Announcement of the 2012 Mora Award Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the 2012 Estela & Raúl Mora Award: Lynden Public Library, Whatcom County Library System, Lynden WA!

For the first time, we are also awarding three Mora Honor Awards:
DC Public Library/Mount Pleasant, DC., King County Library, WA; and Sacramento Public Library, CA. Congratulations to these libraries and to all who submitted award applications. It’s exciting to see how these awards are growing and how the Día work is deepening to involve community members as literacy leaders.

I wish to thank the 2012 REFORMA Mora Award Committee for its careful deliberations. The Chair was Beatriz Pascual Wallace,Seattle Public Library; members included Heidi K. Becker, Denver Public Library; Hope Crandall (formerly school librarian at Washington Elementary, WA); David Suárez, Richland County Public Library and Lupita Vega, Santa Ana Public Library.

Join us for future posts about these awards, including an interview with Tina Bixby, Children's Librarian for the Lynden Public Library.

Read REFORMA's press release in English and Spanish.

Pat @ April Día Celebrations 2012

This April, I was fortunate to participate in three April Día Celebrations. I attended Día at Discovery Green, an urban park in Houston. I’m grateful to Houston Public Library, Houston PBS and Arte Público Press, my first publisher and a steady Día supporter. I read The Desert Is My Mother, and children received free copies of the book. A special treat for me was that, thanks to help from Writers in the Schools, some boys read their poems about their moms. In Houston, as in every city, my hope is that each library and branch that serves children will annually host an exciting culminating Día celebration in April.

I visited two El Paso schools on April 30th, Burnet Elementary and Kohlberg Elementary. Both principals were true literacy advocates. Special thanks to librarian Kara Johnson at Burnet and to the mothers of the dual language program at Kohlberg for their enthusiasm. My hope is that in my home city of El Paso and across this country, every school will embrace the concept that Día—celebrating all children and linking them to books, languages and cultures—is a daily commitment and that annual spring book fiestas are an important and satisfying tradition to foster.


Pat at Burnet Elementary



Pat and readers



Pat and Kara Johnson




Pat and Kohlberg Moms




  

Thanks to all who supported my Día visits. Happy Bookjoy Days!

Día Events in New Mexico

Today our guest blogger, Flo Truillo, writes about Día celebrations in Farmington and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Flo is the Youth Services Coordinator at the Farmington Public Library. She is also a Día Dynamo. Flo, thank you for your support of El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children's Day/Book Day!

Flo Truillo

The annual Día celebration at the Farmington Public Library will kick off with registration for “Dream Big” summer reading! Día provides a wonderful opportunity for parents to promote the power of books and reading to their own children. Every day of the year can be “Día,” a day for linking all children and books!

The free celebration is from 4-6pm during the afterschool hours with the themes “Let's Move,” America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids, and “Dream Big," the 2012 national summer reading program. Participants can enjoy a healthy snack (watch “A Spoon for Every Bite”) and check out a kid’s cookbook from the display, so bring your library card! More fun: Yo-yo entertainment, hands-on crafts, and two family gaming challenges in the multipurpose room; Skillastics, hula hoop, hopscotch; and outdoor library walking tours every 30 minutes! Visit with Madison from Peach’s Neet Feet! The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds and families can enjoy the puppet show Tikki Tikki Tembo in the Story Time room!

Mayor Tommy Roberts has issued a proclamation for April 30, 2012 as “El Día de los niños/ El día de los libros” in Farmington, NM, and urges all citizens to participate in the celebration of the potential of our children, and the role libraries play in the cultivation of that potential.

In Albuquerque, Día will be a part of Afterschool Programming at Whittier Elementary School. The Afterschool program participants will watch fellow students present about countries around the world. Also, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library System/Lomas Tramway will present an interactive program for young children with storyteller Ramona King, Knee High Tales for Me. The Rio Grande Education Collaborative Afterschool Program at 12 sites will distribute free books to all students for Dia celebration that will include storytelling, art and a nutritional snack. University of New Mexico Libraries will feature Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Serbo Croatian, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Vietnamese displays of multicultural children's books & artifacts of childhood, coloring & activity sheets, information for the College of Education community, etc. beginning April 23 through May 5.


The celebrations continue in other New Mexico locations:

Las Cruces: Thomas Branigan Memorial Library will have an author visit with Joe Hayes. Joe will read from his books. Free books will be given to each child and Joe will sign the books at the end of the program.

