Above / Former First Family Members, Laura Bush and Jenna Bush Hager, will visit Pfeiffer Hall on Monday, May 16, with their latest book, Our Great Big Backyard. Pfeiffer Hall is located at 310 E. Benton Ave.
Anderson’s Bookshops present former First Lady Laura Bush, and her daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, at 4:30PM on Monday, May 16, at Naperville’s Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave. on the campus of North Central College.
The members of the former first family are making a special appearance next month in Naperville to celebrate their new children’s picture book, Our Great Big Backyard. This event is a return engagement for the writing partners, following their 2008 visit for Read All About It! Jenna Bush also came to town with her 2007 book, Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope.
$25 Ticket / Pre-autographed book
For this very special public presentation, tickets are $25. Each ticket admits one person to the program and includes one pre-autographed copy of Our Great Big Backyard. This program will include a moderated talk, followed by a brief Q & A session.
Please note: there will NOT be a signing line or photo opportunity as part of the May 16 event. Tickets are available exclusively from LauraandJennaBush.brownpapertickets.com.
Expect security measures to be in place. Due to the nature of this special program, participants should anticipate individual security screening prior to admittance. Personal items are subject to x-ray and hand inspections at this event.
Brief history of benefits of instilling love for books & stories
Laura Bush and Jenna Bush Hager have spent countless hours in the classroom and in school libraries, teaching children and working to instill a love of books and stories. To further support teaching and learning here in Naperville, a portion of ticket sales will also benefit the Naperville Education Foundation (NEF). The foundation, an arm of Naperville Community School District 203, supports grants to individual educators, or entire schools, in an effort to promote a deeper understanding and teaching of literacy, to enrich instructional programs, to provide opportunities to link literacy between home and school, and to lay foundations that will develop life-long readers.
Similarly, a portion of the proceeds of this special author event will also benefit the Indian Prairie School District 204’s Indian Prairie Educational Foundation. The IPEF enhances the opportunities provided to students in District 204. As a vital part of the community, the foundation provides extras that make the difference between a very good school system and an excellent one.
About Our Great Big Backyard
To help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, #1 New York Times bestselling authors former First Lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush Hager have created an exuberant picture book tribute to our national parks and the importance and fun of connecting with nature.
Our Great Big Backyard follows Jane, whose plans of spending the summer playing video games with her friends are dashed when her parents announce that her family is going on a road trip to national parks around the country. Yet somewhere between the Everglades and Big Bend National Park, things begin to change. Jane starts paying attention to the magnificent sights and spends less time looking at her screen. The stunning views open up her imagination as she and her brother see everything that nature has to offer. And the more Jane discovers, the more she realizes how much there is to love about the outdoors—whether she’s in a national park across the country or right in her own backyard.
About Laura Bush
Laura Bush has championed key issues in the fields of education, health care, human rights, and the preservation of our nation’s heritage for decades. A hiking and outdoors enthusiast, Mrs. Bush encourages Americans to spend time in and care for our national parks.
The author of the bestselling memoir Spoken from the Heart, Mrs. Bush also founded both the Texas Book Festival and the National Book Festival in Washington, DC. Today, as the chair of the Women’s Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute, Mrs. Bush continues her work on global health-care innovations, empowering women in emerging democracies, education reform, and supporting the men and women who have served in America’s military.
Mrs. Bush holds a degree in education and a master’s degree in library science. She taught in public schools in Dallas, Houston, and Austin and worked as a public school librarian.
About Jenna Bush Hager
Jenna Bush Hager is a contributing correspondent on NBC’s Today show and an editor-at-large for Southern Living magazine. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope, which she wrote after traveling to Latin America in 2006 as an intern with UNICEF. Ana’s Story is based on the life of a seventeen-year-old single mother with HIV who struggles to shield her child from the life she had of abuse and neglect.
Hager remains involved with UNICEF and is currently the chair of its Next Generation initiative, which is dedicated to reducing childhood deaths around the world. Hager holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin. She is also co-author with her mother, Laura Bush, of the children’s book Read All About It!
Hager is the daughter of former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. In 2008, she married Henry Hager, and they have two daughters, Margaret Laura (Mila) and Poppy Louise.
About Anderson’s Bookshop
Sponsoring this upcoming program is Anderson’s Bookshops, specializing in book sales, author events, booksignings, and building a sense of community, learning and fun. The store has been helping Naperville readers for six generations. Based in downtown Naperville, the store has grown with the community. A second location is in downtown Downers Grove, at 5112 Main Street (630) 963-2665 and a third in downtown La Grange at 26 S. La Grange Rd. (708) 582-6353. A gift shop, Anderson’s Two-Doors East, at 111 W. Jefferson Ave., operates in Naperville. To keep updated about other Anderson’s events, visit www.andersonsbookshop.com.
Anderson’s Independent Bookstore Day is April 30, 2016
Anderson’s Independent Bookstore Day will be celebrated all day, Sat., April 30, as part of the store’s calendar of special events.
Activities are taking place all day, free costumed storytimes included. Anderson’s “The Bookseller in Is” Booth will offer personalized book suggestions for 5 cents (going to charity), ala Lucy Van Pelt of Peanuts’ fame. Refreshments will be provided at all locations, as well as the sale of exclusive literary Independent Bookstore Day items ranging from prints, tea towels, coloring books, and totes. (Neil Gaiman coloring books are going to move fast!)
The backstory of Independent Bookstore Day comes from 2014’s runaway success of California Bookstore Day. Bookstores across the nation are now preparing for Independent Bookstore Day, a country-wide celebration of books and independent bookstores.
Key to Anderson’s success has been special events, like the April 30 celebration of Independent Bookshop Day. For more information, visit www.andersonsbookshop.com.
