About Us

Our Mission

The mission of the CU Children’s Book Festival is to achieve three important goals:

  • Connect children to authors and books to build reading motivation
  • Support teachers' use of children's literature in their classrooms and family reading at home
  • Engage School of Education's preservice and in-service teachers in creating educational resources and participating in a literacy outreach event.

2024 Children's Book Festival Planning Committee

  • Laurie Brockway
  • Adam Crawley (Faculty Co-Chair)
  • Bridget Dalton 
  • Michelle Faye
  • Emily Johns-O’Leary (Graduate Assistant)
  • Jacquie Kilburn
  • Judy Minger (Community Co-Chair)
  • Steve Ollanik
  • Stephanie Schindhelm (Boulder Bookstore)
  • Jeanette Scotti

With support from SOE Communications, Hannah Fletcher and Ichigo Takikawa; Building Operations, Sara McDonald and Becky Cabral; and Advancement, Mia Axon.

Partners and Support

We gratefully acknowledge our partner, Boulder Bookstore, and Stephanie Schindhelm, Marketing and Promotions Manager.

This festival is supported by an Outreach Grant awarded by the CU Boulder Office for Outreach and Engagement.

Special thanks go to the following for their interest and support of the festival:

  • University Libraries and the Center for British and Irish Studies, CU Boulder
  • Boulder Public Library
  • Center for Humanities and the Arts, CU Boulder
  • SOE Partner School Districts (Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Adams 14 School District, Boulder Valley School District, Denver Public Schools, JeffCo Public Schools, St. Vrain Valley School District) and other participating schools
  • The publishers, authors, and illustrators of the festival's featured books
  • Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE) members Jacalyn Colt, Jacquie Kilburn, Paula Klein, and Judy Minger
  • CU Boulder School of Education Development Advisory Board, Outreach Committee.

Interested in participating?

If you are an author, illustrator, publisher, educator, or community member and would like to participate in next year’s festival, please email childrensbookfest@colorado.edu.