Thursday, October 15

Step inside a museum on wheels. The VMFA Artmobile brings an immersive art experience directly to the festival, giving small groups of students the opportunity to encounter works of art and museum interpretation in an intimate mobile-gallery setting. Capacity is approximately 20 students at a time. The Artmobile will be available during each regular session window and during lunch/bookstore time.

scientists and astronauts face as we prepare for missions to the Moon and Mars. Then illustrator Mike Lowery shows students how imagination is just as important as engineering by bringing their ideas to life through hilarious live drawings. Together, they demonstrate that every great invention begins with someone asking, "What if?" Leland introduces students to the realities of life in space through photos and stories from his NASA career. He presents several real engineering challenges: How do astronauts sleep?

The Leaving Room: Stories We Carry (My Favorite) Grades: 6-12 Theme: Everyone carries stories that shape who they become. Amber's Role: Amber opens the session by sharing the inspiration behind The Leaving Room, discussing how authors transform difficult experiences into stories that offer hope, connection, and understanding. She reads selected passages and talks about the power of telling our stories.

Featuring Philip and Erin Stead Inspired by: A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Bear Has a Story to Tell, The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine, The Curious Word of Margaret Wise Brown, The Velveteen Rabbit, and other works Some of the most important moments in a story aren't the loud ones. Sometimes they're found in silence, in waiting, in noticing, and in the space between one page and the next. Join Philip and Erin Stead for a gentle exploration of how quiet moments can become the heart of a story.

Inspired by: The World of ¡Vamos!, Stuntboy, and the vibrant traditions of lucha libre Every great hero needs a memorable look, an unforgettable name, and a mission worth fighting for. Join Raúl the Third as students discover how artists create characters that leap off the page and into readers' imaginations. Raúl begins by introducing the colorful world of lucha libre and explaining how bold masks, expressive poses, vibrant colors, and larger-than-life personalities help tell a story before a character ever speaks.

Inspired by: What's On Your Mind? A Calming Book for Busy Brains Sometimes our minds feel quiet. Sometimes they're full of worries, excitement, questions, or a hundred thoughts all at once. In this joyful, reassuring program, Todd Parr celebrates every kind of mind and reminds children that every feeling is welcome. Todd shares his newest book while talking with students about the many thoughts and feelings they experience every day.

The Department of Ridiculous Ideas (could be with another author) Inspired by: I'm Just No Good at Rhyming Inspired by: I'm Just No Good at Rhyming Chris welcomes students into the "Department of Ridiculous Ideas," where every strange thought is celebrated. Through readings, storytelling, and live demonstrations, he reveals how many of his funniest poems began with a single silly question.

Inspired by: The Vanderbeekers books Karina introduces one of the kinds of problems the Vanderbeekers love solving: helping a lonely neighbor, saving a local business, bringing people together, or fixing a misunderstanding. She talks about how authors build suspense by asking, "What if our community had a problem no one else could solve?" Each table receives a sealed envelope containing a fictional neighborhood crisis. Examples: The community garden has disappeared. Everyone's pets have gone missing.

Inspired by This Is a Door Recommended Audience: Grades 3-6 Every great adventure begins with one simple choice: opening a door. In this imaginative, interactive session, Daniel demonstrates how authors transform ordinary ideas into extraordinary stories while inviting students to help build a brand-new adventure from the ground up. Introduce This Is a Door and discuss the inspiration behind the story. Talk about how authors create memorable characters, settings, and adventures. Demonstrate how stories grow from a single idea.

Inspired by: Madeline and the Old House in Paris, The No-Good Nine, and Johnny Marciano's storytelling Every object has a story. A rusty key, a worn suitcase, a cracked teacup, or an old baseball glove may look ordinary, but what if each one held the secret to an incredible adventure? Join Johnny Marciano as students discover how writers use everyday objects to unlock extraordinary stories. Johnny opens a "Story Box" filled with mysterious everyday objects collected from flea markets, antique stores, and thrift shops.

