David Lubar Author Visit

Last night, children’s and young adult author, David Lubar came to visit our library where 75 excited patrons got the chance to hear him talk about how he became a writer, great tips for beginning writers, asked some wonderful questions and got books signed by the author himself.  This was a special event that our library was a part of through a grant that our county received.  With the grant, we were also able to purchase a number of books that we used as book discussion books, raffle prizes, and awards.  Although this was geared toward the young adult crowd, we really wanted to have a big audience, so we created a book discussion for third and fourth graders where we discussed Hyde and Shriek.  We offered three discussions for the middle school students (grades 5 – 8) on My Rotten Life, Hidden Talents, and Dunk.  And we also offered a teen (grades 9 – 12) book discussion on Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie.  We tried to hype this program up for the past 2 months, talking with librarians at the local schools, we hung posters around the library, and told everyone about this special program as they signed up for summer reading.  I thought 75 people was a good crowd, I was hoping for some more, but because it was the Monday after the holiday weekend, people may still have been away on vacation.
Author visits can be very expensive to host and I know we discussed this as an option in the past, but we haven’t gotten a very big crowd for the cost of the authors.  I’m hoping that we can start partnering with some of the local independent book stores to see if we can have a few more authors come visit our library.  I think it really gives the kids a great way to get a deeper understanding of books, the writing process, and understanding how difficult being an author can be.  I also like the idea of meeting authors as showing children and teens that authors are human beings, just like the rest of us, they aren’t really any different!  I’ve thought in the past about trying to connect with authors via Skype and we haven’t tried it here in the library, but I think it’s a great way to provide an author visit program that cuts down on the price significantly.  This might be something I look into for the winter/spring of next year.  Overall, the author visit went really well, I was so proud that the kids were listening and asking really relevant and interesting questions.  I definitely wish that there were a few more people in attendance, but those that were there really enjoyed the program!