The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

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All About the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival on October 14!

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Notes from the Festival’s Founder!

For one glorious day each fall, authors, readers and their families flock to downtown Chappaqua for the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival (CCBF). Founded by a group of volunteers in 2013, the festival is now considered the preeminent children’s book festival in the tri-state area.

More than 90 children’s book authors and illustrators from as far away as Maryland fill the daylong festival with laughter, excitement and fun for children of all ages. Authors take the time for conversation and inspiration, to demonstrate the art of illustration and to read aloud favorite books in the adjacent St. Mary the Virgin’s garden. Attendees can expect festival favorites such as Rosemary Wells and Jane Yolen to return plus new authors such as Betsy and Ted Lewin and Roxie Munro.

Illustration by Sujean Rim

Families can find additional activities from book making to balloon animals to a Gaga pit in the family fun area. Food trucks and the Great Chappaqua Bake Sale provide many lunch options and scrumptious dessert and treats.

Since it’s inception The Great Chappaqua Bake Sale has raised more than $130,000 for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign and has connected children with more than 1.3 million meals. “It’s hard to believe this will be our eighth year working to raise monies to fund school and summer meals programs for kids in New York State. The Great Chappaqua Bake Sale community of supporters and volunteers make this event successful each year and we are particularly inspired by the many children who devote their time and passion to helping children in need,” noted Alison Spiegel, one of the Bake Sale founders.

A portion of the proceeds from the CCBF go to JCY-WCP literacy programs in schools throughout Westchester. The fifth annual CCBF is on Saturday, October 14th, from 10-4 pm. Admission is free. Cash and credit cards are accepted for book and food purchases. Free parking all day available at the nearby Chappaqua Metro-North train station.

For information on sponsorship and volunteering, visit www.ccbfestival.org or visit us on Facebook at Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival.

This Just In…New Not to Be Missed Authors


Betsy and Ted Lewin – Author and/or Illustrator of almost 200 children’s books plus recipients of numerous awards including the Caldecott Honor Book Medal and the NY Times Best Illustrated Award


Julie Fogliano – Author of beloved books including When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons and Old Dog Baby Baby


Roxie Munro – Author/Illustrator of more than 40 nonfiction and concept books for children using “gamification” to encourage reading, learning and engagement; NY Times Best Illustrated Award recipient


Stephen Savage – Author and Illustrator of 9 books for children, including the NY Times bestselling picture book Polar Bear Night, written by Lauren Thompson and creator of the Where’s Walrus? books, Supertruck and Little Tug

Beloved Literary Duo: The Van Fleets Life as a Two-Author Family

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Matt and Mara Van Fleet and a couple best buds. Photo by Grace Bennett

Tucked behind a main street in Chappaqua is a curved road where nature and homes appear whimsical as in stories. The house behind a tree with gnarled branches is where children’s authors Mara and Matt Van Fleet inspire educational curiosity.

Sourced with talent incorporated from their background, Matt and Mara bring color, texture, science and art into their novelty and interactive books. Their focus is getting kids to read at an early age and having adults read books to toddlers when they’re beginning to read.

A biology student at Syracuse University, Matt authored children’s books for more than 20 years. “I did a cartoon panel cartooning, and after graduation I worked at a hospital lab in the city, taking art classes at night,” he said. Nine months later he quit and became secretary to the art director at Grosset & Dunlap publishers.

“We used typewriters so I’d type letters and eventually learned book design,” Matt said, and while he didn’t set out to become a children’s author, fate said otherwise. His 1992 book One Yellow Lion introduced kids to counting with a clever accordion fold format that ended with “You know us all, from one to ten–/ Can you count us up again?’’

While freelancing at Dial books (part of Penguin Books USA), now wife Mara showed a book prototype to the publisher at a staff meeting. “They signed it up on the spot,” she smiled. The former art director and book product developer at Reader’s Digest Children’s Books in Chappaqua now publishes with Simon & Schuster and grins.

“I love doing it.”

Answering the question, “What’s it like being part of a two-author family?” Matt jokingly pointed to the sunroom. “She works here, and I work there (on the other side of the house).”

Their older son Alex recently graduated college, “and his desk was across from my desk,” Matt said. “In the biggest room of the house,” Mara joked. Alex shared a creative room with his dad that once had a fully stocked aquarium that formerly housed a millipede, a Praying mantis, an African water frog, a bullfrog they raised from a tadpole and two or three kinds of chameleons –a throwback to Matt’s days as a biology student.

Younger son Ryan, a senior at Horace Greeley High School, shares a working space with his mom. Creative in his own way, he plans to study vocal performance and music education at college. Matt’s first book features Alex as a youngster on the back cover, and when Ryan was born he drew them both on the back cover of his books. “Now they’re always youngsters,” he joked.

As children their audience’s age, Matt and Mara read Maurice Sendak: Mara chose Where the Wild Things Are, and Matt read from his Nutshell Library and Martha Sanders’ book Alexander and the Magic Mouse.

