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I love it when products intended for kids find a secondary niche with adults.  I noticed three such electronic products while browsing the exhibits at ALA Annual in Anaheim.  Be forewarned, I am going to name specifics products.  This is not an endorsement by me or the ALSC.

World Book Discover – Our favorite kid-friendly encyclopedia retooled for older users.  Imbedded dictionary, atlas, timelines, a very cool multi-language visual dictionary, and tips for conducting research.  Most different from their kids’ product: the Life Skills Center.  This section includes articles on insurance, money matters, health, employment, and social skills.

Brainfuse – Their HelpNow online homework program for Grades 3-12 also has a section called Skills Building for adults.  Here you will find a writing lab, knowledge tutorials, and realtime one-on-one skills refreshers for grownups.  Adults don’t have to have a specific question when the log in.  It’s just skills review & practice.

Tutor.com – This homework service has always had Grades 4-12, but is now offering to help Adult Learners (which is the name of this new service).  They have also added a writing lab that will be useful to all subscribers and are expanding their homework help down to include the primary grades K-3.

–Bradley Debrick, Guest Contributor

I’ve just returned from the Pura Belpré Celebración where we honored Margarita Engle, the author of  The Poet Slave of Cuba, a biography of Francisco Manzano; Yuyi Morales the artist and Marisa Montes the author of Los Gatos Black on Halloween; Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, author of Frida Viva La Vida! Long Live Life!; Maya Christina Gonzalez My Colors My World/Mis Colores, Mi Mundo ; Raúl Colón, illustrator of Monica Brown’s My Name is Gabito; and Carmen Agra Deedy author of Martina the Beautiful Cocroach: A Cuban Folktale.

It was a joyful event, which started with Suni Paz’s singing and maracas followed by REFORMA president Mario Ascencio and ALSC president Jane Marino’s welcoming words and Jean Hatfield, the chair of the Pura Belpré Committee’s introduction to the award and the authors and illustrators.

What made the event truly special was that each of the authors and illustrators said something heart-felt and memorable. Yuyi Morales listed all her childhood fears of ghosts, skeletons, brujas, and zombies and closed with a song to La Llorona, who just needs some love.  Margarita Engle spoke about her desire to let the world know about the poet whose talents were unquenchable in spite of brutal treatment and who, she was sure, was watching over her shoulders as she wrote. Marisa Montes described her life in terms of The Little Engine That Could giving her mother particular thanks for instilling in her the value of perseverance. We heard about her determination to learn English, then to become a skater, later to become a lawyer, whether young women were encouraged in those days to go into law or not – she said she looked for strong women models – and to become a writer when she realized that is what she really wanted to do . Finally, she told the story of  Los Gatos Black on Halloween’s publishing Odyssey from 1996 to 2006, with rejections by all the grand, important engines whose editors couldn’t imagine what Spanish had to do with Halloween, for instance, until she found the editor at Holt, who saw exactly what Montes had in mind – a celebration of language. Carmen Bernier-Grand recited a poem in her mother’s honor and talked about learning English and how her mother inspired her. Raul Colón talked about the pressures of working on multiple projects while creating the fantasy world of Gabriel García Márquez. Maya Christina Gonzalez sent her thanks and words through her editor from Children’s Book Press, explaining that she had to participate in a march supporting same sex marriage, which she felt was a gift she owed, in the name of human rights, to her daughter. Finally, Carmen Agra Deedy regaled us with the story of how Martina the Beautiful Cockroach came to her in the voice of her mother during a hot Georgia storytelling session in a large school auditorium which had just been invaded by a large flying cockroach. The story was the only way to calm the children.

The Celebración ended with music: Suni Paz led us in Spanish and English in a sing-along about the freedom to fly, think, speak, and read, Yolanda Valentín sang a beautiful solo, and the Rhythmo Mariachi Kids played and sang “Los Colores” for the audience, then serenaded the authors, with Yuyi Morales’s son also playing a guitar.

