By Dori Busell
The second annual Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival on September 27 at Bell promises to build on the tremendous success of last year’s inaugural event; about 80 popular children and young adult authors are scheduled to meet and mingle with their fans, sign books and read excerpts. A special promotion with Hall of Scoops will create a CCBF special flavor to be sold during September with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the event.
“We took a short break to catch our breath following last year’s event but fairly quickly began all the planning to make the 2014 festival an event that can’t be topped,” said Dawn Greenberg, CCBF’s executive tireless director.
Just some of the new authors attending to keep an eye out for at the 2014 Festival:
Diane deGroat: Diane deGroat is the illustrator of more than 120 children’s books and the author-illustrator of bestselling books about Gilbert, including Ants in Your Pants, Worms in Your Plants! (Gilbert Goes Green); Last One in Is a Rotten Egg!; and the New York Times bestseller Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink. Notably, deGroat is a former Chappaqua resident and spent many years volunteering at Roaring Brook;s library, which helped mold her stories and illustrations.
“Being surrounded by thousands of children’s books was like Christmas in a candy shop!” offered Diane deGroat. “I shelved and checked out books, but I also worked as “a spy” as I observed current gestures, attire and conversation among the elementary population.”
Christopher Healy: There’s a lot you don’t know about Prince Charming, at least according to Christopher Healy, author of the Hero’s Guide trilogy: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle, and The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw. Each book, targeted to grades 3-7, follows four different Prince Charmings after their well-known fairy tales end and the comedic adventures that occur after the happily ever after.
Peter Lerangis:Peter Lerangis is the author of more than 160 children’s and young adult fiction books, which have sold more than five million copies and been translated into 30 different languages. He is best known for the Seven Wonder series and author of two books in The 39 Clues series. His novel Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am, a collaboration with Harry Mazer, won the 2013 Schneider Award, presented by the American Library Association “for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for adolescent audiences,” and it was selected for the 2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults list.
Janet Taylor Lisle: Janet Taylor Lisle has published 16 novels for children and young adults, including Afternoon of the Elves, a Newbery Honor book and The Art of Keeping Cool, which won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Lisle turned to adult non-fiction in 2010, publishing a history of her early New England town, Little Compton: First Light Sakonnet, 1660-1820. A second volume, A Home By the Sea, 1820-1950, appeared in 2012.She lives with her husband in Little Compton, Rhode Island.
Doreen Rappaport:Doreen Rappaport is an award-winning author of 48 fiction and non-fiction children’s books that celebrate multiculturalism, the retelling of folktales and myths, history, the lives of world leaders and the stories of those she calls ‘not-yet-celebrated.’ Her books have received critical acclaim and awards for her unique ability to combine historical facts with intimate storytelling, and for finding ‘new ways to present the lives of well-known heroes‚’ like Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller and the Statue of Liberty.
Steve Sheinkin:Steve Sheinkin is the award-winning author of several exciting books on American history for young adults. His 2012 title BOMB: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, was awarded a Newbery Honor, won the Sibert Medal, the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His book The Notorious Benedict Arnold won both the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction and the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for nonfiction.
Robin Wasserman:Robin Wasserman is a young adult author of the Seven Deadly Sins, Cold Awakenings and Chasing Yesterday series. She also authored the Candy Apple series about surviving middle school. Robin lives in Brooklyn.
Dori Busell provides strategic communications counsel and media relations support to Fortune 1000 companies through her co., DK Strategic Communications. Dori lives in Chappaqua with her husband and two young children.
