Banned Books Week and Henry Aaron's Dream

This week is Banned Books Week, an annual event during which the entire book community- booksellers, librarians, publishers, authors- celebrates the freedom to read. I believe that everyone should have access to whatever books they want to read, so I'm all for Banned Books Week and everything it stands for. I don't think any of my books have ever been banned, but I do have one that's been challenged quite a bit- my picture book biography of Hank Aaron, Henry Aaron's Dream.

When Henry Aaron's Dream was released in March of 2010, the overall response was really great. It got a couple starred reviews, some good newspaper coverage, and even ended up making some "best books" lists and winning a few awards.

But not everyone was pleased. Early on, I started hearing from readers who were deeply offended by my book. Some of these comments came in letters and emails to me. Some came in online customer reviews (which I know I should never read but I always do anyway). It was even formally challenged in one library (that I'm aware of), though in the end the committee decided not to ban it from the library.

The problem wasn't the story or the art, but the fact that I had included the n-word in a book for children. The most common concern was that kids would read the word, then decide to start using the word themselves. 

I received an email from a man who is, among other things, the coordinator of Cultural Diversity for the Springfield Public School System in Springfield, Missouri. In his email, he wrote:

"I believe that [your use of the word “nigger” in your book] is really quite inappropriate, especially for young children.  I am guessing by using this word with young minds that you are trying to empower them to use this word in their classrooms, cafeterias, playgrounds, and with their friends.  I really believe that you could have told this story without using “nigger” in your book.

I know that my email will not mean much to you but children of this generation deserve much better."

I'm quoting this email not only because it articulates the concerns most people seemed to have, but also because it clearly shows that the people who were challenging my book weren't closed-minded, book-banning wackadoos. For the most part, they seemed like good people who were genuinely concerned about their kids, or the kids they worked with.

Still, I felt like I needed to defend my book and I didn’t agree with the presumption he made that my aim was to empower children to use the word. My aim was to be as honest as possible in telling the story of what Henry Aaron overcame.

Below is my response to this particular email.

Thank you for your message. I can tell you care deeply about the kids you work with. I don't expect to change your mind about this, but please let me try to explain why that word is in this book.

I considered replacing the word with “bad names” or “terrible names”, but any other way I tried to write those two sentences sounded softer and gentler than what really happened. And in trying to describe what Jackie Robinson endured in 1947 in just a few lines of text, and what Henry Aaron endured when he broke the color barrier in the South Atlantic League in 1953, I didn't want to minimize it or sugar-coat it by making it sound not quite as bad.

There is no doubt that it is one of the most vile words in the English language. I’m even uncomfortable reading that part of Henry Aaron’s Dream aloud and hearing the word come out of my mouth. But in writing this book about a young man who grew up in the deep south in the 1930’s and 40’s and faced unspeakable racism and hatred as he pursued his childhood dream of becoming a big-league baseball player, I wanted to tell his story in the most honest, straightforward way I could. And that word, I felt, was a terrible but necessary part of the story.

The fact is, when Henry Aaron was a 19-year-old kid trying to pursue his dream of being a baseball player, he was subjected to hearing that word, that most vile word in the English language, shouted at him on a daily basis. They didn’t just call him “bad names”, or “terrible names”. They called him the worst name of all. And I believe that fact helps illustrate the incredible courage that this young man showed just by taking the field each day and following his dream. And that’s why I chose to include the word in my book.

You're wrong about your email not meaning much to me. It means a lot, especially coming from someone who clearly cares about children and works with kids in tough situations who must face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. These are the kids I had in mind when I wrote this book. Believe me, my goal was not to empower them to use the n-word in school and on the playground as you suggest, but to empower them to feel like they can overcome anything, just like Henry Aaron did.

For what it's worth, Henry Aaron's Dream has been out for over a year and I have yet to hear of any case where a kid read the book and then used the n-word in the cafeteria, playground, or anywhere. And you can bet I'd hear about it if it happened (As you know, I'm easy to find). I have great respect for the intelligence of my readers, and I believe that if someone is mature enough to learn about the civil rights movement, racism, and some of the uglier aspects of our nation's history, then they're mature enough to read that word in context and understand that the racist baseball fans of the 1940's and 1950's are not to be admired or emulated. If anyone reads Henry Aaron's Dream and comes away from the experience wanting to call somebody a nigger, then I have failed miserably at my job. But I think it's clear to the kids reading my book that Henry Aaron and Jackie Robinson are the heroes of this story.

