Visits to Edinburg, Texas, Los Angeles, CA and soon--Chicago

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to dedicated librarians in Edinburg, Texas. It had been a number of years since I’d been to South Texas and, as before, I was inspired by the commitment of the librarians to their students. The event organizer, Maria Elena Ovale, introduced me to the Tejas Star Award to bring attention to bilingual books. It was exciting to hear the librarians describe their creative strategies for motivating their students to be readers.

At The Latino Book and Family Festival in LA, I enjoyed seeing parents who wanted their children to be readers. It was also exciting to meet Myrna Wathen, a librarian at Roseville Public Library, who told me about their annual Día celebrations, events that are growing and growing. 

Pat and Myrna Wathen

November 21, I’ll be in Chicago at BookAMania. More about that soon.

Pat is a Guest Blogger too!

Recently, Pat was the Guest Blogger at the TeachingBooks.net blog. She wrote a wonderful post about harvesting ideas titled "From Seed to Song". My favorite line reads "Seasons exist is the interior as well as the exterior world."

This photo is of Pat's backyard landscape.

An El Paso Singing Treat

My wonderful Uncle Lalo, known to others as Eduardo Delgado or Ed, celebrated his 91st birthday last week. My sister Stella and I went to El Paso, where we were all born, to celebrate with him. We received an unexpected, musical treat. I showed my uncle my new book, beautifully illustrated A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas. My uncle, comfortably seated in his green leather chair, opened the book slowly, admiring all the front pages. When he saw the song beginning, he began to sing the book page by page. At the end of each page, he’d raise his voice and revel in singing the refrain with great gusto, “and a piñata in a pine trrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.”

Yet another sweet memory from my special uncle. Have any musical bookjoy memories to share?