Annual Author and Illustrator Fair

Inspiring a Lifelong Love of Literacy and Sense of Community

Ideas spring to life in words and pictures when authors and illustrators share their craft--and students explore those amazing stories through enriching activities during Orion Alternative School’s Author and Illustrator Fair each year.  The annual event invites students, families, and the greater community to celebrate the joy of books together. The author's and illustrator's reflect the diversity of both the Mandarin Immersion and Parent Cooperative Programs. Parents from both programs plan together with the school librarian the annual fair.

Students and teachers delve into every nook and cranny of a book, and learn about the author and illustrator who are then invited to the Fair to present their work. Selected authors and illustrators meet the community, answer questions, and see special work created by each classroom that surrounds their story. 

Leading up to the Fair, stories become an immersive sensory experience for students as they do a number of related activities such as eating a food that a character liked, making a 3-D model of a setting in a book, creating their own additions to the story, and then getting to ask the author or illustrator questions in person. 

Author and Illustrator Fair projects complement each area of daily curriculum and instruction such as using items from a story for mathematics exercises or exploring the culture of a main character in social studies. When students connect with an author or illustrator through harmonizing activities they also begin to see themselves in that role, inspiring them to love literature and to create their own books and drawings.

Parents and teachers collaborate to bring this vibrant event to the student body and larger neighborhood community each year. Participation and involvement from everyone is at the heart of making the Orion Author and Illustrator Fair such a success, while growing students’ passion for books and illustration.