Talent under the Tents:
2007 Children's Book Festival
Jane Martin
The Tenth Annual Savannah Children’s Book Festival, presented by Live Oak Public Libraries and the City of Savannah’s Department of Cultural Affairs, again celebrated the enduring magic and power of storytelling with another stellar line-up. This year’s talent ranged from Sonia Monzano, author and noted “Sesame Street” character, “Maria,” to famous children’s illustrator Bruce Degen. (All this, Mad Science, Green Cockroaches, and Thanksgiving turkey provided by Old Savannah City Missions!)
Walking, or should I say skipping, around Forsyth Park with my five year old niece made covering this event all the more pleasurable. (I am now skilled in the art of taking notes with a pen covered in cotton candy.) Forsyth Park resounded with activity, where award winning authors brought books to life by reading and sharing ideas with attentive children and adults beneath wide literary tents. The Savannah Friends of Music also seemed to strike a fun chord as their musical puppeteers instructed and amused the little ones seated around them on the grass.
The highlight of this year’s festival (according to my niece, who also fancies the Live Oak Library Squirrel), was a truly engaging reading by author and professional storyteller Carmen Agra Deedy, whose dual Cuban-American heritage is reflected in the contagious roll and snap of her reading style, as well as in her absorbing retelling of folklore.
Ms. Deedy read from her book Martina The Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale (Michael Austin, Illustrator), an absolutely charming and “punny” fable about a young cockroach (Martina Josephina Catalina Cucaracha) and her search for love within the context of her humorous grandmother’s advice. I won’t spoil the story for you, but I will say that a new generation of teenagers may one day find themselves using some version of “The Coffee Test” to help discover their own true cockroach love. Deedy’s book is 32 pages long and listed at Amazon.com at a reading level for 9-12 yr olds. My young niece locked right in to her engaging story to the very end. lllustrations include bold and absorbing caricatures of creature suitors sure to amuse and, for the more traveled reader, perhaps, bring back memories. The book is also available in English and Spanish versions.
More excited than organized, we fortunately stumbled into Tent 2 just in time to catch a little bit of Bruce Degen’s presentation. As illustrator of the wildly popular “The Magic School Bus” series, written by Joanna Cole, Degen seemed very down to earth. He told the crowd that he loved the city of Savannah and was at one time accepted for a teaching position at SCAD, but circumstances led him elsewhere. His sense of humor and warm smile, I think, shine through in his vibrant, sometimes zany, artwork. He referred to his life and wife in musical terms as a sentimental journey before signing autographs.
Afterwards, we milled about with the crowd, browsing the book tables, catching bits and pieces of poetry, song, and science. The Mad Science table was packed; from a distance we noted smoke or steam rising. Sadly, I missed meeting “Sesame Street’s” Sonia Manzano due to time constraints and pretty long lines at the jump castle and face painting tables. Good that it’s an annual event. Good that Barnes and Noble brought their own tent.
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Events Links:
 Georgia Historical Society
Savannah History Museum
Coastal GA Historical Society
Our Georgia History
The History Channel
Richmond Hill History Museum
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