Speakers

AASL President Mary Keeling

Don't miss this opportunity to learn how the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) can ignite your passion and your career! AASL President, Mary Keeling, will help you navigate the multiple features and benefits of AASL membership while highlighting exciting and practical resources to help you in your career as a school library professional. Learn more about how your membership in AASL supports the profession and how you can get involved with the work of your national association. New and prospective AASL members are invited, and long-time AASL members are welcome to attend this great networking opportunity.

Jennifer LaGarde

librarygirl.net/

Jennifer LaGarde (aka library girl!) is a lifelong educator and learner. With over twenty years of experience in public education, Jennifer has served as a classroom teacher, a teacher librarian, a digital teaching and learning specialist, district level support staff and a state-wide leader as a consultant for both the NC Department of Public Instruction and the Friday Institute for Instructional Innovation.

Some of the awards and distinctions she has received include:

ALA, New York Times and Carnegie Corporation’s "I Love My Librarian Award,"
Library Journal Mover and Shaker
AASL Social Media Superstar: "Social Justice Defender."
Salem Press Blog of The Year

Jennifer is currently a guest lecturer for Rutgers University where she teaches courses in Emerging Literacies and Young Adult Literature. She is currently the librarian in residence with Evergreen Public Schools. She also works with teachers, librarians, instructional technologists, instructional coaches and both building and district level leaders, around the world, to develop innovative instructional practices that both serve the literacy needs of students and that infuse technology in meaningful ways.

Jennifer has published numerous articles on best educational practices for journals like Teacher Librarian, ISTE, School Library Connections and Knowledge Quest. She's also the coauthor of the book Fact VS Fiction: Teaching Critical Thinking In the Age of Fake News with Darren Hudgins. Jennifer currently resides in Olympia, Washington where she spends time chasing after her two dogs, drinking lots of coffee and updating her award winning blog The Adventures of Library Girl where she proves you don’t have to be super hero to be a teacher librarian, but having a cape sure helps.

Jonathan Hill

oneofthejohns.com

Jonathan Hill is an Ignatz-nominated cartoonist, illustrator, and educator living in Portland, OR.

In 2003 he graduated as valedictorian of the Savannah College of Art & Design with a degree in Sequential Art. After graduating, he moved to Portland, Oregon and realized that he needed to relearn everything he learned in art school.

His first graphic novel, Americus, was published by First Second Books in Fall 2011. It was picked as an ABC New Voices 2011 title, nominated by the YALSA as a 2012 Best Graphic Novel for Teens, was a Fall 2011 Junior Library Guild Premier Selection.

In 2012 Americus won the NAIBA's Carla Cohen Free Speech award, becoming the first graphic novel to win the award. The first chapter of Americus was published in Papercutter #7 (Tugboat Press) and was nominated for the Best Short Story Ignatz Award in 2008.

His short story 'Jeremiah' was selected as part of the 2016 Society of Illustrators Comic and Cartoon Annual exhibit and publication.

Jonathan also teaches comics and visual narrative for various organizations around Portland. He is an associate professor in the Illustration Department at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, teaches comics and illustration classes for youth programs at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, and was Writer in Residence through Literary Arts' Writers in the Schools program from 2012-2016, where he now serves on the Youth Programs Advisory Council and on the Board of Directors.

He is currently working on two graphic novels: Wild Weather: Storms, Meteorology, and Climate was released in April 2019 by First Second books and The Searchers, his first solo graphic novel, will be published by Oni Press 2020.

Katherine Roy

katherineroy.com

I’m the award-winning author and illustrator of How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild and Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands. I am also the illustrator for Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere, by Barb Rosenstock, the Expeditioners series by S. S. Taylor, and of Buried Beneath Us by Anthony Aveni. Forthcoming books include Red Rover by author Richard Ho, a nonfiction book about bears, and a nonfiction book about reproductive biology in the natural world.

I love science, history, and big adventures, and am endlessly fascinated by the way things live, so my books often focus on informational storytelling and science education. An idea for a new book begins with weeks (or months) of reading and sketching, followed by a research trip to meet experts in the field, where I study my subject in the wild and ask lots and lots of questions. Back in my studio, writing starts with drawing, but it takes countless dead ends and several terrible drafts to arrive at a story that works. A book doesn’t come into being by magic—it’s a thing that is built in layers by someone who refuses to give up—so my job is to find a way to turn information into words and pictures, as beautifully and accurately as possible.

Barbara Herkert

barbaraherkert.com/

I've been creating stories and illustrating them since the first grade. I currently write picture book biographies. I love the research and finding hidden gems about a person's life that will appeal to young readers.

I received a biology degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a masters degree in writing for children from Hamline University. I studied art and art history at Oregon State University, and I've taught art appreciation at local schools. I live on the wet and windy Oregon coast with my family. I also spend creative time in a log house in central Oregon.