Tales From the Glass City—sounds like the title of an action movie or an adventure novel. Not quite, but close in a sense.
That’s the name of a new kids book convention that is designed to encourage young readers to fall in love with books.
“We’re trying to create a space where they can fall in love with reading,” said Kersten Davis, who with her sister and business partner, Ashley Boggs, came up with the idea for a book convention catering to kids, specifically pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.
Having a kids’ book convention started out like many good stories do, with inspiration and an idea.
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The sisters are fans of the romance and fantasy genres, so much so that they traveled to conventions featuring those authors in cities such as Chicago and Boston.
They attended a convention in the Dayton area of independent authors from a mix of genres, and from that one Davis and Boggs thought they could do something similar. “So many authors live in Ohio,” Davis said. “We thought Toledo is such a perfect place to do something like this because it’s centrally located.”
Pages of Glass
They started an LLC called Pages of Glass in December 2024. Through this LLC, they began organizing book-related events. In August 2025, they had their first convention, with 96 romance and fantasy authors and vendors. The event at the Lucas County Fairgrounds drew 1,000 visitors, Davis said.
The shift to children’s books grew from their everyday jobs. Davis is a special education teacher of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities; Boggs is an audiologist who works with deaf and hearing-impaired students.
“As a special ed teacher,” Davis said, “children’s literature has become something I look forward to. I stack my bookshelves with that so that my students might read or entice them to read.” Ashley works with speech therapists, so being exposed to good literature for youths is important to her, too, Davis said.
Tales From the Glass City
Other book-related events and conventions in Toledo are centered on adults or older children. “Something said we should give this a go,” Davis said of their “a-ha” moment. “We wanted something for kids to have fun and literature to be the center.”
Thus, Tales From the Glass City was born. It will be from noon to 4 p.m. on April 10, 2027, at the Mez, downtown Toledo, with 30 authors and three vendors. It’s date of nearly a year away is because authors tend to book appearances far in advance, Davis said.
“Parents can look forward to a day of letting their kids have fun with reading,” Davis said. “There’ll be scavenger hunts for different age groups, a bracelet-making station, and bookmark decorating. The kids can interact with the authors.”
That last component is important. “We hope our authors can connect with local families and connect with bookstores in the area to do readings. We hope we can open up doors for authors as well.”
Davis said most of the authors are from Northwest Ohio, with several others from Columbus and Cincinnati.
“We’re hoping for a good turnout, and to do this every other year,” Davis said.
Children under 18 are free; adult tickets are $10.
The sisters’ goal is simple: “To help kids discover stories that spark a love of reading and open the door to adventure.”
Tickets went on sale May 1: https://talesfromtheglasscity.eventbrite.com ; the event page: https://www.facebook.com/share/18bDqi8gwU/
