Raccoons raft down the Hudson River, a school bus-driving pirate helps children conquer their fears, and a family is woken in the middle of the night by a marauding bear, or was it a bear? — These are some of the worlds children could enter at the Bolton Free Library’s First Annual Children’s Book Fair held Saturday on the library lawn.
A dozen authors, most local or with strong ties to the Lake George Area as summer residents or regular visitors, participated and spent the afternoon signing books and discussing what inspires their writing. The region figured prominently in many of the works on display with Adirondack wildlife rambling through the pages and characters hiking, rafting and camping in the Adirondack Park.
Library Assistant Director Sarah Jordan, who organized the fair, says they were trying to come up with a fun activity for children that wouldn’t cost a lot of money. When she came upon the idea of a Children’s Book Fair, she reached out to Vicki Dodd of Saratoga Springs Publishing for help engaging authors. In addition to browsing through books and chatting with writers, children could express their creativity at a craft table designing bookmarks and coloring.
Authors attending the Bolton Free Library Children’s Book Fair
Film producer, director and author Greg Takoudes traveled the greatest distance to participate in the book fair. Takoudes lives in Brooklyn but visits the Adirondacks each year to take his son camping. These camping trips were the inspiration for his novel, “The Unstumpable Charlie Kite,” the story of a father-son camping trip that became a story of survival. The 11-year-old hero must put his superior puzzle-solving skills to the test to find his way out of the wilderness.
Patricia Martin lives in Bolton, and her novel, “The Memory Jug,” is set in the town, although the author changed the town’s name. Martin also brought “Lulu Atlantis and the Quest for True Blue Love,” to the book fair. Lulu is friends with a daddy longlegs spider, a creature that Martin and Ornstein say seems to be found in every book at the fair.
Christina McKay’s beautifully illustrated book, “The Barely There Bear,” is based on a true story. One night, while vacationing at Fourth Lake, a bear broke into their house and chaos ensued (the police were called!) By the light of day, each member of the household had a different recounting of the night’s events making it a mystery — what really happened? “It’s a good lesson in perspective,” says the author. “The Barely There Bear” is also offered as a bundle with a small stuffed bear.
Lake George Area summer resident Mike Ornstein writes humorous picture books geared toward the primary grade crowd. His works include “Snowflakes on Our Tongues” and “Kindergarrrten Bus.”
Janet Clarenbach Mallon is a retired teacher and horseback riding enthusiast. Her book, “Jessie’s Lesson,” is drawn from her own experience with a rescue standardbred horse. The story, “Isn’t about a horseback riding lesson,” the author says, “it’s a life lesson.” The story is about Jessie Lopez, who loves everything about horses, as she looks for a horse to call her own. She has preconceived ideas about one particular breed, but she learns that prejudging anyone, or any horse, is wrong. The lesson, says Mallon is this: “When you have an open mind, you have an open heart.” Britney Shaw, an art teacher in Ticonderoga, illustrated the book. Mallon lives in Putnam, and her book is available from local booksellers and Amazon.
“Be Brave Hazel,” is Wendy Hodash’s story about a newly adopted and very timid shelter dog. When she faces something she fears, often the same things children fear, her family calls out, “Be brave Hazel!”
Maryellen Wander Eyer’s “Finding the Blaze” is a story about a hike to the Hadley fire tower. Woven into the story is information about hiking and the last several pages are a hiking journal where children can record their own experiences on the trail.
Saratoga artist Melissa Kahl has created a series of paintings featuring Ellie, a Golden Retriever, and collected them in “Ellie’s Masterclass.” The book follows Ellie’s adventures and draws from them bits of wisdom on how to live.
In June 2022, a Pittsburgh family was visiting the area when their dog Alfie ran off from a Glens Falls dog daycare center. The community rallied and for more than two weeks people scoured the area looking for Alfie. People followed the search efforts on social media and read updates in the area’s newspapers. Glens Falls native Mary Jean DeSantis says she knew this was a story that had to be written. Her book, “Where Are You, Alfie” includes illustrations of familiar places in Lake George and Glens Falls. In this photo, DeSantis poses with her dog Bryn.
Raccoons are the characters in Rachel Vogel’s books, and they have riotous adventures rafting down the Hudson River and Skiing at West Mountain. “Racoons Go Rafting” includes a map of the river that marks the rocks and rapids her characters must navigate. Her next project, which is scheduled for release this winter, is “Nugget and Bandit: From Student to Teacher.” The skiing raccoons become skiing instructors and teach a menagerie of animals how to ski. “Imagine a skunk skiing,” says Vogel. “It’s fun.”
Melissa Fyfe, a special education teacher, writes about friendship in “The Adventures of Cisco & Max.” Cisco and Max are horses and Max helps Cisco, who has autism, deal with the first day of school.
Correction: An earlier version of this article identified the author Greg Takoudes as George.
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What a great idea! I hope that so many more kids will continue to have wonderful experiences at the Bolton Library. I surely did when I was a kid. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes — a book about the Revolutionary War days in Boston launched my lifelong fascination with our colonial history. A book about friendly little people from outer space called Podleys was another favorite — and all of those Katie John books by Mary Calhoun. Unforgettable!