Author Event with Jeff Gottesfeld in Conversation with Aryssa Damron

We are thrilled to welcome veterans, families of veterans, and anyone else from the community for a special event with award-winning author Jeff Gottesfeld to celebrate the release of his moving children’s picture book, HONOR FLIGHT: CELEBRATING AMERICA’S VETERANS, recommended for ages 7-10 and gorgeously illustrated by Matt Tavares. By the same team as the 2021 release, TWENTY-ONE STEPS: GUARDING THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, this new companion book honors military veterans and the program that keeps their contributions alive.

Jeff will be in conversation with Aryssa Damron, a local librarian who is also the regent of the Manor House Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the largest chapter in Washington, D.C. After a one-off Honor Flight welcome at the airport in 2023, Aryssa got involved as a ground crew member at DCA and now welcomes over 40 Honor Flights a year, making her the perfect conversation partner for Jeff! 

While this is a children’s picture book, all ages are welcome at the event! Your ticket comes with one or two hardcover copies of Jeff’s books, as well as the option to add up to two free companions.

About HONOR FLIGHT:
Located in our nation’s capital are monuments dedicated to the service members who fought in the last century’s wars. Visitors line up to gaze at the Iwo Jima Memorial, stark against the sky; the solemn Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; the national World War II Memorial with its circle of unity; the Korean War Veterans Memorial; and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, engraved with tens of thousands of names. It is here that the Honor Flight program has brought some 300,000 aging veterans, all of them deserving a chance to see their commitment and sacrifice honored and commemorated. Told in the voice of an anonymous veteran, Jeff Gottesfeld’s first-person narrative conveys the emotional impact of a visit that not only encompasses a tour of the monuments but also includes moving tributes from friends and schoolchildren and ends with the kind of welcome home that some of the veterans had never received. Matt Tavares’s striking illustrations bring readers close to both Washington’s timeless monuments and the veterans whose role in history will never be forgotten. An afterword and notes from the author provide more information for curious readers.

About Jeff Gottesfeld:
Jeff Gottesfeld is the author of HONOR FLIGHT: CELEBRATING AMERICA’S VETERANS and TWENTY-ONE STEPS: GUARDING THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, illustrated by Matt Tavares. An acclaimed writer whose work has won awards from the American Library Association, the Writers Guild of America, and the National Council for the Social Studies, he has previously written for adult, teen, middle-grade, and picture book audiences. Jeff Gottesfeld is based in Los Angeles.

About Aryssa Damron:
Aryssa Damron is the elementary librarian at the Van Ness Elementary School in Washington D.C. but she is also the regent of the Manor House Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the largest chapter in Washington, D.C. After a one-off Honor Flight welcome at the airport in 2023, Aryssa got involved as a ground crew member at DCA and now welcomes over 40 Honor Flights a year! She also coordinates her students and DAR members to participate in Honor Flight mail calls and welcome events. You can read more about her here. 

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Old Town Books