TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL
Hundreds of San Marcos Elementary School kids left school last week with a new book in hand and new inspiration in their hearts after meeting children’s book authors and hearing about their writing journey. Texas Book Festival is an organization that connects authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas and imagination. They facilitate a program called Reading Rock Stars, which brings nationally recognized authors and illustrators to elementary schools around Texas. The authors give an inspiring interactive presentation and each student receives a signed copy of the author’s book. Authors visited both Travis and Mendez Elementary Schools where 1,128 signed books were given away. Authors and their books included Breanna Carzoo — “The Squish,” Adrianna Cuevas — “What Fell From the Sky,” Adriana M. Garcia — “Remembering/ Te Recuerdo,” Kazu Kibuishi — “Waverider: A Graphic Novel (Amulet #9)”, Eliza Kinkz — “Mamá’s Magnificent Dancing Plantitas/ Las Magníficas Plantitas Bailadoras de Mamá,” and Nicholas Solis — “The Littlest Grito.”
“I love doing Reading Rock Stars. This is my third time participating in the program, and I really loved coming to San Marcos because I’m local. I live right near here, so it’s really fun to give back to the local schools,” said Adrianna Cuevas, author of “What Fell From the Sky.” “Today went really well because the kids are always very enthusiastic about getting to meet an author and seeing the real people behind the books that they read.”
Enthusiasm was the main energy as third and fourth grade students from Mendez Elementary filed into the school’s gym to listen to Cueva’s presentation. Not only were students excited about missing class, but they had the opportunity to ask as many questions as they could to the author about her writing process, her inspiration and the ins and outs of the publication process.
Cuevas started the presentation by explaining her bibliography, which includes nine books with three currently in production. There were constant hands in the air as the kids were brimming with questions for the author. Any aspiring writer would have found inspiration in Cuevas’ presentation since she recounted her journey to becoming a published author starting with her writing inspirations as a child. The author broke down her writing process, explaining that each book idea was expanded upon by simply asking, “What if?” The author’s talk ended with dozens of questions from the school kids who asked all about the process of writing and publishing books. Cuevas gets a tattoo on her arm for each book she publishes, so the kids played a game where they guessed which tattoo symbolized which book. As the kids left the gym each was handed a signed edition of Cuevas’s book “What Fell From the Sky,” allowing them to not only take home a book but inspiration as well.
“It’s a fantastic way for schools that normally wouldn’t be able to have an author visit because it’s really important for kids to see authors and to hear about the writing process and reading and stories; because that kind of enthusiasm generates interest in writing and reading,” Cuevas said.
The Texas Book Festival will take place Nov. 8 and 9 at the Texas State Capitol in downtown Austin. They expect to host over 250 authors as well as feature a variety of author presentations, panels, book signings and more. Find out more about the festival and the Reading Rockstars program on their website at texasbookfestival.org. Check out all of Adrianna Cuevas’s books on her website at adriannacuevas. com
