Live Oak Public Libraries refer to The Savannah Children’s Book Festival as, “The Little Festival That Could.” In five years it has grown from 5,000 attendees to a speculated 25,000 this year.
Held in Forsyth Park on Nov. 15, the festival saw 55 local, regional and international authors participating in readings and book signings. Mo Willems, of Cartoon Network’s “Sheep in the Big City” and Caldecott winner for “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” was awarded this year’s TIER, a lifetime achievement award presented by Live Oak Libraries. In his speech he said of Savannah, “It’s the closest city I’ve ever been in to my hometown of New Orleans. The booze and the food I mean.” Live Oak welcomed the authors Friday night with a Low Country Boil in Thomas Square.
Marc Brown, creator of the “Arthur” series and Willems started the festival with back-to-back readings. Both had similar outlines for their hour block: introduction and biography, short readings, illustrations and questions. Christy Divine, Live Oak marketing director, said there is a screening process for authors invited to the festival: “We want to make sure an author is engaging.” The two featured authors this year went above and beyond.
Willems was so animated in his reading of “Leonardo, the Terrible Monster,” that when he approached a two-page spread of screaming dialog, he turned to the sign language interpreter and said, “Oh, man. Watch the signer keep up with this. She’s going to get carpel tunnel.”
But the authors did more than entertain. Marc Brown showed the audience his “secret formula” for drawing his characters. Willems referred to this as “how to infringe on my copy rights.” Additionally, both offered profound words on illustration and writing.
Brown rewrites a story 30 times before sending it to his publisher. His drawings have a similar process. When asked why Arthur’s nose changed as the books progressed, Brown replied, “It’s actually a little bit like the Michael Jackson story. He says he hasn’t had any cosmetic surgery, but he has.” When asked why his characters are animals, he stated, “People remind me of animals. I think that’s why I started drawing animals for my characters instead of people.”
On illustration, Willems said, “Anyone can draw a cartoon, if you can write your name. Cartoons are a series of pictures. Your name is a series of letters. And letters are just a series of characters you know.”
A child asked Willems what his favorite character was and he replied, “The next one. If I wrote a perfect book, I would stop. I’m always excited about my next one.”
The presentations were geared towards children, but a lot of SCAD students took something away from the festival. Kate Fitzpatrick enjoyed the poster contest tent, “I like looking at the kid’s artwork because it inspires me.” The winning drawing was featured on all promotional materials for this year’s festival. Susan K. Lee, Live Oak public relations coordinator, has stated there will be a college level poster contest next year.
Claire Nelson, an undergraduate dramatic writing major and children’s literature enthusiast, said, “Children’s literature is a harder writing genre. You have to keep kids’ attention.” Willems also addressed this when speaking of the easy reader style books, “Easy reader is called hard writer because I only have forty words I can use.” Nelson attended the festival to “escape the reality of finals.”
Georgia Southern students Ryan Lanier and Erome Bradford came for Mo Willems, but were equally impressed with the regional authors. “I’m here because I want to write children’s books and it’s great to meet fellow authors,” said Bradford. SCAD students Arielle Chorman and Rose Adler both agreed it was “cool to network with writers actually published in the industry.”
Mac Newell, co-author of “Scampering through Savannah,” a book illustrated by SCAD graduate Amie Jacobsen, summed up the festival: “Unbelievable turnout and great comradeship.”
For information on other events Live Oak sponsors throughout the year, including “How to Start Your Own Business” mini-seminars, visit www.liveoakpl.org.
