Thank you for your interest in the Spanish CLEL Bell Award Committee!
This committee is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to early literacy advocacy, gain experience working on an award committee, and build your resume!
We look for librarians or early childhood professionals passionate about children’s books for ages 0-5 and sharing early literacy with children and their caregivers, and who advocate, champion, and seek diversity in the books they share.
Follow CLEL on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), and become a CLEL Member to receive updates on the CLEL Bells. Please send any questions to spanishbellawards@gmail.com. Thank you!
This committee is amazing! We read, discuss and celebrate excellence in books written in Spanish that support early literacy!
Meet the Spanish CLEL Bell Committee
Carolina Saldivar (she/her/ella)
Co-Chair
Carolina Saldivar is a bilingual librarian at the Denver Public Library, Hadley branch. Loves living in Colorado and enjoys the winter. She helped create Vamos a Leer (Welcome to Reading) kits for the Denver Public Library focusing on reading motivation. Carolina was a member of the 2022 Pura Belpré Award Selection Committee. She enjoys traveling and visiting libraries when she is not working. This is her third year on the CLEL Bells and second on the Spanish.
Melanie Borski-Howard (she/her)
Co-Chair/Advisor
Melanie has over 25 years of library experience. She currently works at the Boulder Public Library in Colorado as a Youth Services Specialist where she does storytimes and participates in state wide Early Literacy Education systems. She has been reading stories to children for over 20 years. She has presented several training webinars including how to do Musical, Drag Queen, Virtual and Embracing Race in Storytimes. She has an on-demand storytime show, Read with Us, on the local TV Channel 8 in Boulder, Colorado. Melanie is a member of the Colorado and American Library Associations and CLEL (Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy) She also has co-authored the book: Storytime and Beyond: Having Fun with Early Literacy. This is her 5th year on the CLEL Bells and second on the Spanish.
Vera Atlano
Vera provides early literacy outreach workshops and classes as well as whole-body play activities for parents/caregivers and children, ages 0 to 5. She also reads to preschool classrooms and is busy identifying & recommending the best books for young readers in both Spanish and English. She previously served on the English CLEL Bell Awards Selection Committee. This is her first year with Los Premios CLEL Bell Selection Committee.
Karina Baker (she/her/ella)
Karina was born and raised in Peru and moved to Colorado when she was 18 years old. She is currently working at the Rifle Branch Library in Garfield County as a Bilingual Youth Services Coordinator, and has been in this role for two and a half years. She enjoys every second of it! My background is in Early Childhood Education; she has worked as a preschool teacher, family visitor, and parent educator for a nonprofit organization. Additionally, she worked as a Behavior Therapist with children with special needs for six years. She is passionate about sharing the importance of early literacy with families.
Lilian Bucio
Lilian was born and raised in Mexico City. When she moved to the U.S. as an adult, the Boulder Public Library became her refuge. For 19 years she has worked in the library and early literacy has become her passion. During the last 11 years, she has been performing bilingual story-times and creating innovative Spanish conversation programs for kids. She now works as the Bilingual Outreach Coordinator for the Longmont Public Library, where she has continued creating and performing bilingual early literacy programs outdoors. Building a community through bilingual library outreach services is one of her favorite things in life; she serves her community to improve their quality of life. This is her second year on the CLEL Bells and second on the Spanish.
Claudeth Castellanos
Claudeth was born in Guatemala, Central America, and is currently serving her community as the Spanish Services Librarian at the Loveland Public Library. In this role, she offers a variety of programs, including weekly Family and Bilingual Storytime, and provides outreach services across the city to meet the informational and recreational needs of both adults and children. Outside of work, Claudeth enjoys reading, traveling, and spending quality time with her family. This is her first year on the Spanish CLEL Bells.
Kate Fitzpatrick (she/her)
Kate Fitzpatrick is a Bilingual Children’s and Teens’ Librarian for Longmont Public Library. She does weekly bilingual storytimes for preschool children, along with regular school visits and bilingual programs for families. Before working as a librarian, she taught Spanish and English. Kate is excited to share her love of languages, promote literacy, and share diverse books (in English and Spanish!). This is her third year on the Clel Bells and second year on the Spanish committee.
