By: Mars Bourke 

Learning to read is an important milestone that all children go through and should be treated as a fun part of childhood. This is something that schools and libraries always strive to promote and to help promote this, The Dauphin County Library will be celebrating Children’s Book Week.  

Children’s Book Week is one of the country’s longest running literacy initiative. It was started with the belief “that children’s books and literacy are life-changers” and has been occurring all around the country since 1913. 

This exciting celebration is made possible by the Joan Y Leopold Endowment Fund. Joan served on The Library’s board for over 20 years, advocating for adult and children’s literacy in Dauphin County. Her children are also hard at work to continue her legacy by doing the same. This fund has allowed The Library’s Children’s Book Week event to be one of The Library’s largest in person events with around 200 available spots for children and their families across 3 of The Library’s branches.  

“At the end of the day, it’s important to get books into the hands of children,” states Ty Edwards, Programming and Outreach Administrator. 

This year’s Children’s Book Week will be celebrated by The Library from November 4th to the 10th and will be following the theme of “No Rules.” The Library will also be showcasing husband and wife duo, Jonathan Stutzman (author) and Heather Fox (illustrator), with their program entitled We are creative AND SO ARE YOU. 

During their event there will be a draw along session where both will show members how to turn creativity into something real. In their program Jonathan and Heather want to highlight the storytelling and illustrating process that one does when creating children’s books. All attending children will get a copy of their featured book, Butts are Everywhere. Attendees also can have these books signed by both Heather and Jonathan at the event if they so wish. 

This year’s guest authors, Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox, have collaborated on several books such as Llama Destroys the World, Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse, and Don’t Feed the Coos. To honor this year’s Children’s Book Week theme of “No Rules,” Stutzman and Fox will be featuring their book Butts are Everywhere, that is described as a “funny, sweet, and commercial picture book celebrates one of our most useful (and hilarious) body parts.” 

“We chose Jonathan and Heather because their books are not only the best kind of children’s books (silly, creative, heartfelt, and well-illustrated) but because they are local authors,” Ty Edwards explains. Fox and Stutzman hale from local central PA town, Lititz, a town not more than an hour from the Harrisburg area.  

Edwards states “It’s vitally important that children see themselves in stories but also that they can see themselves as storytellers; having someone from your backyard as an award-winning author or illustrator makes it seem much more possible to follow your dreams and keep your creativity alive.” 

Reading should be fun and that is what Children’s Book Week strives to showcase to The Library’s young patrons. If you’re interested in celebrating children’s literacy with the library, visit https://www.dcls.org/CBW/ for more information.