By Brooke Thomas and Sara Clarke-De Reza
From November 7-9, 2024, Dr. Sara Clarke-De Reza represented the Busload of Books Research Team at the annual Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE) conference in Tinley Park, Illinois. This was her first time attending the AISLE conference and was a featured speaker for the Saturday morning session, as well as a part of Robbi and Matthew’s Saturday afternoon closing session. Pictured below are Matthew, Dr. Clarke-De Reza, and Robbi at the AISLE conference showing off the presentation for one of their sessions!
Dr. Clarke-De Reza’s presentation, titled “Moving the Dial on Literacy Attitudes: The exciting results of a landmark study on the impact of author/illustrator visits and book giveaways,” highlighted the primary findings from the Busload of Books Research Project, which have important implications for school librarians. She says, “I hope that librarians learn a few things from this presentation. First, I hope they know that their efforts to create exciting, enriching, and powerful learning experiences for their students are seen and understood by the Busload of Books project! I also hope they felt acknowledged in the many challenges they face- logistical, financial, practical- in bringing authors and illustrators into their schools. Finally, I hope they're able to take the results of our research back to their schools to strengthen their advocacy for more literacy enrichment experiences for their students and communities.” If you are interested in taking a look at Dr. Clarke-De Reza’s presentation, her slideshow is linked here!
Upon her return from the AISLE conference, I asked Dr. Clarke-De Reza about her experience and what she hopes the future of this research might look like. She says, “I had the chance to meet a bunch of other children's book authors and illustrators at the AISLE conference, and talk with them about the challenges and opportunities they experience when planning for school visits. It was really helpful to gain some more insight into ‘the other side’ and I hope that our future research can engage with more creators who want to improve meaningful access to school visits for children in Title 1 school communities.”
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