1-30-20 UNO Professor of Children's Literature, Pat Austin, gives a passionate book talk

Friends:

I spent half of my Saturday at a professional development seminar hosted by the University of New Orleans (UNO) and Metairie Park Country Day School. Pat Austin, Professor of Children’s Literature at UNO, headed the program. The program began with Pat discussing this year’s ALA winners: the Newbery, the Caldecott, the Prinz, the Sibert, the Geisel, the Pura Belpre’, and the John Steptoe New Talent awards. She booktalked her favorite and not-so-favorite selections from the list. Then Pat showed us some excellent books that didn’t win awards but should have.

After Pat, the lower elementary librarian from Country Day shared how she used the Kindle with her 6th graders. It was interesting to see the school embrace and integrate new technology. The final presentation was by the high school librarian, who shared her experiences in Saudi Arabia, traveling on grant funds. It was very interesting. After a discussion of “Have the Newberys lost their way?”, it was time to eat.

1-30-10 Lunching with Librarians at Country Day's Book Update Event, including my dear friends, Ellen Miller to my left and Betty Brodtmann, to my right

We were treated to a 3 course meal of mixed greens with tomatoes and artichoke hearts, pan seared Marsala chicken, buttery Yukon gold potatoes, haricot vert, and delicious Spumoni cheesecake. Every bite was delectable. The Country Day chef, Jerome, did a phenomenal job. Thank you!

I enjoyed my morning and loved meeting new people. It’s always great to hang out with librarians because they get excited about championing books. We all have the same goal – literacy! Getting kids to read is a job we must all do together.

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

9-27-09 Empower!

Friends:

On Friday and Saturday, I was a part of the TASL Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. I was the Saturday first general session keynote. On Friday, I attended some great sessions. First, I attended a session by Nick Bruel, author of Bad Kitty and Poor Puppy. Nick is such an interesting and entertaining man. I really enjoyed his session on how Bad Kitty came together.

9-26-09 Nick Bruel, Author of Bad Kitty, presents

After a quick lunch, I attended a session by storyteller and author, Mary Jo Huff. Mary Jo is an extraordinary presenter. She had an incredible amount of great information and ideas for the early childhood librarian.

9-26-09 Mary Jo Huff and her Peeper friends

Talk about storytime pizzazz! Mary Jo had everyone fired up and smiling!!

9-26-09 Ann Reedy smiles in Mary Jo Huff's session on storytellin' fun

That night, there was the awards luncheon. I sat at the table that laughed the loudest. We had so much fun! After the association awards were presented, Peg Kehret and Nick Bruel both received awards. Congratulations to both authors!

9-26-09 Dianne de Las Casas with Nick Bruel

On Saturday, September 27, 2009, it was time for me to present my morning general session keynote. My keynote was entitled “Passport to the Imagination” and it embraced the conference theme: Explore, Excite, Empower! I took the librarians on a tour through my childhood and how I was inspired to write at an early age by many people along the way. There was Hula dancing, interactive book-making, and rousing audience participatory storytelling. I told Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach. It was a whole lot of fun!

9-27-09 Dianne presenting a keynote at the TN Assn of School Librarians Conference 2009

Afterwards, it was time to do my breakout session. I had 50 minutes to present “Story Fest.” Boy, did we barrel through the process and get right into it.

9-27-09 Story Fest workshop - participants portraying a Mardi Gras parade

The workshop participants were so good, working so well together. They were so cute presenting their story theater masterpieces. They presented “The Turtle Who Could Not Stop Talking” and “The Frog and the Ox.”

9-27-09 The Reading Rockstars preparing for performance

The performances were so much fun and the librarians had a grand time. It was a breathless 50 minutes full of lots of “Wow!” moments. After my session, it was time to sign books. The librarians were so sweet. There was such a long line and they were sooooo patient, waiting for me. Thank you so much!

9-27-09 I am a Fan of Dianne! (waiting for Dianne to sign their books)

It was a fantastic conference and I had such a great time with all the librarians! Thank you to Bruce Hester, Lynn Caruthers, Becky Jackman, Nancy Dickerson Dickinson, Allison Roberts and everyone at TASL who made this conference such a success. It was a flawless experience for me and I was given the star treatment! I appreciate being part of it! You are all AWESOME!

