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Mary Pope Osborne

Storytellers Unite: Meet the Authors of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival

September 25, 2023 by Inside Press

By Mollie Roth

The upcoming Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival will be an opportunity for young readers and their parents to connect with the authors who make reading hour and bedtime come alive. Local librarians, educators, and volunteers have planned a fantastic event where children can come together with the authors that spark their imaginations.

Headlining the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival is Mary Pope Osborne, author of the beloved Magic Tree House series. Young and old, fans of Jack and Annie’s time-traveling and global-trotting adventures will have the opportunity to speak to Osborne about all their favorite stories, as well as learn about her newest books. Meeting authors like Osborne is an opportunity for children to form personal connections to books new or beloved. Chappaqua Librarian Theresa Bueti looks forward to seeing young people engage with books in a brand new way. When young patrons attend the festival, “they realize that people write books,” says Bueti, turning the solitary act of reading “real, vivid, and approachable.”

The students at Douglas Grafflin Elementary School are particularly excited to meet author Josh Funk. His book My Pet Feet won the 2023 Official March Book Madness Picture Book Bracket after being voted in by the Grafflin community and their nation-wide peers. Kaitlyn Lester, a library media specialist at Grafflin Elementary, says, “students are excited to meet [Funk], tell him how much we love My Pet Feet, and explore his other books that we are sure to love!”

Keep an eye out for Lauren Tarshis, author of the New York Times Bestselling series I Survived. Roaring Brook Elementary School’s Suzanne Stolzenberg and Andrea Schaber from West Orchard Elementary School say their students are very excited to meet the author of this disaster themed collection about children who survive a thrilling historical event. Coming to the festival shows children that “if they have something they want to say, they could write a book about it,” claims Bueti. In the aftermath of a global pandemic, perhaps Tarshis’ work will prove inspiration to young readers.

Many illustrators will also be in attendance at this year’s book festival. Head of children’s services at Chappaqua Library Robbin Friedman is particularly excited to meet Ruth Chan. “Her animal faces are so goofy, adorable, and expressive,” notes Friedman. “Everything about [Chan’s work] is weird and wonderful and exactly the right way.” Chan has a long career as an illustrator, as well as being the sole creator of books like Thank You, Neighbor! For children interested in creating and expressing themselves through art, meeting the illustrators at the festival should be a galvanizing and memorable experience.

There are seven scheduled readings throughout the festival day, where attendees can hear stories read by their authors. This is a wonderful chance for children to connect with their peers and the adults in their lives as they all encounter the same story at the same time. Author Raj Halder will be reading This Book is Banned, a picture book grappling with censorship in a delightfully silly and meaningful manner. However, the experience of being told a story is not limited to our yearly festival. Through the Chappaqua Library, anyone can rent the audiobooks of many books found at the festival. Many children’s authors read their books themselves, so children can have a little slice of the festival all year round.

The books mentioned are available for purchase at the festival, along with many other fascinating reads. However, finding new books does not have to be a once-a-year event. Stoever encourages “every child [to] find the librarians from the children’s room at the Chappaqua Public Library and speak to them.” The librarians are thrilled for this opportunity to further engage with the community, and recommend the book clubs and reading groups for anyone motivated by this year’s festival.

The Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival will take place on Saturday, September 30, 2023 at the Chappaqua Train Station, from 10am to 4pm. Along with the author and illustrators, there will be food trucks and a family fun zone. Admission is free, and livestream coverage of the event.  For regular updates, visit www.ccbfestival.org

Inside Press Story Presented in Partnership with the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival.

Filed Under: Happenings Tagged With: Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, Chappaqua library, Douglas Grafflin Elementary School, Family Fun, Josh Funk, Lauren Tarshis, Mary Pope Osborne, Raj Halder, Ruth Chan, Storytellers

Celebrating a Decade of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival

August 18, 2023 by Robin Goetz

Once upon a time, there was a book festival that needed a new home. After searching every town, hamlet and village, a group of parents, librarians, businesses, town officials and more decided to give it a home in Chappaqua. They gave it lots of love and attention, and after 10 years, it grew to be one of the biggest and strongest in the country!

