Award-winning Grant County author Catalina Claussen announces the release of her third young adult novel Holding on to Hope with Progressive Rising Phoenix Press. The Southwest Word Fiesta will hold a virtual reading with Claussen on Tuesday, March 30, 6:00-7:00pm. No registration is required. The free event will be at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4092162808 . The evening will feature special guest Xochitl Hernandez Moctezuma, whose story inspired Holding on to Hope.

The church doors swing wide just as the padre is giving his blessing. Analicia Rosario Menéndez is fifteen when her brother, Junior, is arrested in the middle of her quinceañera. Soon after, her Spanish teacher Ms. García disappears, leaving behind her five-year-old son. During a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ana’s father, Dr. Menéndez, is detained. 

Paralyzed against government forces as her world falls apart, Ana is tired of feeling powerless. Living in a small town along the southern border of New Mexico, someone has to know something, don’t they? Ana, desperate to find the truth, reaches out to those around her. Will her friends, Rose and Imani, help, or will they turn their backs?

This book explores the complex realities facing families and community members living under constant deportation threats.

Catalina Claussen is a southwestern storyteller, young adult novelist, and poet whose works include young adult novels Diamonds at Dusk (2016), Diamonds at Dawn (2018), Holding on to Hope (2020), and the humorous short story collection Being Home: A Southwestern Almanac (2020). Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and now a long-time resident of the Mimbres Valley, Claussen has gained a deep appreciation of the people and the land. Her work has been recognized by the Arizona-New Mexico Book Awards, Wishing Shelf Book Awards (in the UK), and the New Apple Book Awards for Independent Publishing.

A podcast interview with Catalina with KSJE, Farmington, NM, is available at https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-dyfqp-f8ee00. Visit Catalina on the web at www.catalinaclaussenbooks.wordpress.com. Follow Catalina on Instagram @catalinaclaussen or on Facebook.

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What do you do when you’ve been asked to talk about writing to a bunch of super-smart schoolkids? I did what I do when talking to any group: try to engage them, bring an artifact or two, tell a few stories, and ask questions. And in this case I made darn sure I didn’t dumb down anything.

The artifact: a book called Elephant Don’t Sit on Cars – written by my father, published when I was seven, starring one Jeremy James (guess what my name JJ stands for!).

The stories: stuff about my parents and my travels and writing on the hoof.

The questions they asked: what’s my favorite of my books (Damnificados, by a mile); how much money I make per book (it varies enormously); which country I liked best of those I’d visited (all of them have their own beauty, but Lesotho is special to me); and what were my main themes as a writer (social justice, but I try not to ram my views down the reader’s throat).

The questions I asked: did they know about Apartheid? (I told them I’d lived in southern Africa); had they heard of socialism? (I told them about the Venezuelan community that inspired my novel Damnificados); what languages did they speak? (Eight of them were monolingual).

I passed around a few of my books, stole the remaining pizza, and chickened out of reading to the kids. What if they hated my stuff? What if they realized I’m not the gifted one in the room?! Just kidding. It was fun. They gave me a very generous reception and asked good questions. I don’t really believe in IQ tests, but I do believe in children.

You can find the original article from JJ Wilson’s website by clicking the link below.

Me and Gifted Kids

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On the third Saturday of each month, Tranquilbuzz Coffee House, in collaboration with poet laureate Beate Sigriddaughter, hosts a Words and Music event. Aldo Leopold Charter School poets Grace Walton, Serina Floyd, Ashley Elliot, Samuel Medina, and Catalina Claussen will read from their work tomorrow, December 16, 2017. The reading will begin at 2:00pm and will be followed by an open mic for words and music. Tranquilbuzz Coffee is located at 112 W. Yankie Street on the corner of Texas and Yankie Streets in downtown Silver City.

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Starting at 10:00am Jennifer Cervantes, author of Tortilla Sun, will discuss how she became an author and how to stay inspired. She will read from her recently completed manuscript Mighty Zig and will offer a question and answer period. This session will be geared towards middle school and high school youth. Cervantes’s presentation will be followed by readings from Middle and High School students from local schools. The session will end at 12:30pm.