I think that most kids in grades 3 and up can read Henry Aaron's Dream and appreciate the fact that I'm telling them the truth, and not some baby version of history. I agree that this book probably isn't for young children. A few people have told me that they read Henry Aaron’s Dream aloud to young children but chose to replace the word with “bad names” or “terrible names”, which seems like a fine solution for parents, teachers and librarians who want to share the story with children but worry that their kids might be too young to have a conversation about the historical connotations of the word.

Again, I appreciate your message and I respect your opinion. I've heard from a couple other people who share your opinion, and I've lost plenty of sleep over this. The last thing I ever wanted was for this book to have a negative impact on any child. I hope you're still able to share the book with some of the kids you work with, and I hope it can have a positive impact on them.

Sincerely,

Matt Tavares

A couple years have passed since I wrote that email. I've gotten a few similar messages since then, and provided similar responses where appropriate (I know better than to respond to customer reviews online).

But slowly, I have come to realize something: he was right.

Not about my intentions, he was way off on that: honestly, the last thing I ever wanted was for any kid to feel empowered to use the n-word on the playground because of what I had written. But he was right about the fact that I really could have told this story without using that word.

Including the word may have made the book stronger and more authentic, but a good picture book, especially a good non-fiction picture book, needs to be more than that. It needs to be shared in classrooms, and read aloud during story time. It needs to be given as a birthday gift to a kid who might not be crazy about reading but is crazy about baseball. And if the presence of that word made countless teachers, librarians and parents unwilling to share it with children, then what was the point? I've tried replacing the word with "terrible names" while reading it aloud, and I've found that the story reads fine. In fact, it's better. Because afterward, all the discussion can be about the amazing, inspiring story of Henry Aaron, instead of about why the author decided to use a bad word.

In February, Candlewick will publish a new edition of Henry Aaron's Dream, as part of their Candlewick Biographies series, geared toward schools. After much thought, I asked my editor if we could remove the n-word from this new edition. I told her my reasons, and she agreed.

I stand by my reasons for including the word in the first edition of my book, but I've come to believe that the word is preventing the story from getting into the hands of its audience; it creates a situation where teachers don't want to read it aloud in class, and librarians don't want to check it out to kids, because they know parents will be upset. And then the worst thing of all happens: kids who might otherwise benefit from Henry Aaron's story never end up hearing it. I believe changing the text for this particular edition is the right thing to do.

I think of this edit to the new edition of Henry Aaron's Dream as a revision that gets a worthy story a wider audience in the world and puts the focus where it belongs—not on whatever hate-filled slurs spewed from the mouths of bigots more than sixty years ago, but on the awesome achievements of a living legend whose life and work can inspire a whole new generation.

THE TRUE STORY OF HANK AARON'S FIRST START FOR THE BRAVES

During a recent panel discussion about picture book biographies at the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) National Conference, I talked about uncovering a little bit of baseball history when I was doing research for my book, Henry Aaron's Dream. I've gotten lots of great feedback about that part of the presentation, so I thought I'd post the whole thing here, so librarians and teachers can share it with their students. And I think hardcore baseball fans might find it interesting too. Here goes...
 

According to just about every book written about Henry Aaron, here's how he first broke into the Braves' starting lineup:

He was a 20-year-old minor leaguer, traveling with the big-league Braves during spring training in 1954, playing the last few innings of each game. Then on March 13, the Braves' starting left-fielder, Bobby Thomson, broke his ankle during a spring training game. The very next day, on March 14, the Braves played the Boston Red Sox in Sarasota, and Henry Aaron was the new starting left-fielder for the Braves. He hit a home run that day, and the sound of his bat hitting the ball was so spectacular that the great Red Sox superstar Ted Williams came running out from the clubhouse to see who had hit that ball.

As the story goes, if Bobby Thomson hadn't broken his ankle, Henry Aaron might not have gotten his chance to prove himself in 1954.

This was a major moment in Henry Aaron's journey to the big leagues, and it's a wonderful story, especially the part about the great Ted Williams simply hearing the home run, and knowing that this 20-year-old kid was something special. So of course I wanted to write about it in Henry Aaron's Dream.

