Join us for the 4th Annual
Stay Home and Read a Book Ball!
Saturday, February 17, 2024
Have a ball reading at home and help raise funds for the Children’s Festival of Reading by donating what you would have spent on a night out.
Coupon expires March 31, 2024.
The Knox County Public Library brings world-class authors, illustrators, and musicians to World’s Fair Park each May during the Children’s Festival of Reading. The annual event kicks off the Summer Library Club.
Doris Gove / Honorary Book Ball Chair
“I try to spend as much time as I can outside, and I write books about how animals and plants live their lives, grow, find food, have babies, and solve their hardest problems. But there are places I can’t go and so many plants and animals I’ll never see. The public library is full of books that can teach me. Now I’m reading a book about sloth lemurs in Madagascar. They sing as they climb through the trees!
“Go outside and look, listen, and play. And balance that with curling up with great books that take you on other adventures, especially on cold rainy days in February. Librarians and library programs can help you find the most amazing books.”
Retired University of Tennessee biology professor Doris Gove’s books for children include My Mother Talks to Trees, One Rainy Night, Red-Spotted Newt, and A Water Snake’s Year. She was inducted into the East Tennessee Writer’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
Daniel Wiseman / Honorary Book Ball Chair
“I was fortunate enough to grow up in a town where our public library was within walking distance of my home. I remember my weekly trips with my grandmother to search the shelves of books for new bedtime stories. Those are memories I will cherish for the rest of my life.
“Now, as a father of three and a creator of literature for young people, I’m a strong advocate of reading to children. Fostering a love of books early helps immensely in building empathy by introducing children to the world outside of their own. I’m eternally grateful to public libraries for providing everyone with access to books and information and, in particular, for the work they do with children.”
Knoxville artist Daniel Wiseman is the illustrator of The World Needs More Purple People and The World Needs More Purple Schools by Kristen Bell & Benjamin Hart and other books for children. He was a member of the picture book panel at the 2022 Children’s Festival of Reading.
The 2022 book ball raised more than $8,900 for Author Events, and the 2021 book ball raised over $17,000 for the library to purchase more e-books and audiobooks. Sponsors for both the 2022 and 2021 book balls were the Knox County Public Library, the Knox County Public Library Foundation, Union Ave Books, and Libacious.