Children's Literature with Pat Burns

One of my favorite lines in Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery Winning children’s story, The Tale of Despereaux, is “Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell a story. Make some light.” Today, Pat Burns, the Executive Director and Co-founder of the Orange County Children’s Book Festival, one the largest in North America, joins the Lit Matters podcast to shine a bright light on the importance of reading, story-telling, and the power of the written word for children. Pat discusses not only her own journey to becoming a reader, but also the impressive guests who have graced the festival’s main stage: Kobe Bryant, Jamie Lee Curtis, Buzz Aldrin, Kristen Bell and so many more.

Many of the highlights of last year’s Virtual Festival can be viewed at https://www.kidsbookfestival.com/ along with the interview I did with the Library of Congress’ Ambassador for Young Peoples’ Literature, Jason Reynolds, the two time Newbery medalist and  best-selling author, Kwame Alexander, and U.S. Congresswoman Katie Porter. The link for this interview is found on the Festival Webpage or at https://youtu.be/CejQEtO2zG8

A list of some of the books discussed this episode:

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s What Color is My World: The Lost History of African American Inventors
• Buzz Aldrin’s Reaching for the Moon
• Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover, Swing, and The Undefeated
• Kristen Bell’s The World Needs More Purple People
• Kobe Bryant’s The Wizenard Series: Season One and Legacy and the Queen
• Jamie Lee Curtis’ Big Words For Little People and Today I Feel Silly
• Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down, Miles Morales Spiderman, and Look Both Ways
• Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are