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Young bibliophiles rejoice at Tweens Read book festival

Hundreds of tweens squealed in delight, the flashes on their phone cameras blinking away. Deafening screams of "I love you" and "You're the best" filled the air. The praise Saturday was aimed not at musicians or athletes, but at 25 authors on the South Houston High School auditorium stage.

Saturday marked the seventh annual Tweens Read book festival, one of the nation's only literary gatherings aimed specifically at middle school students. Founded by Margaret Hale, a professor at the University of Houston's College of Education, and Julie Mulkey, a retired school librarian, the all-day event sought to celebrate a love of reading that modern educational systems may overlook.

"High-stakes testing is pushing teachers to do a lot of test prep and not necessarily have students engaged in reading a book they love," Hale said.

A 2014 Scholastic Corporation survey found that only 51 percent of children ages 6-17 read for fun, a number that has dropped by 9 percentage points since 2010. The publishing company found that interest in leisure reading tends to decline around age 8, which Hale noted as a time when reading in school becomes more of a chore for answering practice test questions from small passages.

Yet on Saturday, students from more than 20 Houston area school districts defied the downward trend, packing the school's hallways eager to spend the day meeting authors and chatting with friends about favorite scenes and characters from books they clutched to their chests.

"It's her mom, she's really here," said Yanneli Garza, as she yanked on her mother's sleeve.

The 10-year-old from Carter Lomax Middle School in Pasadena sat a few feet away from Victoria Jamieson, author and illustrator of the Texas Bluebonnet Award-winning graphic novel "Roller Girl."

Star struck

For two months Garza reminded her mother about the festival and that her favorite author would be there. As Jamieson answered audience questions in one of the high school gyms, Garza flipped through the worn pages of her paperback copy of "Roller Girl."

"I've read it 10 times," she said. "When I read, I like to connect with the characters and I feel that with this book."

"I roller skate too," she added, pointing to the illustrated protagonist on the cover.

As the panel session ended, Garza slowly approached Jamieson, with the well-worn book tucked under her arm.

Just seconds before, Garza spoke to her mother a mile-a-minute, gushing about how much she loved Jamieson's story. Now, standing face-to-face with the author, she went speechless.

"H-Hi," she finally stuttered.

Jamieson introduced herself and asked Garza which books she liked to read. As the author's autograph took form on her copy of "Roller Girl," Garza relayed titles, mostly graphic novels since she loves how the artwork adds to the written story.

"My third favorite is 'The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy's Great Idea.' My second favorite is 'Sisters,'" she said, pausing as Jamieson handed her the signed copy.

"And my No. 1 favorite is 'Roller Girl,'" Garza exclaimed, jumping up and down.

As Garza left the gym, shoving the book in her mother's face, asking her if it was real, lines formed inside the school library where students were buying copies of visiting authors' latest titles.

"Whoever says kids don't want to read anymore is kidding themselves," said Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop, one of the festival sponsors, along with the Pasadena Independent School District.

The day's selections included "The Losers Club" by Andrew Clements, "The First Rule of Punk," by Celia Perez and "Chasing Space" by keynote speaker and astronaut Leland Melvin.

A great escape

In a quiet room off to the side, Zamanta Tapia, 13, picked up a prize she won for scanning a special QR code: a copy of "Ghosts of Greenglass House" by Kate Milford.

"I love ghost stories and mysteries," the North Shore Middle School seventh-grader said.

Prize in hand, she browsed through the available titles, picking out two in a series by James Hannibal: "The Lost Property Office" and "The Fourth Ruby."

"Reading is a great escape from the real world," Tapia said.

Taking a seat in one of the library armchairs, she flipped through her purchases, eyes scanning the pages as children and chaperones whirled around her.
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