Mara prefers oil pastels for their rich appearance noticeable in her favorite book Three Little Mermaids. Her grandmother was a fashion illustrator for The New York Times in the 1920s, and her mom, also a talented illustrator, used to draw her mermaids, she said. “My grandmother was a very talented artist, and her portfolio’s pretty cool. She inspired me.”

Mara Van Fleet signing books at the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival
Until her most recent book Mama’s Pajamas, Mara’s books were created for girls and included fur, sequins, fabrics and other materials for kids to identify the sensation of touch.

Alphabet, a book which identifies several unusual animals for each letter of the alphabet, reflects Matt’s science background; in Dance, each animal was clothed or had a prop. His books may be too young for older kids, who are interested in moving parts and how they were assembled. “I have one that’s taken apart so they can see how the gears move and how it works,” he said.

“The process of creating our books is more difficult than creating a picture book, because of the interactive elements involved” he reflected. “For a counting book, the audience is always there, and in the picture book market, as kids get older, it becomes more difficult to write a book that will become popular. Each book has a theme,” he said: days of the week or opposites or colors; One Yellow Lion was followed by a book about shapes and then a 3D-shapes books. “This one’s a little different,” he said, pointing to Dance, composed by songwriter and friend Dave Bickler. Its main character, a little chick, learns to dance with help from animal friends, who move when kids pull cardboard tabs along the book’s edge.

Picking up DOG, he identified neighborhood and friends’ pets in the concept book of opposites. A mini-studio in their kitchen was where the canines struck adorable doggie poses.

“This was our pug Boris, this is Ryan’s pre-school teacher’s dog, this dog used to live over here, this dog still lives in Chappaqua, and this dog lives here.”

Their books, protected by acetate, can withstand kids tugging, pulling and touching. Some titles, like Mara’s mix-and-match The Very Mixed Up Princess – through which children can create more than 300 different sentences and lends itself to helping them learn sentence structure–are found in the Chappaqua Library.

Even though Matt’s initial two-book-per-year pace has decreased to one book annually, he admitted, “The first book is always exciting.” Both are working on new projects, and while privy to this information, The Inside Press will keep it under wraps for now. For more information, visit www.vanfleetbooks.com.

Matt and Mara Van Fleet will be attending and signing books at the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival on October 14.

How Barbara Dee Strikes a ‘Just Right’ Note for Middle Schoolers

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Chappaqua author Barbara Dee has her finger on the pulse of older kids, and she knows what they are thinking about. For more than a decade Dee’s popular books for middle-grade students have been on the right track with topics that interest kids.

As the market for children’s books has evolved so have Dee’s books. From her debut novel, Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life, to her latest Halfway Normal, Dee’s writing has gotten more serious, yet she has consistently maintained her trademark sense of humor.

Author Barbara Dee
PHOTO BY
Ronni Diamondstein
“Kids want to feel like they are reading about themselves, so the voice has to be just right,” says Dee. As an adult you come to writing for young people with your own life experience: for Dee it is Mom and teacher. “I felt a strong connection to my 12-year-old self and was able to tap into those feelings easily.”

For many of Dee’s books, resilience and empathy are themes. Such is the case for Halfway Normal, a story about 12-year-old Norah Levy who returns to school after two years of treatment for leukemia. Dee wrote from her own experience as a Memorial Sloan Kettering mom whose child was undergoing treatment. She also spoke to girls who were survivors. Dee is thrilled that this book has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild title, a first for her.

“While kids today are so sophisticated and have such internet savvy, they are still kids. They can be confused, silly, anxious and testing their boundaries,” says Dee. “My books always have substance and are a great way to get kids to open up to a subject.” Dee’s idea for her book Star-Crossed came after she noted the acclaim that GEORGE, a book about a transgender child, received. She decided to dip her toe into the LGBT book pool. “I thought there are so few children’s books on this topic, why not take it down a notch.” Star-Crossed is a story of young love in middle school. “I know that kids question their orientation so this is a sweet and happy comedy about acceptance.”

Dee hears from a lot of her readers and the range of her audience has surprised her. She has discovered that teens and adults have been reading middle-grade books.

“I get a lot of letters and Star-Crossed has gotten the most response from teens and adults asking ‘where was this book when I was in middle school?’” They share their personal stories with Dee. “It’s so moving and I feel honored.”

Staying serious yet maintaining an upbeat tone and characters with spunk, her forthcoming book Everything I Know About You takes on the topic of tween eating disorders. The book deals with friendship issues. On a school trip to Washington, D.C. the main character that is fine with her large body notices that her roommate has an eating disorder, and handles it with humor. Dee says that humor is a great coping mechanism. “For kids, it is important to blend humor into the work, but it’s hard to be funny!”

In her spare time, Dee loves to read. She also visits schools and attends conferences and book festivals. She is a Founder and member of the Board of Directors of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival. Among her favorite books as a child are

A Wrinkle in Time, Island of the Blue Dolphins and Harriet the Spy. Now she reads a lot of contemporary fiction. But her readers would be most surprised to discover that she is obsessed with the English rock band Radiohead and has been to their concerts.

