Bar Harbor Kids Book Festival
Donation protected
Hi, I'm Carrie Jones, the Chair of the Bar Harbor Kids Book Festival, which is happening in Maine on October 9 and 10.
On Friday, we're bringing 40 authors and illustrators into small local schools so that kids can interact and learn from them and celebrate how awesome story is.
On Saturday, those authors will be hanging with the people of Mount Desert Island and the kids. They'll be giving readings, having workshops and panels and signings. It's going to be amazing! And we're super excited.
Why? Because kids need stories. Kids need books. Kids need empathy that comes from learning diverse stories. Illiteracy is linked to crime rates and low self-confidence. I know that first hand because my dad, who was amazingly smart and kind, never made it past second grade. He couldn't read well at all. It took him a year to read my first published book. It was a pretty easy book.
That's not cool.
My dad's life would have been a lot better if he could read well, if story was valued in his childhood.
We don't want that to happen to MDI kids.
So, our Festival will raise money, celebrate story and authors and hopefully promote literacy.
Why do we need money?
We need to feed the 40 authors that are donating their time just to be here. The authors are already paying for their own hotel rooms and travel costs. It would be nice to give them something they need like food. Most authors do not make a ton of money. - $1,500 for 40 author meals, 10 volunteer meals for two meals at $15 a meal.
We need to buy gas to get the authors to the schools. - $200
We also really want to provide each kid in the school system a book of their own. $3,000 - $7,000 for 1,513 kids.
And Maine is a pretty white state, and we want to make sure that not all the stories these kids hear and read, and that not all the authors they meet are white. So, we're trying to help fund a couple of authors to get here. $2,000
We are not asking for full funding of that because I am honestly worried that nobody will donate anything. I am a writer and a horrible fundraiser. It is sad but true.
You can check out all the cool and amazing authors who are going to attend here www.barharborkidsbookfestival.org
On Friday, we're bringing 40 authors and illustrators into small local schools so that kids can interact and learn from them and celebrate how awesome story is.
On Saturday, those authors will be hanging with the people of Mount Desert Island and the kids. They'll be giving readings, having workshops and panels and signings. It's going to be amazing! And we're super excited.
Why? Because kids need stories. Kids need books. Kids need empathy that comes from learning diverse stories. Illiteracy is linked to crime rates and low self-confidence. I know that first hand because my dad, who was amazingly smart and kind, never made it past second grade. He couldn't read well at all. It took him a year to read my first published book. It was a pretty easy book.
That's not cool.
My dad's life would have been a lot better if he could read well, if story was valued in his childhood.
We don't want that to happen to MDI kids.
So, our Festival will raise money, celebrate story and authors and hopefully promote literacy.
Why do we need money?
We need to feed the 40 authors that are donating their time just to be here. The authors are already paying for their own hotel rooms and travel costs. It would be nice to give them something they need like food. Most authors do not make a ton of money. - $1,500 for 40 author meals, 10 volunteer meals for two meals at $15 a meal.
We need to buy gas to get the authors to the schools. - $200
We also really want to provide each kid in the school system a book of their own. $3,000 - $7,000 for 1,513 kids.
And Maine is a pretty white state, and we want to make sure that not all the stories these kids hear and read, and that not all the authors they meet are white. So, we're trying to help fund a couple of authors to get here. $2,000
We are not asking for full funding of that because I am honestly worried that nobody will donate anything. I am a writer and a horrible fundraiser. It is sad but true.
You can check out all the cool and amazing authors who are going to attend here www.barharborkidsbookfestival.org
Organizer
carrie jones
Organizer
Bar Harbor, ME
