Orca has just recently returned from two great conferences, the ALA midwinter conference in Philadelphia, PA and the OLA Super Conference in Toronto, Ontario. There was lots of excitement about our hi/lo series for struggling readers–Orca Soundings, Orca Currents, Orca Sports and Rapid Reads–but there was also a general enthusiasm for all of our titles. In particular, the librarians visiting our booth were excited to hear about a couple of our new series for classrooms and libraries.
Orca Limelights
Designed for students who are passionate about the performing arts, Orca Limelights are short novels for ages 11-14 that focus on drama, dance, musical theatre, band, circus performing, slam poetry… and more. Perfect for kids who love shows like Glee and The Voice, but perhaps are slightly reluctant readers, these high-interest books are sure to grab their attention.
Orca Footprints
A new nonfiction series for young readers that focuses on environmental topics such as food production, cycling, energy and water. These informative, attractive books are well-researched, filled with eye-catching photos and personal anecdotes from the authors who are passionate about environmental activism in their own lives. We also provide common core correlations for each of the titles in the series, which can be downloaded for free here.
We were also quite lucky at OLA to have ten incredible authors signing books for librarians at the Orca booth. Steven Barwin, Vicki Grant, Heather Smith, Marilyn Helmer, Sigmund Brouwer, Sylvia Taekema, Eric Walters, Melodie Campbell, Karen Krossing and Ted Staunton signed copies of their new books from Spring and Fall 2013. Vicki Delany also stopped by the Orca booth and gave out bookmarks advertising her upcoming Rapid Reads novel, Juba Good. This kept the Orca booth bustling with activity as librarians met with the authors and browsed our wide selection of titles. We were fortunate to have Melanie Jeffs, our Director of Digital Products, present at the show to introduce people to our digital subscriptions and offer them free trials. Other features at the shows included Text2Reader, our language arts resource subscription for middle school teachers, and GoReaders, ‘hear and read’ literacy tools that come pre-loaded with audiobooks.
Finally, there was lots of buzz around the upcoming The Seven Sequels. With three of the seven authors present at OLA and many librarians stopping by to learn about the original Seven (the series), many were thrilled to find that sequels to all seven books will be arriving this October 1st, 2014. Stay tuned for the release of the trailer, which launches at the end of February.
We feel so fortunate when we go to these conferences to see so many familiar faces, but also have the opportunity to meet new ones. Thanks to all the attendees and the authors for making ALA midwinter and OLA such successful shows!
