The Laura Ingalls Wilder Children's Literature Festival

Last week I left my home in Pennsylvania to visit Missouri. I attended The Laura Ingalls Wilder Children's Literature Festival in the small town of Mansfield, Missouri. It was hosted by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum.

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The book festival was at the local community center.

Like other book festivals, I loved meeting the other authors and illustrators. I was so glad a photo with everyone was able to be taken Friday morning before the first bus of students arrived. I wish we had a photo with all the wonderful volunteers, too.

Meeting readers and new friends (of all ages) was certainly a delight! I also met people I'd known through the on-line world of Little House, including Marie Bristol, pictured in the lower right-hand corner.

During the two-day festival, each author was able to share with groups in meeting rooms a few times. These were brief sessions--just long enough to introduce ourselves and our passion. That meant I got to share that I think facts are fun. I told why I wrote The Laura Ingalls Wilder Companion: A Chapter-by-Chapter Guide as well as The Story of the Wright Brothers, and The Truth About animal series. They all had the chance to see my 8-legged friends, too! I also got to meet more curious kids at my book table.

If you follow me outside of this blog, you likely know about Wilbur (my stuffed animal Great-Horned Owl) and Edna (my huge Brazilian white-kneed spider exoskeleton) are important parts of my events. They were left behind in PA since Wilbur's too big and Edna's too fragile to fly. Instead, I took a spider and a tarantula in resin that curious people could get up close and personal with. (If this is the first you've heard about my little props, you might want to subscribe to my monthly newsletter or follow me on social media.)

An important part of The Laura Ingalls Wilder Children's Literature Festival was a special ceremony honoring author K. D. McCrite and illustrator Chuck Todd with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Children's Literature Award. (This is a new award--not to be confused with the ALA award formerly bearing Wilder's name.)

Part of the award ceremony was when Charles Ingalls's fiddle left its glass display case in the museum. We all enjoyed Pa's fiddle!

Please see a lot more photos at the LIWCLF's Facebook page!

This was the first blog post documenting my trip to Mansfield. I plan to write more. (However, I'm on a deadline for another book, so my blogging time is limited.) Listed below are the blog posts I plan to write. I'll link to them as they're shared over the coming weeks.

See all of my posts about my trip to Mansfield, Missouri:

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Children's Literature Festival 2022

Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum and Rocky Ridge Farmhouse and The Rock House

Additional Laura Ingalls Wilder Sites in Mansfield, MO

More to Mansfield, MO

Happy Trails!

~ Annette

Annette Whipple is a nonfiction children's author. Learn more about her books and presentations at www.AnnetteWhipple.com.