Wendy Thompson, Lynda Clouse and Julie Taylor attended the Missouri Association of School Librarians Annual Spring Conference held April 17-19 at Tan-Tar-A in Osage Beach. The theme for this year’s conference was “Focus on the Future.”
Marilyn Johnson author of This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, opened the first general session. At the Administrator’s Luncheon, featured speaker Audrey Church, Ph.D, an author and 20-year library media specialist veteran, spoke about engaging school administrators in support of library programs. The conference ended at Tuesday’s brunch with former president of the American Association of School Librarians, David V. Loertscher, PhD. Dr. Loertscher is the co-author of New Learning Commons: Where Learners Win.
At one of the highlights of the conference, the Reader’s Award Banquet for the 2009-2010 winners, MASL honored Jay Asher for his book Thirteen Reasons Why as the recipient of the Gateway Readers Award for students in grades 9-12; Heather Brewer, author of Eighth Grade Bites, received the Truman Award for students in grades 6-8; Mary Downing Hahn, author of Deep and Dark and Dangerous, received the Mark Twain Award for students in grades 4-6; and Mary Casanova and Ard Hoyt, author and illustrator of Some Dog, received the Show Me Readers Award for students in grades 1-3.
At the Reader’s Award Banquet, MASL recognized authors and books that won the reader’s Awards for 2010-2011. The book Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was the recipient of the Gateway Readers Award for students in grades 9-12 and the Truman Readers Award for students in grades 6-8; Peg Kehret, author of Stolen Children received the Mark Twain Readers Award for students in grades 4-6; and, Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery, author of Two Bobbies, A True Story, received the Show Me Readers Award for students in grades 1-3.
Participants at the conference had a wide variety of workshops to choose from during the three-day conference on such topics as technology, literacy, collaboration, and literature. There were also opportunities to meet the authors. The Readers Awards winners for 2011 were also announced; further information on the conference and the new 2011 Readers Award winners can be found at MASL’s website: http://www.maslonline. org.
