Moderator:
\nPenny Bernath is the Education Director of South Florida PBS. She has contribute d to the station&rsquo\;s success with the creation of KidVision PreK\, an online professional development program for preschool teachers. The KidVi sion PreK program contains over 100 virtual field trip learning units plus lots of extras\, such as jobs people do videos\, vocabulary words\, and 3 60 videos. The professional development offers teachers up to 10 CEUs and 100 In-Service Hours for learning Florida&rsquo\;s Early learning and Deve lopmental Standards for 4-year-olds\, cross-walked with Head Start Learnin g Framework Ages Birth to Five. The training uses entertaining and educati onal virtual field trips\, hands-on lesson plans\, student standards achie vement assessments\, and take-home pages. The training and support materia ls are offered in English and Spanish. The website is a resource for presc hool teachers\, children\, and families. http://www.KidVisionPreK.org
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Panelists:
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Author: Jill Dana
\nBook: Butternut
\nJill Dana is an auth or\, illustrator\, award-winning filmmaker\, and certified elementary educ ator. She has master's degrees in television and film production and eleme ntary education plus TESOL. She is the author of the Butternut series\, ab out a little butternut squash and his supermarket world\, with themes of i dentity\, friendship\, #WhereFoodComesFrom\, and more: Butternut (book 1) and Butternut &\; Buttercup (book 2). Jill Dana is a Rate Your Story ju dge\, an active SCBWI member. and an Author's Guild member. \; She's a lso a member of the picture book groups @PBSunrays and @PictureBookGold.&n bsp\; \;
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Author: Silvia Lope z
\nBook: Pacho Nacho
\nSilvia L&oac ute\;pez\, a former school media specialist\, came to the United States as a Cuban refugee at an early age. Her books\, many bilingual\, have receiv ed recognition including two Florida Book Awards. She is the author of Jus t Right Family: An Adoption Story (Ziyue Chen\, illus.)\, Handimals: Anima ls in Art and Nature (with Italian artist Guido Daniele)\, Pacho Nacho (Pa blo Pino\, illus.)\, Queen of Tejano Music: Selena (among the Best Books o f 2020 &ndash\; Center for Study of Multicultural Children&rsquo\;s Litera ture) and the Spanish version: Selena: Reina de la Mú\;sica Tejana ( Paola Escobar\, illus.)\, My Little Golden Book about Frida Kahlo (in Engl ish and Spanish\, Elisa Chavarri\, illus.)\, Sonia Sotomayor\, part of the Little Golden Book Biography series (English and Spanish\, Nomar Pé \;rez illus.) José\; and El Perro\, and José\; and Feliz Play Fú\;tbol\, bilingual Easy Readers co-authored with Susan Rose (Glori a Fé\;lix\, illus.) are due for release in Spring and Fall\, 2023. S he has written several books for the school market\, and is currently work ing on projects with Little Brown Books for Young Readers. \;
\n\nAuthor: Medeia Sharif
\nBook: Rem embering Mom&rsquo\;s Kubbatt Halab
\nMedeia Sharif was bor n in New York City and presently calls Miami her home. She received her ma ster&rsquo\;s degree in psychology from Florida Atlantic University. After becoming a voracious reader in high school and a relentless writer dabbli ng in many genres in college\, she found her niche writing picture books\, short stories\, and novels for young people. In addition to being a publi shed author\, she&rsquo\;s a public-school teacher. When she&rsquo\;s not writing\, she is busy collecting recipes and is fond of baking. She also l oves to garden and take care of her feline fur babies.
\n\nAuthor: Sita Singh
Book: Birds of a Feather
\nSita Singh was born and raised in India\, and currently lives in South Florida with her husband and three children. An architect i n the past\, Sita now writes heartwarming picture books with a South Asian backdrop. Her writing is inspired by her experiences of living in the Eas t\, and the West. When Sita isnâ\;&euro\;&trade\;t writing\, she can be found trying new recipes in the kitchen\, experimenting with food photo graphy\, or movie marathoning with her family. Sitaâ\;&euro\;&trade\; s debut picture book\, Birds of A Feather\, is about finding strength in t he things that make us different\, and beauty in all its forms.
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For the 2023 Local Author Book Fair schedule of events and a list of participating authors\, please visit www.mdpls.org/author-fair. \; \;
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