Inspired by: You Are the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder Every great detective notices details that everyone else misses. In this interactive mystery, Jay Cooper challenges students to sharpen their observation skills and discover how authors and illustrators plant clues in both words and pictures. Jay introduces students to You Are the Detective and explains how mystery writers create puzzles that readers can actually solve.

Inspired by Damsel Recommended Audience: Grades 9-12 Fairy tales have shaped our ideas about heroes, villains, monsters, and happily-ever-afters for centuries. In this thought-provoking session, Elana explores why she chose to reimagine a classic fairy tale in Damsel and how authors use familiar stories to challenge expectations, explore complex themes, and give voice to characters whose stories have often gone untold.

There is no single right answer in art. Ruth projects incomplete drawings. Maybe it's just: half a dragon one shoe a mysterious door the top of a hat a tail disappearing off the page Students vote on what the missing part should be. Ruth quickly sketches several completely different possibilities, showing that every idea works. Each student receives a page with unfinished illustrations. Their challenge is to complete the drawings in their own unique way.

Inspired by: The Girl with the Magic Pen, B Is for Brooklyn, I Is for Immigrants, and Selina Alko's historical research Every old photograph tells a story, but not always the one we expect. Join author and illustrator Selina Alko as students become history detectives, using observation, imagination, and empathy to uncover the stories hidden inside vintage photographs. Selina begins by sharing how she researches the real people behind her books.

Step inside a museum on wheels. The VMFA Artmobile brings an immersive art experience directly to the festival, giving small groups of students the opportunity to encounter works of art and museum interpretation in an intimate mobile-gallery setting. Capacity is approximately 20 students at a time. The Artmobile will be available during each regular session window and during lunch/bookstore time.

Chris Harris and Malik-16 turn poetry into a playground where rhythm, rhyme, wordplay, and wonderfully ridiculous ideas collide. Students discover that poems do not have to sit quietly on a page. They can bounce, twist, surprise, make noise, and sometimes make absolutely no sense at all, at least until they suddenly do. Chris shares how poets play with language, unexpected combinations, and the sounds of words, while Malik brings those words to life through rhythm and performance.

Grades: 6-12 Rather than focusing on themselves, students build fictional characters. Questions include: Who believes in them? Amber's Role: Amber shares how she develops memorable characters by understanding their emotions, relationships, dreams, and struggles before writing a single page. Book Connection: Using characters from her novels, she demonstrates how authentic emotional experiences create believable fictional people.

Where do stories come from? Sometimes they begin with something very small: an object on a shelf, an animal outside a window, an overheard sentence, a memory, or a picture that makes us wonder. Erin and Philip Stead share how writers and illustrators pay attention to ordinary things and allow curiosity to lead them toward a story. Through examples from their creative process, students see how words and pictures can grow from observation, questions, and imagination.

Inspired by: What's On Your Mind? A Calming Book for Busy Brains Sometimes our minds feel quiet. Sometimes they're full of worries, excitement, questions, or a hundred thoughts all at once. In this joyful, reassuring program, Todd Parr celebrates every kind of mind and reminds children that every feeling is welcome. Todd shares his newest book while talking with students about the many thoughts and feelings they experience every day.

Ering, or Todd Parr Two illustrators face off in a fast-paced drawing competition hosted by an emcee. Audience members provide surprise challenges such as: Draw a fairy-tale villain at the grocery store. Combine three random animals into one creature. Turn an everyday object into a superhero. Illustrate the world's funniest first day of school. Design a new festival mascot. As they draw live on a giant screen, each illustrator explains why they make certain artistic choices, giving students a peek inside the creative process.

Inspired by Everything Sad Is Untrue Recommended Audience: Grades 7-12 Daniel explores the relationship between memory, truth, autobiography, and fiction while discussing how writers tell emotional truths even when memories are imperfect. Share stories from his own childhood. Discuss writing memoir versus fiction. Explain why memory isn't always perfectly accurate. Talk about the difference between factual truth and emotional truth. Answer questions about becoming an author and finding one's voice.

