28th Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival brings inspiration and hope

“Charlotte Huck was the inspiration and driving force behind this literature conference,” said Char Burgess, the co-coordinator of the festival and niece of Huck, in her welcome speech of the 28^th Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival.

For the 200 attendees, the conference kicked off with encouraging words from Superintendent of the Redlands Unified School District Juan Cabral and interim Dean of University of Redlands School of Education, Brian Charest. Both spoke on the importance of child literacy. 

“Dr. Huck understood stories are more than words on a page. They are bridges to understanding, tools for discovery and windows to new worlds,” said Charest.  

The conference packed six keynote speakers and 20 breakout sessions into two full days, offering four time slots for sessions and unique opportunities to engage with nationally recognized, beloved, and award-winning children's authors through Q&A sessions and book signings.

Many school teachers and librarians mentioned how much they appreciated the knowledge they gained during the conference and how they wished their colleagues could have been there with them.

Author Dianne White reminded everyone in her keynote address, “The point is that stories make connections between one experience to the next, from one person to the next.” She explained how teachers plant seeds they sometimes won’t see grow, but that doesn’t mean their influence hasn’t made a long-lasting impact.

Local independent bookstore owner Erin Rivera brought 19 books to her breakout session to talk about representation and why it matters. Throughout, she told personal anecdotes to get the point across, including a story about being bullied in school for being adopted. 

“It did not phase me or hurt my feelings because I was raised so strongly in the belief that I was chosen,” she said. “I looked at him and said; My parents picked me, they got stuck with you!” She laid out the reasons for why books addressing difficult subjects like death, Alzheimer and domestic violence are important for children to feel understood.

Illustrators, authors and brothers Jerome and Jarrett Pumphrey spoke of the painstaking process of making and publishing picture books while keeping their creative tanks full. Likewise, illustrator Eric Rohmann explained that, “98% of what I make is crap but it informs the 2% that is not.”

Char Burgess surprised author Candace Fleming by handing her the Charlotte S. Huck Award of 2025. “Her weeklong presence in Redlands working with students demonstrates her work to bring children and good books together. It’s our pleasure to honor Candace,” Burgess said, handing her a cover of ‘Princess Furball’ by Huck and a plaque.

“My heart is pounding,” Fleming said, thanking for the accolade.

Most of Fleming’s nonfictional work for young adults addresses hidden and less known history facts, such as the secrets of Charles Lindbergh. Fleming explained that teenagers deserve to learn history to understand context and complexities.

“By choosing not to write or to read about the unconscionable and the unjustifiable we are just forever bound to our mistakes and our misfortunes,” Fleming said. “By looking as honestly as possible at [Lindberg] using facts and evidence we can perhaps understand why he still remains among the rank of American heroes.”

Sophomore student at the Grove School, Isaiah Davidson of Redlands, was at the conference for the second year in a row. The Creative Writing Club he helped establish at his school raised money for eight students to attend one day. 

“Learning how to interact with older individuals, get better at our craft and you implement writing into every piece of school,” he said of what the event had given him.

Second time attendee and first-time presenter, author Colleen Paelf of Los Angeles co-presented at two breakout sessions this year. 

“It was a reminder that we are all here because we love talking about books,” said Paelf. “It was a lot of work but definitely worth it.”

Author Mitali Perkins from Northern California closed the conference on the second day.

“A single story about another, we will shape the way they view that other for the rest of their life,” said Perkins. “But if you give a child many stories, those stories will moderate each other and that child will be getting the resilience of being in power over the story instead of the story having power over the child.” 

She reminded people, that “An antidote to all of this intense furor over which books a child reads, should be framed differently in terms of how we get more and more books to our kids.”

One of the librarians at the conference was Emily Apomadoc, the district elementary teacher librarian who supports all 16 libraries in the RUSD. “This [conference] is so inspirational,” she said. “I got so many great ideas for activities that kids can do that made my synapses go, du-du-du.”

People left the conference with arms full of books and minds full of inspiration. 

“This year, “I was struck by the camaraderie of the attendees. They all thoroughly enjoyed the speakers, the breakout sessions and just being with each other,” said Burgess afterwards. “Our goal of bringing people together to talk about how quality literature impacts children was once again achieved.”

For information about next year’s conference, email: charlottehuckfestival@redlands.edu

Learn more about the festival here: www.redlands.edu/events/featured-events/charlotte-huck-festival

This article was originally published on 03/13/2025. It was updated on 03/23/2025 to correct the spellings of Candace Fleming and Charles Lindbergh. We regret the errors.