02 Dec Pack-n-Go Girls at AASL

Pack-n-Go Girls recently attended and exhibited at the American Association of School Librarians Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It was exciting to meet librarians from all over the country – Kentucky, Massachusetts, California, Kansas, Texas, Alaska, and our own state of Colorado, to name a few – and from all over the world (great meeting you, Zanele from South Africa)!

Lisa signed copies of our Advanced Reader’s Edition of, Mystery of the Naga at Night. We gave away 100 copies to librarians who reserved books in advance and came by our book signing at Authorpallooza. Our Pack-n-Go Girls Ambassadors are taking a final look at the book this week and providing their feedback. We are making final revisions to release the book in early December, just in time for the holidays.

At our booth, we talked with librarians about our mission to  make a difference by nurturing an adventurous spirit that inspires kids to go out and explore the world, infusing kids with curiosity and an insatiable thirst to learn, and coaching kids to notice what unites us and appreciate the value of our differences. We featured our paperback and hardcover editions, as well as discussed our new paperback and printable editions of our no-prep Country Exploration Kits. And we gave away free copies of our e-books and audio books so librarians could take a look at how Pack-n-Go Girls can add value to their collection. We also gave away one set of the first book in each country to one lucky winner, Julia Duggin from Kansas. We’re excited that the students in her school will get to explore Austria, Mexico, Thailand, Brazil, and Australia with Pack-n-Go Girls.

And that’s not all. Janelle joined best-selling authors Kathleen Glascow and Alan Gratz on an author panel discussing how to use literature to talk about Difficult Topics with Teens. Janelle shared her perspective on the challenge, which she gained from writing her young adult Never Enough series and sharing it with readers across the country and in Europe. If you haven’t already, check out the first book in the series, Never Enough Flamingos, which was a 2017 Kansas Notable Book Selection.

Lisa presented as part of an author panel on Encompassing All Perspectives, highlighting her experience in writing for Pack-n-Go Girls. The panel shared perspectives on writing for differences in ability, sexuality, gender, and culture. Lisa discussed how our increased global connectivity requires that we nurture global citizens, starting in elementary school. And books are one concrete step we can take right now to teach our children to move into the world from a place of openness, wonder, and curiosity, rather than fear, judgment and separation. In doing so, we can set them up to live profoundly more nourishing, connected lives.

Standing: Moderator Becky Calzada, Library Services Coordinator from Leander TX; Sitting from left to right: Geoff Rodkey, author of We’re Not From Here, Lisa Travis, author of Pack-n-Go Girls Adventures, Greg Howard, author of Middle School’s a Drag, and Rafael Lopez, illustrator of Just Ask

We also met up with Perma-Bound and are excited to announce that they will distribute Pack-n-Go Girls Adventures.  Overall, it was a great experience. We hope to be in Salt Lake City in October 2021!