Texas+Library+Association+Conference

[] =Texas Library Association Conference=

For me, the most informative sessions were the general sessions in the morning. I especially enjoyed the one featuring Gloria Steinem, who ended up being more of an inspiration than I imagined. In addition, the one featuring Professor Nana and the new YA books was fabulous also. I now have a list compiled for next year's book purchase. -- **Jennifer Myers**

I attended the Opening Author Session featuring Joe Hayes, Attica Locke and Jon Scieszka. They had very different styles and personalities but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all three of them speak. Another favorite session was the CRT breakfast with acclaimed artist and author Peter Sis. I really enjoyed listening to his stories about his experiences growing up in Communist Czechoslovakia, his inspirations and his dreams. We even had the opportunity to take pictures with him and have him sign our books! -- **Rowena Verdin**

I attended the Opening Author Session that featured Joe Hayes, Attica Locke and Jon Scieszka. I really enjoyed listening to them speak about what lead them to become writers. Another favorite session was Small Children, Big Dreams (Nino Pequenos, Suenos Grandes: Ideas for Library Activities. I liked the fact that the picture books the they discussed were in bilingual and how the activities were directly tried to the books that they were presenting. I have used some on the activites with our Pre-K bilingual students. -- **Lolita Mora**

TLA 2009 was a FEAST OF AUTHORS for me! I had a good time listening to Paula Poundstone (Opening General Session), L isa Klein, S ara Zarr, Melissa Marr, and Tom Green, (Tayshas Hot Authors), Joe Hayes, Attica Locke, and Jon Scieszka (Opening Author Session), Ally Carter, Scott Westerfeld, Roland Smith, and Gary Schmidt (Lone Star Authors Shine), Peter Sis (Children's Roundtable), and Vicki Myron and Phillip Gulley (Closing Author Session). It was a great opportunity for me as a future SLMS to see the creators of the stories that we read live! It was interesting to get a glimpse of ' behind-the-scenes' when they are writing books. Scott Westerfeld shared how he reads his drafts with his wife and Ally Carter with a friend but Gary Schmidt and Roland Smith would not let anyone, not even their wives, look at theirs. Sara Zarr revealed that "problem novels" like those she writes are looked down on by some fellow authors, but she declared that her writing reflects life. All of them also expressed their advocacy for reading and thanked the audience for encouraging the young people to read. --**Cynthia Ramos**

This years TLA was a great one. I attended the Black Caucus Roundtable breakfast. I was a very enjoyable experience. The event was full to capacity with an impressive list of attendees. At the breakfast I was privileged to hear Author Deborah Willis share information on her book OBAMA The Historic Campaign In Photographs. I was further thrilled when it was revealed that all in attendance would receive a copy of this extraordinary book of art. -- **Dr. Hurt**

On April 1 I attended the General Session. I thoroughly enjoyed

The most memorable part of the TLA for me was the Black Caucus Roundtable Author Session and Breakfast. The speaker, Deborah Willis told a fascinating story in pictures about the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. I was struck by the range of photographs, some were unremarkable, like the one of candidate Obama walking by a trashcan, to extraordinary, like the one of the family on election night. I also enjoyed the session Do The Math, with authors Green, Lichtman, and Johnson. They were informative, funny, and insightful. -- **John Powell**

I always enjoying catching Professor Nana's (Teri Lesesne, SHSU) presentations every year at TLA. She gives a great overview and visual reviews of new YA Literature. The link to her presentation is at Slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/ProfessorNana. Since being inspired by her at TLA, I am now "following" her tweets on Twitter. -- **Barbara Rivas**

This year I preferred the author sessions to the instructional sessions -- my 2 favorite being the Black Caucus Roundtable with photo-historian Deborah Willis. As mentioned on earlier entries she gave an incredible presentation using photographs from the campaign trail of Barack Obama. As always-- we were well fed and received copies of the gorgeous //book Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs//. The Opening Author Session with Jon Scieszka was my other favorite. Jon is hysterical and I enjoyed listening to him speak of his childhood memories. -- **Kelli Schuessler**

I enjoy any and all sessions that deal with web 2.0. Last year I attended a session by Joyce valenza that was great. This year Michael Stephens hit on some of those technologies that will enhance any library. He spoke about blogs, flickr,twitter along with other web 2.0 platforms. I have attached a link to Joyce valenza's site and an informative webpage with hyperlinks from Michael Stephens. [] - Joyce Valenza's homepage [] - Michael Stephen's page. -- **Roger Rose**

I attended several worthwhile sessions including Gloria Steinem's speech and an author session with Meg Cabot, author of the Princess Diaries. I really enjoyed the Black Caucus Round Table and was thrilled to win some autographed books I can give as prizes to my students. **-- Kelly Patton**

I really, REALLY enjoyed Jon Scieszka during the Opening Author Session. I would love to have him come to my school for a visit. I have a tie for my next favorite session - Black Caucus Breakfast and Naomi Bates' session for book trailers. Deborah Willis did a great job of relating her story of Obama's campaign and being a photo-historian, and I love the book. And, I always find Naomi's trailers to be well done and interesting and want to read those books, too! --**Sofia Darcy**

April 1 I attended the General Session and enjoyed Paula Poundstone. She talked about her experiences in her children's school as well as her participtaion at their respective schools. In the afternoon I volunteered at UNT's booth. April 2nd I attended the Black Caucus bkfst which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was thrilled to get that book ( a keepsake). I also volunteered at TLA's registration desk. I signed up for Catgaloging 101 to get a head start on what's I'm up against when I take the course. I enjoyed the session which covered the basics. On April 3 I attended the Children's Round Table bkfst with Peter Sis. Enjoyed his stories and his books. My last session was Storytelling and believe it or not it was boring. I left! TCEA spoiled me. I enjoyed that conference more than I did TLA and I think its because TCEA had more to offer as far as sessions goes. --- **Cynthia Oubre**