November Events

Austin Bat Cave is a creative community. Our writing programs empower students to find their voices and tell their stories. Our organization strives to serve the greater Austin, Del Valle, Manor, Pflugerville, San Marcos and Round Rock communities by providing creative writing activities and ideas that you and your kiddos may be can use at home to keep their creativity going! 

If you would like updates on Austin Bat Cave programs, please visit our website and sign up for our newsletter. 

Austin Bat Cave es una comunidad creativa. Nuestros programas de escritura capacitan a los estudiantes para encontrar sus voces y contar sus historias. Nuestra organización se esfuerza por servir a las comunidades de Austin, Del Valle, Manor, Pflugerville, San Marcos y Round Rock brindando actividades e ideas de escritura creativa que usted y sus hijos pueden usar en casa para mantener su creatividad.

Si usted quiere más información sobre las programas que ofrece Austin Bat Cave, favor de visitar nuestra página web y suscríbete a nuestras noticias.

Texas Book Festival

Pictures of students reading aloud and a craft of a bat surround the text. It says, "ABC at The Texas Book Festival on Saturday, November 16th, at the YA HQ tent. Fresh Ink Showcase is from 3:00-3:45 pm. Junk Journaling is at the Teen Tent from 4:00-4:45 pm. Interested in Sharing Your Work at the TBF? We're looking for students in 6th-12th grade to read their work during the Fresh Ink Panel. Please email xochitl@austinbatcave.org to sign up! Readers will receive a gift card to purchase books from their favorite authors as a thank you. Junk Journaling? Together we'll give second life to the pieces of "junk" in our daily lives through memory keeping. Stop by and turn your trash into nostalgic treasure!"

The Texas Book Festival is coming up! Visit their website here. You can find out which of your favorite authors will be there, look at the schedule, and check out some of their merch. The dates for this festival are November 16-17, and it will be in and around the Capitol and Downtown Austin. This is free and open to the public, so feel free to stop by! Austin Bat Cave will be there on November 16th at the YA HQ tent.

Book recommendations

Children are running around a park with a city in the background. It is a beautiful day with clouds in the sky and leaves falling around the kids.

“They Built Me for Freedom: The Story of Juneteenth and Houston’s Emancipation Park” is a touching book about the fight for emancipation and the creation of a park called Emancipation Park in Houston. Through lyrical text and vibrant artwork, the author teaches us about history and brings people’s experiences with the park to life. This book is by Tonya Duncan Ellis, who will be at the Texas Book Festival this year.

A city is cast in shadows with a purple sky and shooting stars. A large triangle above the city widens out to form the title Beautyland.

Marie-Helene Bertino will be at the Texas Book Festival, and her newest book is “Beautyland.” When Voyager 1 is launched with its golden record, Adina Giorno is born in Philadelphia. Despite being tiny and jaundiced, she seeks warmth and light. As a child, she realizes she has knowledge of a distant planet. Using a fax machine, she contacts her extraterrestrial relatives, who sent her to observe Earthlings. For years, she lives among humans, sending transmissions about their terrors and joys.

Writing prompts

1. You are building a new city! What types of things do you think your city needs? How will you convince people to move to your new city? If you want, you can draw a picture of your city.

2. Imagine you look out the window and it is raining waffles from the sky! Write a story about the experience.

3. Write a short story about what it might be like if you woke up one morning with a mermaid tail.

Art

Two women are holding up books so a child can use them to climb up a cactus. A bird and an animal that looks like a lizard surround them. The sun is bright in the background.

This Texas Book Festival poster is by artist Zeke Peña. Why do you think the child is climbing the cactus using the books?

TurnTables RPG

Tales from the Harvest Moon, Double Feature from Saturday November 16 to November 17. 4 pm PT, 6 pm CT, or 7 pm ET. A full moon, dark tree, and creepy house are in the background.

Tune in to the next installment of the TurnTables RPG Twitch streams on Saturday, November 16th and Sunday 17th at 6pm CST on Twitch.TV/TurnTablesRPG. Our partners at TurnTables RPG will be raising donations to support Austin Bat Cave programs! Want to catch up on the first episode? Use this link to watch episode one of “Tales from the Harvest Moon” (note: this show is adult oriented and may not be appropriate for younger children).

Support Austin Bat Cave/Apoya a Austin Bat Cave

If you enjoy and benefit from the resources provided in this newsletter, please consider supporting Austin Bat Cave! Your donation helps us to serve students in the greater Austin area.

Si disfruta y se beneficia de los recursos proporcionados en este boletín, ¡considere apoyar a Austin Bat Cave! Su donación nos ayuda a servir a los estudiantes en el área metropolitana de Austin.