2017 Read to Me Conference

Ko‘olau Ballrooms & Conference Center
45-550 Kionaole Road
Kaneohe, HI
June 1-2, 2017
Thursday 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.

Registration $179 (includes continental breakfast and lunch)
Deadline for registration, May 15, 2017.

To register, please fill out the fillable PDF registration form. Print out the completed form and mail it in with your payment.

For Questions, please call 955-7600.

Welcome to “Reading:Engaging Every Child,” the 2017 Read To Me Conference where everything you could hope for in a children’s literacy conference can be found. Join us for outstanding authors, speakers, and presenters who will inspire you to engage in your child’s world of books and reading.

Whether you are an early childhood educator, an elementary school teacher, a librarian, a parent, a caregiver, a children’s program manager, or just someone who is interested in sharing the love and joy of reading aloud, this conference is for you!

Join us for:

• Workshops
• Bringing stories to life
• Book Signing
• Hawaii Authors Panel

Presenters:

Bruce Hale, Author, Actor, and Storyteller

Bruce Hale began his writing
career while living in Tokyo,
and continued it after moving
to Hawai‘i. He’s too modest to
mention his Nobel Peace Prize and
his Olympic Gold Medal. Before entering
the world of children’s books, Bruce worked as a magazine
editor, toymaker, gardener, actor, corporate lackey, and DJ.
He has written and/or illustrated over 40 books for kids.
His popular series include the award-winning Chet Gecko
Mysteries, School for S.P.I.E.S., and Clark the Shark,
among others.
When not writing or illustrating, Bruce loves to perform.
He has appeared on stage, on television, and in an
independent film. In 1998, he won a Fulbright Grant to
teach storytelling and study folklore in Thailand.
Bruce has presented at colleges, universities, and
conferences, both nationally and internationally. On top
of that, he has visited schools and libraries from New York
to New Delhi. These days, Bruce lives in Santa Barbara
with his wife, his sweet mutt, Riley, and his massive
collection of hats.

Lee Cataluna, Writer and Actor

Maui-born Lee Cataluna is the
award-winning playwright of many
of Hawai‘i’s best-loved and mostproduced
plays. She is the author of
two books of fiction, Folks You Meet in
Longs and Three Years on Doreen’s Sofa,
and the children’s book Ordinary Ohana.
For more than a decade, Lee has been the metro columnist
for The Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser,
Hawaii’s largest daily newspaper.
Lee has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University
of California, Riverside, and has taught writing both at
Honolulu’s elite ‘Iolani School and in a maximum-security
prison (which, she says, was easier than teaching high
school.) Her latest play Uncle’s Regularly Scheduled Garage
Party is CANCELLED Tonight opens June 1st at Kumu Kahua
theater and runs through July. She is currently working on
two plays: Extraordinary Stories From an Ordinary ‘Ohana,
which will be produced at Honolulu Theatre for Youth this
fall, and a play commissioned for the La Jolla Playhouse
which will tour next Spring.
Her favorite stories are about ordinary people struggling to
live lives of dignity and purpose.

Luncheon Speakers:

Earl Kawaa, Teacher, Community Organizer, and Poet

Earl Kawaa, the son of taro
farmers from the isolated
community of Ha-lawa Valley on
Moloka‘i, is one of five children. He
grew up speaking Hawaiian, fishing, and
farming taro. Kawaa joined the Domestic Peace Corps and
served as a VISTA Volunteer on the Acoma Indian Reservation
and later served in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam
era. Knowledgeable and skilled in Hawaiian matters such
as fishing, farming, and crafts, Kawaa is an accomplished
therapist and possesses knowledge in la‘au lapa‘au and
lomilomi, as well as two methods of ho‘oponopono. He is highly
sought after in academic circles and the Hawaiian community
as a teacher, community organizer and mediator due to his
ability to combine Western and Hawaiian modalities. He is
a seasoned and skilled orator and writes poems in English,
Hawaiian and haiku, a Japanese form of poetry. He has been
called upon to deliver keynote speeches to both local and
international audiences.

Nyla Fujii-Babb, Storyteller, Artistic Director, Voiceover Talent, Teacher, and Actress

Of Asian and Native Hawaiian ancestry,
Nyla (Ching) Fujii-Babb has been a
professional storyteller, artistic director,
voiceover talent, teacher, and actress for
over 30 years in Hawai‘i. She has produced
shows, performed in, and directed concerts for numerous
organizations in Hawai‘i, including the University of Hawai‘i
System and the Hawai‘i State Public Library System. She has
appeared in a few locally produced movies and has been a
voice-over talent for a number of Hawai‘i Public Television
specials. She serves on the Board of Monkey Waterfall, a
non-profit dance/theatre company. A retired librarian, Nyla is
also adjunct faculty for the Graduate School of Library and
Information Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
Nyla has appeared on stage in Hawai‘i on a number of
occasions and has been a featured storyteller at several
storytelling festivals across the nation. She is the only
storyteller from Hawai‘i to be both an “Exchange Place Teller”
and an invited “Featured Performer” at the prestigious
National Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Conference Information:

PARKING
Ample parking is available on site.

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
If you need accommodations for a disability covered by Federal and State disability laws, please contact us at (808) 955-7600 at least 15 days prior to the event. If you are an individual with a hearing disability, please feel free to contact us via the relay system. Call 1(877) 447-5990 for TTY service if calling from Hawai‘i, or 711 if calling from anywhere within the United States.

Department of Education and Preschool Teachers:

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
For DOE teachers wanting to receive non PDE3 credit hours,
please ALSO register for this conference on PDE3 (pde3.k12.hi.us)
Course Title: Read to Me Conference 2017
Course Number: LA182244
Section Title: Read to Me Conference 2017
Section Number: 287073
FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONALS:
Read to Me International has worked with PATCH so that the
workshops that early childhood professionals attend will count
as professional development. At the end of each day, RTMI will
provide certificates that practitioners may use to document which
workshops they attended.
A.S.K. Core Area = 3 Hours PLE