Published On: October 21st, 2015By Leticia Fehling

Parker Intermediate School Students Create Video for a Texas Bluebonnet Award Book Nominee

The book is about a family’s fight for school desegregation for Mexican-American communities.

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW6jzzIwAQo&feature=youtu.be” width=”560″ height=”315″]

[dropcap color=”#888″ type=”square”]E[/dropcap]ach year, the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Texas Bluebonnet Award Committee selects a new list of 20 books. The committee releases the list at the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Texas Book Festival in October. In selecting titles, the TBA committee considers student interests, reputable reviews, and literary quality. The lists includes both fiction and nonfiction books.

Many resources and activities are available on TBA’s website for the books on the list. These include book reviews and videos. More resources are available on this website. For example, a student reading log. There is also a student reading chart for readers to chart their progress.

Librarians, teachers, and parents may also develop their own original ideas to enrich the TBA reading program.

Students at Parker Intermediate School decided to use technology as their TBA project. Aya Haimour, Génesis Alfaro and Alexa Ruiz created a video (at top of the page) about one of the TBA book nominees. They chose Separate Is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh. The trio of students worked with Elena Moore and Mark Moreno. They serve as the information literacy specialist, and information technology technician, respectively.

The tech savvy girls learned how to use Audacity, a free audio editor recorder. The students also contacted the author to ensure that they could use and share the video. The author responded immediately.

“This was such a great experience for the students,” said Moore. “And they got to hear from the author. Mr. Tonatiuh told the girls, ‘This video is great! Please feel free to use it.’ The students were over the moon with pride.

“The students really took an interest in the book’s story. The Texas Bluebonnet Award program is about getting students inspired to read. That is what Aldine ISD leaders support. Reading is essential to students’ academic success.“

Eligible readers across Texas will cast votes for their favorite TBA book in January. Eligible voters are readers in Grades 3-6 who have read at least five of the books on the list. They must be enrolled in a TBA-registered institution. All votes must be cast by midnight on January 31 (CST).

The author of the winning book receives the Award at the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Texas Library Association‘s Annual Conference in April. During the TBA luncheon, the author shares insights on his/her writing. The illustrator may also attend.

The winner accepts the year’s award from [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]youth representatives. The TBA Committee chooses the student representatives at random. The committee looks at students that have taken part in the TBA program at their institution.