Advocacy

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Here are some ideas that you might want to consider: Here is something you might want to consider: [|__http://www.hisdlibraryservices.org/Namethatbookmenu.htm__]. AR 1/11/10
 * VIP Luncheon
 * One Book, One School
 * Book Festival
 * The Reading Express
 * Other

MEMBERS
 * Nicole Shepard
 * Judy Shipes
 * Pamela Keefer
 * Sandra Davis
 * Dawn Hendricks
 * Ruth Adkins-Villarreal
 * Holly Rigby
 * Laura Householder
 * Rachel Bullen
 * LeeAnn Devore
 * Joan Evans
 * Marsha Franty
 * Karen Mitchell
 * Pat Mohalley
 * Julie Zachary

ONE BOOK, ONE SCHOOL
 * Every child reads selected title during school year
 * Grant - book bought for each student - nice idea, but...possibly swap from campus to campus/year to year???
 * Curriculum connections throughout school
 * Author visits?

JUMPSTART (nationwide)
 * [|www.readfortherecord.org] (world record)
 * Oct. 8th this year

NAME THAT BOOK (check Houston ISD website) [|__http://www.hisdlibraryservices.org/Name_that_book_menu.htm__]
 * List of books (recommended reading)
 * "Patriot Reading Crew" - Rachel @ Mittlestadt (alternative to Bluebonnet)
 * earn t-shirt (provided by PTO) for reading set # of books, different incentives
 * 3rd grade - 15 books, 4th/5th grade - 20 books
 * 30 titles on list (Rachel generates yearly)
 * Possibly schools district-wide compete
 * Also allows focus on younger than Bluebonnet (no programs)

YOUNG AUTHORS' DAY
 * Joan @ Ehrhardt "Camp Read-a-Lot"
 * Every child writes/illustrates own book and these are displayed.
 * Authors, illustrators, and storytellers present to students all day in rotations.
 * Held once a year.

DESSERTS & DATABASES
 * Nicole & Judy/KFHS
 * Invited English teachers to come after school/professional development credit
 * Tailored for English
 * Desserts/doorprized provided
 * In article, librarians did this with parents in the evening

READING EXPRESS BOOKMOBILE
 * Ribbon-cutting at McDougle Oct. 27th
 * Karen @
 * //My Librarian is a Camel (?)// - tied in with Reading Express (
 * IDEAS FOR BOOKMOBILE DURING SCHOOL YEAR
 * cost to use during school year? - driver/gas (each campus responsible)? from mtg. in August
 * SHOULD MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT VIP LUNCHEON
 * __volunteers at meeting were very enthusiastic to help! Need to utilize!__
 * TOUR the bus before summer gets here - April/May at stops/schools
 * Entertainment at stops - Julian Franklin?
 * Fliers/bookmarks, etc...

BASIC ADVOCACY
 * Library newsletters
 * Birthday Book Clubs
 * Reading Motivation Programs
 * Family Reading Night
 * Showcase new library books to faculty
 * Collaborate with public library
 * One secondary/elementary rep (trade off) attend board meetings as presence

=December 14, 2009= Plan for Book Festival--there will be one and there is money!!!! (Spring 2011 at the earliest) Money will be coming from Curriculum & Instruction Should we try collaborating with Barbara Bush Library

Need a theme--Books, the other channel; Got books?; Fight primetime, read books

Need to get information about funding, budget, sponsors, underwriters, etc...

Make contact with other districts who have hosted book festivals--Spring ISD, Montgomery County...

Jan. 23, 2010--College Park HS for Montgomery Book Festival (funded by the County, not just the district)

Need to pin down date and location to prevent overlapping district events and try not to have on the same day as other districts. Have at a high school?? Klein Forest HS Combine elementary and secondary authors on one day? In Spring, elementary was in morning, and secondary in afternoon. In Humble, alternate one year elementary and next year young adult In Montgomery, young adult only

Need one big author for elementary and secondary levels for keynote speaker--Rick Riordan (San Antonio) or Suzanne Collins (lives in CT; will present at TLA in 2010)!! Maybe Susan Stevens Crummel or Andrea White Maybe two or three authors for each level for breakout sessions, maybe a bilingual storyteller (Elida Bonet)

Have Barnes & Noble, Southwest Books or Scholastic come to sell books, food vendors, displays, book activities, crafts Lilian Reitz may have good contact information

Reading Express should be there

Klein Education Foundation could sponsor...Chick-Fil-A, Chevron, Conroe ISD, dentist, Exxon, Montgomery Library System, Sweet Tomatoes, rotary clubs, dermatology, John Cooper--Maybe shirts with all sponsors represented can be worn

Try to get authors who live in area--Bill Hinds, Gail Giles, Cathy Appelt, Vuthy Kuon, Tricia Tusa, Jackie Mims Hopkins, Maybe look at calendar for Blue Willow or Murder by the Book to see which authors might be in town.

