Thousands of New Orleans kids took their parents out to the children’s book festival at Latter Library on Saturday November 16. An annual event, the book fest offers free books, free storytelling, and loads of games for kids of all ages. Headlining at the storytelling tent was Mayor Mitch Landrieu. He let his young fans take over the microphone and read aloud to their parents.
I followed that spunky act and shuffled to keep the kids involved. Good thing I’d printed out and laminated giant pages of my forthcoming picture book A Catfish Tale [Albert Whitman & Co Publishing, 2014]. My toddler audience crawled up to be close and personal with Gerald Guerlais’s lively renderings of my characters Jacques and Jolie who live down on the bayou. The highlight of my morning was when my listeners became active participants and repeated my magic Catfish’s favorite line–“Ah touloulou, if that ain’t the easiest thing to do.”
Find Gerald Guerlais at http://www.geraldguerlais.com
Thanks to Todd Ragusa for the photos. More Festival shots here.
About Whitney Stewart
SELECTED WORKS:
A Catfish Tale (Albert Whitman, Spring 2014)
Big Sky Mind: Mindfulness for Kids (Windy Hollow Books, Spring 2014)
Marshall, The Sea Dog (Soundprints)
Who Was Walt Disney? (Penguin)