The 12th annual Brooklyn Book Festival took place in downtown Brooklyn on September 16 and 17, drawing a record 45,000 attendees. See highlights from some of the Children’s Day and pre-festival events, including picture book readings, puppet shows, musical performances, and more.
Javaka Steptoe gets a little help from fans while reading from his Caldecott-winning picture book, Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Photo: James Hyde.
Author Leila Sales, who edited The Little Book of Little Activists, leads young activists with hand-drawn signs in a march around Metrotech Commons.
Hervé Tullet presents Say Zoop! on the Picture Book stage.
Laurie Halse Anderson (l.), author of The Impossible Knife of Memory, and Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation. Anderson appeared on the “When the Going Gets Tough” panel.
Author-illustrator Maira Kalman leads a storytelling event, featuring Max the Dog.
Kevin Sherry shows off the Remy Sneakers marionette based on his new early chapter book series.
(Back to front, from l.): Mitali Perkins (You Bring the Distant Near), Veronica Chambers (The Go-Between), and her daughter, Flora Clampet. Photo: Veronica Chambers.
Laurie Berkner gives a musical performance and reading of We Are the Dinosaurs at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Adam Silvera (l.), author of They Both Die at the End, and Daniel José Older, author of the Shadowshaper Cypher series, pose for a selfie at the “We Contain Multitudes” panel, hosted by Latinx in Publishing at Housing Works in Manhattan.
Moderator Dhonielle Clayton (l.) with panelists Meg Medina (Burn Baby Burn), Renée Watson (Piecing Me Together), and Tracey Baptiste (Rise of the Jumbies) at the “Telling Her Own Story” panel.
Jostein Gaarder signs a copy of his new book, Questions Asked.
(From l.): Eric Velasquez, Aram Kim, and Raúl Colón take part in “The Art (and Heart) of Picture Books” panel during Library Journal and School Library Journal’s Day of Dialog.
(From l.): Grace Lin (When the Sea Turned to Silver), Alexandra Bracken (The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding), and Nick Eliopulos (The Adventurers Guild) share their latest work during the “New Worlds and Old Foes” panel.
Anica Mrose Rissi signs a copy of The Teacher’s Pet for a fan.
Emma Otheguy reads from her debut picture book, Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad, on the Picture Book Stage.
A child gets a bear hug from the star of Bruce’s Big Move by Ryan T. Higgins.