The moral of the story? It truly takes a village – a dedicated and powerful one – to connect authors and readers at this very special annual event: the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival.

The 2023 Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival

This year marks the 10th annual Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival (CCBF), where thousands of visitors from near and far descend on the town to enjoy a beautiful autumn day, meeting their favorite authors and enjoying all that Chappaqua has to offer.

The fun-filled day will include author readings, special presentations, illustrator demos, book sales and signings. Gourmet food trucks, a bubble bus, live entertainment, and activities provided by local merchants, organizations and sponsors lend to the energy, and excitement. The Family Fun Zone will feature giveaways, crafts, games and more. This year CCBF will launch an app, allowing festival goers to easily find books by author, subject, age and more.

As CCBF Executive Director Dawn Greenberg puts it, “Every year it feels like a family reunion, and the family keeps growing!”

The Festival gives kids and families a chance to meet and interact with the creators of their favorite characters – another highlight of the CCBF being the costumed characters who make appearances throughout the day for photos, hugs, and high-fives, truly bringing books to life.

As always, a percentage of the proceeds and tons of books will go to literacy programs to area schools in Westchester and the New York Metro area.

Welcoming The Magical Mary Pope Osborne

This year, the CCBF is overjoyed to welcome famed and beloved author Mary Pope Osbourne as the festival’s headliner. Best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which has sold over 200 million copies worldwide, Osborne is revered as an author but also as a fierce advocate for children’s literacy. Geared towards new readers, Osborne has written over 65 books in the last 30 years, and still at it. Her magical adventures transport readers to different times and places, each new adventure filled with imagination and learning.

Her biggest advice? “Remember who you were at 8, because you were right: The world is filled with wonder and magic, and you have a big role to play in it.”

Chappaqua will honor the magic of Osborne with treehouses and crafts throughout the town. A recent event at the Chappaqua library invited kids to create their own “magic treehouse” and the results were incredible! More events and tributes will take place leading up to the festival day.

Many other fan favorites, including Victoria Kann (Pinkalicious), Alyssa Capucilli and Pat Schories (Biscuit), Nick Bruel (Bad Kitty) and local authors including Barbara Dee, Matt and Mara Van Fleet, Hudson Warm, Jean Van Leeuwen, and Sujean Rim will return.

The Festival Grows Up

When it began in 2013, the CCBF was geared to young readers. The festival has grown, not just in numbers but in content. The day now includes many Young Adult authors and titles, as well as graphic novels and more of interest to older readers.

This year, in light of recent book bans, the festival will showcase banned books by CCBF authors in a thought-provoking special booth.

“It is our mission to represent ALL voices,” said Greenberg. “Books teach us everything – empathy, worldview, how to live in our own heads. They entertain but more important, they can transport us. What a gift! And we believe that no one should limit that access. I am proud that we are fighting back through the festival, and every day, to get books into as many kids’ hands as possible.”

A Community Comes Together

It is no easy task to make the CCBF happen, year after year. The festival is a grassroots, all-volunteer effort, with community members working together so that children and teens can be inspired by their favorite authors. The hard working CCBF Board invites authors, works to promote the festival, and handles all logistics for an event of this size and scale from ordering books to planning all events and setup.

Town officials and New Castle Police, Sanitation and more help make the day run smoothly. Authors travel from near and far to meet their biggest fans, and community sponsors, including businesses, restaurants, stores and more, provide critical funding. And then there are scores of volunteers – hundreds in fact – from individuals to families to groups who work tirelessly throughout the day, giving their time to make the event shine.

Though this story is certainly happy, this year, of course, is not “The End” for the CCBF – and it will be exciting to see the next chapter!