Book signing followed. Included among the books were not only the Pura Belpré authors’ books but also Lucía González’s and  Lulu Delacre’s The Storyteller’s Candle: La velita de los cuentos, a biography of the Puerto Rican-born New York City librarian Pura Belpré, which the author and illustrator had created to honor the first librarian to promote the passing on of Latino/a cultural heritage to children through her retelling of Puerto Rican folktales. Proceeds from the sale of the books will go toward support of the award.  

–Judy Lechner

ALA Marginalia announces the Day-in-Review to be held at Salon Huron at ALA Island (179, 201, 29) at 5:00 p.m. Second Life Time/Pacific Time today (Friday, June 27), Sunday and Monday. It will begin at 4:00 p.m. Second Life/Pacific Time on Saturday, June 28.

I’ve been invited to liveblog and solicit questions for an Annual Conference session about a newish ALA grant project designed to educate the public about privacy rights. More info will be up soon at their site, Privacy Revolution, but for now, they have a top-notch panel speaking about this subject at Annual (Cory Doctorow, Dan Roth from Wired, and Beth Givens, the director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse), and they’re soliciting questions from those who can’t attend the session. If nothing else, there is a survey available on the site that they’re hoping you’ll take in order to collect data about information privacy policies and practices.

Jessamyn West has a longer explanation on Librarian.net, and I think it’s probably easier if everyone just posts their questions there, although I will definitely ask any relevant questions posted here, too. If you’ll be at the conference, we’ll be in room 201D in the convention center from 1:30-3:30pm, so please join us.

As soon as there is more info about the project available online, I’ll post a note about it here. I’m hoping good things will come from this, as I think this country needs to have a serious and frank debate about privacy issues, and I believe libraries are a good forum for this.

I’ve finally had a moment to collect room numbers, and since I see that some of the gaming stuff isn’t listed in the program guide, here’s a quick run-down.

• Open Gaming Night
  7:30-10:30pm
  Hilton, Pacific Ballroom C
   
• Games and Gaming MIG meeting (open to any attendee)
  10:00am-noon
  Sheraton Park Hotel in Plaza A/B
   
• DDR at the Wellness Fair
  10:30am-2:30pm
  On the exhibit floor
   
• More gaming sessions in an easily scanable format on the Annual wiki
   
• And of course, the California Dreaming game will be everywhere!

Add ALSC to your Annual Conference schedule with exciting programs, events and giveaways!

• Decide ahead of time which ALSC programs and meetings you want to attend by viewing: http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/alscevents/alscannual/alsc08programs.cfm
• WIN a ticket to the ALSC event of the year—the Newbery Caldecott Banquet!  For those who have not yet bought tickets to Sunday’s banquet, visit the ALA/ALSC booth (#1840) and enter our raffle for your chance to win. The drawing will take place at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday; winner need not be present to win.
• Flashy ALSC giveaways and member ribbons will be available at our exhibits booth, so don’t forget to stop by!
• Fear not ALSC newbies, “ALSC 101: Making Connections” is here to help!  Join us Friday from 4 – 6 p.m. in the Annual Conference Center room 201A/B to learn more about ALSC, meet fellow new members and get some great conference tips!  Can’t make it on Friday?  A mini “ALSC 101” will be held in the ALA Membership Pavilion in the ALA booth (#1840) in the exhibits hall on Monday morning from 9:30 – 10 a.m.  For helpful conference tips, visit the ALSC Wiki at http://wikis.ala.org/alsc/index.php/Helpful_Tips_for_First_Time_Conference_Attendees
• End your busy Saturday at ALSC’s Annual Happy Hour!  Join us at Roy’s from 5 – 7 p.m. for a cash bar, good times and great friends both old and new.  Roy’s is located at the Anaheim Garden Walk, 321 W. Katella Ave, Suite #105.  Visit http://www.roysrestaurant.com/ to learn more about Roy’s.
• STUDENTS!  Connect with other student members at our first ever ALSC Student Mix and Mingle taking place Sunday from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. in the ALA Member Pavilion on the Exhibits floor. 
• No trip is complete without a little shopping!  Stop by the onsite ALA Store to pick-up ALSC products, such as our Born to Read and Every Child Ready to Read materials

