We would like to congratulate Juanita Giles and everyone else involved in the Virginia Children’s Book Festival (VCBF) for another strong edition of the event hosted by Longwood University.

As stated on the festival’s website, the VCBF is “dedicated to creating a culture of literacy for all children, regardless of circumstance.”

We have always felt this is an incredibly commendable goal and are thrilled that the festival is thriving, growing each year.

Combing through the different festival events listed on the VCBF website, there are notably quite a few that were filled to capacity, listed as having “0 spaces available” after school groups of 10 or more completed registration. Those events alone help to highlight the scope of the offerings present at the festival, which ran Wednesday, Oct. 17, through Friday.

Drawing quite a crowd Friday was an event called “Black Panther. Ruler of Wakanda. Avenger – Ronald L. Smith.”

Filled to capacity Thursday were 10 different events. They are listed on the VCBF website as follows: “Babar the Musical,” “Moonshot – Brian Floca,” “Native American storytelling – Tim Tingle,” “Design your own B.O.A.R.D. (Battery-Operated Artificial Reasoning Device) – Jay Cooper,” “There’s No Such Thing as Little – LeUyen Pham,” “What could Alexander Hamilton have to do with me – Martha Brockenbrough,” “How to be a Spy: A Workshop – Jay Cooper, Russell Ginns,” “Pickup soccer writing workshop: a school program for middle grades – Lulu Delacre,” “Princess in Blue? Princess in Yellow? Princess in Black! – LeUyen Pham” and “Writing Workshop: Keeping your culture alive – Pablo Cartaya.”

Presentations filled to capacity Oct. 17 included “Witches? What Witches? – John Maricano, Sophie Blackall,” “It’s Okay to be Different – Todd Parr,” “Babar the Musical,” “Making Up Madeline – John Maricano,” “Draw with Me: A Cast of Characters – Gordon C. James” and “A Zoo for You – Marc Brown.”

It’s exciting to see the growing draw that this festival has both for children and for the talent that produces the written works those children love to read. And through it all, the culture of literacy for all children is growing too.