FESTIVAL POSTER IMAGES COURTESY OF CCBF
CCBF PHOTOS BY GRACE BENNETT/INSIDE PRESS


By the Numbers

Authors in 2013: 45

Authors in 2023: 180

Steps Executive Director Dawn Greenberg takes on Festival Day: 30,000

Author traveling the farthest: Chris Baron / California

Visitors expected: 10,000

Volunteers: 200

Books sold: Over 50,000

Authors who attended all 10 festivals: 30

10th ANNUAL CHAPPAQUA CHILDREN’S BOOK FESTIVAL

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023
10AM – 4PM
Chappaqua Train Station
*rain or shine*
Visit: ccbfestival.org

Calling All Volunteers!

The CCBF is run by volunteers – from our community and beyond! We are looking for volunteers of all ages and availability to help make this the best festival yet! Please email chappbook@yahoo.com to sign up!

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: 10th Year Celebration, Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, Mary Pope Osborne

The Magic of Mary Pope Osborne: The Beginning of Our Love of Reading

April 24, 2023 by Lindsay and Gillian Hand

 

“The tree house started to spin. It spun faster and faster. Then everything was still. Absolutely still.”

Mary Pope Osborne’s timeless words are the start of a thrilling adventure. For countless children – including the two of us – these words were the entryway to the wonders of literature and a lifelong love of reading. And this year, book lovers of all ages will have the opportunity to meet Osborne herself at the Tenth Annual Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival on September 30, 2023.

The Magic Tree House books were a staple of our childhoods. We eagerly awaited the release of the latest book in the series and the thrill of exploring the Osborne display at the Roaring Brook School Scholastic Book Fair every year. Osborne’s stories not only took us on incredible adventures – from a 19th century twister in the United States to ancient Greece and beyond – but showed us what was possible in the world of books.

Words As a Window to the World

The Magic Tree House series launched our journey towards becoming voracious readers. For our young minds, it was incredible to travel to far-off places and times with our friends Annie and Jack–and learn a few things along the way. As noted by The New York Times in 2008, Osborne’s writing is simple and direct – modeled after Ernest Hemingway – and allows readers to lose themselves in a captivating exploration of time and space. With the intrepid siblings leading the way, young readers like us could travel to the ends of the earth, meet historical figures, and expand our minds and imaginations with each turn of a page.

Osborne’s work is as undeniably magical as Jack and Annie’s tree house, and its power grows from the author’s own philosophy that “writing is a miracle.” Her enduring success has been driven by her deep love for the craft and fundamental understanding of the magic that words can hold, especially for children. As her remarkable storytelling ability makes reading accessible for new readers, Osborne’s stories continue to touch the imaginations of so many, generation after generation.

Over 30 years after the first installment in the series, Dinosaurs Before Dark, was published, her astoundingly prolific career–as author of over 100 children’s and young adult books–continues to be bolstered by her deep commitment to literacy, getting books in the hands of underserved students, and speaking and meeting with her readers.

An Eagerly Awaited CCBF Debut

This year will mark the first time that Osborne joins thousands of readers and fans at the beloved Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival – ccbfestival.org – celebrating its tenth anniversary.

“I am so thrilled to be participating in the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival this year,” Osborne shared. “Books play such an important part in a child’s development, and the festival’s mission to connect kids with authors will do wonders for helping them develop a lifelong love for reading.”

We know that we are not the only ones who are excited for Osborne to be a part of this year’s CCBF, which did not exist when we were discovering the world of books. We have no doubt that we would have spent the entire day hitting every table, meeting our favorite authors – our heroes – and begging our parents to buy every book available for our shelves that had long since run out of room. CCBF is a Town gem, made all the more special by the participation of authors like Osborne whose work has been transformative for so many young readers. We are thrilled to witness Chappaqua’s commitment to fostering imagination in the next generation.

Though we 20-something sisters have grown up, graduated from college, and moved away to start our adult lives, we will remember and cherish Osborne’s world for the rest of our lives. It was a privilege to grow up alongside Annie and Jack, exploring the many faces of the world and its history through the worn, re-read pages of the Magic Tree House books. Though we may never journey through the Egyptian pyramids, walk on the moon, or fight alongside Washington in the Revolutionary War, the Magic Tree House will always be home to us.

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Book Authors, Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, Gillian Hand, Lindsay Hand, Magic Tree House, Mary Pope Osborne, reading

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