Friday Breakfast
Friday, November 2
7:30 a.m.

Ray Bial
Nauvoo: A Forgotten Chapter in Illinois History

Raymond Bial discusses his recent book Nauvoo:
Mormon City on the
Mississippi River and then presents a series of slides in which he tells the remarkable and little known story of the historical community of Nauvoo along the Mississippi River in  western Illinois.

Raymond Bial (pronounced Beal) is the author and photo-illustrator of more
than eighty critically acclaimed books for children and adults. A skilled photographer, he works with ease in both color and in black and white. Working with both film cameras and digital equipment, he is best known for his versatility in portraiture, landscapes, and still lifes, and his sensitivity toward the people, places, and objects portrayed in his images.

Award Banquet
Friday, November 2
6:30 p.m.

David Warlick
Literacy & Learning in the 21st Century

David Warlick, a 30 year educator, has been a classroom teacher, district administrator,
and staff consultant with the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction. For the past ten years, he has operated The Landmark Project, a consulting, and innovations firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. His web site, Landmarks for Schools, serves more than ten-million visits a month with some of the most popular teacher tools available on the Net. David is also the author of three books on instructional technology and 21st century literacy, and has spoken to audiences throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America.

His enlightening and thought-provoking address will describe how our notions of literacy must expand to address a rapidly changing information landscape where information is networked, digital, and overwhelming. What makes him a highly effective and sought-after speaker is that, at heart, he is a teacher with a contagious passion and enthusiasm for helping people discover a brand new world of teaching and learning. Sponsored by Metropolitan L.S. and Rolling Prairie L.S.

Sponsored by Metropolitan L.S. and Rolling Prairie L.S.

Author Breakfast Saturday, November 3 7:30 a.m.
Mark Buehner Monarch Award Winning Illustrator Mark Buehner is the illustrator of many children’s picture books, including Superdog, the Heart of a Hero, the 2007 Monarch Award winner. A highly regarded illustrator, he has created artwork for the books written by his wife, Caralyn Buehner, as well as for stories by other authors. Among his works are My Monster Mama Loves Me So, Harvey Potter’s Balloon Farm, and the NY Times bestsellers Snowmen at Night and Snowmen at Christmas. As a boy, Buehner made "books" by drawing pictures and stapling them together; as he later noted, "I had no idea that what I was doing would eventually become my line of work. Pulling out pencils, paper, and watercolors was just part of my daily routine." His books have garnered numerous state and national awards and have been featured on Reading Rainbow and Storytime on PBS. Mark and his wife Caralyn are the parents of nine children and currently reside in Salt Lake City, Utah.	Sarah Weeks Author of the 2007 Rebecca Caudill Award Weeks, the author of the 2007 Rebecca Caudill Award for So B. It has been writing children’s picture books and novels for the past twentyfive years. She is a graduate of Hampshire College and NYU and is currently an adjunct faculty member in the prestigious Writing Program at the New School University in New York City. Her newest novel, Jumping the Scratch was a Book Sense 2006 Summer Children’s Pick and So B. It, which appeared on the LA Times bestseller list was awarded the Parents Choice Gold medal in addition to winning a number of state book awards. She has completed four books in the humorous middle-grade series, Boyds Will Be Boyds, for Scholastic book clubs and OGGIE COODER, a new chapter book for middle grade readers is being published Scholastic in Spring 2008.
Sponsored by Harper Books, and Prairie Area L.S.