When Faye Gibbons was growing up, her family didn’t have a television. Instead, for entertainment, her family told stories. Her favorite ones were the scary ones her grandfather told. She went to school for the first time at age nine. She learned to read, and it opened a world of new stories in books. She didn’t like writing until after she finished college. She says that almost all good stories have scary parts and funny parts. Faye Gibbons will be coming to Auburn on Saturday, March 7 for a Young Author’s Conference sponsored by the Plains Reading Council. The conference will be held at Wrights Mill Road Elementary School from 9-11 a.m. The conference is free, but registration is required by Wednesday, March 4. It is open to 2nd-6th graders. For more information, email Ms. Johnson at .

An Excerpt from Faye Gibbons book The Day The Picture Man Came

“I’m tired of berry picking,” I said after the third deer-fly bit me, “I wish something would happen.”

Hazel sniffed and tossed her curls. “I think we’ve had enough going on around here today. Nothing more is going to happen.”

She was dead wrong. A few minutes later, a brightly painted box of a wagon bounced around the far end of our pasture, headed for our house. It was pulled by a gray mule, and the driver wore flashy town clothes. We all dropped our berry buckets and tore out running.”