On November 11, the George Bruce branch was thrilled to have special guest Lyn Miller-Lachmann to discuss her book Surviving Santiago. This novel is the companion to her previous book Gringolandia, which was selected for the Best Books for Young Adults list in 2010 by the American Library Association. In Surviving Santiago, we learn the story of Tina Aguilar's first visit home to her former political prisoner father in post-revolution Chile.

This was the first TeenLIVE event to be co-hosted with NYPL's Innovation Labs, which is an after-school program for Middle School students. Innovation Labs aims to teach technology skills through project-based learning, so this was also the first time connecting a work of literature to one of those projects.

During the program, Ms. Miller-Lachmann used historical images from the time and place of the events in the novel. She guided students through interpreting the photos and asked them to make connections to the world of the past. After the historical scene was set, she shared passages from Surviving Santiago. As our library serves the diverse community of West Harlem, students connected with Tina's conflict with having family members immersed in two different locations and cultures.

Following the reading, Ms. Miller-Lachmann revealed a common interest with the students; building with Legos. She presented photos of Lego vignettes of scenes from her works. Students were amazed at the technical intricacies of her scenes and had questions about the process. For example, one student wanted to know how she got such a tiny book copy of Surviving Santiago to use as a prop in her scene.

The event culminated with time for students to explore and build their own Lego scenes with guidance and feedback from Ms. Miller-Lachmann. The students' interest was enthusiastic enough to inspire adding Legos as a regular material in the Makerspace of Innovation Labs.

Ms. Miller-Lachmann also authored Gringolandia and Rogue, edited several anthologies, and translated The World in a Second from Portuguese. She is the assistant host of "Los Vientos del Pueblo," the bilingual radio show about Latin American and Spanish culture. She documents her love of Lego building on her instagram, including Little Brick Township. For more information about her life and works, check out her website lynmillerlachmann.com.

Innovation Labs is a free after-school program through NYPL.

 

One of the middle school boys who came to my presentation at the George Bruce Branch of #nypl made this horse and rider.

A photo posted by Lyn Miller-Lachmann (@lynmillerlachmann) on Nov 8, 2015 at 6:52am PST