Researching this moment was pretty straightforward, because I found several sources which all told basically the same story, including Henry Aaron's excellent autobiography, I Had a Hammer. I even found an article written by Ted Williams himself where he tells the story. Check any timeline of Henry Aaron's life, and you'll read about the home run he hit against the Red Sox in Sarasota on March 14, 1954. No doubt about it, that's what happened.

The problem came when I tried to illustrate it. I decided to show Henry in the dugout, seeing his name in a major-league starting lineup for the very first time. For this picture to work, his name needed to be legible, which meant that all the other names on the lineup chart also needed to be legible, which meant that I somehow had to find the lineups from the March 14, 1954 spring training game between the Milwaukee Braves and the Boston Red Sox. 
 

I found digitized archives of a couple Wisconsin newspapers that covered the Milwaukee Braves 1954 spring training games. Here's the March 14, 1954 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal, featuring the bold headline, "Ankle Injury May Shelve Thomson Until June 15". 

So far, so good. Now I just needed to find the box score from the Red Sox- Braves game in the next day's paper and I'd be done.

And this is where the whole story started to unravel. Here are the recaps from the spring training games played on March 14, 1954, the day of Henry Aaron's legendary home run against the Red Sox in Sarasota. Notice anything strange?

According to this newspaper, the Braves did not play the Red Sox in Sarasota on March 14, 1954! They played the Cincinnati Redlegs in Tampa, while the Red Sox were in Miami playing the Dodgers.

Could every book I had read about Hank Aaron have gotten this wrong? Apparently, according to the newspapers from 1954... yes.

I searched through all the Braves-Red Sox games in the schedule, and couldn't find any home runs hit by Hank Aaron. Then finally I found it. The Braves and Red Sox played a make-up game in Sarasota on March 10:

Henry Aaron's name was in the starting lineup for the very first time on March 10, 1954, in a spring training game against the Boston Red Sox in Sarasota, three days before Bobby Thomson broke his ankle. Here's a close-up of the box score. Aaron is batting leadoff and playing right field (he wouldn't take over the left field job until March 29) and Bobby Thomson is batting cleanup, starting in left field:

Henry Aaron hit a home run that day, and his name remained in the starting lineup for most of the next twenty-three seasons. This was certainly a big day in young Henry Aaron's life. But it didn't happen quite the same way as everyone says it happened.

By the time Bobby Thomson broke his ankle on March 13, Henry Aaron had already cracked the starting lineup, partly because he was hitting .400 after the first few games of the spring, and party because of injuries to two other outfielders, Bill Bruton and Walter Peterson, on March 7 and 8, respectively.

And there's one other little problem I discovered. Check the box score again. Looking through the Red Sox lineup, you'll notice that Ted Williams's name is nowhere to be found.

I did a little more research in the Boston newspapers and found that Ted Williams broke his collarbone on March 1, 1954. He underwent surgery in Boston on March 9, one day before this game. This is what Ted Williams looked like on March 10, 1954:

He was not released from the hospital until the following week. Ted Williams certainly may have remembered hearing Hank Aaron hit a home run, but he wasn't there for this particular home run on March 10, 1954.

If there were no illustrations in Henry Aaron's Dream, I probably never would have stumbled upon this little piece of history. If I hadn't decided to draw a picture of the lineup chart, I might never have looked at the old newspapers. But I'm glad I did. There was something incredibly exciting about this process of digging through old newspapers, finding out what really happened. And that excitement is part of what I love about making nonfiction books. There's a detective-work aspect to it, and oftentimes my research takes me to places I did not expect to go.

But this example also shows how difficult illustrating a non-fiction book can be. It's one thing to find a few sources that tell how something really happened. But when you actually try to draw a picture of what it looked like while it was happening, you might run into a whole other set of problems.

In the end, I included this moment in Henry Aaron's Dream, because whether it was March 10 or March 14, it was a major moment in Henry Aaron's life- even if Ted Williams wasn't there. I relied mostly on the actual box scores and articles from the 1954 newspapers.

I'm sure some serious baseball fans will notice the discrepancy between my book and other books about Hank Aaron, but maybe they'll end up reading this article and hopefully they'll find the whole thing just as fascinating as I did.

images copyright 2010 by Matt Tavares. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press

Note: A few months after Henry Aaron's Dream came out, Howard Bryant's excellent biography, The Last Hero: The Life of Henry Aaron was released- the first book I've found that accurately told this part of Hank Aaron's story.

