Local Children’s Authors to Lead Family Day Reading Event

August 18, 2021 – Sarasota

 St. Armands Family Day is scheduled to return Aug. 29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with an all-new theme centered around the joys of reading and will include appearances from a shortlist of the area’s best children’s authors.  

The two-hour Family Day event will be organized as a reading scavenger hunt. Kids and parents will check-in and receive a map detailing the authors stationed around the Circle. Families can move from author to author, collect stickers, listen to short stories, participate in reading activities, and more. 

Notable local children’s authors expected to participate in the two-hour family event include:

·         David “D.M” Jack – An award-winning children’s book author with six books in print. His newest book, Where Is My Home?will be released in September. “My mission is to inspire reading and support literacy,” said Jack. Some of the books he has published include The Promise, Everybody Needs a Beats, Lila’s Dream, The Treehouse Adventure and The Furnace Room.

·         Toby Deutchman – Utilizes storytelling to teach lessons that could be taught no other way. She found her passion for writing books from an early age when realizing that reading fuels her imagination. She has written and published her own book, The Polka Dot Pants of Sir Edwards McGee.

·         Joe Eckstein – An author, illustrator and artist, Eckstein loves drawing and writing compelling, educational stories. Ecksotein has the illustrated over twenty books for children, including Herby Gets a Life, which he also authored. 

·         Joan Love – Found her passion for reading and writing. She is an author and illustrator who created I Like You for You and currently resides near St. Armands Circle.

·         Amy Diamond – A beach lover at heart, who has had a profound love and admiration for mermaids from a young age. Her inspiration grew and so she decided to write a mermaid children’s book for her grandkids and so began The Adventures of Splash & Shelly. 

·         Cathy Fragale – perused her dream to be a children’s author. She has written Henry and Shirley and Shirley and Pony Who Always Won. She’s found writing to be a great inspiration “because you can do anything you can put your mind to.” 

·         Brenda Spalding – Author Brenda Spalding was brought up in Newton, Massachusetts and now lives in Bradenton, Florida. She began writing a series of books for her grandson Hayden that he could say “My Grandma wrote this for me.”

“We are so excited to parents, children and authors come together on the Circle to explore the joys of reading. We hope this event serves as an inspiration for the little ones in our community,” said Geoffrey Michel, Chairman of the St. Armands Business Improvement District (BID). “Seeing families out on the Circle has always made St. Armands feel full of life, and we certainly hope that families will join us for this special day of fun.” 

St. Armands Family Day is designed to create fun, family-friendly activities and entertainment with unique twists and themes. The event will begin in front of Foxy Lady and is FREE for the public. 

For directions, more about the participating authors and to rsvp, visit the Facebook event page

For more information about St. Armands Circle or other Sol of the Circle programs, please

visit https://starmandscircleassoc.com/sol-of-the-circle/.