Library of Congress

2011 National Book Festival

Special Events

Get Outside ... and Read! with Chris Draft
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011, noon, National Mall, Washington, D.C.

To help kick off the second day of the National Book Festival activities, children are invited to a pre-festival event which combines reading aloud with a fun outdoor activity. Former NFL linebacker and literacy advocate Chris Draft will get kids reading, moving, and pumped up for a day of festival fun. Come to the Library of Congress Pavilion on Sunday at noon for fun and exciting giveaways.

Summer Reading Program for Kids “One World, Many Stories”

Nothing whets a reader’s appetite for the National Book Festival like spending the summer reading fantastic books! With that in mind, the Library of Congress is sponsoring events for young readers in Washington, D.C. to serve as “bookends” for the national summer-reading program, which this year has the theme “One World, Many Stories.”

Bookend Event: “The Big Box of Books”
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011, Tyler Elementary School, Washington, D.C.

In conjunction with the National Book Festival, educators and volunteers provided tips and tools for reading aloud to families committed to making reading aloud part of their daily routine at Tyler Elementary’s Big Box of Books program on Sept. 10. Sponsored by ReadAloud.org, Turning the Page, and the Library of Congress, every family at this free event received a Big Box of Books to help them begin their read-aloud journeys.

Bookend Event: “Let’s Travel the World Through Books”
Friday, June 3, 2011, 10:30 a.m., Pickford Theater

The summer reading kickoff featured National Football League linebacker Chris Draft — the author of “Do You Want to Play Catch” and a big fan of reading out loud — master storyteller Diane Macklin, and the student steel drum band from Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School. Readers in grades 3-5 from around the Washington area gathered at the Library for this morning of fun and reading.

“The Joys of Reading Aloud,”
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, 11 a.m., Young Reader's Center, Library of Congress

Library of Congress and Reading Is Fundamental celebrated the importance of reading aloud at a kick-off event in the Young Readers Center in the historic Thomas Jefferson Building. Children and their families listened to author Gloria Jean Pinkney read “Mirandy and Brother Wind,” illustrated by her husband Jerry Pinkney and written by Patricia McKissack.

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