When she speaks to kids, Dee tells young writers to read lots of different things for pleasure, and to get used to sharing their work. “Develop a thick skin and take constructive criticism.”

Dee says of her own experience: “A rejection letter with feedback is a gift.”

When she was a child, Dee always thought of herself as a writer one day and she’s doing exactly that, although her journey began by teaching, going to law school, and reviewing books. And she never realized what a job writing was, its business aspect and all the traveling. It is less glamorous than kids think. But in the end Dee finds it a dream job. “I’m lucky to be able to do it. What a privilege to say this is my job even when I am having a hard day!”

Barbara Dee will be giving a talk and signing her books at the Chappaqua Library on Thursday, September 14 at 4 p.m. On October 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., you can also find Dee greeting young and old alike at her table at the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival.

Thanks to CELF: A New Generation of Students and Teachers Go Green

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Katie Ginsberg, the Founder of CELF, addresses attendees at CELF’s Annual Summer Institute
A group of more than 60 teachers from across the U.S. were huddled around tables tackling the issue of climate change in small groups in a simulation exercise. Divided into groups representing the governments of China, India and the U.S. among others and the fossil fuel industry, the teachers were tasked with convincing their governments and negotiating with industry for a way for them to work collaboratively to reduce climate change. The exercise was part of an intensive four-day workshop at Manhattanville College in Purchase called the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation (CELF) Summer Institute in Education for Sustainability, which enables teachers to integrate the concepts of sustainability into their existing curricula. Exercises like these at the CELF Institute can serve as a model for teachers to use with their students when they bring sustainability education back to their own classrooms.

Founded in 2003 by Chappaqua resident Katie Ginsberg, the CELF Institute’s mission is to make Education for Sustainability (EfS) an integral part of every school’s curricula and culture. The non-profit has worked with students and teachers from kindergarten through high school and in all types of public and private schools in urban, suburban and rural settings. Since its inception, CELF has worked with more than 8,000 teachers and school leaders and more than 800,000 students from 2,800 schools.

A former advertising executive, Ginsberg never thought that she would one day lead an award-winning sustainability education non-profit. Working on consumer campaigns for global clients such as Unilever, Ginsberg had first-hand exposure to product manufacturing and the research and development process. It was motherhood that ultimately spurred her though to become a dedicated environmentalist. “Having three children, I began to really pay attention to ingredients and what I was feeding them, washing them with and putting on their skin.”

Ginsberg’s ‘aha moment’ that inspired a career change came after her son came home excited from celebrating Earth Day at Grafflin Elementary School many years ago. They had interactive sessions and he went around investigating dripping faucets.

A climate change simulation exercise
“It was very empowering for him to see that he can make a change.” Ginsberg realized then that environmental education should be weaved into the curriculum throughout the year and starting in the formative years of kindergarten. She felt that sustainability education should be integrated into various subjects so that students could develop holistic thinking and an age-appropriate understanding of the intersection of social, economic, and ecological systems.

Ginsberg spent two years researching other environmental non-profits in other countries such as the U.K.,  Australia and Japan before starting CELF. The first CELF Summer Institute was held in 2005 with approximately 30 attendees. Ginsberg finds it very gratifying that the CELF Summer Institute has doubled in the number of attendees and now several teachers are coming with their administrators in groups so that they can truly embody the theme of the conference–“activating change” on a school-wide basis.

This year’s CELF Summer Institute had notable presenters such as former New York Times science reporter Andrew Revkin and Steve Kaagan of Climate Interactive, a Washington D.C.-based company that addresses climate change and related issues like energy, water, food, and disaster risk reduction.

Joseph Montouri, a CELF Institute attendee and a Social Studies teacher at Horace Greeley High School always considered himself an environmentalist. “I wanted to integrate environmental learning into my social studies teaching so I developed a public policy course at Greeley through the lens of sustainability. So much of what we do as social studies teachers is focus on the past without any connection to the present,” he commented.

Montouri is hoping to create a “sustainability house” in the newly redesigned L-building at Greeley, which is currently undergoing renovation and reconfiguration. “This would be a school within a school taught by a team of teachers emphasizing sustainability and the three Es– economy, ecology and equity.”

The concept of the “sustainability house” has been presented to faculty, students and parents and it was accepted as one of the uses of the new space. By attending the CELF Institute, Montouri felt that he was equipped with ideas about how to move the project forward.

“Our goal is to prepare these educators who are with these students five days a week for most of the year to have the skills, knowledge and tools to not only teach about sustainability but ultimately enable their students to do something about it and that the situation is not hopeless. The good news is that there’s much more interest and demand from schools for this type of learning than ever before,” explained Ginsberg.

Where is This? Answers on Page…

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Editor’s Note: Think you know the nooks and crannies of your town? See how many of these images you can identify. Joseph Fleisher, a rising sophomore at Horace Greeley High School, who has a passion for photography, set out to find interesting objects and places unique to New Castle. The answers and descriptions can be found on page 44 in our downloadable Inside Chappaqua edition on our home page.

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