Robert's Library Life: REFORMA

Okay, so I am super, duper late on this post. Grad school has consumed my life lately. I wanted to talk about the REFORMA I went to a few months ago. REFORMA is the Latin American division of the American Library Association (ALA). It concentrates on services and outreach to the Latino community. REFORMA also informs libraries on high quality Latino literature that accurately represents their culture. A group from the library school present posters on different issues in Latino children's and YA literature. Our merry little band included Allison Scanlan, Lacee Nisbitt,Bekah Wood, Katy Olson, Beth Dobson, and Kelly I did my poster on the relationship between Latino children and their parents and grandparents in picture books. We all traveled in an Enterprise van with Dr. Jamie Naidoo from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Denver, Colorado. That is a twenty something hour drive one way. At least I had a few books with me. However, we did listen to this creepy audio book that Dr. N got at a Crackle Barrel called What the Night Knows. Do your self a favor and do not read this book. It will give you nightmares for a month.

These are some eyes that Dr. Naidoo bought and put on the back of our van.
Picture taken by Beth Dobson

The conference was very enjoyable. I learned a lot about Latinos and the struggles they go through. I learned more about literature in general. The poster presentation went very well. I was a little nervous at first, but I was able to eloquently talk about what I found. I even got to meet a couple of authors and had them autograph children's books for me. I got The Tooth Fairy meets El Raton Perez signed by Rene Calato Lainez. He also signed my poster, because I examined the father/son relation in his book My Shoes and I. I also got Book Fiesta singed by Pat Mora. They only gave a few of those away in a drawing. A lot of us SLISers won. Was it rigged, you decide. Anyways, it was a fantastic conference. I definitely want to continue presenting at conferences throughout my career.