Wednesday, October 14

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.

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.

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.

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.

There is no single right answer in art. Ruth begins with incomplete drawings and challenges students to imagine what might come next. Students see how the same starting image can lead to completely different ideas, then complete unfinished illustrations in their own unique ways.

Join illustrator Jay Cooper and author Russell Ginns as they unveil their new graphic novel Super Atomic Wombat Girl. Learn about inventing superheroes, designing giant lizard-shaped robots, and dreaming up evil schemes to spread mayhem. Come prepared to solve puzzles, invent heroes, and save the world!

Pictures often tell stories long before we read the words. Eric introduces students to the art of visual storytelling and demonstrates how illustrators use expression, movement, color, and composition to help readers understand a story.

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.

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.

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.

Using age-appropriate examples, Malik breaks down how artists build meaning line by line and shows students how choices in sound and language shape a listener's response. Students listen for patterns, identify techniques, compare lines, and experiment with building short original bars of their own.

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.

Get ready for a fast-paced battle of creativity hosted by Russell Ginns. Jay Cooper, Raul the Third, and Ruth Chan face off in live drawing challenges inspired by audience suggestions and surprise prompts. Students help determine what the illustrators must draw as unexpected combinations, strange characters, and ridiculous situations come to life before their eyes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What happens when Chris Harris tries to draw exactly what the audience tells him to—and gets it hilariously wrong? In this giant collaborative drawing game, kids become the art directors, shouting out ideas, voting on what Chris should add, change, or erase, and helping create one increasingly ridiculous picture onstage. No drawing skills—or supplies—required!

Some books reveal their secrets the first time you read them. Raúl the Third's books reward readers who slow down and look closely. Join Raúl as students become Story Detectives and discover how illustrators can tell multiple stories at the same time.

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, choose items that tell a story, and consider the memories attached to the objects we carry.

Do you have what it takes to escape the sinister, slimy horror of The Boogerman? Can you face the dreadful, dangerous doom of Instagrave? Join author Russell Ginns as he presents some of the grossest, silliest stories from his terrifying-hilarifying series 1-2-3 Scream! Get ready to read and scream along. You have been warned!

Johnny Marciano reveals how writers create characters that make readers laugh and keep them turning pages. He introduces students to Klawde, the self-proclaimed evil alien warlord who just happens to be trapped in the body of a house cat, and explores how funny characters grow from the way they think, speak, and react to the world around them.

A lively rhythm-and-rhyme session for younger children. Malik-16 introduces a steady beat and leads call-and-response rhyming. Students build simple rhymes over the beat and discover how rhythm and language work together.

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.

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.

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.