Julia Donaldso

Camana Bay, Books & Books, and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust have partnered to host the first annual Children’s Book Festival.

Headlining the event are popular children’s authors, Julia Donaldson—whose picture book The Gruffalo (MacMillan Books for Children) is a favourite amongst pre-schoolers, and Kate Klimo renowned editor and the author of The Dragon in the Sock Drawer (Random House Children’s Books).

The Children’s Book Festival is a week-long event, which begins with storytelling and crafts at Camana Bay, from 10:30 am to 3:00 pm on Saturday, 29 November. This will be followed by the Cayman Islands Cystic Fibrosis Trust Bedtime Story Fun Day at the Dart Family Park, on Sunday, 30 November, from 2:00 pm till 5:00 pm.

At Camana Bay, the exciting literary line-up includes international guest authors Julia Donaldson and Kate Klimo. Julia Donaldson is one of the UK’s best selling children’s authors and has written over 70 books for children, including The Gruffalo which won three major British book awards, Room on the Broom, A Squash and a Squeeze and many more. Character puppets and performances accompany her readings from her songbooks.

American author Kate Klimo’s inspiration for her book The Dragon in the Sock Drawer happened when she came across a geode (a stone with quartz crystals inside) lying amongst the socks in her young sons’ chest of drawers. The ensuing tale of cousins bringing up a baby dragon, and their quest to keep it safe from the villainous Saint George, is much loved by young readers.

Also appearing at the Camana Bay Children’s Book Festival will be local writers such as Eme Paschalides, who wrote a storybook called This is Paradise, Dis is Cayman with her nine year-old son Hector, and Jamaican-born Jane Scaletta, author of Kimbo’s First Horse Show. Drawing on Cayman’s rich cultural heritage of oral storytelling, Nasaria Suckoo and Rita Estavanovich, both regular performers at Cayman’s annual Gimistory festival, will tell folk tales passed down from generation to generation.

“We want to provide the children of Cayman with an opportunity to hear authors from around the world and to bring books alive for them,’ says Sally Machado, Manager of Books & Books at Camana Bay. “The festival will also be a wonderful celebration of local talent, giving visitors the chance to experience Caymanian culture at first hand.”

In between stories, kids can take part in a range of activities and crafts outdoors on The Paseo, the town’s pedestrian-only main street. A giant sandpit and games such as ‘Simon Says’ will entertain young tots, while bracelet-making, sidewalk chalking, hopscotch and a water balloon toss are on offer for older kids. Drumming classes and traditional kite making workshops will also be available for creative youngsters to try their hand at.

Volunteers from Maples and Calder, sponsors of the newly-launched Cayman Whistling Duck Book Award, will hold additional readings in the Kids Room at Books & Books as a quiet zone for children who might want to sit and read or listen to stories aimed at different age groups to those in the main event room. The stories read in the Kids Rooms will showcase books nominated for the Whistling Duck awards by authors such as Nick Bruel who visited Cayman for last year’s Bedtime Story Fun Day.

Saturday’s event at Camana Bay is free, and is sponsored by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism and Sunshine Suites Resort.

On Sunday, 30 November, the action moves to the Dart Family Park in George Town where the Cystic Fibrosis Trust Bedtime Story Fun Day will take place from 2:00pm to 5:00pm. Julia Donaldson and Kate Klimo will be back with more readings, and there are a host of prizes and hundreds of dollars of books to be won at the games stalls, which include the popular Splat Attack and Bash the Rat.

An art competition to draw the next Cystic Fibrosis Trust Christmas card, face-painting, a bouncy castle, puppet shows and a barbeque will keep the family entertained all afternoon, while kids will also have the chance to meet costume characters from some of their favourite books— including Wild Thing and Curious George. And Santa will make an early Christmas appearance. To further appeal, children are invited to wear their favourite pajamas to the event.

Sunday’s Bedtime Story Fun Day event is free and open to the public. All proceeds from the side stalls will go directly to the Cayman Islands Cystic Fibrosis Trust, which aims to raise awareness of the disease and aid sufferers in the Cayman Islands, provide testing for future parents and training for local doctors, and promote research for a cure. Camana Bay, Maples and Calder, Cayman National Bank, RBS Coutts, First Caribbean, Hollywood Theaters, National Concrete, Z99 and Rooster, BCQS, Grant Thornton, HSBC, Noah’s Ark, Seaboard Marine, Cayman Insurance Centre and Fosters sponsor the Bedtime Story Fun Day.

Pamela Fowler, the Fundraising and Event Manager of the Cayman Islands Cystic Fibrosis Trust, says, “The Trust is delighted to build on the success of the Bedtime Story Fun Day from the past three years by expanding it into a Children’s Book Festival. This is a new dimension in fundraising where we can promote something as essential as literacy whilst having fun raising funds at the same time.”

As part of the Festival, the Bedtime Story Fun Day then will then go on a ‘road show’ the following week around the schools of the Cayman Islands. Guest authors Julia Donaldson and Kate Klimo will hold a series of book readings for primary school students every morning from Monday, 1 December, through Friday 5 December at Hollywood Theaters, with workshops held in the classroom each afternoon. On
Saturday 6 December, Julia Donaldson will hold a final public reading at First Baptist church for anyone unable to attend previous events. Tickets are $10 and are available through Books & Books or by calling 916-4312.

For more information about the Camana Bay Children’s Book Festival, visit www.camanabay.com.