This week, Longwood University will welcome classes and families from across the state for the third annual Virginia Children’s Book Festival (VCBF).

The event fosters the enjoyment of children’s literature and welcomes authors and illustrators of well-known children’s books to speak, teach and make art with their young fans. Families are encouraged to attend

the three-day festival, which takes place in buildings across Long- wood’s campus, as well as in the Longwood Center for Visual Arts (LCVA) on Main Street.

This is the first year that the event will start on Thursday. In the past, it has been a two- day event, according to Executive Director Juanita Giles.

About 7,000 students from across the state are expected to arrive on buses Thursday and Friday. Students from Manassas in Northern Virginia will be traveling the farthest, Giles said.

The festival’s final day is being referred to “Super Saturday” because the programing will be different from past years. According to Giles, there will be more interactive events, such as a cosplay costume parade and a “make your own comics.” There will also be events themed around comics, manga, Mine- craft, Harry Potter and Star Wars.

Giles said she’s very excited to see how the new Saturday festivities go.

“We’ve had a lot of good feedback on our author lineup this year,” said Giles.

Several award-winning authors and illustrators will be in attendance, including Todd Parr, author and illustrator of “It’s Okay to Be Different” and “The Feelings Book.”

Parr, along with artist Monty Montgomery, will be designing a VCBF mural in Longwood’s Bedford Hall throughout the festival. Visiting children are invited to help the artists paint the mural. After being displayed in town for a few months, the artwork will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Richmond in 2017. The mural will be in several pieces where it can be displayed as one large painting or as separate small ones, according to VCBF Director of Development Nicole Perkins.

There are more than 130 volunteers this year, said Dustyn Hall, a volunteer from Longwood. More than half of those volunteering are from the community. The remainder are Longwood students, retired teachers, staff members, librarians and educators.

Hall said this year the outreach was different from past years because organizers relied more heavily on word of mouth from prior volunteers. This was effective because it drew greater community support.

“The LCVA is thrilled to partner with the Virginia Children’s Book Festival for the third consecutive year,” LCVA Executive Director Rachel Ivers said.

She said LCVA is proud not only to provide a venue for the festival but to sponsor one of the authors, John Rocco.

The center will host workshops with Rocco, Marc Brown, Timothy Basil Ering, Elly MacKay, Jeffrey Brown and Ruby Jackson.

“We are also delighted to host their evening panel on (Thursday), ‘The Best in Children’s Literature,’ which features Neal Shusterman, Matt de la Peña and Rita Williams-Garcia,” Ivers said.

These authors are the 2016 National Book Award, Newbery Award and Coretta Scott King Award winners, respectively.

”We learn more every year,” Giles said of this year’s festivities.

She said the changes made to this year’s lineup help to accommodate more children and provide more opportunities.