The Kids' Guide to the Chestnut Hill Book Festival

This weekend marks the 3rd annual Chestnut Hill Book Festival, and with the success of the previous two, I'm sure this event will be around for many more years.  This is a showcase event for The Hill, bringing nationally acclaimed authors and illustrators to the Avenue. These authors and illustrators are locally grown (or stationed), so it's a wonderful way to celebrate local talent.  There's a monster link with the complete run-down of the weekend's activities found here, but we thought our family-oriented readers would appreciate a kids' guide to the event:

There will be a Kids Festival at Jenks Playground (tented) on Saturday, July 9th from 10 a.m. to 2pm. This event will host authors, illustrators, activities, music and more.  (Jenks is the large wooden playground you see right from the road at 8301 Germantown Avenue).

You'll find the following fabulous cast of authors under the big tent:

Ponder Goembel- is an expert animal (bugs included) illustrator with titles including Old Cricket, Sailor Moo, and Castaway Cat (all written by Lisa Wheeler).  Obviously drawn to illustrating tales with animals, she uses a wide variety of styles to capture her furry (and scaly) characters.  Saturday 11am.  

Matt Phelan- is a prolific illustrator of many children's books.  We've appreciated his racially diverse characters in books like Two of a Kind.  But he really outdid himself in his debut as  author AND illustrator in The Storm in the Barn.  These amazing comic-like illustrations tell a wonderful tale about the dust bowl of 1937.  Saturday at 1pm.

You can unleash your inner child with Jason Deeble's story of a little boy with a knight-able imagination.  Sir Ryan's Quest is beautifully illustrated and wildly creative. Saturday 2pm.

Don't be a weenie!  For the older "kids" in the crowd, David Lubar is sure to please.  Check out this edgy author/illustrator of middle school shock and awe (no easy task, right?).  His collection of Warped and Creepy Tales includes Weenie titles of the lawn, vampire, road, and hot pepper variety.  Perfect for middle school readers- especially reluctant ones.  Saturday at 12pm.  

Kathy O'Connell of WXPN Kid's Corner Fame.  

Kathy O'Connell will also be at the playground from 10am-noon to talk with local kids.  If you have XPN Kid's Corner fans in your household, here's your big chance to meet the voice behind the show!

If your little one's tummy starts rumbling, you might want to head up the Avenue a bit to Roller's Express and O'doodles Toystore.  The two business are teaming up together again this year to host the Cat in the Hat and serve up some Green Eggs and Ham.  The Cat will be traveling between the two spots, while food will be served up at Roller's Express on both Saturday and Sunday from 9-11am.

O'doddles will also be hosting local author/illustrator, John McGranahan, from 11am-1pm.  McGranahan's book, Meet the Planets is a beautifully illustrated tale of Pluto's new role in emceeing the 8 planet competition for crowd favorite.

The weather should be a bit more tolerable by Saturday, so why not bring the kids into town for a little summer enrichment?