CHAMPAIGN — The University of Illinois College of Education hosted its biennial Youth Literature Festival this weekend, bringing 14 nationally recognized authors and illustrators to Champaign-Urbana.
The free, family-friendly event — held every two years since 2008 — is designed to place literature and the arts at the center of young people’s lives.
Twelve-year-old Ruthie Dahlen of Savoy was one of the many kids who came out for the festival’s Community Day on Saturday, Sept. 26. She said her favorite genre is fantasy, noting titles including Chris Colfer’s novel, “The Land of Stories.”
“I like how it’s a mashup of a lot of different stories,” she said.
Dahlen said what she loves most about reading is that it helps her make sense of real life.
“I like how I can see different perspectives on people’s lives, so I can know what not to do sometimes, and what to do, and how to properly function,” she said. “Those books teach me how to deal with a lot of stuff, like problems.”
Dahlen’s favorite part of the festival was interviewing authors Saadia Faruqi and Betty C. Tang as part of one of the panels.
Tang, author of the graphic novel, “Parachute Kids,” says reading is crucial for children to build empathy and tolerance for others.
“It’s more important than ever for them to read and for them to experience stories and people and events that are told in these books they wouldn’t normally encounter,” Tang said.
Showcasing a diversity of children’s literature
Telling diverse stories is one of the festival’s many goals.
Victor Perez directs the Center for Education in Small Urban Communities and is part of the festival’s planning committee. He says part of the selection process for authors involves making sure every young reader sees themselves represented in the stories being brought in.
“We try to make sure it’s a diverse group so that there’s quite a good representation of different cultures and backgrounds,” Perez said.
The kinds of books that kids are interested in have shifted in the past few years, according to Mackenzie Gillespie, a program coordinator at the U of I and another festival organizer who responded to questions about the event via email.
“The illustration side has been a huge hit in recent years, especially in the realm of graphic novels and comic books,” Gillespie said. “We see a lot of those same characters, themes and interest in the media world as well.”
Gillespie said this year’s Community Day also looked different structurally. Instead of individual author presentations, organizers introduced themed panels to give authors and illustrators a fun collaborative project and to draw in different types and ages of people in the community.
The festival also partnered with the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs and the U of I Library to bring author and animator Jeff Chiba Stearns for the center’s 36th Annual Distinguished Lecture.
Authors visit local K-12 schools
Community Day capped off three days of festival programming. In the days leading up to the event, the featured authors visited schools across Champaign, Urbana and Rantoul, which Gillespie said is essential to the festival’s mission.
“Students get the chance to meet the people behind the stories, which I think goes a long way in reigniting creativity and inspiration associated with reading, especially in a world where technology is so front and center,” she said.
Perez said the school visits also help the festival reach families who can’t make it to Community Day.
“We understand that some families are not able to come for whatever reason,” Perez said. “I was at a school in Champaign, and it was the entire school that came to listen to the author.”
‘We’re doing this reading thing together’
For Ruthie Dahlen’s family, encouraging a habit of reading starts long before festival day.
Ruthie’s mother, Sarah Park Dahlen, is also on the planning committee. She’s been studying children’s literature for more than two decades and said modeling reading habits at home matters just as much as the books themselves.
“We have thousands of children’s books at home,” Dahlen said. “Being surrounded by books and seeing the grown-ups in your life read and enjoy reading are ways we encourage reading for young people.”
She said a challenge many families face when it comes to encouraging their children to read is balancing it with screen time — but it’s not impossible to overcome.
“I’ll ask her to put her screen down, I’ll put my phone down, and then we’ll read together,” Dahlen said. “It’s a way to show your kid: I’m putting my screen down too, and we’re doing this reading thing together.”
It’s a lesson organizers hope sticks with kids long after they close the book.