Author: lucyrioux

Our Reading Rumpus event will occur on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. We will be performing the books of these talented authors and/or illustrators who will be attending this event and will also be available to autograph their work as the books will be available for purchase on site.

Meet our seventh and final author/illustrator, Peter Brown…

Peter Brown’s children’s books have earned numerous honors, such as a Horn Book Award, a Children’s Choice Illustrator of the Year Award, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, and a Caldecott Honor. Peter’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel for children, The Wild Robot, was the inspiration for the animated film from DreamWorks. He lives in Maine with his wife, X. Fang, who is also an author and illustrator. Visit Peter at www.peterbrownstudio.com.

Our Reading Rumpus event will occur on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. We will be performing the books of these talented authors and/or illustrators who will be attending this event and will also be available to autograph their work as the books will be available for purchase on site.

Meet our sixth author/illustrator…X. Fang

X. FANG is a Taiwanese-American illustrator. Her picture books include Broken, a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award winner; We Are Definitely Human, recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award; and her debut picture book, Dim Sum Palace, which won the Society of Illustrators’ Dilys Evans Founder’s Award and was named one of Slate’s 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years, among other honors. This fall she publishes her first collaborative work with Mac Barnett, Tom Nancy: The Sheep Who Swapped Brains with a Boy. She lives in Midcoast Maine.

Our Reading Rumpus event will occur on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. We will be performing the books of these talented authors and/or illustrators who will be attending this event and will also be available to autograph their work as the books will be available for purchase on site.
Meet our fifth author…Rebecca Rule

Rebecca Rule gathers and tells stories. She’s the author
of many books for children and adults, including NH Trivia;
That Reminds Me of a Funny Story; The Iciest, Diciest, Scariest
Sled Ride Ever; and N is for NH, an ABC Book. For
NHPTV she hosts Our Hometown; each show in the
series features a New Hampshire town, its stories
told by those who live there and love it best.
Her new picture book from Islandport Press is Who Loves Blueberries?, illustrated by Arpita Choudhury.

Our Reading Rumpus event will occur on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. We will be performing the books of these talented authors and/or illustrators who will be attending this event and will also be available to autograph their work as the books will be available for purchase on site.

Meet our fourth author/illustrator…Sarah Sax:

Sarah Sax grew up in St. Louis, MO on Uncle Scrooge and Sailor Moon comics. She studied storytelling and sequential imagery at Hampshire College and worked in education and gaming in the Bay Area before starting her publishing journey. She is the illustrator of the interactive Escape This Book series and is the author and illustrator of Picture Day, Tryouts, and School Dance, the first three graphic novels in the Brinkley Yearbooks series, as well as the upcoming fourth book, Class Trip. Her graphic novels have all been featured on the ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table “Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List,” and School Dance was selected for the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee’s Best Children’s Books of 2025 and Kirkus Review’s Best Children’s and Young Adult Books of 2025. Sarah lives and works in Portland, Maine with her husband and a small menagerie of pets.

Our Reading Rumpus event will occur on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. We will be performing the books of these talented authors and/or illustrators who will be attending this event and will also be available to autograph their work as the books will be available for purchase on site.
Meet our third author/illustrator, Neesha Hudson:

Neesha grew up on the coast of Maine where she spent most of her time drawing, painting, and playing in the woods. Her latest picture book, THE BEST FLOWER EVER! (Dial June 13, 2023) is a companion to TURTLE IN A TREE (Dial 2021) and is about learning to appreciate what you have with the help of friends. She is also the illustrator of WALK YOUR DOG (Putnam 2018), and has illustrated for Harper Collins, Cricket Media, The North Face, Home Depot, among others. When not in the studio, Neesha enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, their two children, dogs, and chickens.

Our Reading Rumpus event will occur on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. We will be performing the books of these talented authors and/or illustrators who will be attending this event and will also be available to autograph their work as the books will be available for purchase on site.

Our second author is Chris Van Dusen…

Chris Van Dusen is an author/illustrator of children’s picture books who lives midcoast Maine. His first book, Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee was published in 2000. Since then, he has written an illustrated 12 books, including The Circus Ship, the If I Built series, and Hattie & Hudson. He has also illustrated 18 books for other authors including the popular Mercy Watson books written by Kate DiCamillo.

Our Reading Rumpus event will occur on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. We will be performing the books of these talented authors and/or illustrators who will be attending this event and will also be available to autograph their work as the books will be available for purchase on site.
We start off our “Meet Our Authors/Illustrators” with Lynn Plourde:

Lynn Plourde (www.lynnplourde.com) is the author of more than forty children’s books from board books to picture books to middle grade, including her newest middle grade novel, The Bionic Boy. She worked as a speech-language therapist in public schools for twenty plus years. Lynn does numerous author visits to schools, teaching students writing mini-lessons. She is a Maine native who currently lives in Winthrop.

Website: https://lynnplourde.com

The Bionic Boy webpage: https://lynnplourde.com/book/the-bionic-boy/

Here are the children’s books that we will be performing at our Reading Rumpus event on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. at Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. Information regarding each individual author/illustrator will be posted beginning in a couple of days. They will be attending the performance and will be available to autograph their books which can be purchased on site through our host book store, Mockingbird Bookshop! Picture books will be presented in full while sections of the chapter books will be performed! Mark your calendars and help us spread the word…this will be awesome!!! The books are:
“My Teacher is a Monster (No, I Am Not)” and “Children Make Terrible Pets” written and illustrated by Peter Brown.
“We Are Definitely Human” and “Broken” written and illustrated by
X. Fang.
“If I Built A Town” written and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen.
“Turtle in a Tree” and “The Best Flower Ever” written and illustrated by Neesha Hudson.
“Who Loves Blueberries?” written by Rebecca Rule and illustrated by Arpita Choudhury and “The Iciest, Diciest, Scariest Sled Ride Ever” written by Rebecca Rule and illustrated by Jennifer Thermes.
“School Dance”, a graphic novel, written and illustrated by Sarah Sax.
“Bionic Boy”, a chapter book, written by Lynn Plourde.

Good news…we have heard from all authors/illustrators whose children’s books we will be performing for our Reading Rumpus event on August 30th, 2:00 p.m. at Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner! The program announcement will be presented by June 22nd so look for it! This will be followed by several posts featuring each author/illustrator. You won’t want to miss this so mark your calendars and come meet these talented authors/illustrators and see their works come to life on the stage!!

We only have two authors/illustrators to get final approvals for our Reading Rumpus event scheduled for August 30th at 2:00 p.m. in Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner…we expect the final okays hopefully by the end of this coming week!! We will also start featuring the authors/illustrators who will be participating on our Facebook page and website also starting by the end of the week. We are so excited to present their children’s literature…remember that the books will be available to purchase on site and can also be autographed by the authors/illustrators who will be attending the event. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!!