Fantasy Fest kicks off month of Big Read events

DeKALB – Brick Schiola-Williams wasn’t sure if he wanted to dress up.

"He was afraid no one else was going to dress up," his mother, Angela Schiola-Williams, said.

Brick, 11, of DeKalb, asked his mother to wear his knight costume to Fantasy Fest at DeKalb High School Saturday instead. When they arrived and saw other people in costume, Angela Schiola-Williams said, he changed his mind and put on the costume.

Fantasy Fest was the kickoff of the DeKalb Public Library's 2014 Big Read celebration. This is the eighth year in a row the DeKalb library has been selected to receive a Big Read grant, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Big Read organizations select a title from a list of Big Read books and give away free copies of the book. They also schedule a month of activities around that title to encourage the community to read.

This year's title is "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. LeQuin, a fantasy novel about a 12-year-old wizard who wants to go to wizard school, published nearly 30 years before the first Harry Potter novel. The book was chosen at the urging of teen librarian Steve Torres-Roman.

"I've been wanting to do a fantasy novel for a long time," he said. "It's good for kids and adults both."

The 16 activities at Saturday's event included a quiz, an obstacle course, boat racing, hat making, and Wonderland croquet. There were also live performances, including singer Dan the Bard and Linda Ma, who compared the differences between European and Western dragons.

Clara Mount and Vivian Lasken came from Champaign to help judge the costume contest. Dressed for the occasion, the two women and April Lasken, a senior at Burlington High School, have a website called the Grimm Sisters, showing others how to dress up for Halloween and fantasy conventions.

"We're cos players," Vivian Lasken said.

Although she said they aren't big on fantasy literature themselves, Angela Schiola-Williams said her family always attends every event at the DeKalb library. She said she had never heard of the novel, but intends to read it.

Library publicity director Edith Craig said 3,000 paperback copies of the book will be handed out at various events throughout October. For a complete list of events, visit www.dkpl.org.