2025 Gaithersburg Book Festival Children’s Village Brings Literary Magic to Life
Award-winning and best-selling authors, hands-on writing workshops and activities galore await on Saturday, May 17
Gaithersburg, Md. – April 16, 2025 – Children (and their adults, too) will have the chance to step into a world of literary wonder and creativity at the 2025 Gaithersburg Book Festival. The Children’s Village at the 16th annual festival will be bursting with non-stop activities and hands-on fun for kids of all ages. From story time and having fun with words to meeting their favorite authors and exploring the art of printing, there’s something magical for every young mind.
The Festival will take place at Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm (506 S. Frederick Ave.) on Saturday, May 17 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. When you arrive, first stop at the Children’s Village Information Booth at the entrance to the Children’s Village and get a schedule of all activities, including author presentations and signings, and popular free writing workshops.
The Festival also will feature a sensory area, where children and families can find a quiet space outside the hustle and bustle, to relax and recharge.
Non-Stop Activities in the Children’s Village
Throughout the day, hands-on activities will take place in the Children’s Village, hosted by our sponsors:
- An Open Book Foundation – Celebrate all things we love about great stories – words, images, characters and settings. Then come by and get silly with our fun word-lib game, and take part in art activities, pick up some free tattoos and stickers, and enter a raffle for a book bundle.
- Coconut & Palm Pediatrics, LLC – Create bracelets, join in on an obstacle course, and enjoy hearing books being read out loud.
- Frederick Book Arts Center – Come learn how to use various printing presses to create your own unique art.
- Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital – Create gratitude crafts for all ages and look for book giveaways.
- Imagination Library of Montgomery County – Make your mark with reading-inspired coloring sheets, with colored pencils and crayons to draw.
- Kiddie Academy of Gaithersburg – Check out literary arts and crafts, sensory play and writing activities.
- Montgomery County Public Libraries – Stop by and make your own colorful kaleidoscope, an artist’s sketchbook and pick up your festival scavenger hunt list. And get a head start on MCPL’s 2025 Summer Reading Challenge by preregistering with us!
- Montgomery History – Tap into history! Learn about the history of typewriters and how these incredible machines revolutionized writing before computers.
- National Museum of Language – Explore the museum’s new exhibit on jokes in many of the world’s languages, including the world’s oldest joke book, originally written in Greek, “The Philogelos,” which we have put into graphic story form. Join the fun by hearing and telling jokes from around the world.
- PNC “Early Learning is All Around Me!” Mobile Learning Adventure – Interactive kiosks and the “When I Grow Up” station are highlights of this traveling exhibit.
- Story Tapestries – Play, draw and write. Fill our graffiti wall with your poetry, stories and visual images. Take home an image and a piece of writing you create with crayons, markers, colored pencils and shimmering glitter. Explore Lunes, 11-word poems, easy to write and a gift for anyone you give the poem to. Finally, leave our booth dancing to the tune of your stories with a piece of art and a book in your hands.
- Twinbrook Community Church and Twinbrook Christian Daycare – Join us at the “Pete the Cat” tent, where we will be learning about the importance of early reading with children. Take part in activities for infants through school-age, making bookmarks, playing games and listening to stories.
- S. Chess Center – Learn how to play chess, or challenge a friend to a game. We’ll also have chess equipment and books for sale.
- VisArts – Stop by and make your own fingerprint flowers to celebrate the Spring.
- Warrior Canine Connection – Color sheets made from a service dog reading book and use MadLibs to write your own story about a service dog. And don’t forget to visit our dog kissing b
Award-Winning, Best-Selling Authors and Book Signings
Visit our children’s and young adult author tents to hear from award-winning and best-selling authors and illustrators, then take your books for a signing afterwards. Check out our searchable schedule for all the details. Featured authors include:
Children’s Authors
Full biographies and children’s book descriptions can be found here.
