Hurray for Kid Authors!

By C.J. Hirschfield

“I glow as the night begins to fall.”  -- “From Dark to Light,” by Isabella, age 12

Once upon a time—well, three years ago—Fairyland premiered Turn the Page!, our children’s authors and illustrators book festival. It proved to be a hit, drawing over a thousand people who enjoyed interacting with more than 25 talented bookmakers who did read-alouds and demonstrations and talked about their craft with kids and parents.

A young book-lover considers the selection of books from Laurel Book Store at the 2017 Turn the Page!

For this year’s event – to be held Saturday, May 19, from 10 to 4 – we’ve decided to try something new that we’re very excited about.

The Little Engine That Did

By C.J. Hirschfield

Last week, Fairyland welcomed more than a thousand guests to our first Port Day, in partnership with the good folks who operate Oakland’s popular air- and seaports. Together with its business partners, the Port of Oakland supports more than 73,000 jobs in the region, and getting kids – even little ones – excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) may ignite an interest that could lead to a career in the sciences … and perhaps at the Port.

Many wonderful hands-on activities and giveaways were on the schedule, but the big draw was the Port’s mini container crane that could be operated by the kids. The crane had not been out in the community for a number of years, so we were over-the-top excited.

But just half an hour before we were to open our fairy gates, disaster struck.

You see, although the crane is mini when compared to its huge working counterparts, it is nonetheless 12 feet tall and weighs in at about a thousand pounds. When it was pulled into our grassy meadow area, its trailer sank into the rain-soaked earth and couldn’t be extracted.

The Port of Oakland's mini crane.

Lost and Found on Head Start Day

By C.J. Hirschfield

Editor’s note: On April 20, Children’s Fairyland will host Head Start Day for Oakland Head Start children and their families. We’re grateful for support from Rogers Family Foundation, City of Oakland Head Start and – for chartered bus transportation – the Quest Foundation. To give you an idea of what Head Start Day is like, we’re republishing this column from 2011.

Last Friday we welcomed more than 2,000 Head Start kids and their family members. We were part of their Week of the Young Child Traffic, Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Fair in Oakland.

And what a day it was.

When we saw the line stretching for blocks just before opening time, we knew that, contrary to our predictions, everyone was going to arrive at once. But Team Fairyland was ready.

The Port Comes to Fairyland

By C.J. Hirschfield

Although Star Wars creator George Lucas has denied it, we Oaklanders still like to believe that the AT-AT Snow Walkers from “The Empire Strikes Back” were either consciously or unconsciously influenced by our port’s massive cranes, which are used to move huge containers from ships onto waiting trucks and back again.

Full-size Port of Oakland crane.

Movie connection or no, Oakland’s cranes are undeniably super-cool. And soon Children’s Fairyland will offer kids the opportunity to operate a smaller version of them. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for years.