Patrick Adams. And I'm Caroline Legere. And this
is Librarians of Littles, a podcast where we
discuss picture books, include makerspace activities,
and where we give tips and tricks for working
with our youngest learners. This is actually
a bonus episode, our first bonus episode that
we've ever done, but we just spent the last few
days at the Texas Library Association. Association
Conference in Dallas, Texas. And so we wanted
to just talk about our experiences, some of the
really cool things that we were able to do, some
of the things that we were able to learn about,
and just give just a quick little idea of what
it's like to go to a very large state conference.
What we found for sure was that A lot of other
states have conferences, but not to the scale
that Texas has. Texas, everything's always bigger
in Texas and that includes our library conferences.
So we're going to have a discussion about some
of the wonderful experiences that we had during
our time there. So Caroline, you were able to
go to the first two days of the conference. It
was a four -day conference. You were able to
make it to the first two, which is awesome that
we were able to get you out of your library and
come to the conference. So if you had to pick
your favorite thing about the conference that
we were able to attend, what's your very favorite
thing that you got to do or experience or see?
Like, what was the best part? That's such a good
question and that is so hard. Oh, no. Okay. I
think it might be the author sketch -off. Nope,
illustrator sketch -off. Authors don't sketch.
That's foolish. Sorry. The illustrator sketch
-off. That was kind of amazing. So I like like
you were saying I had no idea like I knew that
TLA was a big deal and I didn't But I didn't
realize that other states don't have a massive
conference like this, like a four -day, in a
giant convention center with all the authors
and all the things. But definitely my favorite,
I think, was the Illustrator Sketch Off, which
you recommended, and it was a great recommendation.
So we got to see, oh, I have to remember all
the names of everybody who went. Maybe I need
to pause this and look it up. Hold on a second.
We can pull this up pretty quick. Hold on. Yeah,
I've got my phone. I'm pulling it up on the app.
I assume it's still on the app. It should be.
Let's see. That was on Wednesday. Here it is.
Gosh, I'm gonna have to figure out how to say
these things Okay, I'm looking at it, but I have
to say it now It's not so Monty ho yes, it's
the it's the wish yo wish wish wish wish wish
tree of each a Is that... how do you... is that...
what nationality is that? That would help. Oh
my gosh. Okay, I'm just gonna try it. Okay, here
it tells us if you click on her name. Oh. So
she's a comic book illustrator, artist, recently...
Oh wait, maybe not. Okay. Let me see, hold on.
Let me see what I can do. As I recall, they were
struggling to pronounce her name as well. Yes,
it wasn't just you. So, there you go. I know.
She is... a... Tongva? And Scottish. Oh snap.
That doesn't help. I was like, if it's Spanish,
I can do it! Yeah. Okay. She was born in Santa
Monica mountains on the property of Satweewa.
Yeah, that's fun. Okay, I'm just gonna go for
it. Mm -hmm. Yep. You ready? Yep. Okay, so my
favorite thing was definitely going to see the
artist illustrator sketch off. So what that was,
was they had, um, seven amazing illustrators.
Um, it was Raoul the third. Is it roadie or road?
I think it's roadie. I think it is too. Roadie
Montejo. Naila McGruder, Raina Telgemeier, Kat.
Fajardo. Fajardo? You reckon? Fajardo? Okay.
Fajardo. And Cat Fajardo. And I know I don't
see it in - Bob Shea was a - I think he was a
late entry. Was he a bonus? I think he was a
late entry, yeah. Okay. Alright. And Bob Shea.
And Bob Shea, we're all illustrating. And Greg
Pizzoli was a moderator. Guess you would call
a host a judge. They called it a judge at first,
but he was clearly not just a judge. Yes, so
Pretty much you have these seven amazing illust
award -winning illustrators who are kind of incredible
and like everything they touch turns to gold
and Greg Pizzoli was giving them these really
off -the -wall things that they had to draw within
like three minutes and once that was all done
they raffled off the illustrations to the audience
and it was just it was hilarious. It was so much
fun. I don't even think I can adequately describe
how amazing it was getting to see these artists
in action and how kind of quickly they kind of
came up with their ideas and There was a lot
of improv involved there. Greg Pizzoli like had
a list of things to choose from as far as like
prompts and things that he was that the convention
I think just gave him a list of things that they
he could use as far as prompts goes, but he definitely
kind of got the audience involved and let the
audience kind of help pick some of the silly
things that everybody had to draw. So some of
the things were like they had three minutes to
draw something like their least favorite food
as a villain. That was a lot of fun. And then
there was like Greg Pizzoli said two things that
he hated to draw more than anything else even
after like 20 years as an artist. He hated to
draw horses and bicycles. So everybody had to
draw a horse riding a bicycle and just silly
things like that. And it was so much fun. I'm
happy to announce that I won one of the raffles.