Thank you, Jackie Robinson!

On April 15, 1947, when Henry was thirteen,
Jackie Robinson played his first game 
for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Finally, there was a black ballplayer
in the big leagues.

Henry's whole world changed.

-excerpt from Henry Aaron's Dream

Illustration from Henry Aaron's Dream, copyright 2010 by Matt Tavares, reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

THERE GOES TED WILLIAMS available today!

My new book, There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, is now available in stores! Hooray!!

Here's a little preview courtesy of Google books, with links to a few places where you can buy it, like your local independent bookstore, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

And here is the book trailer:

Today also happens to be the release date of the new Fenway Centennial Edition of Zachary's Ball (released simultaneously in hardcover and paperback) and the new paperback edition of Henry Aaron's Dream! Huzzah!

new Fenway Centennial Edition of Zachary's Ball, with snazzy new cover design and new author's note about Fenway Park

Henry Aaron's Dream, now available in paperback

Teachers' Choices, 2011

Yesterday I got this nice shiny new sticker in the mail for Henry Aaron's Dream!

In case you can't read that shiny writing, Henry Aaron's Dream won a Teachers' Choices award! Thanks to the International Reading Association for this wonderful honor.

They also sent a pamphlet detailing the work of the award committee, and highlighting the winning books. The pamphlet featured this excellent logo designed by the amazing Chris Van Allsburg (same as on the sticker, but easier to see here):

I'd be thrilled to have my book honored in any way, but one thing I especially like about this is the fact that Henry Aaron's Dream won in the "Advanced Readers" category, for grades 6-8, ages 11-14. Henry Aaron's Dream is technically a picture book, but I really do think of it as a book for older readers, I'd say grades 3 and up. Nice to see that this group of educators thinks it can be used in classrooms for older students, even though it is a picture book.

Very cool to see my book featured alongside some great books by talented and accomplished authors like Laurie Halse Anderson, Russell Freedman, Gary Paulsen, and Mitali Perkins. 

Here's the list of ten books in the Advanced Readers category, from the pamphlet:

 

I put the sticker on the copy of Henry Aaron's Dream that I bring to school visits:

Going once...

Book Expo America, the big annual book industry conference, starts today in New York City. I won't be there this year, but one of my illustrations will be. I donated this painting of Henry Aaron hitting his record-breaking 715th home run to this year's ABC Children's Group at ABA Silent Auction--the most recent incarnation of the annual ABC event, now in its 17th year.

The silent auction takes place tomorrow night, Wednesday, May 25. There is some amazing artwork up for bid, by some of my favorite illustrators, like Matt Phelan, Mo Willems, John Rocco, Bryan Collier, Paul O. Zelinsky, Chris Van Dusen... the list goes on and on. You can see all the artwork here.

All proceeds from the auction benefit the new ABFFE Fund for Free Speech in Children's Books, which promotes understanding of the importance of free speech for children and young readers and provides support to the students, parents, teachers, librarians, and booksellers who fight the hundreds of challenges to children's books that occur in schools and libraries every year.

The auction is a ticketed event, but I've heard rumors of an online element later on. I'll keep you posted.

If you happen to be at BEA, stop by the Candlewick booth and check out my upcoming picture book, Over the River and Through the Wood (Fall, 2011). Thanks to Candlewick for posting this picture on facebook, so I can live vicariously through them as I sit here in my studio in Maine (middle shelf, far left).

A Lupine Honor Award for Henry Aaron's Dream!

I was thrilled to accept the Lupine Honor Award for Henry Aaron's Dream yesterday, at the Reading Round-Up conference in Augusta, Maine. The award is presented by the Youth Services Division of the Maine Library Association, to recognize an outstanding contribution to children's literature of Maine. 

The award is beautiful- a handmade, hand-painted piece of Maine pottery. Here it is:

Kiddo Award Sweepstakes

Henry Aaron's Dream Book Giveaway

BOOK GIVEAWAY!! This time I'm giving away a signed copy of Henry Aaron's Dream, with an original pen drawing on the title page, of Hank Aaron hitting his 715th home run. Anyone who "likes" my facebook page between now and Friday, March 25 is entered to win.