9-27-09 Dianne de Las Casas & Allison Roberts

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

Valerie Byrd Fort, Dianne de Las Casas & Amanda LeBlanc, The Red Hot Mamas of SCASL 3-12-09

Friends:

I had an amazing time in Greenville, South Carolina at the 2009 South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) Conference. Valerie Byrd Fort (President), Amanda LeBlanc (Conference Coordinator), Kitt Lisenby (Past President, Betty Davis Davis (one of my hostesses), Lena Lee (one of my hostesses), and so many other media specialists made this one of the best library conferences I have ever attended. They made me feel welcome and loved!

Teacher Librarians cut "Joseph Had an Overcoat" in Handmade Tales Workshop 3-11-09

My first workshop (”Handmade Tales”) was on the morning of Wednesday, March 11, 2009 as part of the SCASL preconference. I had a great time with the librarians cutting, folding, drawing and telling Handmade Tales.

These librarians are "STARS" in my book! 3-11-09

My afternoon session was “Story Fest: Reading Comprehension through Story Theater.” It is a fun, active workshop that has the participants role-playing and dramatizing stories.

Teacher Librarians dramatize a role in my Story Fest workshop 3-11-09

Here are some more pictures of the group acting up! LOL

Teacher Librarians "act up" in Story Fest workshop. hahaha 3-11-09

It was a blast to see them let go of their inhibitions and have a great time. The workshop culminated in the librarians acting out two stories (I divided the room in half). The first group performed “Sausage Nose,” a Swedish folktale.

Teacher Librarians dramatize the story, "Sausage Nose" in Story Fest Workshop 3-11-09

The created their flavorful story choruses while the storytellers rehearsed. Then they put it all together.

"Sausage Nose" story chorus cheerleaders in Story Fest workshop 3-11-09

The second group performed “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” an Aesop fable.

Teacher Librarians dramatize the story, "The Ant and the Grasshopper," in Story Fest workshop 3-11-09

The story chorus for “The Ant and the Grasshopper” got down with their flavorful hip-hop rap.

"The Ant and the Grasshopper" story chorus in Story Fest workshop 3-11-09

On Thursday, March 12, 2009, I did two breakout sessions, “Tangram Tales,” and “Tell Along Tales.” Tangram Tales was well-received and the librarians loved combining the math of Tangrams with stories.

Teacher Librarian does a Tangram boat on her computer! 3-12-09

Here is another Tangram, the “organic” way…

A Candle Tangram in Tangram Tales workshop 3-12-09

I didn’t get any pictures from my Tell Along Tales workshop! But my room was packed to capacity. I received lots of compliments on all my workshops. I also told The Cajun Cornbread Boy at the awards luncheon and afterward, my book, The Cajun Cornbread Boy, sold out. I autographed a lot of books at this wonderful conference! It was a pleasure and an honor to do so.

Children's Book Authors Dianne de Las Casas, Phil Bidner & Dan Yaccarino have fun at dinner 3-11-09

One of the many highlights of my trip was meeting fellow children’s book authors, Phil Bidner & Dan Yaccarino. They are wonderful guys and so much fun to be around.

"Mice on Main" art installation with "Goodnight Moon" in front of Hyatt Hotel in downtown Greenville, SC 3-12-09

Here is a picture of one of my favorite people from the conference – Kitt Lisenby. Kitt (Kee-Yit) taught me how to speak South Carolinian. Add a couple of syllables to every word and draw it out. I loooooove you, Kee-yit! LOL In addition to Southern speak, I had the best Southern food like fried green tomatoes! Yum!

I can’t wait to return to SCASL. I just love those librarians! Thank you all so much for making my trip to South Carolina so special!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

Friends:

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of being a featured speaker at the Mississippi Library Commission conference. The conference was for children’s librarians in Mississippi public libraries. It was a fun busy conference! The conference was held at the Cabot Lodge Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi.

When I arrived, I was immediately invited to join the librarians for dinner. They had a buffet of fajitas set up. Yum! Afterwards, I joined the librarians for a YA movie night. We watched Juno. Following that, I met another client for a cocktail! It was a busy night.

