CHAPEL HILL ó R.L. Stine will give Carolina kids goose bumps.
Kids will see best-loved children’s authors and say “Hi” to a walking, talking Clifford the Big Red Dog. They can make masks, join in a Kids Character Parade, make puppets and draw pictures to illustrate a story.
Children 12 and under can enjoy all of the above and more at the North Carolina Literary Festival Sept. 10-13 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Children’s activities and authors will be featured on Saturday, Sept. 12 and Sunday, Sept. 13. Thirteen children’s storytellers, authors and illustrators will take the children’s main stage.
“We are pleased and honored that R.L. Stine, one of the most widely recognized children’s authors, will participate, along with Judy Schachner, famous for her Skippyjon Jones series, and Brian Pinkney, a distinguished author and illustrator,” said festival director Amy Baldwin. “And the new works that will be shared by our North Carolina children’s authors are equally thrilling.”
Other children’s authors and storytellers include Clay Carmichael, Barbara Duncan, Kathi Littlejohn, Carrie Ryan, Alan Gratz and John Claude Bemis. Ronald McDonald will read to the children.
Remaining authors for the festival, designed for all ages, will be announced later this summer. The libraries of UNC and Duke and North Carolina State universities, with additional support from N.C. Central University, organize and sponsor the festival, whose location rotates biennially among the Carolina, Duke and NCSU campuses. Since the festival began, it has been held in 1998 and 2002 at Carolina, 2004 at NCSU and 2006 at Duke. The N.C. Literary Festival is supported by private gifts and grants.
This year’s children’s area will include a main stage where authors, illustrators and storytellers will read and answer questions from the audience.
The area also will include a performance stage for puppet theater, musicians, storytellers and mini-theatrical performances from children’s books.
Players from the NBA, WNBA, Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina RailHawks and Durham Bulls will read stories, give autographs and share team give-aways.
In an activity tent, kids can post the names of their favorite books; write a short story based on an illustration; get their faces painted; make character masks and puppets and more.
The fun will begin with the Kids Character Parade at 9:15 a.m. Sept. 12, led by character mascots and children’s authors. Children are invited to dress as their favorite book characters and join the procession.
Children also are asked to bring new or slightly used books to donate to a reading area, which will be walled off with bookcases and hosted by the Book Fairy, who after the festival, will donate the books to the pediatric oncology center at UNC Hospitals.
Mascots and book characters cavorting about will include Clifford the Big Red Dog; Little Critter; the Berenstein Bear Parents; UNC’s Rameses, the Duke University Blue Devil, Mr. Wuf from NCSU and Eddie the Eagle from N.C. Central; mascots for the Bulls, the Hurricanes and the RailHawks; Booker from the Durham Public Library; and the cow from Chick-fil-A.
Volunteers from the community and the UNC School of Education will be on hand to assist children with the various activities. The activities and performance stage are sponsored by the community organizations Kidzu, Think It Ink It, Community Independent School, Hats Off Theatre, Carolina Parent Magazine and the Durham Public Library. All will have information tables in the children’s area.