The Calloway County Public Library is Proud to be a 105th Anniversary Children’s Book Week Event Host.
Celebrate with us May 6th – May 12th!
Murray, KY – As part of the longest-running national celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading, over 2,300 schools, libraries, and bookstores from coast to coast in all 50 states will celebrate Children’s Book Week from May 6 to May 12.
This year marks the 105th anniversary of Children’s Book Week; the theme for this year’s celebration is No Rules. Just Read. The 2024 Children’s Book Week poster was created by Sophie Blackall. Sophie invites readers, young and old, to join the fun as the year’s official spokesperson.
We are proud to be hosting the following event in celebration of Children’s Book Week:
On Wednesday, May 8, from 4:00-5:00 PM, the Calloway County Public Library will host author Jayne Moore Waldrop for a storytime event featuring her books She Remembered It All: The Art of Memory Painter Helen LaFrance and A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson. Waldrop will conduct a read-a-loud of the books followed by an opportunity for participants to create their own art based on the styles of LaFrance and Wilson. Both artists were from Graves County, Kentucky.
This event is free to attend, and all art activity materials will be provided.
She Remembered It All: The Art of Memory Painter Helen LaFrance, a children’s book, explores the life and art of Helen LaFrance, a Kentucky memory painter and outsider artist who captured a lively, vibrant view of rural life in a changing world. Her nearly century-long creative journey began at age five when her mother taught her to draw and later to paint with pigments made from berry juice, laundry bluing, and plant leaves. LaFrance developed a unique style of creative expression and worked outside the conventional art world. Her work has been compared to other well-known outsider artists like Grandma Moses, Horace Pippin, and Clementine Hunter.
A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson is the story of the artist’s path to become a classically trained artist. Growing up in rural western Kentucky in the early 1900s, Wilson needed to convince his family and neighbors that art was a path worth choosing over becoming a farmer or teacher. He also had to find an art school that judged him for his talent and not for the color of his skin.
Jayne Moore Waldrop is a writer and attorney who loves telling stories about her native western Kentucky. She is the author of A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson (Shadelandhouse Modern Press); Drowned Town (University Press of Kentucky), an INDIES Book of the Year Award silver winner in fiction and a 2022 Great Group Reads List selection (Women’s National Book Association); Retracing My Steps and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems, both published by Finishing Line Press.
Everyone can access original bookmarks created by six acclaimed illustrators, activity pages by Sophie and other beloved book creators, and information about this year’s reading club, #ClubNoRulesJustRead.
Children’s Book Week is a cornerstone program of Every Child a Reader, a 501(c)(3) literacy charity dedicated to inspiring a lifelong love of reading in children and teens across America. Other national programs include Get Caught Reading and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature—in partnership with the Library of Congress.
For more information, please email contactccpl@callowaycountylibrary.org.