Something About the Authors and Songwriters
Barrie Teague Alguire
Barrie Teague Alguire started telling stories at the age of three. As a teenager, she discovered the world of theater. With a degree in drama from the University of Texas at Austin and an MLS from Texas Woman's University, it is not surprising that she enjoys writing puppet plays and readers theater scripts. Barrie is Coordinator of Children's Services for the Arlington Public Library System and Supervisor of the Central Library's Children's Department. She wrote the 1999 manual, "Open a Book ... On With the Show!" and was author of several chapters of the 2005 manual, "Go Wild: Read!" Barrie was born in Texas but sailed away to many faraway places for a number of years before returning to the Lone Star State. Scotland, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Kenya are some of the places she visited.
Miranda Bauer
Miranda Bauer, co-author of the Celebrations Chapter, is the Youth Services Librarian at the Benbrook Public Library, where she has worked for the past five years. She previously worked for the Hill County College Library and the Crowley Public Library. Miranda earned her MLS at the University of North Texas.
Linda Befeld
Linda Befeld, author of "1- 2-3 GOLDFISH…An Interactive Story," is the Head of Youth Services at the Pasadena Public Library. She is the past president elect of the Houston Storyteller's Guild. Linda's stories are original, outrageous, and downright FUNNY. She specializes in humor for adults, interactive storytimes for children, entertaining stories for general audiences and tales with a Texas flavor. For more information about Linda, please see www.houstonstorytellers.org/tellers.html.
Sara Bracht
Sara Bracht received her MLS from the University of North Texas. She worked for the Fort Worth, Texas Public Library for two years before joining the Denton Public Library System as a public services librarian with an emphasis on youth services. While at Denton, she spearheaded the Katrina Blankets and Caps Project in which middle school students were enlisted to volunteer their time crocheting items to give to victims of last year’s hurricanes. In addition to her usual duties with children's programming and collection development, she is building a circulating collection of "Story Totes" for the Spanish-speaking community.
Deborah Brightwell Brown
Deborah Brightwell Brown has been a youth service librarian for the past 13 years, working at The Colony, Coppell, and Irving Public Libraries. Debbie has a B.S. degree in History from Texas Woman’s University and received her MLS from the University of North Texas. At work she loves leading Toddler Time and Mother Goose Time as well as helping children and teens with their homework assignments. Away from work, Debbie enjoys traveling, swimming, bowling, reading, photography, shopping at flea markets, hiking with her husband, and spending time with her large extended family. Debbie would love to hear from fellow youth services librarians to discuss her Toddler and Pre-school chapters. You can contact her at debjbright@yahoo.com.
Lucina Carpenter
Lucina Carpenter is the author of “Family Time With the Whole Crew." She taught sailing for seven years in Hawaii before coming to Montgomery County’s Central Library in Conroe, and her experience as a sailing instructor inspired her to write “Family Time With the Whole Crew." Lucina worked with children in the military community for 20 years and brings her love for working with children to Central Library. She dreams of becoming an author of children’s books.
Paola Ferate-Soto
Paola Ferate-Soto, author of the bilingual programs chapter, grew up in Colombia, South America, where as a child she learned many of the rhymes shared in the chapter. She holds an MLIS from the University of Arizona. She worked as a reference librarian in the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District in Las Vegas, Nevada, as the youth department head at the Carson City Library in Carson City, Nevada and as a youth librarian for the Austin Public Library. She is currently Assistant Branch Manager at the St. John Branch Library of the Austin Public Library. Ms. Ferate-Soto was one of the founding members of the REFORMA-Nevada Chapter and of El Corazón de Tejas: the Central Texas Chapter of REFORMA, and is a past president of both chapters. She served as National REFORMA Organizational Development Chair from 1998 to 2001, and as a committee member for El día de los niños Austin Celebration for the last 5 years. She has presented programs for the Texas Library Association and for the Tomas Rivera 10th year Anniversary Celebration on how to conduct Spanish – English bilingual storytimes. Ms. Ferate-Soto also co-authored the 2002 bilingual chapter of the Texas Reading Club.
