Thursday, May 26, 2011

YA Author Visits El Paso

At the beginning of the month, Dorris Van Doren librarian Lisa Martinez attended Todd Strasser’s visit to the Burges High School library. She shares her experience and photos of the event on this blog:

On May 4, the librarians at Burges High School were kind enough to invite El Paso Public Library staff to attend their annual Young Adult author visit. Librarians Mrs. Avalos and Ms. Trevino were successful last year at getting Chris Crutcher to speak to Burges H.S. students. This year they invited Todd Strasser to visit! They used grant money to purchase books for the ninth grade class to read as a group and then to fund the author’s visit. This year the students read Tod Strasser’s award winning book, The Wave.

Todd Strasser hails from New York and is the author of more than 120 books for teens and middle graders including the best-selling Help! I'm Trapped In ... series, and numerous award-winning YA novels including Give A Boy A Gun, The Accident, Can't Get There From Here, Boot Camp, and If I Grow Up. His newest book is called Famous. He spoke to three different groups of students throughout the day. He talked about growing up and the events that influenced some of his books. The students were amazed to learn that he was a poor reader and was almost held back in school. He really got their attention when he showed them a picture of himself as a teen (see photo below). He concluded his presentation with a writing workshop, as well as a discussion on his writing and publishing process. The librarians also raffled away books for Todd to sign.

Big thanks to Ms. Trevino & Mrs. Avalos for sharing this opportunity with us! I can't wait to find out who they bring next year.
  • Check out Chris Crutcher’s visit to Burges H.S. here>>
  • Visit Todd Strasser’s website>>
  • Watch a cool book trailer for Blood on My Hands here>>
  • Check out Todd Strasser's books at the library>>
  • Books that Todd Strasser recommended: The Hunger Games, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Feed, Wish You Were Dead, Famous, The Graveyard Book, & Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend (all available @ the library).




Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Reconsidering Hip Hop

This Saturday will be your last chance to catch the “Reconsidering Hip Hop” series at the library. The El Paso Public Library hosted three programs featuring lectures, performances, and movies. At Dorris Van Doren, there will be a live breakdance exhibition and a screening of Wild Style. Wild Style is a classic hip hop movie, starring Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy, and others.

Justin De Senso and Lecroy Rhyanes, both NMSU grads, founded the Hip Hop Alumni (HHA) in 2008. HHA is an online resource that documents hip hop’s continued impact on society, education, history, art, and culture. For more info, check out their website: www.hiphopalumni.com/

Hop Alumni makes its last stop here at DVD on Saturday, May 14 from 3-5:30 p.m.

Check out these news articles about the program:

The talented staff @ DVD tries their hand at graffiti art.