Rancho de Taos: UNM Taos Students and Taos High School students will present original theater skits to the 4th grade class at Enos Elementary. Fourth grade students will have the opportunity to share stories they have written. Parents and family members are invited to the performance and to see the display of multi-cultural books and resources. Program is facilitated by UNM-Taos Library.

Shiprock: Shiprock Branch Library will offer Navajo language story times and family Wii Gaming on April 30 throughout the day.

Día Celebrations in Austin and Providence

We have two guest posts today about El día de los niños, El día de los libros/ Children’s Day, Book Day (Día) activities in Texas and Rhode Island. Our first guest blogger is R. Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D., Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Texas at Austin. Following Joseph is Carolina Briones, Latino Program Coordinator, Providence Community Library (RI.) Thank you both for contributing to our Díapalooza!

Joseph Rodriguez

In collaboration with Austin Public Library (Ruiz Branch) and Volunteers In Communities Tutoring Our Responsible Youth (VICTORY), the literacy partnership Libre con Libros has secured more than 300 books for distribution at the Ruiz Branch on Monday afternoon, April 30, 2012.

Youth enrolled in the program VICTORY and ranging from newborn to young adult will receive complimentary books (while supplies last) to build home libraries and foster the joy of reading and achievement. Storytelling and writing opportunities will be scheduled to advance the program El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day).

Help us spread bookjoy and the power and pleasure of world languages and literacies! ¡Adelante!

Events at the Austin Public Library include:

• Create your own Austin Family Memory Book with help from APL and Austin History Center professionals
• Ballet Folklórico Mexikayotl
• Storytime
• Hands on Science (Cat in the Hat & Martha will walk around science centers)
• PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest Celebration (The public will be able to see and hear the winning entries and may ask questions of the young writers

Carolina Briones

The Providence Community Library has fliers in both English and Spanish announcing "Come and have fun at this annual event where we celebrate childhood, culture and the love of books." Attendees can see guest author Mabel Mendoza. Other activities include arts & crafts, dance, refreshments, a kids raffle, and a music concert for kids.

Early Literacy Project

Sandra Lamm, Early Childhood Coordinator with the Library Department in Fort Worth, Texas, shared a project created by a family at one of the city's Early Childhod Resource Centers. Sandra wrote "Erica Rodrigues said that Let’s Eat! ¡A Comer! is the favorite book of her daughters, Julianna and Brianna, ages 2 and 3. Mrs. Rodrigues said they read the book over and over, and she said, 'What I like about this book is that to be happy you only need simple things.'


So for their project they covered a piece of Styrofoam with construction paper to make a table, and then replicated the food that the family shared in the book with items they found around the house. We took a couple of pictures – So creative!"

Sandra also wrote a description of her library's program. "Early Childhood Matters (EMC) is a program of the Fort Worth Library, launched in 2006 in response to the number of children entering kindergarten without the skills they needed to be successful in school. ECM is a neighborhood-based free program that helps parents and other caregivers of children from birth to age five learn how to prepare their children for kindergarten and beyond. Parenting sessions, resource materials, and high quality children’s books are offered in English and Spanish in six high-need neighborhoods in Fort Worth. The program is supported by the City of Fort Worth, a grant through the US Department of Health and Human Services, and collaboration with many community partners.


ECM focuses on early literacy and pre-reading skills. Pat Mora’s beautiful bi-lingual books capture the interest of adults and children alike, support early language and pre-reading development, and reflect family and cultural values. Our participants are delighted with them."

Red Oak Books

Warm congratulations to my friends at Red Oak Books in Fort Worth, Texas!  Today, they celebrate thirteen years in which they have donated 337,294 books to children in their city.  Now that's an example to for local and state foundations to follow throughout this country.

15 Día Nuggets: #10 Themes and Programs to Enrich Your April Día Celebrations

One more Nugget today, resulting in numbers 1-10 available individually and as a downloadable packet.


To assist those of you planning Día celebrations at your schools, libraries, etc., we’re sharing 15 Día Nuggets, 15 lists of 15 items to assist you in your planning. During our second Díapalooza during April 2011, we’ll showcase the 15 Día Dynamos, 15 Mora Award winners and the 15 Día Nuggets, etc.

15 Día Nuggets

#10 Themes and Programs to Enrich Your April Día Celebrations

Looking for a new idea for your culminating Día celebration? Consider incorporating these themes and exploring organizations that could strengthen your yearlong Día work.


