AZLA (Arizona Library Association) 2007 Annual conference
Theme - "Sharing Common Values"
Wednesday 11/15/07 (Day 2)
Day 2 was a mixed experience. There were good points and bad ones.
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Hip Hip Hooray! It's Family Literacy Day!
Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford
This didn't really seem to have much information on Family Literacy. It seemed to mostly be a plug for the author's books (kid looking non-fiction picture book of home remedies). There were some shared stories about audience member's experiences with home remedies and memories that can be invoked by different smells and sounds.
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KIDS Interest Group
Chris Gall
This was an author session where he regaled us with the tale of how he went from childhood writer (7th grade) to illustrator (covers for Atlantic Monthly, US News and Terry Pratchett book covers) to artist and then to the present where he is a writer/artist/illustrator.
****A bit of trivia: His grandmother wrote the song "America the Beautiful"*****
This was an interesting and fun speaker.
The steps Chris takes when creating his books:
1. Think of a title (some of his unpublished ones are pretty funny)
2. Create the cover
3. Write the story
4. Send the manuscript to the editor (and re-write when it comes back -- Trust your editor)
5. Create storyboards
6. Research what will be illustrated (What is it really like on Mars or at the bottom of the
ocean, etc.)
7. Sketch the illustrations
8. Create engravings from the illustrations
9. Scan the artwork into Adobe Illustrator
10. Add color in the software program (yup. no more had drawing/coloring)
His works can be found at www.chrisgall.com
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A "Ruff" Guide to Storytime
Bill Landau
"Mr. Bill" presented his method for doing storytimes using movements and his guitar.
The key is to make children want to read and learn. Freshen up the sessions with new books, songs, etc. Be sure to say please, thank you and you're welcome. This teaches the children good habits. A librarian (at least a childrens' one) needs to many different hats; nurtuing, teacher, role model, psychologist, referee, discipline and loving.
There were some tips on grants (whereever to get them, remember to thank the people who give them to you).
Create your own characters for storytimes, celebrate special days (Dr Seuss bday, your bday, first day of spring, etc).
Sometimes you have to learn to say "no". Don't try to do too much and overwhelm yourself.
Many childrens songs only require the guitar chords C, F and G <--- this is important for people like me who are just now learning to play the guitar.
This was a fun session where we got up, sang a couple songs and learned about storytimes from another person's perspective and experience.
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The Wild, The Wacky, The "Funderful" - Creative ways to make books matter to kids
Corey Green and Terri Fields
This one started out pretty good with the teacher/author (Corey) giving some good examples and tips on how to inspire young readers. I had some issues with part of the five finger rules:
* Thumb - Microphone (telling the story)
* Index finger - Points to the main characters
* Middle finger - this can only lead to conflict
* Ring finger - People remember the setting
* Pinky finger - Least important is the plot (I disagree with this one writing for old children)
She also gave a tip on forming book clubs. Kids read the same book. Set aside some space at a certain time for them to just sit and read together (to themselves or out loud).
The second speaker (Terri) was a bit out there. She likes to be very animated when we read stories to children we should do the same. I agree with this, although she seemed a bit extreme.
She gave us an example as she read from one of the books she wrote. This one was about a mother who has two small boys who like to fight and wrestle with each other. One day mom stops a the gas station and purposely leaves the keys in the ignition while she goes in to pay (it gets worse). The kids are wrestling around and stop when they realize it isn't mom who got back in the guy but some man they don't know. There is then a car jacking (keep in mind, she's fully animating the kids here to show us how to read to children). She ends her example when the carjacker points a gun at the face of one of the children.
In my opinon bad parenting and carjackings are not appropriate topics for childrens books. Also, even though I was in the fifth row with a buffer of four full rows of people between us, her characterizations were scaring the bajeezus out of me.
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Overall Conference Impressions
All in all, I did learn some interesting things at AZLA 2007. Met with some vendors (always important when they come to town), saw some of the new books that we'll hopfully be getting soon (including "Mythology" the lastest in the "ology" series (Egyptology, Dragonology, Pirateology, Wizardology). I learned some new things I can add in to my storytimes and inspired me to even add some flannel board components to Shake Rattle and Roll.
The downside was an obvious lack of programming. There were one and two hour periods between sessions and some time periods has empty rooms with no programming at all. This was a first for me based on any other conference/convention I've been to int he last several years. The exhibit hall was unusually small. Maybe 2/3 the number of vendors that usually are there. At any given time it seemed that the poster session hallway was half empty. Also, the food vendor/kitchen apparently decided not to be open for the conference forcing people to either grab vending machine food or go outside to grab some grub.
The negatives It won't stop me from going next year though as it is still a useful tool for local librarians.
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