For more information on ALA Annual Conference visit www.ala.org/annual.  Questions?  Contact Jenny Najduch at [email protected].  We look forward to seeing you in Anaheim!

submitted by Shilo Pearson
Chair, 2007-2008 ALSC School-Age Programs and Services
Committee

The School-Age Programs and Services Committee of the
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a
division of the American Library Association (ALA), is
happy to announce that ALSC has released their
bibliography, “Great Early Elementary Reads,”
featuring recommended book titles for children who are
just learning to read and beginning to read on their
own.

The book list is available as a full-color PDF on the
ALSC Web site at www.ala.org/ala/alsc/booklists and is
free to download, copy and distribute to colleagues
and patrons. Print copies of the list will be
distributed by ALSC at the ALA Annual Conference in
Anaheim, California. Please look for them at the
following locations:

ALSC membership booth (on exhibit floor)
ALA’s Literature Distribution Bins (near ALA
registration area)
ALSC All Committee meeting (Sunday)
ALSC Division Leadership meeting (Saturday)
ALSC Membership Meeting (Monday)
ALSC Office table (on display rack)
ALSC Kids! @ your library Campaign program
(Saturday/10:30 a.m.)

The bibliography is broken down into two categories:
“Starting to Read” and “Reading on My Own.” The books
included were published between 2005 and 2008.
However, many are part of a larger series that young
readers also will enjoy. The titles were selected,
compiled and annotated by members of the 2007-2008
ALSC School-Age Programs and Services Committee.

Join ALSC in Second Life for “Annual with ALSC: Programs, Attendance & More!” taking place Thursday, June 12 at 12 Noon SLT (second life time; 12 Noon SLT = 2 p.m. CST) in the Member Lounge of ALA Island (78, 98, 29).  This in-world discussion is designed for ALSC members to share with eachother information about Annual programming and helpful conference tips (GREAT for all you first time attendees!).  Questions?  Contact Jenny Najduch at [email protected]. We hope to see you there! 

No, no, not the ones who play in the Angels Stadium. You could be an angel if you come to the ALSC Public Library/School Partnership Discussion Group. We are meeting on Sunday, June 29 at the fabulous time of 1:30-3:30 as part of the All Discussion Group meetings in the Clarion Hotel Orangewood Room.

How could you be an angel? We’ll be talking about working together on summer reading programs. You might have an idea which will help someone else through a difficulty, thereby earning your wings! So come and share the funniest, easiest, hardest things about working with students, teachers, parents, and librarians.

submitted by Wendy Woodfill, Convenor, ALSC Children’s Collection Management in Public Libraries Discussion Group

The Children’s Collection Management in Public Libraries Discussion Group will be meeting on Sunday afternoon during ALA next month. Here are the details:

Sunday June 29 1:30 to 3:30 pm
Clarion Hotel Orangewood 2 (CLAR)
616 Convention Way

We have two topics for discussion:
1. Declining circulation. A number of libraries have witnessed declining circ in the last few years, especially in the areas of children’s nonfiction and picture books. What are libraries doing to counter this trend? Are floating collections the answer?

2. Multi-format book programs. Several publishers have announced ‘book programs’ that encompass multi-ages and multi-formats (e.g., Simon and Schuster’s Trucktown by Jon Scieszka). Is this a new trend? What other programs are in the works? Are libraries purchasing the complete package?

I hope you all are able to attend the discussion group meeting! As always, I promise a lively, fun, and stimulating discussion.

Squidoo.com has a great link about pen and ink resources for artists who use quill pens or rapidographs.

I've been creating lots of illustrations, but can't post any yet, so I figured I'd post an old one. I'm yearning to do more pen and ink renderings of people and animals, children's illustrations rather than buildings. My favorite disposable rapidographs went out of stock....(Why does that always happen?) Maybe it's a good thing...it may force me to face my unreasonable fears of quill pens and return to them.