Thalia Book Club Camp @ Symphony Space is a unique camp geared for avid readers and writers ages 9 - 12 offering up-close interaction with favorite children's book authors and illustrators.  Campers will meet with children's book authors, take part in book discussions, and go on book-related field trips around the city.  Each week camp will conclude with an informal performance of actors reading camp participants' writing.

 

Author Guests
Author guests have included a diverse line-up of established writers and illustrators alongside emerging talents, each with a unique perspective on books and writing. Some of the highlights have included a rare visit with Norton Juster to discuss his classic The Phantom Tollbooth, intimate conversations with Award-winning authors Rachel Vail (Justin Case), Sarah Weeks (So B. It), Linda Sue Park (A Single Shard), Rebecca Stead (When You Reach Me), Jacqueline Woodson (Locomotion), and Lauren Oliver (Liesl and Po), bestselling authors Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted), Wendy Mass (Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life) and Michael Buckley (The Sisters Grimm), as well as introductions to new writers such as Maile Meloy (The Apothecary), Ben Winters (The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman), C. Alexander London (An Accidental Adventure), and Adam Gidwitz (A Tale Dark and Grimm). Campers have also met with illustrators including Chris Raschka (Seriously, Norman!) and Percy Jackson cover artist John Rocco who led a workshop on cover design. Other art related activities included a book making workshop with the Center for Book Arts, cartooning with graphic novelist Matt Phelan (The Storm in the Barn), and an exploration into comic books with Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy).

Field Trips
Each week, we go on a couple of adventures around the city with our author guests. In the past three years we got the chance to go on a top secret field trip with Brian Selznick (author/illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret), a reporting adventure with NY Times reporter Michael Winerip (Adam Canfield series), a Kiki-Strike-related field trip through the West Village with author Kirsten Miller, a visit to the Greek and Roman rooms at the Met with George O'Connor (The Olympians series), an afternoon at the Bronx Museum of Art with the 2010 National Book Award-nominee Rita Williams-Garcia (One Crazy Summer), and a trip to The Colbert Report to meet with a comedy writer. Last year, in addition to a visit with editors, designers and publicists at Random House Children's Books, we also got a backstage tour of the Royal Shakespeare Company's reconstructed Stratford-upon-Avon theater at the Park Avenue Armory with Elise Broach (Shakespeare's Secret), explored the Ambrose Lightship at the South Street Seaport with writer and illustrator Brian Floca (Lightship; City of Light, City of Dark), visited the Trinity Cemetery with Matthew Cody (The Dead Gentleman), and took trips to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art and the New York Hall of Science.

Three (different) one-week sessions for Ages 9 - 12 (24 campers per week)
Week one: July 23 - July 27
Week two: July 30 - August 3
Week three: August 6 - August 10
Note: campers may enroll in more than one session when space is available.

Camp hours: 9am-4pm