Bring a Book, Bring a Friend® Fun’raisers have a tradition of great guest authors — see below for those who have appeared to share their story and sign their books for children.
We had three authors appear at our most recent book fair at Barnes & Noble in Naples: for the younger children, Airport Mouse was brought to life by his author, Ruth E. Clark. There are now three stories about the little mouse’s adventures and workbooks are also available to emphasize the fun that goes along with reading and learning! [Visit soon to be linked up with this author and book.]
For more advanced readers, Lauren Smith appeared to talk about how her character, Ashley Enfield, helps to solve mysteries in her hometown. Three books are filled with Ashley’s exploits and are sure to keep many “tween” readers happily turning pages. [Link coming.]
Robert Dean Bair surprised children when he brought along a guitar case and out came balloons! A good lesson that life can pop out surprises when you least expected them. This really got the kids thinking ‘outside the box.’ Bob was interviewed by Teen Advisory Team spokesperson and on location reporter, Cory. You can see the video titled “K is for Kids® Foundation’s Book Fair: Kids Celebrate Reading!” on YouTube by copying this address into your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDt5o3lHLjM. The video will also be posted here on our website soon.
Authors who have lined up for our cause:
Setting the pace was our very first guest author was Sheila Hebert Collins who writes classic fairy tales with a Cajun twist. Stories are woven with French words and phrases plus at the end of each book, Collins gives her readers a true Cajun recipe. [Link to event coming soon.]
Our next author was actually a young man in middle school who had written his story while still a child. Brandon Lipman was one of the strongest speakers many of us had had the pleasure of hearing and his words brought tears to the eyes of many in the room. Born with a cleft palate, Brandon endured a long journey of questioning classmates and medical attention. His inner strength and generosity in sharing his story will endure in our minds forever. [Visit again to see our link.]
Robert Dean Bair, a man of many talents and skills, became an author in his golden years while living in Naples, Florida. Bob has written two books of historical fiction, motivated to share with his grandchildren some of the events that had happened in his lifetime and the places and people that he had known and encountered throughout his military and business careers. Bob had been a guest author at our Bring a Book, Bring a Friend® Fun’raiser for The Village School and as shown in the flyer above, returned again to speak at our recent book fair at Barnes & Noble. [Link coming here.]
We got a double hitter with M.B. Weston, a popular speaker around town in Naples, especially with young people and Michelle inspired teens and young kids alike at our first Barnes & Noble book fair in 2008. After she gave a riveting writing workshop, the soon to be young authors, participants put pen to paper with fervor!
Writing, like many talents, can run in your blood, but even then, it may take some encouragement and opportunity. And that’s what happened with young Robbie Hemingway Rothenberg, whose famous great-great-grandfather, Ernest Hemingway, likely fed his genes with his talent for story-telling. Robbie told his father, Jon, about a dream of his and he and his father set about to turn it into a book. Along with illustrator Doug MacGregor of the Ft. Myers NewsPress, the two shared their family story and showed our audience how writing can indeed be a great family activity. Robbie goes by the pen name of Robert Jon Hemingway Rothenberg. [Linking soon.]