The Tattered Cover Book Store has founded the Colorado Children's Book Festival, which in its first year will focus on middle grade books and authors but in subsequent years will include picture books, too. This year's festival, which will take place on Saturday, May 19, at Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue from 1 p.m.-3 p.m., will feature interactive activities, opportunities to meet the authors, games, prizes, and "lots of silly fun," all while encouraging a love of reading. The festival the event is free but attendees must register.
This year, Tattered Cover is partnering with OMG BookFest (in this case, the initials stand for "Oh Middle Grade"). The organization, founded by authors Sarah Mlynowski, Adele Griffin, Julia DeVillers and Michael Buckley and joined by Christina Soontornvat, describes itself as "the first ever traveling tween book festival" that brings popular, award-winning authors to underserved communities for an interactive experience of games, activities and reading.
"We both have the same ultimate goal of getting kids to read in a fun, experience-based environment," said Kristen Gilligan, co-owner of Tattered Cover Book Store and school and community outreach enthusiast. "Colorado is at the beginning of a literary renaissance, so the timing couldn't be better."
Adele Griffin of OMG BookFest said, "We are over the moon that Tattered Cover Book Store is in partnership with OMG Colorado. A great indie bookstore shines a special light in any community, and there's no better way to celebrate our book festival than in this perfect match of kids, books, and fun right here in downtown Denver."
As part of OMG Colorado, OMG BookFest authors will also visit schools in the area on Thursday, May 17, to help raise money to purchase books for underserved students in Denver. On Friday, May 18, the authors will be at Castro Elementary in Denver, a Title 1 school, where students will have a variety of breakout rooms--each with distinct themes (from magical creatures, to detective stories, to superheroes), led by a diverse group of authors. In addition, every child who attends will go home with an autographed book. Denver Metro area Title 1 schools are invited to participate.