Jace Furches (they/them/elle)
Jace has been a librarian for the Austin Public Library for 9 years. After working with adults for 6 years, they decided to make a shift into youth services near the end of the pandemic in an effort to improve their quality of life and be in a position to better support their community. After getting a job at a branch in South Austin with a large Spanish-speaking population, they dedicated themself to putting in the work to actually learn Spanish, unlike several previous failed attempts in classroom settings. What started as a laborious chore shifted into a passion project after falling in love with the language and three years later they are confidently providing bilingual and Spanish-only storytimes to the public. When not reading books, watching movies, and listening to music in Spanish, they enjoy drinking tea, backpacking, dogs, and tabletop games. This is their first year on the Spanish CLEL Bells.
Carina Oliva Quiroz
CARINA OLIVA QUIROZ was born and raised in Argentina. She has 14 years of library experience. She works at the Arapahoe Libraries in Colorado as an Early Literacy Specialist where she does Spanish and Bilingual Storytimes, Spanish Virtual Storytimes, Book Parties and more. Also, she does the Begin With Books Program which is an outreach program that supports the Spanish and bilingual communities at living communities and childcare center and based in this outreach experience, she was a speaker at CALCON 2024 and presented “Intentional Early Literacy Outreach to Spanish-Speaking Communities” session. She also has co-authored the book: “Primas, Manitas and Calabacitas & Other Tummy Tales” which is a Colorado authors’ book from the Tummy Tales series and she wrote a bilingual fiction story about her childhood. She worked as a Spanish Paraprofessional and Teacher for the Denver Public Schools. This is her second year on the CLEL Bells “Campanitas de Plata” Award Committee member.
Gloria Perez-Alvarez (she/her)
Gloria Perez-Alvarez is a bilingual outreach librarian at Jefferson County Public Libraries. Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, she has lived in Colorado since 2011. Gloria has worked in public libraries for nearly a decade, she thrives bringing literacy to children outside the library buildings and fostering the love of reading in everyone. This is her first year on the CLEL Bells in Spanish.
Rosina Revello de Garcia (she/hers/ella)
Rosina is currently the Youth Services Bilingual Library Specialist II at the Main library of Boulder Public Library District. She joined BPLD almost one year ago, after working for six years at Jefferson County Public Library. She was the Spanish teacher K-6 in traditional and Montessori schools in Douglas County for six years. Her work with children and families started in her native country of Uruguay, where as a poet, author and illustrator of children’s books, she was one of the founder members of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People). She loves working with kids and families in a public library setting that respects diversity and inclusion. She also enjoys art, writing, reading, drawing, crafts, international films, nature and spending time with family. This is her second year on the CLEL Bells.
Vanessa Sandoval (she/her)
Vanessa is thrilled to be part of the Spanish CLEL BELL Committee. She currently works at Westminster Public Library’s Irving Street Branch—the very same library she grew up visiting as a child. Now, she has the privilege of working in the children’s room, where she leads Spanish Storytime. You can often find her dancing, singing, and sharing stories that connect with Spanish-speaking families. She is passionate about supporting these families, fostering a love for literacy, and giving back to the community that shaped her. She looks forward to contributing to CLEL’s mission and learning alongside this incredible group of professionals. This is her first year on the CLEL Bells in Spanish.
Karen Walker (she/her)
Has been an active ally to kids and families and the Spanish speaking community in Jefferson County Colorado for over 20 years as a teacher, librarian, and volunteer. Sharing picture books from diverse perspectives in English and Spanish with our youngest learners is very important to her. She is very excited to be a part of the CLEL Bell Selection Committee to continue to elevate her joy and knowledge of Children’s books and share that love of books with the children and families we all serve. When she isn’t immersed in books and Cuentancuentos story time outreach, she loves to ski, hike, mountain bike and nature journal wherever her travels take her. This is her third year on the Clel Bells and second year on the Spanish committee.
