Día in Wylie Texas

We have a new tradition here at Smith Public Library in Wylie which is to celebrate Día de los ninos with dance! For the last 2 years we have had the pleasure of welcoming Mexico 2000 Ballet Folklorico into our library and they put on a show right in the middle of the children’s area. They come lay down a special floor and we pack in around 100 people to watch. The audience not only learns about the various dances in each region of Mexico, but the different yells and “gritos” that go with them. After the show, kids of all ages can go up and learn a simple dance taught by Mary and Alex Palencia, the directors of the troupe. Imagine going to your local library and experiencing the culture, music and colorful spectacle of traditional Mexican dancing! It’s truly joyful and we look forward to welcoming them again this year.

Thanks to our guest blogger Ofilia Barrera, Youth Services Librarian at the Smith Public Library in Wylie Texas.

Día in Seattle

Invite a local celebrity to celebrate your Día! Whether it’s a politician, broadcaster, athlete or a popular business owner, he or she can help draw families and enliven your event, as well as underscore the value of reading and culture. Ask your celebrity to read aloud from a childhood favorite or their kids’ favorite bedtime story. Invite them to talk about the importance of reading and libraries in their lives. Create a display of their favorite books, or biographies about them if available. Request a copy of their professional photo and use in your publicity and bulletin boards to generate interest and excitement.

A recent Seattle Public Library Día celebration hosted Jaime Mendez, a highly-respected local radio and TV personality in the Spanish-speaking community. Here he reads aloud from “Book Fiesta” by Pat Mora."



Many thanks to our guest blogger, Beatriz Pascual Wallace, MLIS Children's Librarian, The Seattle Public Library.

Share Día with Lee & Low Books

Happy Día! On Lee and Low's web site and blog, we celebrate books and kids every day. We have activities to add an extra level of fun and classroom guides to add an extra level of exploration. Our Booktalks bring readers into the processes as we discuss books with their authors and illustrators. Plus, we think books are to be shared—we share the experience of reading in discussions on The Open Book, from favorite covers to favorite puncuation and whatever else strikes our fancy.

Literacy Quote of the Week

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

~ Chinese proverb ~

NCTE Supports Día

At its annual business meeting held in November 2005 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) adopted a resolution in support of El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day.) Since then, NCTE has increased awareness and programming to support culturally and linguistically diverse literacy activities at home, in school, and in the community for more successful readers. The photos highlight some of the NCTE supported activities hosted in schools, libraries, and homes across the country to spread “bookjoy.”

“Pat Mora’s efforts with the Día initiative have enriched our schools, libraries, and homes through a reading, book-rich life. Indeed, our literate lives are in bloom. ¡Bravo, Pat!"

               −R. Joseph Rodriguez, educator and researcher

Thank you to our guest blogger R. Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D. with the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA) at the University of Texas at Austin.

Pat Celebrates Día in Galveston TX

I hope that you are enjoying all the Díapalooza posts as much as I am. Although I cherish the Santa Fe quiet to do my writing, I derive great energy from visiting exciting literacy and literature events. On April 3, I was in Galveston for the Rosenberg Library’s first Día celebration. Congratulations to Children’s Librarian Karen Stanley and to the staff and local teachers who helped create a day that included a treasure hunt in the library (to acquaint children and families with the different departments), a book give-away, flower making, and piñatas. Children had been given raffle tickets for every book they read in preparation for my visit, and those whose names were drawn joined me for a delicious catered lunch.

At the end of my morning presentation, thanks to the work of some dedicated teachers, the audience and I enjoyed hearing a Mexican children’s song and watching some girls dressed like the girls in the book about my mom, THE RAINBOW TULIP.

The children at this Día event received Summer Reading Club T-shirts too. Remember that Día is a great kick-off to Summer Reading and provides an opportunity for librarians at public libraries to work to collaborate with school librarians and teachers.

April: Together promote Día celebrations as an annual tradition at home, school, and the public library.
May: Together collaborate to encourage pleasure reading during May and to re-enforce the importance of Summer Reading Clubs.
June: Together insure that all children understand the when, what, and how of Summer Reading Clubs.

Our country needs reading families. Thanks to each of you who shares bookjoy and who is part of Día’s National Family.

Book Giveaway

Pat and Karen Stanley

Comments Contest Winners

We have some Comments Contest winners but no way to reach them. Would everyone who commented on the blog since April 6 send an email to webcontact@patmora.com. Then we can notify you and get your address. Thanks!