Inspired by: A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation Every family road trip becomes legendary because of the stories you collect along the way. Join Pablo Cartaya as the audience builds one unforgettable adventure filled with strange roadside attractions, unexpected detours, hilarious disasters, and surprising heroes. Pablo shares how the funniest, most meaningful moments in A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation aren't always the destination-they're the unexpected stops along the way.

Inspired by: Chasing Space and NASA robotic engineering Did you know astronauts don't always use their hands to complete important jobs in space? Many tasks are performed with robotic arms that help move equipment, capture spacecraft, and complete delicate missions. In this exciting engineering challenge, students become NASA robotics engineers as they learn how precision, teamwork, and communication help accomplish extraordinary things.

Inspired by: Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat Johnny Marciano as he reveals how writers create characters that make readers laugh and keep them turning pages. Johnny introduces students to Klawde, the self proclaimed evil alien warlord who just happens to be trapped in the body of a house cat. He shares how the funniest characters are not funny because of how they look. They are funny because of the way they think, speak, and react to the world around them.

Inspired by Holloway Recommended Audience: Grades 10-12 How can two moments in history speak to one another? In Holloway, Elana connects the COVID-19 pandemic with post-World War II Europe, weaving together history, fantasy, and contemporary fiction to explore grief, resilience, and hope. In this session, she shares how authors use research, imagination, and emotional truth to build worlds that transcend time and help readers better understand both the past and the present.

Inspired by Damsel Recommended Audience: Grades 9-12 Fairy tales have shaped our ideas about heroes, villains, monsters, and happily-ever-afters for centuries. In this thought-provoking session, Elana explores why she chose to reimagine a classic fairy tale in Damsel and how authors use familiar stories to challenge expectations, explore complex themes, and give voice to characters whose stories have often gone untold.

Inspired by Honeybee and Giant Squid Recommended Audience: Grades 3-6 Nature is filled with remarkable stories waiting to be discovered. Eric shares how science, observation, and artistic curiosity come together to create nonfiction picture books that inspire wonder. Discuss collaborating with Biology Department at Longwood, garden clubs, etc. Share the research behind illustrating nonfiction. Explain how artists make scientific concepts engaging. Demonstrate drawing details from nature.

Flash Fiction with Lamar Giles, Amber McBride, and Daniel Nayeri Session Length: 45 minutes Group Size: 30 students or fewer Can you send a chill down someone's spine in exactly 100 words? Join Lamar Giles, Amber McBride, and Daniel Nayeri for a fast paced flash fiction workshop where students discover how to build suspense, create unforgettable characters, and leave readers wanting one more page. Each author shares a very short piece of flash fiction and reveals one secret to writing stories that stay with readers.

Step inside a museum on wheels. The VMFA Artmobile brings an immersive art experience directly to the festival, giving small groups of students the opportunity to encounter works of art and museum interpretation in an intimate mobile-gallery setting. Capacity is approximately 20 students at a time. The Artmobile will be available during each regular session window and during lunch/bookstore time.

Grades 5-12 Ask: "If your life had a museum, what five objects would tell your story?" Students draw or list objects such as: baseball glove seashell grandma's recipe ticket stub favorite stuffed animal Amber's Role: Amber discusses how writers use meaningful objects to tell powerful stories and reveal character without explaining every emotion directly. Book Connection: Objects and memories play an important role in the emotional storytelling found throughout The Leaving Room and her other works.

Malik performs and examines age-appropriate lines from Shakespeare alongside selected hip hop lyrics, challenging students to identify the voice before revealing the source. He shows how both forms reward close attention to sound, figurative language, word choice, and the experiences behind the words. Students compare short passages, identify literary techniques, make predictions, and discuss why certain lines continue to resonate with audiences.

Inspired by: What's On Your Mind? A Calming Book for Busy Brains Sometimes our minds feel quiet. Sometimes they're full of worries, excitement, questions, or a hundred thoughts all at once. In this joyful, reassuring program, Todd Parr celebrates every kind of mind and reminds children that every feeling is welcome. Todd shares his newest book while talking with students about the many thoughts and feelings they experience every day.

