Rochester Children’s Book Festival 2010

Rarely do writers of one genre get a personal glimpse into the professional lives of another, but that happened to me on Saturday. I was invited to attend the Rochester Children’s Book Festival because THE PERFECT FAMILY is geared to teenagers as well as women. Though the venue wasn’t right for me, I learned a lot about a genre of writing I knew little about.

First, this is a big deal! Forty-one authors and illustrators, representing a myriad of publishers sold books to about 4,000 people. That’s right, the big hall at Monroe Community College was filled with a steady stream of people from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The buyers were teachers—lots of them—and parents who happily brought their kids along. It was so much fun to see the little ones point out a book or rush over to an author they loved. They got stickers, hugs and personal drawings. The kids were in heaven. As a former English teacher, it did my heart good to see them so fascinated at a reading event. Also in attendance were sales representatives making invaluable contacts with the authors. Populating the tables were paper mache figures of characters in the book, big posters and smiling authors. Some people were walking around with puppets based on the books. Also offered were presentations and readings given every hour by the authors in attendance. Kids seemed to flock to these.

I was interested in the diversity of books, too. Some had hard pages with pull outs, some were thick tomes of fiction for middle grades, some curriculum supplements. I sat next to one author, Elizabeth Sullivan Falk, who was a fourth grade teacher and wrote her books on colonial America and the underground railroad because she couldn’t get that kind of material to use in her class. Then she found an educational publisher to put them out.

Second, the event was put on by the Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators, a group of 70 people, both published and unpublished. The former signed their books while the latter operated as volunteers. This is an active group who attracted authors for the event like Jane Yolen and Linda Sue Park. There were numerous Caldecott and Newberry winners, as well as those of other awards. The scope of the thing was so big, it took tons of work –one of the co-chairs told me the planning takes a year.

Last, I found several similarities among children’s books authors and those of my genres, romance and women’s fiction. Some were ecstatic about their publishers and agents, some had complaints about the same, some were looking for agents, some wanted to switch genres, all had stories about their path to publication.

I’m so glad I got a look at this special world of children’s books. It seems to be flourishing, too, as the sales had to be through the roof. So, kudos to the Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators!

Kathy Shay