Actually, we both did. I have my picture of one
of the prompts was Greg Pizzoli said since he
was being so mean and having everybody draw things
that they hated to draw, he told them to draw
a picture of him. So I have a picture that Kat
Pajardo made of everybody throwing terrible things
at Greg Pizzoli because he's being the mean judge
and he's got a shirt this is meanie on it and
I'm so excited that I have that. That was cool.
I was excited. I ended up with, for the prompt,
draw the food you dislike most as a villain.
I ended up with a Reina Telgemeier villainous
mushroom that I'm working on. I got to find a
frame for it so I could put it up in the library
because I'm really excited about that. That one
was exceptionally cool. That was one of my favorite
drawings of the evening. That was well done.
Yes, it was a really cool event. And this was
something that some of the librarians from my
school district mentioned to me last year. And
they were like, you got to check this out. And
I went and it was a blast. So when I heard you
were going to make it this year, I was like,
we got to go to this event. It's so much fun.
The energy level is just through the roof the
entire time the illustrators are Just they they're
all such good sports about it and just like you
can tell they're just having a blast being goofy
Bob Shay, especially was just like completely
off the wall the entire time but they all have
such a great sense of humor and like truly their
Artistic ability and their ability to just off
the cuff work with the the random prompts that
were given to them was it's pretty amazing so
it was really a cool event and I'm glad you were
able to come because it really is it's become
one of my favorite events to go to as well that
was yeah that was hands down my favorite so good
choice glad we got to go see that what was your
favorite thing at the conference I think my favorite
thing was the ability to connect with so many
authors we our second day at the conference we
spent the entire day just meeting authors and
illustrators and I think that was one of the
coolest things like we got not just because we
got like a ton of books and like we got signatures
and stuff like that but just like we got to connect
with those authors and those illustrators and
like they they made the line move quickly but
it wasn't a here's your book go it was like You
can have a moment and you can talk to these people
and like make those connections and it was just
so cool to be able to meet so many authors who
were just so happy that people are interested
in their work like like I kept saying you and
I both kept saying this is kind of like Disneyland
for librarians because we get to like see all
these authors and meet all these people and do
but I really think that the authors really get
something out of it too because The pure joy
that you could see on their faces that everyone
was excited to see them. And you could just tell
that they were just so happy that people were
appreciative of their work. And it was just really
cool to be able to make those connections with
so many amazing authors and illustrators. we
posted a bunch of pictures on our social medias
of like some of the authors and stuff and a bunch
of them have already reached out and come hey
thank you so much so glad that you were able
to get to our our line and get this book or you
know i hope you enjoy reading this and like it's
just so cool to be able to make those connections
with those authors we were super fortunate um
that just randomly one of the authors was out
and around at on the first day that we were there
um and she happened to be an author that their
book is in the book battle that my my district
does and so I went over to get a picture and
she was just so happy to hear that we were using
her book to to get kids to read for a challenge
kind of thing and then we ended up standing in
line with her like she was in front of us in
line for half an hour and just able to you know
talk and just like realize that these people
are just they're humans too and they just they're
just as excited to be there and to meet people
that have read their books and I think that's
my favorite experience is being able to see all
of those people and just kind of Make that kind
of personal connection with them It was really
cool. It really was it was It was very something
very special about kind of coming together to
kind of celebrate all of these artists and and
authors. That wasn't very well spoken, but that's
OK. That's OK. Yeah, it was it was very special
getting to come together like that to kind of
celebrate reading, celebrate learning, especially
in Texas, where we do. honestly have to live
with some book banning and things like that.
So it was nice to see everybody celebrated and
just all the joy that we got to experience surrounding
all the reading and the books and the things.
Everybody's just so kind and just really working
together to kind of help spread the literacy.
It's a lot of fun. Yeah, it was it was great.
And then so you were only able to make it for
the first two days the Thursday and then Friday's
really just a half day but on Thursday there
were two really cool experiences first being
that Lewis Sacker was one of the general session
speakers he has a new book coming out in the
fall I think it comes out around August and it's
his first like adult book Not adult in that like
necessarily like content but like the main character
and the focus of the book is an adult character
and so he they talked a little bit about the
process of making that and he read part of it
to us and So I'm looking forward to that. That
was a really cool experience because growing
up reading his books like, you know holes and
There's a boy in the girls bathroom and that
kind of thing. So to actually be able to see
him and hear him talk about his process. He's
definitely he's I mean, his big books came out
in the late 90s. So he's a little bit older.
