It’s Our 12th Annual DNA Children’s Literature Festival!
March 28th & 29th 2008

request a brochure and registration form
(include name and mailing address and phone)

Scheduled presenters:

JANE YOLEN

Jane Yolen, once dubbed by Newsweek “the Hans Christian Andersen of America”, is the author of nearly 300 books for children and adults that have yielded countless awards and honors, including the Golden Kite Award, the Nebula Award, the Skylark Award, the Jewish Book Award, the Christopher Medal, and the Caldecott Medal, to name a few. Some of Yolen’s most beloved books for young children include Owl Moon, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, and the classic “Commander Toad” beginning reader series. Her popular novels for young people include The Devil’s Arithmetic, Briar Rose, Wizard’s Hall, and the “Pit Dragon Trilogy”.

GISELLE POTTER

Giselle Potter has illustrated many remarkable picture books over the years, collaborating with a host of beloved authors such as Patricia McKissack (The Honest-to-Goodness Truth), Candace Fleming (Gabriella’s Song), Toni Morrison (The Big Box), Barbara Joose (Ghost Wings), and Mary Pope Osborne (Kate and the Beanstalk). She both wrote and illustrated The Year I Didn't Go to School, a poignant account of her travels to Italy at the age of seven with her family's puppet theater (The Mystic Paper Beasts). While her work has often been overlooked by award brokers, her influence as an illustrator both in books and commercially has been immense.

LAURIE KELLER

Laurie Keller, a Michigan native, has deep ties to Kansas City from her many years as a greeting card specialist at Hallmark Cards. Casting excellent health benefits to the wind, Keller quit Hallmark in the mid-nineties and followed her dream to New York. That dream, the first of many to come, became The Scrambled States of America, a laugh-riot and a perennial bestseller. Her subsequent picture books – each one funnier than the last - include Arnie the Doughnut, Open Wide: Tooth School Inside, Grandpa Gazillion’s Number Yard, and the recently released Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners.

LINDA SUE PARK

Linda Sue Park won the Newbery Medal in 2002 for A Single Shard, a tale set in 12th-century Korea. The daughter of Korean immigrants, her six novels to date speak to the collective human enterprise while giving voice to the Korean experience in both historical and contemporary contexts. Park’s other novels include When My Name Was Keoko, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, The Kite Fighters, and Project Mulberry, a current Mark Twain Award nominee. She is also the author of several picture books, including The Firekeeper’s Son and Tap Dancing on the Roof, a collection of poems in traditional Korean verse form (sijo). 

KATE & JULES FEIFFER

 Kate Feiffer is a writer, producer and filmmaker. Her first book for children, Double Pink, (illustrated by Bruce Ingman,) was released to critical acclaim in 2005. In her new picture book, Henry, the Dog with No Tail, Kate teams up with her famous father, Jules, to tell a tale that can only be told with no tail at all. Jules Feiffer is one of the most influential editorial cartoonists of our time, as well as a playwright, a novelist, a screenwriter, and both an author and illustrator of children’s books. Mr. Feiffer’s many awards and honors for his work include a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, and an Obie Award. His books for children include the Phantom Tollbooth, written by Norton Juster, The Man in the Ceiling, and Bark, George.

KIDS DAY
Friday, March 28th, 2008
“….At the present time, we are accepting registrations for individual children and their parents. There is also limited availability for school groups, grades 1-3. To inquire, call….”

(Kids day is $5.50 per kid. Adults are still $10)

at the store
Friday, March 28th, 5:00-7:00pm
At the Reading Reptile Bookstore (add 328 W. 63rd St.  KC, MO)
Event TBA

CONFERENCE DAY
Saturday, March 29th, 2008

Morning Session
8:55     Welcome
9:00     Laurie Keller
9:40     Giselle Potter
10:20   Linda Sue park
11:00 Lunch

Afternoon Session
12:00   Reconvene
12:05   Kate and Jules Feiffer
12:45   Norton Juster
1:25     Jane Yolen
2:05     Meet the authors & book signing

(Prices – $75 whole day, $40 half day
 lunches – make them $7.00)