A story begins with a blank page, one strange idea, and a room full of people willing to imagine what happens next. Author Daniel Nayeri and illustrator Mike Lowery build an original story in real time with the audience helping to decide the characters, problems, surprises, and increasingly ridiculous details. Daniel turns audience suggestions into a fast-moving narrative while Mike draws the story as it unfolds.

The Department of Ridiculous Ideas (could be with another author) Inspired by: I'm Just No Good at Rhyming Inspired by: I'm Just No Good at Rhyming Chris welcomes students into the "Department of Ridiculous Ideas," where every strange thought is celebrated. Through readings, storytelling, and live demonstrations, he reveals how many of his funniest poems began with a single silly question.

Inspired by: The Getaway, The Legendary Alston Boys, Ruin Road, and Lamar Giles's unforgettable antagonists hero of their own story. Join Lamar Giles as students explore how complex characters create the most exciting conflicts. Lamar shares examples of memorable villains from his own books and discusses what makes them believable. He explains that the strongest antagonists have goals, motivations, fears, strengths, and weaknesses that make readers understand them, even if they disagree with them.

Inspired by: The World of ¡Vamos!, Lowriders in Space, and Raúl the Third's illustration style Some books reveal their secrets the first time you read them. Raúl the Third's books reward readers who slow down and look closely. Every page is packed with hidden jokes, visual clues, side stories, and colorful details. Join Raúl as students become Story Detectives and discover how illustrators can tell multiple stories at the same time.

For generations, readers have followed twelve little girls walking through Paris in two straight lines. John Bemelmans Marciano invites students into the playful world of Madeline and explores how a few carefully chosen words and pictures can create a character readers never forget. John shares the rhythms, visual patterns, humor, and sense of place that make the Madeline books distinctive. He talks about continuing a beloved family storytelling tradition while still bringing his own imagination to the page.

one-of-a-kind session that combines storytelling and sports. Inspired by Pablo’s books about identity, family, and finding your voice (Each Tiny Spark, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish), students will explore what it means to overcome obstacles-on the page and on the court. Through writing activities, team-building games, and real talk with Longwood athletes, students will discover how reading and sports both build confidence, character, and community.

Join the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts for a fun filled hands-on drawing workshop. Guests will work alongside their favorite children’s book illustrators to help create a collaborative drawing that stretches over 60 feet long!

Inspired by: The Vanderbeekers books Karina introduces one of the kinds of problems the Vanderbeekers love solving: helping a lonely neighbor, saving a local business, bringing people together, or fixing a misunderstanding. She talks about how authors build suspense by asking, "What if our community had a problem no one else could solve?" Each table receives a sealed envelope containing a fictional neighborhood crisis. Examples: The community garden has disappeared. Everyone's pets have gone missing.

Inspired by Holloway Recommended Audience: Grades 10-12 How can two moments in history speak to one another? In Holloway, Elana connects the COVID-19 pandemic with post-World War II Europe, weaving together history, fantasy, and contemporary fiction to explore grief, resilience, and hope. In this session, she shares how authors use research, imagination, and emotional truth to build worlds that transcend time and help readers better understand both the past and the present.

Inspired by: Uprooted If you could only pack five things that tell your story, what would you choose? Ruth talks about leaving one country for another and how some of the most important things we carry aren't expensive, they're meaningful. Students investigate vintage suitcases and choose just five items to pack. For each item, they explain (on a notecard): Why did you choose it? Students share the stories behind one special item. Objects become powerful because of the memories attached to them.

Inspired by: Otherwise Known as Judy The Great: A Poetic Ode to Judy Blume Long before she became one of the world's most beloved authors, Judy Blume was simply a kid with big feelings and lots of questions. Join Selina Alko as she introduces students to the remarkable woman who changed children's literature forever and invites them to discover the power of telling their own stories.

Inspired by: Chasing Space and real-world NASA engineering Space missions don't always go according to plan. When systems fail, engineers must analyze information, collaborate under pressure, and make critical decisions with limited time and incomplete data. In this immersive challenge, students experience the kind of problem solving that powers every successful mission.