Henry Aaron's Dream won a Kiddo Award!

Woohoo! Henry Aaron's Dream won a Kiddo Award! This new award was created by bestselling author James Patterson's organization, Read Kiddo Read, whose mission is to help make kids readers for life. The Kiddo Awards are meant to honor "the very best books of the year for getting kids absolutely addicted to reading". Henry Aaron's Dream was chosen as the winner of the transitional books category (books for ages 6 and up).

It is such an honor to win this award, knowing that it was voted on by so many people (nearly 5,000 in my category!)- including parents, librarians, teachers, and of course, kids! Thanks so much to everyone who voted, to James Patterson, and to Read Kiddo Read.

Read Kiddo Read put together this video which features the creators of the four award-winning books: Rick Riordan, author of The Lost Hero, which won the advanced readers category (for ages 10 and up), Lincoln Peirce, author of Big Nate: In a Class By Himself, which won the pageturners category (ages 8 and up), Eric Litwin and James Dean, creators of Pete the Cat, winner of the illustrated books category (ages 0 to 8), and myself.



 And here's the full 2-minute video I sent in:

2010 Cybils Award winners announced

The winners of the 2010 Cybil Awards were announced this morning! Here's the full list of winners.

I admit, this is the first year I paid close attention to the Cybils Awards, and it was for completely selfish reasons- my book, Henry Aaron's Dream was chosen as a finalist in the nonfiction picture books category. My book didn't win (that honor went to Babrara Kerley's and Edwin Fotheringham's completely-deserving The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)), but seriously it was such an honor to be picked as a finalist.

I'm amazed by how much time and energy children's book bloggers put into these awards, and also how much time and energy so many of them put into their blogs. For the most part, these are people who have full-time jobs, and some of these blogs must end up being the equivalent of a second full-time job. And for the most part, they're not getting paid for it, and unlike author blogs (including my own), there is no element of self-promotion involved. They just LOVE books. And to have my book recognized as one of the best of the year by a group so passionate about books is pretty awesome. So thanks bloggers! I'll be looking forward to the 2011 Cybils, even if my book doesn't make it to the finals.

Carol H. Rasco, one of the judges in the non-fiction picture books category, has a nice roundup of the winner and finalists on her blog today.

Henry Aaron's Dream news

Wow! Henry Aaron's Dream has been chosen as a 2010 Cybils Award Finalist! It's one of seven finalists in the nonfiction picture book category, chosen from a  list of 112 nominated books. There were so many great nonfiction picture books in 2010, so I'm incredibly honored to know that a panel of judges would pick my book as one of the best of the year. If any of the Cybils judges happen to be reading this, THANK YOU!

Meanwhile, Henry Aaron's Dream is also a finalist for a Kiddo Award, and is doing really well in the voting so far. If you haven't voted yet, please do! (It's in the Transitional Books category)

 Happy New Year!

Henry Aaron's Dream featured on WGBH

I think of myself primarily as an illustrator, so any time another writer has nice things to say about my writing, it really means a lot to me- which is why I thought it was pretty awesome when Chuck Hogan (author of The Town) recommended my book, Henry Aaron's Dream, on last night's episode of Greater Boston.

The part about Henry Aaron's Dream is about 11 minutes into it, but if you have time, watch the whole thing for some great holiday book recommendations from booksellers and authors.

The Kiddo Awards

Henry Aaron's Dream is a finalist for a Kiddo Award!

This new award, started by bestselling author James Patterson's organization, ReadKiddoRead, honors "the very best books of the year for getting kids absolutely addicted to reading." The finalists were chosen by a panel of children's book experts, and the winners are chosen by... YOU!

So head over to ReadKiddoRead.com and cast your ballot. Voting goes until February 15. Henry Aaron's Dream is in the "transitional books" category (and doing pretty well so far...).

And please spread the word!

Kansas City recap

Last week I went to Kansas City to do a couple presentations about Henry Aaron's Dream. Here are a few pictures from my trip.

First I visited Lewis and Clark Elementary School in Liberty, MO, just outside of Kansas City. I presented to a group of 200 4th and 5th graders. I did a presentation about Henry Aaron's story, and about how I made the book. The librarian's husband is a big baseball memorabilia collector, and she borrowed some of his treasures to put together this great display of Henry Aaron memorabilia, along with some of my books. Very cool

another picture of the Henry Aaron display

It's always amazing to arrive at a school and see a big huge sign welcoming me!

