"Loriene Roy remembers a group of kids from Jemez Pueblo who attempted to greet the librarian in her Anishinaabe language.
The New Mexico students said, "Boozhoo! Boozhoo!"
"Do you know me? Do we know each other?" asked the faculty member from the University of Texas at Austin.
The first-graders, who belong to a national reading program for Native students, replied, "You read us a book last year."
Roy, project director for "If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything," started the reading club to encourage kids to read for fun. At the same time, her organization promotes library use at Native schools and helps improve school library collections with books that can empower indigenous youth.
"It's a wonderful program," said Karen Brown Letarte, president of the American Indian Library Association. "Loriene chooses the books and provides fun things and works with teachers and finds books that positively portray Native people. There is a real dearth of quality books."
Roy is always looking for a good book. She will be in Seattle on Jan. 19-24 during the American Library Association's midwinter conference when the organization announces the top books and videos for children and young adults - including the Caldecott, King, Newbery and Printz awards. The ALA, which has close to 65,000 members, will provide a live webcast of the awards Monday at 8:45 a.m.
Roy, an Anishinaabe from White Earth, Minn., will be inaugurated in June as the first Native elected as president of the ALA."
Get the Story:Jodi Rave: ‘If I Can' gets Native youth reading for fun (The Missoulian 1/19) Relevant Links:
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