Ashfall three-and-a-halfology was there. He's always very interesting to listen to. Anyone who participated in the crawl got a signed copy of the first book in his series.

So my question to you: What's your favorite book? I know, for some that's like asking a mother who her favorite child is. For me, I have to break it down into categories. Harry Potter is my favorite main stream series, Cirque Du Freak is my favorite lesser known series (though I'm happy to say it's gotten more popular over the years), Ashfall is my favorite local series, How to Train Your Dragon is my favorite children's series, The Fault in Our Stars is my favorite local stand alone book, and either The Last Dog on Earth or Full Tilt are my favorite stand alone books.

And my challenge to you: Give a children's picture book a read. I've been picking out one a night and have found quite a few that I enjoy. I Know a Bear almost made me cry!