April Celebrations

1. National Poetry Month (Academy of American Poets)

2. School Library Month (American Association of School Librarians/AASL)

3. April 2, International Children’s Book Day (United States Board on Books for Young People/USBBY)

4. April 10-16, National Library Week (American Library Association/ALA)

5. April 10-16, Week of the Young Child (National Association for the Education of Young Children/NAEYC)

6. April 22, Earth Day

National Literacy Programs

7. Colorín Colorado & Reading Rockets (WETA Public Television)

8. Born to Read, Every Child Ready to Read (Association of Library Service to Children/ALSC)

9. PAWS to Read

10. Prime Time Family Reading Time ® (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities)

11. Raising a Reader

12. Reach Out and Read

13. Read to Me Program

Literacy Organizations That Have Partnered with Día Events

14. First Book

15. Reading Is Fundamental (RIF)

________________________________________________________

ALSC is now offering a new webinar, Día 101: Everything you need to know about celebrating el día de los niños/el día de los libros. Taught by Beatriz Pascual Wallace, MLIS Children's Librarian, Seattle Public Library, participants will learn about the history, resources and ideas behind Día. For more information visit ALSC’s online education page.

A New Día Champion

In March, to recognize her impressive work to promote Día throughout the state of NM, we highlighted Flo Trujillo of Farmington, New Mexico as our first Día champion featured on this blog. I have the good fortune to meet committed Día supporters all over the country. As the year ends, I’d like to recognize Ana Schmitt, who in typical Ana style, insisted that any recognition needed to go to their LIBROS staff at Multnomah County Library, winners of the 2002 Mora Award. Ana and her colleagues are full of Día ideas.

The LIBROS Workgroup

1. Tell us about the work that you and the rest of the LIBROS group do. How did LIBROS get its start? How many people are part of the LIBROS staff?

LIBROS is a systemwide initiative at Multnomah County Library that connects the Spanish-speaking community with library services. It makes services available within its libraries and in the surrounding community to a population that is underserved because of cultural and language differences. LIBROS got started backed by the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) grant; MCL hired a Spanish-outreach specialist to coordinate the program and to expand library services to Spanish-speaking Latino children and their families. A survey sent to community agencies, school programs, and members of the community identified information needs and obstacles to library use. Their findings showed, among other things, a lack of understanding by Latinos about the role of the library and its mission (public libraries were practically non-existent in most Latin American countries); lack of Spanish-language materials in the collection; lack of adequate programming for Spanish speakers; the existence of a transportation barrier which prevented access to the library; and the inability of library staff to communicate, verbally and culturally, with the Spanish-speaking patrons.

LIBROS began in 1998 and since then has been responsible for numerous changes to improve service to Multnomah County Library’s Latino community. During the first year of the LIBROS program, more programs for Spanish-speaking families were established, including bilingual storytimes at three of its branches; a collection of Spanish and bilingual books was created; and connections were made with other youth outreach programs for summer reading programs. In addition, library-card campaigns, library tours, parenting programs and presentations about the library were made available to agencies serving children and to local schools. Since it began we have increased the number of bilingual Spanish employees from one person to more than 30 employees in 11 of our 18 locations. The outreach staff makes contacts with the Latino community through our events and programs for adults and children both in the library and in the community. These include:

• Spanish and bilingual storytimes
• Computer classes in Spanish
• Intercambio language exchanges
• Regular music and craft programs in Spanish
• Parenting and literacy classes for adults and children
• Special events like Hispanic Heritage and Día de los Niños

Día Celebration at Multnomah County Library -- 2009

2. Please share your 2010 Día plans with us. Are you trying anything new?
For Día 2010 Multnomah County Library is planning 8 celebrations at multiple Spanish bilingual library locations. Each celebration will have 1 live performance as well as students' group performances from local schools. We will have 2-5 literacy activities and a few crafts at each celebration.

In an effort to continue to make Día more literacy oriented we are trying something new and different for 2010. We are planning to gather around a book character and listen to stories. We will have Latino leaders from the community read to the children. And we will be having 20 minute parents' workshops during Día. 1-2 workshops per location targeted to 0-6 years old, and another one to elementary school age children. For instance, we'll share and show the 6 Early Literacy skills and give parents resources to use at home like ideas to help their child get ready for school and a print out of CDs and children's books from the library collection.

