Hundreds of Ysleta ISD families gathered at Central Office on March 9 for our first-ever Communities Reading Together Book Festival, a grant-funded event aimed at promoting reading and addressing the literacy needs of our community.

  The festival not only connected the Ysleta ISD community with public and school libraries, but gave students and families the opportunity to meet and hear from authors of popular literature; connect with book vendors; buy books to expand their home libraries; and get information about free events and resources available to city library cardholders.

  The event featured in-person visits and question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions from popular children’s and young-adult authors Dusti Bowling, Phillip D. Cortez, Juanita Gandara, and Guadalupe Garcia McCall, as well as a virtual visit and Q&A session with author Shannon Hale.

  Participants also made crafts and received free books at the festival, and were able to apply for a free El Paso Public Library card and learn about the new El Paso County Digital Library.

  “Encouraging our economically and educationally diverse community to tap into these free resources was at the heart of this project,” said Rebecca Calderon, Ysleta ISD’s coordinator of libraries. “Teaching Ysleta ISD families how to build a good relationship with their local library can have a positive lifelong impact.”

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