by Ann Miller
The Book to Art Club was recently invited to speak at Camp Read-a-Lot in Mankato, MN by the Traverse des Sioux Library Cooperative. Camp Read-a-Lot was a one-day professional development conference for librarians and educators of young readers, grades 2 - 8, that included book discussions, making activities and a keynote talk on choosing appropriate Native American Literature for lessons and collections by Jane Harstad, Director of Indian Education for the Minnesota Department of Education.
At Camp Read-a-Lot, I had the opportunity to share how the Book to Art Club was started by the Library as Incubator Project founders Laura Damon-Moore, Erin Batykefer and Christina Jones (Endres) under their mission "...to promote and facilitate creative collaboration between libraries and artists of all types, and to advocate for libraries as incubators of the arts." The Book to Art Club's purpose is to show how reading combined with a hands-on project helps achieve a richer understanding of the book's themes, history and context.
After a brief presentation, I led a book discussion with collaborative LEGO building as a project on "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore. I had a wonderful time with the campers, and at the other presentations, and I hope this will lead to the start of our first Minnesota chapter.