Elgin IL celebrates Día

Last April we had a wonderful El día de los niños, El día de los libros/Children’s Day, Book Day celebration using Music as our theme. We presented a puppet show and invited the McKinley School Folklore Dancers and the Grupo Luz de Ande, all local residents, to perform. Everyone had a great time! Attached are pictures from the program.

Thanks to our guest blogger Tina Birkholz, Coordinator of Hispanic Family Services at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, IL.

Poetry, Por Favor!

April is Poetry Month, but did you know that this is Young Peoples' Poetry Week ? In honor of this week that celebrates all that poetry has to bring to children and teens, we asked poetry advocate, Sylvia Vardell, for a post.

I’d like to highlight the power of poetry for inviting kids into the music of language—the rhythm, rhyme, and sounds of words. Very young kids will love Fiesta Babies (Tricycle Press, 2010) by Carmen Tafolla, with bouncy folk art illustrations by Amy Córdova. A rhyming couplet begins each double-page spread, “Fiesta Babies sing along/ to Grandpa’s favorite mariachi song!” The babies parade, munch, sing, dance, celebrate, and nap in playful language that invites children to join in with motions and chanting.

Another great read aloud selection for children is ¡Muu, Moo! Rimas de animals/ Animal Nursery Rhymes (Rayo/HarperCollins, 2010) selected by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy. Here are 16 inviting story rhymes from several different Spanish speaking countries—classic folk rhymes plus new verses, all in Spanish and English accompanied by captivating watercolor illustrations by Viví Escriva.

For older kids, I have to plug Pat Mora’s own new work for teens, Dizzy in Your Eyes; Poems About Love (Knopf, 2010) an innovative anthology of nearly 50 poems about all kinds of love-- of parents, friends, family, pets—acknowledging the depth of feeling in many relationships and at many stages of life and in many different poetic forms.

Thank you to our guest blogger Sylvia Vardell, Professor at Texas Woman's University/ School of Library & Information Studies, and author of several books on literature and poetry. This month on her marvelous blog, Poetry for Children, she's organized POETRY TAG, a unique celebration of poets, poetry and poetic connections.

It's National Library Week!

It's National  Library Week! We salute Día's national home, the Association of Library Service for Children (ALSC), a Division of the American Library Association.

Register Now for Complimentary Día Brochures!

Celebrate! Celebremos! Join colleagues across the country as libraries nationwide celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day). Held annually on April 30, Día promotes the importance of advocating literacy for every child, regardless of linguistic and cultural background. Through Día celebrations, libraries showcase their multicultural programs and services. While supplies last, ALSC is providing up to 100 complimentary bilingual brochures, with recommended book lists and tips on how to encourage children to read, to each library that registers its Día event at: www.ala.org/dia. The registry of events is searchable by state.

The Association of Library Service for Children (ALSC) has been Día’s national home since 2004. The division is proud to include Día as one of its four major initiatives, all programs devoted to promoting literacy and library use to children, families and caregivers. ALSC’s Public Awareness Committee, whose members are responsible for Día, is looking forward to the upcoming 15th anniversary celebration next year. Great plans are underway for the commemoration. This year’s theme for National Library Week is “Communities thrive @ your library” and we want to build a thriving Día community.

Please feel free to contact us at dia@ala.org.

Thanks to our guest blogger, Linda Mays, ALSC Program Officer.

Literacy all month long

April is packed with days and weeks honoring literature, literacy, libraries and young children and we'll be mentioning them this week. Look for ways you can support Día's goals when planning for these other events.

Today is D.E.A.R. Day -- Drop Everything and Read! It seems only fitting that we would schedule a post from Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon.

Multnomah County Library staff shares bookjoy with this awesome double sided bilingual reading board.

During our Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros celebrations, as we share information about the importance of parents sharing books with their children and parents learn how to foster early literacy skills to prepare their children for learning to read, we are also planning on giving out this reading board to encourage families to read at home.

We are planning on having families make Miraculous Milagros magnets so that they can hang the board on their refrigerator.

This year we will be having Latino community leaders as "guest readers" who will read to the children and encourage families to share bookjoy by doing some of the activities listed on the board.

Click here to view a pdf of the bilingual reading board.

Thanks to our guest blogger, Ana Schmitt, Bilingual Outreach Specialist at Multnomah County Library and  a Día Champion along with her LIBROS coworkers.

Literacy Quote of the Week

Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.
~ Hazel Rochman ~