About 200,000 book-lovers descended on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall this weekend for the National Book Festival, which featured presentations and book signings by more than 100 authors, poets, and illustrators, including Katherine Paterson, Dave Eggers, Tomie dePaola, Sherman Alexie, and Jack Gantos.

Organized by the Library of Congress with honorary co-chairs President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, this year's gathering was expanded to two days to ensure that attendees got the most out of the 92 presentations under six circus-size tents. Attendees were treated to three new genre pavilions: the Cutting Edge, Graphic Novels, and State Poets Laureate, which weren't previously represented at the festival.

This year's theme, "Celebrating the Joys of Reading Aloud" featured 32 storytelling events, including the Family Storytelling Stage, a new pavilion sponsored by Target. Actress Julianne Moore and Librarian of Congress James Billington, along with more than 20 authors and musicians who write and perform for young readers, participated in the event.

The festivities kicked off Friday night with an author gala in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress. Prior to the reception, novelist Toni Morrison, biographer Edmund Morris, and Paterson spoke about the importance of reading and books. Morrison confessed to loving her iPad, but that she still enjoyed reading certain works on paper. A performance by pianist Leon Fleisher highlighted the evening.

Scores of people began streaming out of D.C.'s metro stations early Saturday morning to line up for book signings, snap photos with storybook characters, or score first row seats to their favorite author presentations.

Melissa St. Cyr, a school librarian at the Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry, PA, was one of 30 librarians from the Cumberland County School Library Association who traveled by bus to attend the festival. And school librarians Linda Schroeder from Southside Elementary in Buffalo, NY; Sharon Bandy from Virginia Heights Elementary in Roanoke, VA; and Debby Baumgartner from New Albany Elementary in New Albany, OH, were busy in the Pavilion of States, where they collected information about reading and literacy programs to bring back to their schools.

Meanwhile, 24 fourth and fifth graders from a writing program at Westgate Elementary School in Manassas, VA, traveled to hear authors and illustrators, including Gantos and Chris Van Dusen, perform excepts from the Exquisite Corpse Adventure, a "readers' theater" presentation led by Paterson, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, who was introduced as the "Reading Fairy Godmother." They rolled out the newly published book version of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure (Candlewick)—a year-long, serialized story with each chapter written and illustrated by a different children's authors and artist. The story originated online at www.read.gov and is a joint project between the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance and the Library of Congress's Center for the Book.

For the third consecutive year, a Digital Bookmobile, powered by ebook provider OverDrive, enabled visitors to browse a public library's website, sample popular ebooks, audiobooks, music, and video titles, and learn how to download and try out supported mobile devices.

In the PBS KIDS pavilion, children sang along with SteveSongs, enjoyed read-alouds with Martha from Martha Speaks, and posed for pictures with PBS KIDS characters from the cast of Super Why and others, such as Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and the Cat in the Hat. Reporters and editors from the Washington Post introduced several of the author presentations and the newspaper's KidsPost page sponsored a special scavenger hunt for festival-going kids. And in the Let's Read America pavilion, children and families enjoyed a range of activities offered by ReadAloud.org, the Washington Post, AT&T, Penguin Group USA, and Scholastic, which returned to the festival this year with Mrs. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus.

"For more than a decade, the National Book Festival has given book lovers of all ages the rare opportunity to meet, interact with and be inspired by their favorite authors," said Billington, thanking event sponsors and supporters, such as David M. Rubenstein and Target, as well as more than 1,100 volunteers.

Don't worry if you missed this year's festival or missed a pavilion. Author presentation webcasts are available online, where festival-goers are also invited to share their feedback about the 2011 event by completing an online survey.

Check out SLJ's photo slideshow of the event.

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