And so some of the answers that he gave her like,
I don't know, I don't know how that idea came
up. It just was there kind of thing. Like, but
at the same like, but in an endearing way, you
know, it was very fun to hear him speak and talk
a little bit about his experience as an author.
So that was really cool. And then something that
was very special at the conference this year,
they did a screening of the new documentary that's
coming out soon called The Librarians. And it
is a documentary about the book banning and issues
that many of us have been dealing with for the
last couple years. This particular documentary,
it's directed by Kim A. Snyder. They do a great
job of talking about those librarians in states
like Texas and in Florida and other states also
that have had to become the defenders of of libraries
and the defenders of books and the defenders
of intellectual freedom. And it was a super moving,
powerful movie. So they're currently doing the
film festival circuit, but they've been to Sundance
and they've been to a bunch of other film festivals.
And so this fall, it should be coming out in
theaters. I'm not sure how widely that'll be
happening, but they're working on that for the
fall. And then after that, they're working for
distribution and things. But it was amazing if
our listeners have the opportunity to see this
documentary, whether it's in theaters or at one
of the many screenings that they're working to
set up. over the next year, or once it comes
out and goes to a streaming service of some kind,
that would be amazing for you to do that, because
it really does talk about some of the immense
issues that we've been having as librarians to
take on and deal with, and it's just a really
powerful story that everyone should hear and
understand. It was really cool. Yeah, unfortunately
I wasn't able to get a sub on Thursday or Friday,
but I'm very much looking forward to watching
that documentary in particular. It sounds really
interesting. It is, and I'm sure for you and
I, especially knowing one of the librarians that's
in the movie, it was very emotional. Some of
our friends were there with me watching it and
there were tears. Cause we've all been dealing
with this for a couple of years now and it's,
I'm hoping that it's a pendulum and it starts
to swing the other way soon. I hope, but yeah,
they do a really great job of telling this story
and is sharing a lot of different points from
a lot of different librarians and how they're
having to deal with that. And so, yeah, it's.
It was very powerful It sounds like it and like
you were saying like I do think I mean everything's
a pendulum right everything changes nothing's
everything's fluid, but Like part of changing
it is awareness, so I'm hoping that with Documentaries
like this and just like spreading the word like
this It'll kind of help a little push that pendulum
a little bit sooner rather than later. I hopefully
I don't know. I'm endlessly optimistic. Um, but
yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm very much looking forward
to watching that when it is out on a streaming
service or if it, if it's really anywhere in
this area, I do intend to go to a theater and
watch it in the fall. And I bet that if there,
I bet if they do, even if it's a limited release,
they'll probably have it in the DFW area, which
means that we could probably set up where We
could probably set up where we get our group
of librarians together and do a screening of
it again as a group. I bet we could figure that
out. That would be really good. Oh, absolutely.
That's happening. Yes. Other than like those
special things, it was cool. We got to meet Michael
Threats. We got to listen to him talk about library
joy. We got to... hear about his struggle and
his perseverance through mental health and his
basically it I don't want to say the word plea
but just his His expression that that is something
that as librarians we need to be focused on and
helping people with which I completely agree
helping especially as in libraries with a school
library is helping our students find that balance
so that they can have positive mental health
attitude and making sure that we're a place where
they can be safe is super important, of course.
Michael Threats was also able to talk to us about
some of his work with preservation societies
to preserve our stories. That was really cool.
And then the other really great thing is that
there were a lot of really good presentations
put on by other librarians that we were able
to go to and attend and hear about. We got to
hear about using puppets in the elementary schools.