Tips for Día First Timers

3. What advice do you have for libraries planning Dia events for the first-time?

o Plan well in advance; at least 6 months. It helps to have a planner with tasks, due dates and name of person responsible for each task.

o Make sure you have early literacy activities and performers that reflect the culture of the community.
o If your location is near schools (Head Starts or elementary), it might make sense to plan your celebration on a weekday. Talk with local teachers prior to see about possible weekday attendance.
o Promote your Día inside your library and out. Promote it during Storytimes and other events as well as through local schools, housing complexes, media, and in any other way possible.
o Get lots of help for the day of the event.
o Involve your community and include cultural components that draw the immigrant populations you want to reach.

Ways to involve the community include:
 Having volunteers to prepare for Día de los Niños activities and events as well as to help on the day of the event.
 Making Milagros, piñatas or other crafts to be displayed in the library is helpful in involving schools, children, and through them, families. Students' creations could be exhibited in the library before, during and after Día de los Niños. Families will come to the library to view them.
 Including local businesses strengthens community relationships and expands the resources available for Día de los Niños. Community businesses could donate raffle items, food, services and cash.
 Having service providers with resources and education to share. The neighborhood police chief could host a craft table, firemen could give tours of their truck and educate kids about fire safety, and health services providers could bring health games and information.
 Having after-school Ballet Folklórico classes perform is free and delightful for everyone.
 Since bilingual households are diverse, and there are many different communities with many different immigrant populations, it follows that the choice of performers or other cultural elements will be unique for each community.

Día 2009 at Multnomah County Library

4. What’s the best part of your work?
Helping patrons find the information and materials they need as well as providing programming and events which they enjoy and that promote literacy and welcome them to the community.

Seeing the joy on people's faces as they participate in programs and crafts at our events.
Introducing everything that is wonderful about the public library to folks who have not had access to a library before -- board books, information on school subjects, learning English materials, computers for job-hunting, typing up school reports, etc.

5. How do you share book joy?
We love books and enjoy sharing that joy for books and libraries through fun storytimes and encouraging kids to read whatever they're interested in. Día is a wonderful way to reach out to the community, make families feel welcome and enjoy all the library has to offer while they connect with the community.

Pat gives a Dia Angel to the Dia Champions and other Dia supporters.

Mora Award Winner, San Francisco PL, Pt. 2

We're continuing our interview with Barbara VanderBorght at the San Francisco PL, one of the winners of the 2009 Mora Award.


4. Tell us about some of your plans to celebrate Día in April 2010.
This coming year, for the first time, all of the Día events, including the big citywide celebration on the last Sunday in April, will be held at the Library. We are very excited about this opportunity to welcome many of our Dolores Park Día participants to the Main Library. Unlike many Día celebrations, the one in S.F. was not begun as a library event. Members of the library staff have become more involved over the years and we are pleased to be able to offer our site during the renovation of the Park where it has been traditionally held. We will also have programs in our branches during the month leading up to the big Día.

5. What advice would you give to a library planning a Día event for the first time?
Do some research. Determine who the target audience is and who your community partners might be. See if there is anything similar going on in your community already. Take a look at other Día celebrations around the country.

6. Please share 3 Día suggestions. (These can be ideas you’ve implemented, ideas you’ve heard about and like, or pie-in-the-sky wishes.)

We have found it is important to continue to bring in new community partners over the years, especially those who are interested in working on the steering committee responsible for putting on the event, and are bilingual with ties to the Latino and other diverse communities. We have also found that in addition to all the volunteer hours each of us put in, it is necessary to fund a part time paid position to act as a coordinator.
If you are having a large event with lots of activities, set aside a quiet space for babies and toddlers (and their families) where they can enjoy having stories read to them, or just hang out for awhile.
Seek out local authors/illustrators and performing groups that include children, especially those from different ethnic communities. Include as many bilingual books as possible for give-aways. Also, we designed magnets with a Día graphic and a few tips for families to help with the development of early literacy skills, as give-aways. They were available in English or Spanish.

Interviews with the 2009 Mora Award Winners

Today, we're sharing the first part of an interview with Barbara VanderBorght, Children's Programing Specialist at the San Francisco Public Library. The library was one of two winners of the 2009 Mora Award, which recognized their exemplary programing for El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children's Day/Book Day.