After the school visit it stopped raining for long enough for me to walk around a bit. I stayed in a section of Kansas City called the Plaza, which was very nice. It had Spanish architecture, which I didn't expect in Kansas City. This is a picture of a rather surreal moment, when I noticed this beautiful bell tower and wondered what it was. Just then, the bells in the tower began playing "Something" by the Beatles, and I realized that the building was a Cheesecake Factory. Interesting...

Next I had a wonderful lunch with a great group of librarians from the Kansas City Public Library: April Roy, Kim Patton, Crystal Faris, and Helma Hawkins. We joked about some web site they had seen of "awkward photos with authors", so we decided to take one ourselves. Not very awkward, but definitely blurry!

After lunch I headed over to Reading Reptile, which is an amazing children's book store. It's one of those places where there's something interesting to look at everywhere you look.

This picture doesn't do it justice, so if you're in Kansas City, you should go to Reading Reptile to see it for yourself.

Next I visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which was amazing. If you're a baseball fan and you ever find yourself in Kansas City, you should visit this museum. The exhibits are every bit as impressive as those in Cooperstown. Here's a picture of the bronze statue of Rube Foster.

A Jackie Robinson bat

and a nice display about Henry Aaron's time in the Negro Leagues

My favorite part of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was the Field of Legends, an impressive group of bronze statues arranged on a baseball diamond. It was very moving to walk on the field past Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard and other Negro League legends.

Now and then an announcer's voice would call all the names in the starting lineup, and from the field the statue of Rube Foster could be seen beyond the outfield fence, watching the game.

Satchel Paige

One more picture of the Field of Legends

Next up was Family Fun Night at the Kansas City Public Library, where I did a presentation on the making of Henry Aaron's Dream. We had a very nice group of families, and I had a great time. Everyone in Missouri is so nice!

This was all in one day. Looking back, I see why was so tired by the end of it! Still, I found the strength to walk over to Jack Stack BBQ and get some dinner. And I'm glad I did, because it was one of the most spectacular meals I've ever had. Wow.

"The Author in You" tv show

During a visit to Rock Springs Elementary School in Lawrenceville, Georgia last spring, GCPS-TV filmed this segment with me for their show, The Author In You. There are some interview questions from students, some snippets of my presentations, and footage of me throwing out the first pitch at a AAA Gwinnett Braves game (I thought I threw a strike, but in the video it looks a little high). Enjoy!

And check out their web site to see other episodes.

New York City

I'm back in Maine after a great weekend in New York City. On Thursday night I attended The Original Art show at the Society of Illustrators, and had a great time seeing lots of friends and checking out some amazing artwork. It's always so interesting to see the art in person and see the different ways people work. Some of the originals are gigantic, some are the size of the book (I always work at the same size of the book). I noticed that more and more artists are using elements of traditional media combined with digital, which I guess isn't a big surprise. The best part of the exhibit was being able to hang out with so many illustrator friends I don't see very often. Writing and illustrating books is a very solitary job much of the time, and I get such a creative boost from being able to spend time with other people who are doing the same kind of work that I'm doing. I always forget to take pictures, but I did get a few:

my friend Dan Santat accepting his Silver Medal

The amazing Eric Carle accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award

My Art Director at Candlewick, Kristen Nobles, and me standing in front of my cover illustration from Henry Aaron's Dream

me and my Henry Aaron's Dream illustration

...and one more.

The best time to actually see the artwork was after most of the crowd had left. The show is up until November 24, so if you get a chance, go see it!

Then on Saturday I had my first signing for Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy, at Books of Wonder. As always, they put together a great event, with the creators of five new picture book biographies, including Sean Qualls, Bryan Collier, and Javaka Steptoe, all on hand to talk about their work and sign books. It was great talking with all the authors and illustrators, and I got a copy of Dave the Potter signed by Bryan Collier- an amazing story, and a beautifully made book. Here are some pictures from the Books of Wonder event:

a display of all the books

my daughters were excited to find some of my other books there too

my camera died toward the beginning of the Books of Wonder event, but here are a few from the panel discussion.

Now, back to work!