Around the time Geoffrey Taylor became director of International Readings at Harbourfront in 2003, he started to notice a trend in his Queen West neighbourhood: most of the elementary schools in the area were scaling back their libraries. Taylor wasn’t in a position to put new books on shelves, but he was in a position to create events that might attract young bookworms—something absent from the festival since its 1974 inception. The result was seven events for kids that were packed into the 2003 International Festival of Authors. But “in the shuffle of the festival,” Taylor says, “they weren’t getting enough attention.”

That has since changed with ALOUD: a Celebration for Young Readers, a stand-alone festival that lets kids loose on acclaimed authors from around the world. At the first ALOUD last June, kids chanted along with Dennis Lee and Alligator Pie, and quizzed Jacqueline Wilson about Clean Break, her novel about a broken family. When ALOUD returned for three days this past February, more than 1,000 young people came out to hear readings from Sean Cullen’s Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates of the Arctic and Nadja Halilbegovuich’s My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary. From May 21 to 28, ALOUD pitches a tent at the Milk International Children’s Festival of the Arts to offer preteens and parent-toting preschoolers a sample of what to expect when the festival proper returns next February. The Milk incarnation offers reading and Q & A workshops to school groups, but also features weekend activities for families. Aware that books often lose out to television, movies and video games, Taylor hopes Milk’s emphasis on the theatrical will present new titles in a way that’s more enticing to kids. “There are so many children’s authors out there, but most aren’t well-known names,” he says. “We’re looking for new ways for parents to find books for their children, and for kids to find them for themselves.”

Centred around a slew of smart, empowering selections, ALOUDS’s events make it easy for bookish youngsters to become enamoured with the lit world. A workshop with Janice Weaver, co-author of It’s Your Room: A Decorating Guide for Real Kids (May 22, 12:00 p.m), will help munchkins come up with floor plans, sample boards and colour charts based on their own rooms. Author Helaine Becker, an authority on everything from making chocolate chip cookies to how to be a clown, provides tips from her books Like A Pro and Funny Business: Clowning Around, Practical Jokes, Cool Comedy, Cartooning, and More (May 27, 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.). Ann Love and Jane Drake help kids get green with Trash Action: A Fresh Look at Garbage (May 21, 11:00 a.m.), and Melanie Watt leads a scavenger hunt for items belonging to Scaredy Squirrel (May 27, 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. and May 28, 11:00 a.m.)—he’s the title character of her illustrated tale about venturing out of the nut tree and into the unknown.

Activities aren’t the only way to captivate kids, however: despite their ever-decreasing attention spans, they continue to flock to author’s readings at ALOUD. Most children’s authors are very engaging, Taylor says, and kids love asking them questions. He remembers a young child in pyjamas standing up at one reading and asking an author what his favourite book he’d written was. “Some of the questions kids ask are brilliant.”

ALOUD: A Celebration for Young Readers takes place as part of the Milk International Children's Festival of the Arts from May 21–28 at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, 416-973-4000. A full schedule of events is at www.harbourfrontcentre.com

Read an interview with Ann Love and Jane Drake, authors of Trash Action: A Fresh Look at Garbage
Read an interview with Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser, authors of All Q, No A: More Tales of a 10th-Grade Social Climber