In this post I am going to attempt to distill three wonderful conference days into one post. I tend to think in 'dot points' so here are my reactions and thoughts now that I am home from this splendid conference. This is my third post about this event. You can read about all the presenters here and also details of my presentation at the Texas Book Festival.
- Austin/Texas authors - books to explore
Paige Britt Why am I me? Kirkus Star review
Samantha M Clark The Boy, the Boat and the Beast
Meredith Davis Her Own Two Feet
This is the true story of a little girl from Rwanda who comes to Austin for an operation to help her walk.
Carolyn dee Flores The amazing water color fish
Watch this video of the story. The unique aspect of this book is that it rhymes in both English and Spanish.
Bethany Hegedus Grandfather Gandhi; Rise Maya Angelou
KA Holt Redwood and Ponytail; I wonder
Lupe Ruiz-Flores Author of six bilingual picture books and Lupe is a poet.
Vanessa Roeder Lucy and the string; The Box Turtle
Christina Soontornvat Diary of an Ice Princess series
New book coming about the rescue of the Thai soccer team - The Thirteen
- Conference program
Briley Dinner table decoration speaker Nicola Davies
There were so many special aspects to the organisation of this conference. One thing I really appreciated was the use of a schedule app. This conference was almost paper free (apart from all the glorious books in the bookshop, the IBBY book displays and the poster sessions). By using the app participants were sent a daily personalised schedule with times and room numbers. The other aspect of the program that I really appreciated was the pace of this conference and they way the organisers at no time had to cajole people into sessions. It seemed to me the delegates were expected to take responsibility for their own program - there were no bells and no one rushing around saying go to this or that session. Here is a list of all the breakout sessions.
- My Pre-conference Reading
My reading really paid off. Prior to the conference I tried to read any many books from the range of speakers as I could. On my flight over I completed a few more Middle Grade novels such as The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin, Whale Boy by Nicola Davies and The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye. On the days prior to the conference I visited the Austin Central library. What an amazing space, building, and children's collection. The library was built two years ago and is housed over six floors with an outdoor courtyard garden, central light filled atrium and bright comfortable furniture. While I was there I read several picture books including: Mine Yours illustrated by Qin Leng; The Red thread by Grace Lin; Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin; What can you do with a Rebozo by Carmen Tafolla; The Pond by Nicola Davies, and The Promise also by Nicola Davies;
- What do I want to read now?
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
Black is a rainbow color by Ekula Holmes
Just in case you want to fly illustrated by Christian Robinson
A time to Dance Padma Venktraman
Deep Underwater illustrated by Irene Luxbacher
Nerdy Book Club blog post by Padma Venkatraman about colonisation and the depiction of people from India in books like The Secret Garden.
A place at the table by Laura Shovan and Saadi Faruqi
Lucy and the string by Vanessa Roeder
- References to Australian books
Florette by Anna Walker
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
Every Child a Song by Nicola Davies illustrated by Marc Martin (Australia)
Sophie Scott goes South by Alison Lester (poster session)
The Patchwork Bike by Maxine Beneba Clarke (poster session)
Bob the Railway dog by Corinne Fenton illustrated by Andrew Maclean (poster session)
- Some memorable quotes (paraphrased)
"We never know how our words go out into the universe" Naomi Shihab Nye
"We are always looking for answers but really it is curiosity that unites us." Paige Britt
On Hope:
"Hope is generosity - to give something away that is unexpected." Ekua Holmes
"Hope - there is no other way. ... Find that book for that child. Words matter. We need to be hopeful for a better tomorrow." Baptiste Paul
"You're not supposed to have an agenda! NO I have an agenda. I want to re connect the child with the natural world, I want to open up conversations, I want children to be empowered not powerless." Nicola Davies
"Picture books are extraordinary, powerful and unique." Nicola Davies
"The story space allows us to imagine a new world - dreams become action." Nicola Davies
- Poster Session highlights
- Spark wonder in Green Literacy - Jen Cullerton Johnson
- Representations of food insecurity and hunger in children's literature - Maria V Acevendo-Aquino and Estela Ipina
- Student-created book trailers on motivation and comprehension - Jared Crossley
- Map it - using maps and digital collection to teach information books - Bindy Fleischman
- Discoveries
Many years ago Allen Say was asked a very serious question by a Grade 4 child - "To be an artist can I be one by working hard or do I need talent?" This question lingered with Allen and led to his newest book - Almond
Christian Robinson dedicated one of his books to his high school art teacher who not only encouraged him she organised for him to enter competitions. I think he said she paid for them.
Elise Gravel has wonderful cartoons on her web site which explain concepts such as empathy, diversity and racism. Her book What is a Refugee was developed when a publisher saw one of her cartoons.
The second pre conference tour was to the Harry Ransom Center which is which is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin. There we viewed a range of items by Arthur Rackham. I was interested to discover there are many other archival collections like this in America such as the Children's Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota. At this conference I met librarian Lisa von Drasek. I would love to spend time in her library and possibly others like it some time in the future.
The common bird in Austin Texas is the Grackle. I think they drive the locals crazy but I found them fascinating. This sculpture can be seen in the Austin Central library - it's a cuckoo clock with no hands.
Image Source: https://ebird.org/news/grackles
- One more thing ...
Poem from the session:
"Looking at Refugees: Books as Help Patricia L. Bloem, Oralia Garza de Cortés, Laura Vander Broek"
Home, by Warsan Shire (British-Somali poet)
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark.
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city
running as well.
your neighbours running faster
than you, the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind
the old tin factory is
holding a gun bigger than his body,
you only leave home
when home won't let you stay.
no one would leave home unless home
chased you, fire under feet,
hot blood in your belly.
it's not something you ever thought about
doing, and so when you did -
you carried the anthem under your breath,
waiting until the airport toilet
to tear up the passport and swallow,
each mouthful of paper making it clear that
you would not be going back.
you have to understand,
no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land.
who would choose to spend days
and nights in the stomach of a truck
unless the miles travelled
meant something more than journey.
no one would choose to crawl under fences,
be beaten until your shadow leaves you,
raped, then drowned, forced to the bottom of
the boat because you are darker, be sold,
starved, shot at the border like a sick animal,
be pitied, lose your name, lose your family,
make a refugee camp a home for a year or two or ten,
stripped and searched, find prison everywhere
and if you survive and you are greeted on the other side
with go home blacks, refugees
dirty immigrants, asylum seekers
sucking our country dry of milk,
dark, with their hands out
smell strange, savage -
look what they've done to their own countries,
what will they do to ours?
the dirty looks in the street
softer than a limb torn off,
the indignity of everyday life
more tender than fourteen men who
look like your father, between
your legs, insults easier to swallow
than rubble, than your child's body
in pieces - for now, forget about pride
your survival is more important.
i want to go home, but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home tells you to
leave what you could not behind,
even if it was human.
no one leaves home until home
is a damp voice in your ear saying
leave, run now, i don't know what
i've become.
- Silent Auction raising funds for IBBY projects
The silent auction was fabulous and I picked up a signed copy of the new Rosemary Wells book Twin Trouble. This linked beautifully with the display at the Austin Central library from the Rosemary Wells book about Yoko.
Mural in the children's section of the Austin Central Library
One piece of art from Yoko's Show and Tell on display in the Central Library in Austin
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