Starting at 1:30pm author and illustrator of children’s and young adult books Betsy James will give a presentation. Betsy has written and illustrated many children’s books including My Chair, Tadpoles, and Flashlight, as well as The Seeker Chronicles series for young adult readers. Betsy is an advocate for literacy, running workshops all over the Southwest and further afield. Betsy’s presentation will be followed by literacy games, activities, and readings for and by elementary schoolchildren. The session will end at 4:00pm.

Families are also encouraged to take part in activities outside the library throughout the day including sidewalk chalk stories, letter hopscotch, and outdoor word games. Literacy Link-Leamos will also be there with free books and information about their services. We look forward to seeing you!

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The Southwest Festival of the Written Word, since its inception, has been present in the community to promote reading and writing as a fun and enriching experience for our  youth .  Sometimes this aspect of the Festival doesn’t get its just acknowledgment; we need to “right” that.

Please click on this link to read about the work that Becky Nell Young, one of the Festival volunteers, has been doing in the elementary schools.  It’s a hoot!

Dear Ms. Becky

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Nicholas Kristof, a columnist in the New York Times, writes about our society’s need to defeat poverty as a means to achieve equality of opportunity. He cites a new book, “Giving Our Children a Fighting Chance,” by Susan Neuman and Donna Celano.

“Neuman and Celano focus on two Philadelphia neighborhoods in Philadelphia. In largely affluent Chestnut Hill, most children have access to personal computers and the shops have eight children’s books or magazines on sale for each child living there.”

A short distance away in the Badlands, there are “few children’s books, few private computers and only two public computers for every 100 children.”

“On top of that, there’s a difference in parenting strategies, the writers say. Upper-middle-class parents in America increasingly engage in competitive child-rearing. Parents send preschoolers to art classes and violin lessons and read “Harry Potter” books to bewildered children who don’t yet know what a wizard is.

“Meanwhile, partly by necessity, working-class families often take a more hands-off attitude to child-raising. Neuman and Celano spent 40 hours monitoring parental reading in the public libraries in each neighborhood. That was easy in the Badlands — on an average day ‘not one adult entered the preschool area in the Badlands.'”

Kristof goes on to remember that his mother helped a third-grade friend not doing well in school to get a library card. His friend’s grandmother made the boy give up the card because she feared library fines.

My wife Consuelo recalls her time of substitute teaching in West Philadelphia public schools, predecessor to the Badlands. The 5th grade room where she spent most of her time had no books and the students had no texts, despite promises from the principal. Consuelo used to buy a stack of Philadelphia Enquirers to take to school every day for class reading, math and social studies. Students in that Philly classroom are now in their 40’s.  It’s a good bet that they aren’t nuclear scientists or college English profs, though some probably had the innate capacity for either career.

Now, we in southwestern New Mexico have some good news that Kristof would love to report.

There’s a lot of excitement in Grant County because we’ve got three terrific public libraries (plus the book mobile) reaching out to engage young readers and their parents. All of us need to support their efforts, which, as Kristof argues so effectively, will pay enormous dividends.

We also witness the work of Literacy Link Leamos as they distribute tons of new books in classrooms throughout Grant County.  All of us need to support their efforts.

And have you spoken of late to Barbara and Loren Nelson who started the Imagination Library of Grant County? Every month over half of our pre-school youngsters receive in the mail a new book, thanks to the Imagination Library [http://www.imaginationlibrary.com].  The Nelsons and their board are working hard to make that percentage one-hundred. All of us need to support their efforts.

A major aim of the Festival of the Written Word on September 27 will be to promote participation by school age kids in writing and reading as social events. Kids need to see adults finding reading and writing interesting, even fun, out in the open air. They need to have a hands-on chance to read and write as festive activities.  All of us need to support the Festival’s efforts.

-Tom

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View and download the entry form: Aldo Leopold Writing Contest 2013 You can also find the form at the bottom of the Bosque School’s website.

There will be one winner for each of three age groups: grades 6-7, grades 8-9, and grades 10-12, who will receive a $500 prize. Honorable mentions will also receive cash prizes, and $500 will be rewarded to the school where the overall winner is enrolled. Entries must be postmarked by February 22, 2013.

Thanks to the New Mexico Humanities Council and the Silver City Public Library’s post for passing this information along.

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