BooksmART Festival at the DMA

Yesterday was the BooksmART Festival at the Dallas Museum of Art. What a great end to hard week! I was in BOOK HEAVEN all day!!

The highlight of the day was meeting and talking with Jack Gantos, author of Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and Dead End in Norvelt the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.

I have shared before in a previous post how the book Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key changed my life as a teacher. This book holds more meaning for me than any other book I have ever read. Told from Joey's perspective, it completely changed the way I look at young children who have ADHD. Being able to share this with the author of the book and talk to him about where the inspiration to write about Joey came from was such an awesome experience. On top of that, he was a hilarious storyteller teller so he definitely did not disappoint! I laughed the entire hour I listened to him speak.

I love these autographs!

Other highlights of the day....

Stephanie and I

I taught Stephanie in kindergarten and she is now going into the FOURTH GRADE!! Stephanie and I share a great love for reading. She lets me share my "old fashioned" books with her and then we get to talk about them together. 

Eileen Christelow- the author of the Five Little Monkeys books

Eileen Christelow has a new book out- Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed. Momma can't get the monkeys to go to sleep because they keep sneaking books into their bed and reading them. I LOVE it!! 

Brother and Sister Team: Jennifer and Matthew Holm of Babymouse fame

and last but not LEAST.... Taye Diggs and Shane Evans

Their book is called Chocolate Me! and its perfect for the start of the school year when we all do lessons on self, family, and friends. It is a great springboard for talking about the beauty of being different, the importance of being kind to one another, and for teaching children that we all have something special to share with the world. To learn more about the book, check out the Chocolate Me! Facebook page or the Chocolate Me! official website. 

I love the illustrations in this book! 

Shane Evans is an award winning illustrator. You can learn more about his work here. 

It was a GREAT day!! I had so much fun being surrounded by books, authors, and illustrators!! I can't wait for the new BooksmART season to start!!