1. How did you feel when you heard you were one of the 2009 winners?
I was, of course, quite thrilled to hear that we had won the award. I am one of a small group of people from various organizations who work very hard to put on San Francisco’s Día event each year, and we were all very ecstatic. This year, 2009 was our 10th Anniversary, which made it all the more special.

2. Tell us why you applied for the Mora Award.
Most importantly, we wanted our Día to be recognized nationally for the collaborative efforts involved in bringing books to children, families together, and offering a special afternoon of multicultural activities and community building in San Francisco. The visibility and stature of the Mora Award is important because of its association with Pat Mora and REFORMA — the creators of Día, and getting the grant is like a stamp of approval for our event. There are hundreds of Día events all over the country, and being recognized by the Mora Award is a great honor. Also, since our event would not be possible without contributed funds, the monetary award is a big help.

3. Please share what you plan to do with the monetary award.
There are so many areas in which the monetary award can be helpful. We have to fundraise every year to pull together the money to put on our event. We will mostly likely put the money toward buying books to give away to the children, paying performers who appear at the event or possibly, for print materials.

Check in tomorrow for the remainder of the interview with Barbara VanderBorght. These interviews will also be posted on Pat's web site.

Día 2009 North Carolina Surprises

On April 30th this year, I visited Forest View Elementary School in Durham, North Carolina. Second graders had prepared a surprise for me and their school mates. From memory, those cute students recited Book Fiesta: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day, Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros in English and Spanish. As I sat and listened, I thought about Día’s goals of connecting children to books, languages and cultures. What a way to start the day! The audience and I clapped and clapped as we did for another class that had memorized haiku from ¡Yum! ¡MmMm! ¡Qué rico! I told the students that they were smarter than I was since I would have needed to look at the books to recite the poems. The art teacher had worked with her classes to create wonderful murals inspired by the two books.

I also had the pleasure of watching an impressive and energetic young librarian at the Durham County Library share my book The Race of Toad and Deer. That afternoon, the library surprised me with a trio playing Latin music in the library entry way before I spoke. I particularly enjoyed watching a librarian check in books to the rhythm of the music.

In Greensboro NC, I visited three schools to read and talk about Día and gave a reading for adults that evening at the Greensboro Public Library. It was wonderful to see students at Jones Spanish Immersion Magnet Elementary School excited about learning Spanish and to visit a school for newcomers, students working hard to make sense of their new country.

Every high school in Greensboro has a poet laureate. Isn’t that a great idea? I met with this diverse and talented group of young people for a poetry workshop and then attended a city-wide Día celebration, attended by about 2,000, that was combined with an arts event called Artbeat.

At North Carolina State University in Raleigh, I was fortunate to again speak to students graduating from the Elementary Education program. Warm congratulations to all graduates particularly those planning to work with young people. You are so needed!

Día in Detroit

What an exciting and gratifying time I enjoyed at Día celebrations in three cities. Thanks to my host, author and administrator Ethriam Brammer at Wayne State University, I spoke on his campus and at a school in SW Detroit. I also attended the annual Día celebration held in that part of the city. Because the attendance has grown through the years, this year the event was held in a park on a Sunday.

The idea for beginning the annual celebration came from Vicente Sánchez Ventura, the Consul of Mexico based in Detroit, a quiet, formal man with a deep commitment to education and literacy. He’d heard about Día while in Austin. He partnered with Matrix, a large human services provider, and they invited various community agencies to participate. It was moving for me to meet Consul Sánchez and to hear him describe the event in the park this year. “Just look,” he said to me in Spanish. “Unlike the noise and drinking that can be part of Cinco de Mayo celebrations, this is about families. Nothing is being sold, so everyone can attend. Thousands of books are being given away, and vendors are providing water and small snacks gratis. Families are enjoying lotería, puppet shows, face painting, listening to stories, and social service agencies are distributing information about their work.”

It remains a challenge for such annual culminating celebrations that honor children and celebrate a year of linking them to books, languages and cultures to be literacy celebrations. Focus can quickly move to the familiar: music, selling, entertainment for adults. It’s gratifying to participate in events at which committed adults (sporting great Día T-shirts) have worked together for months to create a child/family focused event that truly promotes literacy and how much fun it can be. Bravo to SW Detroit’s amazing and collaborative Día committee chaired by Debra Spring of Matrix! This group has created a fine model.

Día Champions

Pat wants to recognize outstanding 2009 Día Champions. On this blog,throughout March and April, we'll introduce you to some outstanding Día literacy advocates. Are there librarians, educators, or community people you'd like Pat to recognize? Use the comments section to let us know.

