The street/library art project is almost finished; I hope that Tuesday will be their last day. A couple people mentioned Banksy to me in regards to this project. I had no idea what they were talking about, then a colleague sent me this link, which has a movie trailer for the film Exit Through the Gift Shop, which looks pretty interesting. Art has always been an interest of mine (I did the equivalent of an art history minor in college) as has political activism. Street art can combine both of those ideas (and yes, sometimes it's just people being stupid and committing vandalism).
Yesterday my daughter and I headed down to Los Angeles to the LA Times Book Festival, which was held on the UCLA campus. A Book Festival...doesn't that just sound like heaven?! It was packed with people and booths manned by authors, publishers, radio stations, and, really, anything to do with books. It felt like there were tons of booths about how to find your inner self, parenting, religions (we even got a free Koran and a free book on Buddhism for my school library). If I had gone alone I would have spent time listening to the author panels, which looked like they were really interesting. I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day. Driving 1.5 hours each way then wandering around in the sun for hours did us in!
We bought only a couple books for me, neither of which I am totally excited about. But I was bummed (and in general am disappointed) with the lack of books available for my daughter's age/reading level. She is in the 4th grade and really likes realistic fiction and historical fiction, particularly civil rights topics. There doesn't seem to be a lot out there. Does anyone have suggestions?
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Dear Helen,
It's great that you're such a dedicated reader/mom that you drove that long of a distance to get there.
Nice picture--is that Royce Hall on the right?
Has your daughter read all the Little House on the Prairie books? What about the American Girl series? That's all I can think of for now but it's clear that your daughter has great taste in books already! :)
An outdoor festival of books??
Have you looked at the Coretta Scott King award winners/nominees? They might work for your daughter. My son, who loves historical fiction and history, really likes the American Girl series (the ones with Samantha, Molly etc), but those might be too young. I'm not sure what your daughter's reading level is.
I wish I had suggestions for your daughter. Unfortunately I was a sci-fi/fantasy junkie when I was a youngster, and my boys seem to be leaning that way too.
The only thing that comes to mind are the Little House on the Prairie books and Anne of Green Gables books.
Ah, I'm envious. If I lived closer to LA I would have seriously considered going to LATFOB. But you say it was packed with people, which would have intimidated the heck out of me. I have a really hard time with large crowds.
Sorry you didn't have better luck with books!
I am sooo jealous! I wish I was able to join you at that HUGE book festival! I am surprised that there wasn't a lot of choice for your daughter. YA has such a hot following these days. Thanks for sharing your adventure!
Notes--I'm not sure which buildings were there since I am no UCLA expert. I do love the campus though. Much prettier than UCSB where we live! We tried the Little House book a couple years ago, but I don't think she's tried them on her own yet. And, she hasn't tried the American Girl books yet either.
Amanda--Great idea to try the King awards list; we'll check it out. Sophia reads at 5 to 7 grade level books but doesn't like the junior high topics ("ew...boys") :-)
Katy--The crowds weren't too bad actually. The festival was huge so the crowds had lots of space to cover.
Suzanne--YA books were there in huge numbers, but it's books for the 9 to 12 set that seem to be more difficult to find.
Oh, dear! Several of us book bloggers met up at the LA Times Festival of Books yesterday, and it would have been great to meet you! There are several of us from all over the region who try to get together a few times a year, and we would love to have you join us next time - if that sounds good, feel free to e-mail me at 3.rsblog AT Gmail DOT com so I can add you to our contact list.
I wish I had been able to attend the festival of books at U.C.L.A.. Next year, I hope to be able to, and to meet many of the other So Cal book bloggers.
Helen, the Little House books have already been suggested, and I'm not sure which books about civil rights to recommend, so how about the American Girl books about young girls?
Florinda--thanks for getting my information and giving me yours. Next time I'd love to be included!
Suko--I hope you can come to the FOB next year and we can all meet up! Thanks for the book suggestions
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