Tess Padmore has been a valued participant in Festival to Go since she joined in 2019. This all-volunteer program brings authors and illustrators into Rochester city schools to speak to students about reading and writing, and often about life itself. These are some of the poorest and most under-performing schools in New York State. They do not have funds for many extras, and Festival to Go will probably be the students’ only chance to ever meet an author.

I have watched Tess present to 1st and 2nd grade classrooms, and have seen the children bond with her as she tells them about herself and her books, and gets them to share their own stories.

Her books have been translated into Spanish, and while our organization is able to get funding to provide English-language editions for each child, Tess has sought out which children come from Spanish-speaking families and has provided, at her own expense, Spanish language editions. I know that she has also returned to revisit some of the classrooms. The children—and the teachers–are always delighted to welcome her. Again, this is a service for which she volunteers.

Vivian Vande Velde

Vivian is the Festival-to-Go Director and RACWI Historian for the Rochester Area Childrens Writers and Illustration (RACWI) organization.