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Monday, May 01, 2006

charlie and lola and lauren and us

over the weekend i penned a post going on and on about my feelings about public education (big time believer in the concept). i planned on posting it today. but rereading it i think i'll wait. i don't want to start off my week with a rant. i'll save it for another day.

so instead. here is a quick look at our adventure to the Festival of Books.

the big bug had been wanting to go ever since she saw the j. otto seibold designed program listing in the paper a few weeks ago. when i read out to her the list of authors that would be at the target children's stage her jaw dropped when the names "Charlie and Lola" and "Angelina Ballerina" and "Max & Ruby" were all mentioned. we carefully studied the schedule and decided that saturday morning we would leave early to make it to both Lauren Child and Katherine Holabird. (2 out of 3 wasn't bad.)

we arrived early, but not early enough. (hi-5 - who we weren't familiar with was first on and obviously very popular.) we did find a nice spot up on a little hill where we had an ok view. the Charlie & Lola puppet show would have been better up close - but it was still lovely to watch. the flat puppets flew around the stage and took us (once again!) through the trials of Charlie getting Lola to eat her dinner.

Where's Lola?

then the big bug decided she wanted Lauren Child to sign her Princess and the Pea book. so we waited in line. and waited in line. (the girls were soooo patient.) Angelina and Katherine Holabird took the stage and we could see them from the line so all wasn't lost. then the big moment. the big bug tucked her chin to her chest and handed over her book. when asked by Child if she liked dollhouses she quickly nodded. and we moved on. that was it. but it all seemed to have a big impression on my big girl. to make that connection that this lovely woman's job is to write and illustrate fantastic books. she spent the afternoon drawing at her craft table and out on our back patio. (stories about two sisters who have a pet store.)

chalk.bunny

just a bit of trivia from the post-puppetshow interview - Lauren Child is inspired by Roald Dahl and her favorite book as a kid was The Shrinking of Treehorn. she was a picky eater as a youngster. and still won't eat yoghurt or raisins. but does eat tomatoes. (and wears great shoes!)

Any favorite books from your childhood you'd like to share?

4 comments:

stephanie said...

how fun. you've made me realize what a great experience it would be to take my kids to meet some of their favorite authors and illustrators. off to check powell's calendar.

Jennifer said...

Ah, the UCLA FofB... we had five wonderful years attending before we moved up here to BC - haven't found anything quite like it yet. Glad to hear that you went and enjoyed it... the last year we went we had both kids old enough to enjoy the Target kids stage, and, to a degree far less than me, the cooking stage too...
I was thinking about it the other day - and how fun to read about it on your site!

Anonymous said...

I read Dahl's "Danny Champion of the World" over and over as a child. Something about the idea of pheasants? Or living in a trailer? I don't know. It was all so riveting.

Anonymous said...

I can't really remember the early books I liked except for dr seuss. but i recently found this thrifting, and I love it and so does my little miss L.