Missouri Children's Author Chosen for Inclusion on National Book Festival Map

 
The Missouri Center for the Book has chosen Cheryl Harness’ book They’re Off! The Story of the Pony Express for inclusion on the children’s map that will be distributed at the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. on September 25, 2010. Harness, a popular and prolific children’s author from Independence, Missouri , said of this honor “What happy, exciting news, especially since 2010 is the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express.”
The National Book Festival was begun under the auspices of First Lady Laura Bush in 2001. The popular Pavilion of the States distributes 52 Great Reads maps of the United States to over 100,000 participants who have their maps stamped at each state’s table. Other tents provide well-known children’s and adult authors speaking and reading from their books throughout the day.
The Missouri Center for the Book was established in 1993 as an affiliate of the National Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Headquartered at the Missouri State Library in Jefferson City, the Center selects the Missouri Poet Laureate (currently David Clewell); represents Missouri at the National Book Festival, and sponsors an annual Celebration of the Book and a Letters about Literature contest.
Mark Tiedemann, President of the Missouri Center for the Book and a science fiction author from St. Louis, said of the Missouri selection of They’re Off! “ After the necessities of a good home, nothing is more important than teaching a child to read. When you develop the imagination, the sky’s the limit.”
The Missouri Center for the Book is an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and is sponsored, in part, by funding from the Missouri State Library, a division of the office of Secretary of State. The Center houses the Missouri Author Collection within the state library and includes books by writers living in Missouri at the time of publication, including the works of Cheryl Harness. For more information about Cheryl Harness visit www.cherylharness.com.

                 The Missouri Center for the Book is an affiliate of the
                          Center for the Book  at the Library of Congress.