Flo Trujillo, Youth Services Coordinator at the Farmington Public Library (NM) and the state Afterschool Ambassador (an Afterschool Alliance program), is our first Día Champion. Here she describes her library's Día festivities

In San Juan County the Farmington Public Library will host the Día celebration on April 30th with a tailgate party. It is not mandatory but toddler through elementary participants will be asked to bring a book wrapped as a gift. When the music starts the books are exchanged until the music stops. Through donations, everyone will leave with a book on that day! Middle school students will participate through 21st Century, by making available an activity for the toddlers and elementary students. Middle and High school students will participate in a Poetry workshop and Slam. High school students can join the celebration of the Blended Zine release party – a magazine published by teens for teens. Families can enjoy a game of Frisbee with the Navajo, Spanish, Italian and French words for El día de los niños/El día de los libros displayed on the Frisbee to celebrate the multicultural celebration of Día.

As an incentive for libraries and community centers to register their activities with ALSC's national registry site, the New Mexico Library Association is giving five $100 awards to random selected libraries and community centers who register.

Flo knows "school and public libraries are an essential resource In these economic times – they provide a safe place for youth and inspire youth to learn using up-to-date technology for homework help. But, the celebration is not only for school and public libraries… it is for the whole community! Join an organization that is celebrating Día and develop a new partnership or volunteer your time to help organize an event for youth."

In her role as Afterschool Ambassor, Flo is uniquely positioned to promote Día throughout the state. She "believe(s) that with our new partnerships, next year will be bigger and better! Investing in programs for youth during afterschool and out of school time strengthens our community!"

Día at the Senate!

Early tomorrow I leave for the ALA Día event in one of the U.S. Senate
chambers. Won't the attending school children be excited? Me too!

I remain amazed at how Día keeps growing throughout the month of April and even into May. Although April 30th has been the traditional celebration date these past twelve years, what is important is that communities hold annual spring celebrations of their daily commitment to link all children and families to books, languages and cultures. Partnerships with schools,parents, local organizations, book stores, funders and the media strengthenthe celebrations--and the community too.

I've learned a great deal from the Día events I participated in--Seattle,Portland, and Riverside, Ca. I'll be sharing what I'm learning on my web site soon.

Deep thanks to all of you who enrich Día events with your talents and creativity.

Border Book Festival

I just read about an exciting book festival that happened over the past weekend in Mesilla New Mexico, the 14th Border Book Festival. With a children’s storytelling tent, a Book and Pet Parade, author visits at schools the previous week, as well as many other events for children, adults and families, it sounded like a Bookjoy! event to me! Thanks to the Paper Tigers blog for the link.

A Día Book!

I meet wonderful people not only in person as I travel around the country, but also through correspondence. One woman I’ve met through snail mail is Gabriela Ruiz Monsalvo. Some years back, Gaby wrote me from Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, to say how excited she was about the concept of El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children’s Day/Book Day. Originally from Mexico, Gaby was familiar with school celebrations in Mexico of El día del niño on April 30th. She liked linking the celebration of children, Kids’ Day, to a celebration of connecting all children to books, languages and cultures. Like many others, year after year, she worked where she and her family live to promote and support Día celebrations.
Gaby cheerfully brought Día to the Pine Bluffs daycare center, Head Start Program, the elementary school and the county library. Year after year, Gaby sent me photos of the celebrations in Pine Bluffs. This January, Gaby mailed me a big surprise. Gaby had written her own Día book! What an idea to share. The title of her book , is, “. . . and when is Children’s Day? . . . y ¿cuándo es el Día de los Niños?” The book, assembled in a notebook, is illustrated with wonderful photos of Gaby’s cute children, their friends and of the Pine Bluffs 2007 Día celebration at the high school that included dancers and children in costumes. Gaby’s book even includes a U.S. map that shows which states celebrate Día. Gaby thanks many who helped her at the end of her fine book, and I thank her for all her hard work and for my present. I asked Gaby if I could share her good bookjoy sharing idea, and she graciously agreed.

Día Idea: Children or families can create their own Día book using photographs, drawings, paintings, etc.

I always stress that Día is a daily commitment to link children and books and can be celebrated at home, school, the public library, etc. Across the country, annual culminating celebrations are held April 30th or a convenient date for your own community. Día creates community partnerships; Día strengthens communities.