I rose early Thursday morning and had breakfast with the group. Then I attended Vicki Cobb’s presentation. Vicki is the children’s book author of many wonderful non-fiction science books, books that get kids excited about science. Vicki was a fabulous presenter, providing many hands-on science activities for the librarians, who loved every minute of it! Here is Vicki demonstrating a science principle of wind using a leaf blower and toilet paper. How fun!

Vickie Cobb demonstrating wind with leaf blower & toilet paper - 11-20-08

When Vicki’s presentation was finished, there was a fun game. Each table of librarians was a team. Each team had a “sculptor.” I was the sculptor for my team. Using Play Dough, we had to sculpt for our team using clues we were handed on a small piece of paper. Can you guess what book this was supposed to be?

Play Dough Game - 11-20-08

If you guessed, “Harry Potter,” you are right! See the sorting hat, golden snitch, and the Nimbus 2000 broom?

My two presentations were both scheduled after lunch. My first workshop was “Tell Along Tales,” in which I taught the librarians how to tell audience participatory stories. I also taught them important audience management techniques.

Dianne instructing MLC librarians - 11-20-08

Here we are doing some “hands-on” audience participation, doing the chorus for my story, “Pulling Up the Sweet Potato.”

Dianne teaching audience participation - 11-20-08

It was tons of fun! Thank you, Vicki, for staying for my Tell Along Tales presentation!

This is a picture of Jamie Elstrom. She worked at Jefferson Parish Library, my local library, years ago when I first got my start in storytelling. Jamie likes to say that she saw me “grow up.” It’s true! Jamie is so tech savvy that she booked me right on the spot using her laptop during a break. I’ll see you in Summer 2009, Jamie!

Jamie Elstrom, former Louisiana librarian now turned Mississippi Librarian - 11-20-08

After Tell-Along Tales, I did my “Story Fest” workshop, instructing the librarians how to use story theater in the library. This is a picture of a group doing some role playing warm-up exercises. They are portraying a bus driver on a bus with a group of very naughty children. OMG! The bus driver is blind-folded! Hahahaha!

Story Fest Group role-playing bus driver with bad kids on the bus - 11-20-08

This next group is role-playing a Mardi Gras parade. They had to portray a float, the parade king, and the Mardi Gras revelers. Can you tell who is who?

Story Fest role-playing Mardi Gras parade - 11-20-08

We had so much fun in my workshops. These librarians were enthusiastic, lively, and one of the most fun groups I’ve worked with. They even gave me a beautiful gift at the end of my presentations – a standing ovation! Wow! I was so honored. A special thank you to Kathy Buntin for inviting me to participate in the conference.

After my workshop, I went to my room to rest for a while. Then, as if the full day’s activities weren’t enough, I joined a group of librarians to see the midnight premiere of Twilight (I read all 4 books by Stephenie Meyers). We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. (Mara, I can’t sit next to you anymore! Mai Tai! still LMAO)

Mississippi Librarians, thank you so much for having me at your conference. I can’t wait to see y’all again!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

Sept 18 2008 - Eliana with Her Library Card in the Reading Castle

Friends:

Today, Eliana, my 8 year old daughter, and I went to the library. It was a special trip because she was getting her very own library card. It may not seem like a big deal to you but it is a very big deal to a third grader! This means that she’s a “big girl,” growing up just a little bit more.

I taught Eliana how to use the computer catalog to perform searches and find books. Then we had a lesson on how to find a book by its call number. She learned about the Dewey decimal system and how nonfiction is categorized. Using the call numbers, she found all her books on her own. Eliana checked out 8 books – 7 cookbooks (for ideas and inspiration for her new blog, Eliana Cooks!) and one book on becoming a chef.

Finally, she checked her books out by herself using the self-service check-out machine. She loved that.

Sept 18, 2008 - Eliana is checking out her books

Going to the library with your children is important. Not only are you putting your valuable tax dollars to work, you are encouraging literacy, supporting your community, and exposing your children to another world through the power of books. Here are some of the services and products the library offers:

* WiFi (wireless internet) access
* Computer use
* Magazines
* DVDs and CDs
* Book Clubs
* Meeting rooms
* Storytimes
* Crafts
* Performances
* Author Visits
* Art Showings
* Books, books, and more books!

Sept 18, 2008 - Eliana's Library Books

So get your children a library card and check out the library! Here’s to the power of reading!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne