First One City event coming up!

To go along with the theme of Into the Beautiful North, the Laredo Public Library will show The Magnificent Seven, the film that inspired characters in the novel to journey north. Come join us and enjoy a free movie!

What: Film screening of The Magnificent Seven

When: 3 - 5 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 11

Where: Laredo Public Library, H-E-B Multi-Purpose Room, 1120 E. Calton Road

Book Trailer for Into the Beautiful North

Here is a "book trailer" made by Carmen Escamilla for Into the Beautiful North, by One City, One Book author Luis Alberto Urrea. We mentioned the book trailers in earlier posts. Enjoy!

And the author is...

Thanks to a nifty site called scribd.com, I've uploaded the official press release document for today's announcement.

PRESS RELEASE

This year, we will host Luis Alberto Urrea, author of Into the Beautiful North and Pulitzer finalist for The Devil's Highway.

From the press release:

"He will be accompanied by the illustrator of his graphic novel, Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush, Christopher Cardinale. Both books will be featured during this year’s events."

For the most accurate and up-to-date information on One City, One Book activities, keep checking this website.

From the president

You are invited to the press conference Monday, July 19, 2010, at 11:00 a.m. to announce the commencement of the third annual One City, One Book. Last year's events proved so successful that we expect miracles this year. Thousands have gotten involved and we are getting national attention for our city's unified actions. We hope to see you there to announce and celebrate reading, family and our community at the press conference, scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday in the foyer of the main branch of the Laredo Public Library. If you need more information, please call me at 956-744-8702. The mayor and other involved members will be speaking about this year's author. Thanks for all you do to make Laredo a better place. Beverly Herrera President Laredo Food for Thought Foundation

PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW

Well, tomorrow's the big day — we will announce who will be coming to Laredo for the 2010 One City, One Book. This is the third year that the city is host to an author, and we couldn't be more excited.

What: PRESS CONFERENCE to announce the author for One City, One Book

When: 11 a.m.

Where: The Laredo Public Library.

The book will be for sale in the lobby, and as always, the library has ordered several copies for check-out. So join us!

Check out the radio drive

The five Border Media stations are sponsoring a radio drive until July 11 to benefit the South Texas Food Bank.

The fifth annual Border Media-South Texas Food Bank radio drive for the hungry of the Laredo area is June 28 to July 11 over the five Border Media stations — La Ley 100.5, Hot 106.1, Digital 107.3, The Works 94.9 and Norteno 1490.

What: Border Media-South Texas Food Bank radio drive

When: now until July 11

Where: Laredo, TX

Any donation is welcome. The need is greater than ever. The food bank serves 21,000 families, 6,000-plus elderly and 6,000-plus children PER MONTH. And better yet, come to the food bank office, 1907 Freight at Riverside (one block

south of Calton Road) for a tour and to see how and what we do. Hunger exists in our own backyard.

Salo Otero

You can send monetary donations to

South Texas Food Bank

P.O. Box 2007

Laredo, TX 78044

Thank you, Director of Development Salo Otero, for passing along that information.

More info can be found here.

2010 Oklahoma Book Awards

Dr. George Stanley's book Night Fires was the Young Adult Winner in the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award for his story about a young boy who gets mixed up with the Ku Klux Klan in Lawton, Okla. The awards were presented by the Oklahoma Center for the Book on April 17. We have mentioned the book in a previous post.

2010 Oklahoma Book Award Winners

Congratulations, Dr. Stanley! Stanley is a professor at Cameron University in Lawton.

Daniel Chacon

Juan Carlos Nava, Daniel Chacon, Jason Herrera
Originally uploaded by laredofoodforthought

Earlier this evening, Daniel Chacon visited the Laredo Public Library. He read a few selections from his book of short stories, Unending Rooms. Afterwards, he took questions from the audience and stayed around to chat with people until the library closed. His friendly and inviting personality made it easy for young and old to ask questions about the progress of Chicano writing and writing in general. He said that interpretation of his work was best left to the readers since it did not matter what he meant; it was more important what message the reader got from it. Thanks to everybody who came out!

Congratulations

Congrats to Jason Herrera, an assistant to the founders of Food for Thought, for winning the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Jason does odd jobs for the foundation, from helping make the tickets for One City to welcoming our authors at the airport. Whatever needs to be done when we are swamped with work, Jason will take on. He spends time with our authors and talks to them behind the scenes, and they have treated him as an equal. Meeting with authors has helped with his own aspirations to author books, and he will start attending Oklahoma City University in the fall.

We have a Facebook page

If you have a Facebook, make sure to become a fan of our page.

Happy Monday!

How could I forget? FreeRice.com

This is an old favorite of mine, called FreeRice.com. It incorporates educational, multiple-choice games into its mission to fight hunger. For every question you answer correctly, 10 grains of rice will be donated to the United Nations World Food Programme. It's fun, easy and free. If you've never heard of this site before, now is the time to visit and play some games, all for a good cause.

- Cristina

Editorial on hunger

Hi there, executive assistant/blog maintainer Cristina Herrera here. I found an interesting editorial from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that highlights how much hunger has been increasing in the U.S.

Food banks report feeding 1 million more Americans each weekly than in 2009, and that includes the 36 percent of client households where at least one person has a job.

It later goes on to say,

The number of children in feeding programs increased by 50 percent since 2006, the report shows.

Editorial: American hunger

Laredo is no exception. Donate to your local food bank(s) today.

>South Texas Food Bank

>Laredo Regional Food Bank

And of course, the easiest contribution toward fighting hunger:

Daniel Chacón @ the library

In our previous post, we mentioned the authors program at the Laredo Public Library. It's called "An Evening with the Author." On Wednesday, April 21, Hudson Prize-winning author Daniel Chacon will speak and answer questions at the library.

What: An Evening with the Author

Who: Daniel Chacón

When: Wednesday, April 21, 6-8 p.m.

Where: Laredo Public Library

From his faculty profile on the UTEP Web site:

Daniel Chacón is the author of Unending Rooms, a collection of stories, winner of the Hudson Prize. He also had a novel, and the shadows took him, and another collection of stories called Chicano Chicanery. His fiction had appeared in the anthologies Lengua Fresca: Latinos Writing on the Edge; Caliente: The Best Erotic Writing in Latin American Fiction; and Best of the West 2009: New Stories from the West Side of the Missouri. He is co-editor of The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes: The Selected Works of Jose Antonio Burciaga.

One City 2010

It's that the time of the year again: We started thinking about authors for One City, One Book. Plans are under way and this year, we are going to have a 2-for-1 deal. We are currently planning fundraisers and accepting donations so that we will be able to keep One City, One Book free and available to everybody. The foundation is very excited because there has been so much support from the community in the past two years. We are looking at ways to make the book available for purchase locally, but it will be available at the Laredo Public Library. The kickoff for One City will be in early August, as usual. If you cannot wait, check out one of the authors coming to the Laredo Public Library. We will give more information about the library's author program, and the next author will be here this month.

If you have suggestions for activities connected with One City, One Book, feel free to e-mail them to laredofoodforthought@yahoo.com.

The foundation is committed to sharing the love of reading and helping those in need.

Note from President Beverly Herrera

On Saturday, January 16, Laredo's only bookstore closed. Officially, it was B. Dalton's bookstore, but Laredo citizens claimed it as their special place, mourning its death as one would a favorite family member. It may have been inevitable (Barnes & Noble announced long ago they were closing all B. Dalton's) but that made it no less of a shock and heartbreak to many members of the community. Yes, you can buy books off the Internet. You can go to the public library and check out books to read.

But Mary Benavides and her staff won't be there to greet you with a smile and tell you they just got a new book by your favorite author. Mary is the main reason Laredo had adopted the bookstore, and if you went by on the final day of business you would have seen a who's who of Laredo stopping to say farewell and buy a book. Few left without a purchase and none left without a special word, a hug and a smile from Mary. She has shown through her three decades of dedication to the readers of Laredo that she is a vital part of the community.

Even in the midst of closing the store, Mary has helped us plan for this year's One City event, suggesting authors, venues and activities. Watching Mary in action has humbled me. No matter what I do, I will never touch as many hearts as she does on a daily basis. I wish only the best in life for Mary and her staff. She deserves far more than we realize.

If nothing else, the citizens of Laredo have made the country aware that we are more than a group of illiterate, poor people. We are people who love to read, love to learn and love those who share these passions. When authors visit, they leave raving about the generosity and the earnestness of the people they met. I understand this because I am not a native Laredoan, but have lived here for more than 20 years. I have never met anything other than acceptance, and for that I thank everyone. I see people who have little sharing with those who have less. I watch families celebrate academic achievements of their children. When people look at Laredo, they should see a place with some problems, but with citizens who are willing to fix these problems, and who have tremendous hope for the future.

Thanks to all those who have supported Mary and her bookstore through the years, and thanks to all those who have made our One City, One Book such a success that we are being used as a model throughout the nation. It is because of you that we have been a success, and if we do get another bookstore it will be up to you to show the nation that we really do read and that we really do want a place where we can touch literature and talk to someone who understands our love of reading. A new bookstore will live or die on the actions of our citizens. Hopefully we will never have to mourn the loss of another bookstore.

Beverly Herrera

President

The Food for Thought Foundation

Book Trailer for Night Fires

George Edward Stanley has written a wonderful novel for young adults called Night Fires, and President Beverly Herrera has created a book trailer similar to Secretary Escamilla's trailer for Chains. Ms. Herrera's classes have also created many wonderful trailers for a variety of books, from The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold to The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Enjoy the trailer, and maybe it'll get you interested in reading the book.

Chains Book Trailer

Happy new year, everybody!

Secretary Carmen Escamilla created a book trailer promoting the award-winning Chains and it has been posted on Amy Bowllan's blog on the School Library Journal's Web site. Ms. Bowllan writes posts dealing with the topic of racism.

Check it out!