You know, he got to hear about some new horror
books that were coming out. That was a cool author
panel that we went to. We got to see kind of
the curriculum at a glance for a couple of schools
for the whole year. That was nice. That gave
us some good gave me some really good ideas for
um the future and you know some different ideas
that we could do next year like next year when
i create my curriculum so yeah there is a lot
of um we i went to a session about ai and using
that in school which was interesting and it brought
up a lot of good points about teaching students
to especially in like the upper elementary grades,
but teaching students to use AI in a respectful
and kind of controlled manner so that they're
not just plagiarizing, but using it as a way
to gather and curate the information that you
need so that you can then do the assignment or
whatever, which is kind of a cool idea. And then
I was able to go to, being in an elementary campus,
I have through fifth grade, one of the things
that a lot of my students really enjoy are graphic
novels and the manga. And so I was able to go
to a presentation about curating lists of manga
for students under 13, which can be challenging
at times. And so they had a really great presentation
on that. I got to meet, or I got to go to a presentation
that was an author's panel, author illustrator
panel for authors and illustrators from the state
of Texas that did picture books. And so I got
to hear about that kind of stuff. It was, it
was good. And then, oh, one of the, on Friday,
which was the last day and it was a half day,
I got to learn about one librarian's focus on
how she starts in like, July and kind of plans
out her entire school year and starts planning
like what programs to include and what concepts
to hit and that kind of stuff. And so that was
pretty cool. I'm going to try that this year,
see if I can kind of have a better, like the
end and goal, the end in mind kind of goal of
what things do I want to hit. and where do I
want to put them in the year so that I actually
get the two of them instead of so much of a oh
yeah yeah instead of just being like oh in two
weeks I really I need to hit on this within the
next two weeks I should figure out a plan of
how to do that like if I start at the end and
work backwards I think that would be a really
great thing and then uh the last session I went
to on Friday was super cool it was um a librarian
from Houston um she's on most of the stuff. She's
Rachel Reads on a bunch of the social media platforms.
She does a lot of stuff. And so she's an amazing
librarian. And the campus that she used to be
on when she was in high school now she's at a
middle school, but the campus that she was on
when she was at high school, they had a licensed
counseling professional on staff. And so it was
about how they work together to make the library
like, a safe place for a lot of kids and doing
a lot of social emotional learning with the school
library and other students and like having the
students come in when they are getting stressed
and having that anxiety stuff and here's what
we can provide in the library to help them see
this place as a calming place to be able to get
their emotions under control so that they can
Start to think more clearly and go back to the
classrooms and continue to work and that kind
of it was just yeah It was a really great idea
presentation. And so that's that's another great
reason to attend these conferences because you
get to learn from so many amazing librarians
that have so many wonderful ideas and You get
to see how they do it. They're the ones that
are actually like Boots on the ground doing it
and so you can see Hey, this is something that
actually works and it's really it's nice to be
able to do that instead of just sitting in a
pd session where it's somebody who's been out
of education for years and they're telling you
how to do everything like these are the ones
that are doing it daily and so you know it works
you know well and then like realistic point of
view you know yeah well then being a librarian
by nature a school librarian anyway is a little
bit isolating Um, on your day to day anyway,
because there's no, there isn't anybody else
on campus for you to really collaborate with
or bounce ideas off of. So it's really, there's
something very special about coming together
and meeting with other people who do the same
thing as you, because in your day to day, you
really don't have that. There's no collaboration
really other than we're fortunate that we have
each other, but I don't see you every day by
any means. So. it's really just like when I have
a huge problem like I can I'm more fortunate
that we have each other but like most people
don't have that so um yeah it's really great
to go to these things and get to network and
find some fresh ideas from somebody else yeah
um so those people that are listening hopefully
they have at least some kind of conference state
conference local conference that they can attend
but If they're outside of the state of Texas
and are interested, next year's conference is
in Houston, which not the best place, but it
is next year in Houston. It's also weird next
year. It's a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. It's only
three days instead of four. And the first day
is a Sunday. Um, so that's unique, but, um, I'm
looking forward to going again. I think next
year I sent you a text with the picture, uh,
we need to We need to submit again so that we
can present again. So hopefully we'll be able
to present next year in Houston. And maybe some
of our listeners will be able to attend our session.
I don't know. We'll have to see. Yeah. But that'd
be pretty cool. Sure would. Yeah. All right.
So yeah. Hey. Special little bonus episode, but
I just thought since we were going anyway, we
might as well. talk about all the cool stuff
we got to do right um we got to do some real
cool stuff yeah so much fun it was a lot of fun
it was a good time and hopefully houston will
be just as good i think so i really do tla is
always a good time it is it is and so like it's
in houston next year the two years after that
it's in san antonio and then it'll be in fort
worth the following year so we got Three more
years outside of the DFW area, but it'll be back
in Fort Worth the fourth year or so. Yeah, I
really like that Fort Worth location too. It's
just looking forward to it. So convenient. Even
though it's only four years away, but that's
okay. It's just convenient. It works really well.
So yeah. Convention Center down there is good.
Yeah, and better than Dallas, there's actually
places to eat around and stuff like that. Yeah,
good location. Yes. All right. Do you want me
to do the outro on this bonus episode? Sure.
Why not? Okay. Are you ready for it? Ready. Okay.
Thank you all for joining us today on this episode
of Librarians of Littles. We hope you found some
fresh ideas for inspiring our young readers.
Please be sure to subscribe and connect with
us on social media. Happy reading, everyone!