- Sarah Albee, “The Painter and the President: Gilbert Stuart’s Brush with George Washington”
- Kerry Aradhya, “Ernő Rubik and His Magic Cube”
- Jonathan Auxier, “The Vanished Kingdom: The War of the Maps”
- Tracey Baptiste, “Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos” and “Boy 2.0” (YA)
- Charles F. Bolden Jr., “Star Sailor: My Life as a NASA Astronaut”
- Fred Bowen, “Extra Innings”
- Vera Brosgol, “Return to Sender”
- Gaia Cornwall, “Fairy Walk”
- Sayantani DasGupta, “The Ghost Forest (Secrets of the Sky, Book Three)”
- Jacqueline Davies, “The Lemonade War”
- Angela Dominguez, “Gabby Torres Gets a Billion Followers”
- Craig Kofi Farmer, “Kwame Crashes the Underworld”
- Alexis Frederick-Frost, “Team Unihorn and Woolly”
- Kami Garcia, “Mixed-Up”
- Gia Gordon, “My So-Called Family”
- John Patrick Green, ““InvestiGators: Agents of S.U.I.T.: Wild Ghost Chase”
- Michael Hall, “Punch!: A Story About Kindness”
- Cheryl Willis Hudson, When I Hear Spirituals”
- Wade Hudson, “The Day Madear Voted”
- Joanna Ho (JOHO), “Saphie: The One-Eyed Cat”
- Alan Katz, “Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs”
- Erin Entrada Kelly, two-time Newbery Medal winner for “Hello, Universe” and “The First State of Being”
- Hena Khan, “We are Big Time”
- David LaRochelle, “Mr. Fox’s Game of ‘No’”
- Brian Lies, “Meet the Mini Mammals: A Night at the Natural History Museum”
- Steve Light, “A Spider Named Itsy”
- Grace Lin, “The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon”
- Carole Lindstrom, “The Gift of the Great Buffalo”
- Katherine Marsh, “The Gods’ Revenge”
- Leland Melvin, “Space Chasers”
- Laura Numeroff, “Max and Mama”
- Linda Sue Park, “Smiling Eyes”
- Dave Roman, “Unicorn Boy”
- Jonathan Roth, “Rover and Speck: It’s a Gas!”
- Rachel Renée Russell and Nikki Russell, “Dork Diaries 16: Tales from a Not-So-Bratty Little Sister”
- Dianne K. Salerni, “The Tontine Caper”
- Michael Sampson, “Rainbow Bear”
- Bob Shea, “Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend”
- Debra Kempf Shumaker, “Wind Is a Dance”
- Susan Stockdale, “Don’t Eat the Cleaners!: Tiny Fish with a Big Job”
- Amy Timberlake, “ Skunk and Badger”
- Phuc Tran, “Cranky Makes a Friend”
- Meera Trehan, “Snow”
Teen/Young Adult (YA) Authors
Full biographies and descriptions of teen/YA books can be found here.
- Cinda Williams Chima, “Bane of Asgard”
- M. Elliott, “Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between”
- Sharon G. Flake, “The Family I’m In”
- Zakiya N. Jamal, “If We Were a Movie”
- Kim Johnson, “The Color of a Lie”
- Tony Keith Jr., “Knucklehead: Poems”
- Amanda McCrina, “I’ll Tell You No Lies”
- Yohuru Williams, “King: A Life”
- Ibi Zoboi, “(S)Kin”
Writing Workshops
The Children’s Village also will offer free writing workshops for children and teens, led by authors, illustrators and local writing experts. More details about these workshops are available on the Children’s Workshop webpage of the Festival website.
About the Gaithersburg Book Festival
The Gaithersburg Book Festival is an annual all-day celebration of books, writers and literary excellence, which is celebrating 16 years in 2025. One of the premier literary events in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the 2025 Festival is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, at Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm (506 S. Frederick Ave.) in Gaithersburg, Md. Activities will include author appearances, discussions and book signings; writing workshops; a Children’s Village; onsite sales of new and used books; literary exhibitors and food, drink, ice cream and more. Admission and shuttles from Shady Grove Metro and Montgomery County Fairgrounds are FREE. The Gaithersburg Book Festival also hosts author events in Montgomery County throughout the year as a way to encourage continued appreciation for all things literary. For more information please visit www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org, follow us on X @GburgBookFest or like us on Facebook.
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