Wow! What a day! I sat with Amy at the Coffee Klatch, sponsored by YALSA, and it was fabulous! I took photos of each of the authors at our table to add to my "bookcase." Future library = author photos + their book(s) = booktalk "real" authors to students. Afterwards, there was a large photo session where all the authors posed for the paparazzi = us! I wasn't shy about going to authors that weren't at my table & asking them to pose for photos. They were happy to comply. Thus, in addition to the ones Amy mentioned, I also got photos of Margarita Engle, Mary Pearson, Barry Lyon, Jay Asher, John Green, and Sherman Alexis.
Afterwards, I spent time at a very interesting meeting on how to help reluctant boy readers, given by CA Teacher of the Year Alan Lawrence Sitomer. Alan teaches at a predominately African American and Hispanic high school in a section outside of Los Angeles, and has a heart to reach his students with the fact that they need to get literate in order to succeed. Unfortunately, I had to leave early, and hope that someone who was there will blog about it.
I was there for 30 min. and he spent that time talking about alot of impressively sad statistics showing that African American & Hispanic students score lower than White & Asian students on their reading tests on a nationwide level. Thus, this leads to situations where these students drop out (at a rate of 1 student in the U.S. per every 9 seconds = 3000 students/day.) Without a high school diploma, poverty sets in. Poverty leads to crime & drugs which leads to jail. The cycle repeats generationally. He also gave the interesting fact that the 4th grade state reading exams are used by the Department of Correction. They use the percentages of students who score below level to forecast how many beds they'll need in the prison in 9 years. How very sad! Another sad statistic was the fact that CA spends $40,000 per year on one inmate and only $8000 per year on one student.
He begins his school year with these stats and tells his students they need to see themselves as a car, and school as a place to gas up, because it has everything they need to drive; however, they have to get out & pump. He said if they're waiting for teachers to check their gas, tire pressure & wipers, they won't get anywhere. By telling them these statistics, he wants to get a rise out of them enough for them to take ownership of their lives.
I talked with him later at the expo while he autographed his latest release "The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez" for me. It's a YA story about a Mexican American girl, oldest of 7 children, only one who speaks English, born in America, trying to break the cycle & go to college. It's about the challenges she faces to try and be the first in her family to live her dream. He also has a trilogy of urban fiction. I like his style.
While at the Exhibits, I also got other authors to pose for me and/or autograph their books which were either $2 or free. These included Marc Aronsen, Charles R. Smith Jr., Kathleen Krull, Anya Ulinich, Andrew Clements and Neal Shusterman. I'd call this an Author Day!
I rushed to the Pura Belpre awards, where various Honor awards for authors & illustrators were distributed, as well as the top prize to Margarita Engle, author of "The Poet Slave of Cuba" and Yuyi Morales, illustrator of "Los gatos black on Halloween." Each of the acceptance speeches were heartfelt. The presentation was sprinkled with Spanish songs sung by 3 soloists (including Yuyi) and guitar playing. The highlight of the day was a mini concert by a children's Mariachi band. There were about 20 talented, costumed kids ranging in age from about 4 to 14 wowing the audience with their vocal skills and playing of instruments from guitar to violin to trumpet. They entertained us while the audience mingled for refreshments.
I then ran to the Book Cart Drill Team Championships. It was my first time attending this, and I can't wait to see it next year. The creative way the 9 teams used bookcarts was unbelievable. There was one school librarian team, but the rest were public libraries. Dressed in fabulous costumes, acts ranged from a 007 spoof to the Beach Boys to the California raisins. The crowd favorite was a team from CA who came out as mad scientists, complete with wild wigs, lab coats and a complete chemistry set on each bookcart. They danced their way through a musical number where they poured a drink in their beakers (which began to bubble merrily) and drank it. They writhed and shrank beneath their carts, stripped their outfits and became zombies - complete with ripped clothing and ashen/bloody faces.
Suddenly Michael Jackson's "Thriller" began to play and they stepped their way, zombielike, through the song w/ their bookcarts - just like the famous video but with the carts for added flair. They brought the house down, and wound up taking home the first place Gold Cart. Mo Willems, of the "Pigeon" books fame, was MC, and was hysterical.
I had an hour and a half to get ready then I was off to the annual REFORMA fundraiser. I met Bob Roth there for a little bit. The party was stomping good, and Spanish music reigned supreme. I shimmied with Camila Alire (she loves dancing as much as I do) for almost 2 hrs before I took my first break. Meringue and Salsa were the dances of choice, and everyone had a blast, with monies going to fund REFORMA scholarships. WHAT A DAY! I danced for another 3 hrs. before I called it a night. Again, as I said before, sleep is overrated during Conference. Yawn!
Seven AM found me bright eyed and bushy tailed (ok - sleepy and yawning) at the breakfast for the 40th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Awards. Kadir Nelson won the author award for his book "We are the ship: The story of Negro League baseball," while the illustrator award went to Floyd Cooper for "The blacker the berry." The various honorees, as well as the gold medalists were profuse in their thanks to the CSK committee for the honors bestowed upon them. It was a wonderful time of solidarity.
