FL.BookCelebration.Social

Let's read a book!

Children’s Fairyland presents Book Celebrations as an extension of its annual Book Festival, which honors local authors and illustrators. Since 2016, the event has given children the rare opportunity to meet book creators up close and personal to learn about the creative process, from idea to actuality. This new series celebrates recent book releases and promotes the love of literature all year long.

Next in our star-studded lineup:

Book Celebration with C.V. Monterrubio 
The Moon Garden, El Jardin Lunar 
Saturday, September 28, 11:30 a.m. at the Emerald City

Join author C.V. Monterrubio for a Book Celebration of The Moon Garden/El Jardín Lunar. An author of bilingual books for children and short stories, Monterrubio will grace the Emerald City Stage for a read-aloud, Q&A, and book signing! Her new book follows a child named Paulo as he learns about urban moon gardening and food growing at a greenhouse in a retirement home for elders. When he befriends a resident there, a touching story of empathy, emotional healing, and intergenerational friendship unfolds.

Following the Book Celebration...

Immerse yourself in The Moon Garden! Come learn about moon waning, roots, and perennial plants. Enjoy jicaletas (snacks made from jicama) and make your own seedball!

12:00 to 2:00 p.m. The Chapel of Peace

 

Book Celebration with Nikki Shannon Smith 
Halloween Friends: A Brown Baby Parade Book 
Sunday, October 27. 11:30 a.m. Emerald City Stage

 Join author Nikki Shannon Smith for a spooktacular Book Celebration of Halloween Friends: A Brown Baby Parade Book. An award winning author and educator, Nikki Shannon Smith writes board books, picture books, chapter books, and middle grade and young adult novels. She’s adding more Halloween fun to Halloween Jam with a read-aloud, Q&A, and book signing of Halloween Friends! A group of friends in costumes have a blast trick-or-treating from house to house. Each friend is dressed up, so readers get to meet a ballerina, an astronaut, a pumpkin, and even a president! Nikki Shannon Smith’s soothing, rhythmic text and DeAndra Hodge’s warm, welcoming illustrations pair beautifully to create heartwarming scenes of brown babies in everyday life. The varied costumes on children of diverse skin tones allows kids to envision themselves in any costume they like!

Bring the whole family to these incredible readings and stay to have your copy of the book signed! 

get your tickets

Previous Book Celebrations Authors and Illustrators.

Michael Genhart PhD author of Spanish is the Language of my Family
Michael Genhart PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in San Francisco and Mill Valley, California. He is the author of several picture books including: "Spanish is the Language of my Family" (2023), "Ouch! Moments: When Words Are Used in Hurtful Ways" (2016), "Peanut Butter & Jellyous" (2017), "Mac & Geeeez!" (2017), "Cake & I Scream!" (2017), "So Many Smarts!" (2017), "I See You" (2017), "Rainbow: A First Book of Pride" (2019), and "Accordionly: Abuelo and Opa Make Music" (2020) all from Magination Press, as well as "Love Is Love" (Little Pickle Press/Sourcebooks, 2018).

Minnie Phan illustrator of The Yellow Áo Dài
Minnie Phan is a queer Vietnamese American illustrator, cartoonist, and writer born in Stockton, CA. Raised across the Bay Area, her work ranges from editorial illustrations to comics, animation, and picture books. When she's not illustrating, she teaches comics to youth in the Bay Area and advocates for safer streets for bicyclists. 

Aida Salazar author of Jovita Wore Pants
Aida Salazar is an award-winning author of several critically acclaimed books that explore issues of identity and social justice. Aida’s first picture book, In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of American Immigrants of Color, is written in poems and features the illustrations of 13 artists, each of them a “first or second generation immigrant of color”. She has also written three books in verse for middle grade readers including The Moon Within, Land of the Cranes and, most recently, A Seed in the Sun. Aida is a founding member of Las Musas, a Latinx kidlit author collective. Her story, By the Light of the Moon, was adapted into a ballet and is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history. She works and lives right here in Oakland!

Ying Chang Compestine author of Little Red Riding Hood and the Dragon.
Ying is a multi-talented author of 20 books including fiction, children’s picture books, and cook books. She is the host of the popular TV cooking show New Ideas for Delicious Meals on Phoenix TV.