We would like to thank everyone who helped make the 2016 Children’s Book Festival a success. The Lafayette County Literacy Council, in partnership with area schools, brought the book “The Scrambled States of America” to life for first-graders Feb. 23-25. The Children’s Book Festival, part of The Oxford Conference for the Book, launched at each school with a parade and skit before volunteers read the book to classes. Each first-grade student in Lafayette County received a copy of the book — over 600 books in total — for their personal libraries.

This program was made possible by sponsorships from Children’s Dental Center, Junior Auxiliary, More Than a Meal, Tatiana Petrovsky, Pi Beta Phi Sorority, Rotary and Square Books. Other key partners include school librarians and teachers Grace Brooks, Brook Fly, Karen McDougal, Shannon McLaughlin, Connie Robinson; our stellar volunteers; University of Mississippi interns Rachel Anderson, Virginia Summer; staff from the Gertrude Ford Center for the Performing Arts; Literacy Council board members Rebecca Cleary, Marie Barnard, Vicki Fowlkes, Sarah Frances Hardy, Nancy Opalko, Rhonda Reed, Elizabeth Speed, Jennifer Yancy; Becca Walton of the Oxford Conference for the Book; and author Laurie Keller.

Sarah McLellan

Lafayette County Literacy Council Executive Director