Leave open to public?? Would be good publicity--invite other districts and home-schooled students

Instructions for student volunteers from Spring ISD: [] If students volunteer, good chance that their friends will want to attend as well

Spring ISD--programs, sponsorship, fundraising ideas, etc... @http://www.springcommunitybookfest.org/ Ask Sam Houston State Univ. for help since they host book festival every year

www.cynthialeitichsmith.com list of authors who may be able to present

Warren Hansen--lives in Spring, TX (has presented at Benignus & marrying KO English teacher); around $800/day April Lurie--$1000/day plus expenses & lives in Round Rock--book coming out in January Diane Gonzalez Bertran--Trino's Choice author is $1200/day; also does writing workshops Kimberly Willis Holt--presentations & writing workshops

=January 25, 2010=

Continue planning for Book Festival. Look at options that involve both elementary and secondary students.

Stephanie will take care of date and money concerns. Maybe towards end of February??

Ideally, the festival would be for all levels, but it might not be possible. Possibility of alternating secondary, then elementary--then vice versa. Might be hard to build upon the previous year's work if we flip flop.

The **Montgomery Teen Book Festival** sent a packet to some of the librarians with art work that they've reused--artwork becomes recognized--and a book mark with the schedule/authors. Montgomgery doesn't have a "theme"--it's just a festival with many book fairs going on (B&N, Scholastic, etc); food vendors (pizza, snacks, water); t-shirts for sale; jazz band played in the commons. Worked w/ public library, John Cooper School, individual contributors, etc... Many student helpers were there w/ t-shirts for identification--kids received credit for helping--time stamps on their programs. Everyone received a ticket at end of sessions that went into a drawing--prize was teeth whitening from a dentist who contributed. If students are going to work, have training. Hour at the end of the day for autographs; were allowed to get programs signed, not just books. Authors have been presented differently--main author was keynote & two breakout sessions w/ authors; moderated panel w/ all authors. Breakout session can be what author wants to do--Lauren Myracle played game about censorship; Melissa Marr took questions; some have powerpoint presentations. Suggestion--have 3 breakout sessions that are shorter, instead of 2 longer ones.

Would be very difficult for little kids to go to breakout session. Should probably have story tellers, puppet shows, etc... Would parents be staying w/ their kids? Maybe gear more towards parent/child activities. Some parents may think it's a "school" thing, and drop their kids off w/o supervising. Maybe we should start w/ a teen festival since we have a better idea of how it should work...could include 5th grade and up. Logistics of elementary book festival seem overwhelming right now. Maybe start w/ a morning event for elementary--they might not be as impressed w/ famous authors--teachers, hs kids, or parents could do some reading. Reading Express is already a big elementary initiative. Intermediate school is when students start to lose interest in reading, so could be very good to focus on teens.

Some districts have pre-registration to estimate the number of people attending, while others just have people show up. We should contact the organizers to figure out what path to take. Make sure to have graphic artists--bring in boys and art students. Sending out information to other school districts for advertising is a good idea. Put info on Twitter and Facebook.

Have to get big names to get people to come--can we talk to B&N or Blue Willow?? How does the scheduling of authors happen? Possibly share authors with another district?? Local authors would be easy to get, but we need a big name so that people will keep coming back. Montgomery festival in Jan; Humble ISD: Alief in April--should we do it in Fall so that there's not so much competition for authors or TAKS. Was Spring ISD's festival in Fall? Authors and vendors might see a fall festival as a bigger money maker w/ holidays coming? Have to worry about football season--players, band, drill team, supporters, etc...will be involved in games.

Is it possible to collaborate w/ another district or Barbara Bush Library? Barbara Bush would probably be happy to pass out flyers.

__Author Inquiries__: Holly Black, PC and Kristen Cast (live in OK), Andrea White, Bill Hinds, Kristin Cashore, Libba Bray, Jennifer Ziegler, Suzanne Collins, Alex Sanchez, Perry Moore, Sarah Zarr, Cynthia Leitch Smith, Lyle Lovett, Sarah Dessen, Matt de la Pena, James Dashner, Gail Giles, Bill Hinds

Any sessions w/ Skype visits??

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