Learn more about the New Mexico Children’s Book Fair

Calling all kids!

Children of all ages are invited to the New Mexico Children’s Book Fair on Saturday, Oct. 11 at the First Unitarian Church in Albuquerque.

In the fair’s central activity, children can listen to 13 local authors reading aloud from their books and chatting with the young listeners about them.

The featured authors are Nancy Abruzzo, Rachel Bate, Charlia Boyer, Laurel Goodluck, Jenny Lacika, Zahra Marwan, Paul Meyer, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Cristina Ortega, Daniela Ramirez, Caroline Starr Rose, Sabra Steinsiek and Khadijah VanBrakle.

“The idea is to celebrate authors and give kids the idea that authors are real people,” Kathy Chilton, a spokeswoman for Libros for Kids, the sponsor of the book fair, said.

“This is our first try (at sponsoring a book fair) and we want to do our best to make it available for children and families,” Chilton said.

Bookworks will be on hand to sell books by the authors.

The New Mexico Children’s Book Fair is offering an array of activities:

• Learn from book designers and bookbinders how to build and illustrate books.
• Listen to storyteller Neema Pickett.
• Watch magician John Polinko.
• Read to and pet animals from the Read to the Dogs program.
• Meet wild, native birds in the Hawks Aloft program, which cares for wild, native birds that can’t be released.
• Hop on a restored 1927 city bus that will be stocked with books for children of any age to take home free of charge, compliments of the Read to Me! ABQ Network. Read to Me! has been a long-time source of new and gently used books for children in the community.

For seven years, Libros for Kids has been partnering with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to purchase and mail books, free of charge, to children under age 5 in Bernalillo and Valencia counties.

At present, more than 9,000 children receive a free book once a month in the Libros for Kids-Imagination Library early childhood literacy program, Chilton said.

The program also offers children the opportunity to receive bilingual books (English and Spanish), she said.

Families can sign up their under-age 5 children for the free books at the book fair or register them online at librosforkids.org. The website also accepts monetary donations that help support the program.

Chilton said all members of Libros for Kids volunteer their time. “No one gets paid. We have no office,” she said.

Chilton is one of the four founder-volunteers of the organization. The other three are Chilton’s husband, retired pediatrician Dr. Lance Chilton, retired veterinarian Dr. Linda Contos and her husband, retired veterinarian Dr. John Heidrich, who is the Libros for Kids’ president.

The organization currently has about 20 members.

Two of Libros’ goals, Heidrich said, are to improve children’s reading scores and to promote the joy of reading.

In May, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order expanding Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book giveaway program statewide.

New Mexico Children’s Book Fair encourages the state's youth to get into reading