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Activities In-Depth:

Children’s Activities

Bring your entire family to the festival for interactive children’s activities and presentations by top authors and illustrators!

Children’s Authors

The children’s stage will host several popular children’s and young adult authors, including:

Deborah Wiles, National Book Award finalist for Each Little Bird That Sings
Julianna Baggott, aka N.E. Bode, author of the popular book The Anybodies
Carmen Agra Deedy, award-winning storyteller and best-selling author
Alan Gratz, author of Book Sense Summer Pick Samurai Shortstop
Lauren Myracle, author of the young adult books TTYL and TTFN
Danny Schnitzlein, award-winning author of The Monster Who Ate My Peas
Elizabeth O. Dulemba, illustrator of The Prince’s Diary
Chris Raschka, author/illustrator of the Caldecott Honor-winning YO! YES?

Other confirmed children’s authors include Hester Bass, Adrian Fogelin, Anne Ginkel, Michael Montgomery, Mary Ann Rodman, and Walter Sorrels.

Schedule

The children’s activities will kick off on Saturday morning with a parade, led by The Cat in the Hat. Everyone is invited to march in the parade, which will assemble beginning at 9 a.m. in the drive between the Decatur Library and the Decatur Presbyterian Church, on Sycamore Street. Kazoos will be provided to children who join the parade. The parade begins at 9:30 a.m., going down Sycamore Street to Church Street, taking a left down to Trinity, then a right on Trinity, then right on McDonough up to the Target Children's Stage. At the stage, Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd and City Commissioner Kecia Cunningham will give a dramatic reading of Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham."

Literacy Activities

At the Decatur Book Festival, children will learn about literacy through fun activities, including music, storytelling, and crafts.

Literacy based craft activities will be provided by the following local businesses:

Puppet making booth, provided by Hoopla, a Decatur toy store
Paper making booth, provided by Colorwheel, an art studio for children
Book making booth, provided by Little Shop of Stories, a children’s bookstore
Cartooning demonstrations/instruction to be provided by local illustrators

The Costumed Character Corner will feature scheduled appearances by the following well-known and loved storybook characters, including The Cat in the Hat, Toot and Puddle, The Berenstain Bears, and many more.

Other literacy activities will be provided by:

Fernbank Museum of Natural History
Foxfire Magazine
Little Shop of Stories
The Wren’s Nest
Decatur Education Foundation
Ferst Foundation
Literacy Volunteers of Atlanta
Room to Read

Youth Poetry Slam

For those who wish to take a more active part in the festivities, a Youth Poetry Slam will also be held on the square. The Poetry Slam is coordinated by Cocktails (aka Chris Cornell), a member of the Live Poets Society, who began this tradition at Atlanta’s Apache Café, and who will orchestrate the Decatur Book Festival’s own version.

The first 20 young poets who sign up Saturday morning will have the chance to perform three pieces of their own slam poetry, which are energetic compositions written to emphasize both content and vocal melody. There will be three rounds of competition, and members of the audience will judge the performances.

A sign up sheet will be available at Little Shop of Stories on Saturday, September 2, at 10 a.m. The Youth Poetry Slam will be held on the Children’s stage at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The competition is open to all people ages 12-18. Poems must not exceed three minutes.