Best of the Fest 2022: Please Read Me a Story

This year’s Please Read Me a Story Stage at the Library of Congress National Book Festival was a new one for us, placing on one stage all of our children’s picture book events. We also added to this year’s Festival a new partnership, with Literature to Life, a stellar literary nonprofit that performs passages from great books and actively involves the audience in a conversation about the performance and the book. We’re happy to release the footage from this stage today on our site and our YouTube channel. The publisher Scholastic sponsored some of the children’s programming at this year’s Festival and we are grateful for their support! Here’s the events that took place on the Please Read Me a Story stage:

• Legendary Arthur creator Marc Brown talked about his latest book, “Believe in Yourself: What We Learned from Arthur” with WJLA anchor Alison Starling.
• Brittany J. Thurman, the author of the picture book “Fly,” presented the book with introducer Monica Valentine.
• Children’s writer and scholar Ruth Behar talked with her audience about her latest, “Tía Fortuna’s New Home: A Jewish Cuban Journey,” with moderator Cecilia Cackley.
• Civil Rights figure Ruby Bridges talked with Andrea Davis Pinkney, the editor of her latest book, “I Am Ruby Bridges.”
• Derrick Barnes and Vanessa Brantley-Newton presented “The Queen of Kindergarten” with introducer Allina Migoni.
• Mac Barnett talked with me about his book “The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown” and the 75^th anniversary this year of her crucial book, “Goodnight Moon.”
• Xelena González talked about her latest picture book, “Where Wonder Grows,” illustrated by Adriana M. Garcia, with moderator Lauren Roszak.
• The first of Literature to Life’s events was a performance of a passage from and conversation about Richard Wright’s novel “Black Boy.”
• Next, Literature to Life performed from James Baldwin’s novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” and involved the audience in a conversation about the book.
• And lastly, Literature to Life brought “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz to life.

We hope you enjoy the events from the Please Read Me a Story stage!