WyLaina Hildreth
WyLaina Hildreth, co-author of the young adult and celebrations chapters, is a youth services librarian at the Denton Public Library South Branch. She previously worked at the Great Northwest Branch of the San Antonio Public Library. WyLaina received her MLS from the University of North Texas.
Shelly Lane
Shelly Lane, author of the elementary programs chapter, is a third generation Texan residing in Dobbin, Texas. For almost eight years she has been part of the Montgomery County Memorial Library System. Shelly completed her MLS with a specialization in children and youth services through the University of North Texas in the summer of 2004. In the spring of 2005 she became the children’s librarian/children’s supervisor for Montgomery County’s new location in The Woodlands, The George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library. For the 2005 Summer Reading Manual, Shelly prepared the toddler programs chapter. Currently Shelly is serving as a 2006 TLA Children’s Round Table officer and serving on TLA’s Texas Awards Media Committee.
Jeanette Larson
Jeanette Larson has worked in libraries for over thirty years and has written, edited, or been involved in the production of over a dozen Texas Reading Club manuals. Jeanette recently “took her pension” from Austin Public Library in order to pursue freelance projects. She served as the youth services manager for Austin Public Library for over five years. Prior to that she was the Director of the Texas State Library’s Library Development Division and the Manager of Continuing Education and Consulting Services. Her frontline experience includes five years at Anaheim Public Library in California, a year at Irving Public Library, and twelve years with Mesquite Public Library. Jeanette is the author of Bringing Mysteries Alive for Children and Young Adults, published by Linworth Publishing in 2004, and collaborated with illustrator Adrienne Yorinks to produce A Quilt of States: Piecing Together America, published in 2005 by National Geographic. Jeanette holds an MLS from the University of Southern California. She and her husband, Jim, live in Austin with a multitude of dogs and cats. Jim is often recruited to illustrate her work, while the dogs and cats primarily get in the way.
Christine McNew
Christine McNew, Youth Services Consultant for the Texas State Library, is co-author of the young adult programs chapter and co-editor of the manual.
Sally Meyers
Sally Meyers has been the children's services coordinator for the Tom Green County Library System in San Angelo for fifteen years. Previously she was teacher-director of La Escuelita Preschool for nine years. Sally served on the Texas Reading Club advisory committee from 1994-1998 and has written the summer reading piggyback theme song every year since 1995. She has served as a member of Children's Round Table's 2 X 2 Committee and served as chair of student participation on the Texas Bluebonnet award committee. Sally is choir director at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. Sally and her husband, Craig, are raising their two grandchildren, Troy, 16 and Travis, 13 and have two granddaughters, Tyler, 6 and Riley, 4, in Senatobia Mississippi.
Lucas Miller
Lucas Miller creates songs, stories and puppet plays that somehow manage to be both outrageously funny and scientifically accurate (well, except for the talking poodle . . . and the dancing cow . . . oh, and the singing porcupine). Lucas is the author of Fifi the Ferocious and the upcoming children’s book Dr. DNA: Defender of Nature and Animals. All three of his CDs have won parents’ choice awards and Lucas’ song “Metamorphosis (Tadpole Into a Frog)” received a “Special Achievement in Songwriting” in the 2005 Great American Song contest. On stage, Lucas is a bundle of kooky energy with a passion for getting kids excited about butterflies, toads, sea anemones and everything wild. He has delighted over a million folks in his 14-year career as a children’s author and artist. If you think “zoology” and “fun” don’t even belong in the same sentence then you need to sample Lucas’ creativity at www.lucasmiller.net. Or, if you prefer, you may call him at (800) 755-4415 and he’ll sing a few bars of “A Snake’s Not Slimy” for you on the phone!
