My Family/Mi Familia Series: Thoughts about Bilingual Books

I was encouraged to write this four-book series of easy-read bilingual books by a friend in Texas who is not bilingual but who generously and creatively fosters literacy by putting bilingual books in the hands of children who need them.

In this series, readers meet the Rosas family: Isabel, Tina, Danny, Mom, Dad, and Abuelita. They meet the familiy's dog, Tico, and the family's new kitty too. The books depict children's daily activities: a family meal, chasing a kitten, bedtime, and a boy's mischief.

"How do you honestly feel about bilingual books?" I asked a group of teachers. A woman raised her hand and answered, "They intimidate me." I remain grateful for that teacher's candor. Others chimed in saying that they shared her reluctance to use such books. "I'm the teacher," one said. "I'm supposed to be the expert. I wish I knew Spanish, but I can't read half the book." The group then discussed how our monolingual-Spanish students also can feel embarrassed and wish they spoke and could read and write English.

Indeed, in our linguistically-rich country, it isn't only Spanish-speaking children and families who have those longings.

The attendees shared the following ideas:

Since we believe that books are powerful and shape attitudes, we can affirm our Latino and Spanish-speaking students by incorporating bilingual books into our school and library collections and by using the books for read-alouds and activities.

Since we teach by example, when we leave our linguistic comfort zone and risk beginning to explore and maybe even learn another language, we teach our students, whether monolingual or bilingual, to do likewise.

Instead of avoiding bilingual books, we can partner with bilingual parents, older students or colleagues and illustrate the wonder and fun of languages through collaboration. We can also listen to and use audio books.

Our students, all our diverse students, need brave teachers.

How sad I feel when I hear educators state that their ideal students are white, European-American children. All student's need their teacher's attention and faith. Celebrate and creatively educate all of America's diverse and beautiful children. Remember my Texas friend who spreads bookjoy and puts bilingual books in the hands of children who need them? Join her.

Recommendations for Hispanic Heritage Month

I was born wealthy. I had the good fortune to grow up in a loving, bilingual home in El Paso, Texas. All my grandparents spoke only Spanish. Mom and Dad were bilingual, though, so I always spoke both English and Spanish. Since Mom was a reader, I also had the good fortune to grow up with books in our home, and I enjoyed teachers who read to us at school, visits to the library, the fun of Summer Reading Clubs. Too often today, the word “wealthy” is reduced to money. Well, I was and am rich in family, books, and languages. How I wish I were tri-lingual!


Since sharing is often more fun than having, I like to share bookjoy, la alegría en los libros. I founded Día, El dia de los niños, El día de los libros/Children’s Day, Book Day, as one way for all of us to link all children to books, languages and cultures day by day, día por día. Día celebrations are held throughout the country around April 30th and are fun to plan at home, school, and libraries. I wrote Book Fiesta to show the fun of reading by ourselves, with our family, to our pets and reading everywhere—even in a hot air balloon and on an elephant.

  

I not only love words and languages, I love diversity: the wonder of an array of flowers, birds, and humans, families. I’ll never understand why some are valued more than others. The Hispanic or Latino national community is highly diverse. Some are new arrivals; some families that have lived on the U.S. landscape for generations. Some have ancestors from countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Peru. Some are dark; some fair. Some Catholic; some Protestant or Jewish. Some speak only Spanish, some only English, some are bilingual.

I was a children’s book author before I noticed: hey, none of the books I read and loved had any characters who looked like me or my family, who spoke Spanish and enjoyed saying both candy and dulces. How children and the young at heart enjoy learning words in other languages! Luckily, many Latino authors are now writing wonderful books for us all. Here are ten of my favorites:

http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/bookfinder/hispanic-heritage-month-booklist/

Thanks to PBS Parents!

Yuyi Morales Reads Aloud

Many of us like to promote linking children to books, languages and cultures día por día, day by day. Today is a special day since talented author and visual artist Yuyi Morales is generously sharing one of her creative videos with us. Yuyi is a great Día supporter.



(In this video Yuyi reads Magic Dogs of the Volcanoes/Los perros magicos de los volcanoes, written by Manilo Argueta and illustrated by Elly Simmons, published by Children's Book Press.)

Celebrating Las Posadas

Jeanette Larson posted about "Celebrating Las Posadas" on the ALSC blog and mentioned Pat's book Gift of the Poinsettia/ El regalo de la flor de nochebuena. Las Posadas re-enacts Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem and is celebrated throughout Latin America.

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."

Día at Spanglish Baby and Arizona State University

So many places to celebrate Día!

Roxanne Soto at Spanglish Baby  is sponsoring a Bilingual School Library Contest in honor of Día's 15th Anniversary. The winning library will receive $500 worth of bilingual and Spanish language books donated by publishers. Entries close May 8, 2011; read more details here.

On April 30 Arizona State University will host its first Día de los Niños/Día de Los Libros Literacy Celebration for students from across Arizona. “A variety of reading/writing activities are planned for our student guests, such as book making, bookmark making, poetry writing, oral storytelling workshops and much more,” said Tracey Flores, a teacher consultant with ASU’s Central Arizona Writing Project, sponsor of the event. Several authors are joining the event. Read more here.
  

Cinco Puntos Press Celebrates 25 Years and Día

We asked Lee Byrd to talk with us about publishing, creativity and Día.  
My name is Lee Byrd. My husband Bobby and I are both writers. In 1985, we started Cinco Puntos Press. Funny, how things start, take root and grow—we were sick and tired of working for other people, we had three kids to support, and we wanted more time to write. (If you need more time to write, don’t start a publishing company!) We had no idea what publishers did, but luckily we had a lot of friends whose work we admired who weren’t getting published; and we had another friend who knew how to design books.

Our first book was Winners on the Pass Line, a collection of short stories by Dagoberto Gilb; our second, a book of poems by Joe Somoza. Then we met Joe Hayes. He was traveling all over the Southwest telling stories to kids. They loved him! We asked him if we could publish a book of his and he said it would have to be La Llorona / The Weeping Woman because that was the story the kids wanted to hear the most. And we would need to do it in a bilingual format because that was the way he liked to tell stories. Thus began our journey into children’s literature. Twenty-five years have passed and we’re still learning, each book—whether for kids or adults—taking us into new and miraculous territory.

Publishing is very creative work. Like writing, it’s a marvelous act of self-discovery. A manuscript comes to us. We love it. We see it opening up new doors of understanding to readers. But how to present it, how to get it illustrated or designed and who will do that? Who is the audience and how best to present it to that audience? When the book arrives from the printer, we all feel like its proud parents. It’s such a creative and collaborative process, no one knows exactly where his or her work started and where someone else picked it up.

At Cinco Puntos, we love El día de los niños, El día de los libros because we see the festivities surrounding it and the excitement that the kids have as a way of raising up the next generation of readers, who will, hopefully, read books that we—and our colleagues in this incredible work—have created.

John, Lee and Bobby Byrd

Creativity Interview: Erica Brown

I met Erica briefly at YALSA's Young Adult Literature Symposium in Albuquerque.  My friend, Flo Trujillo, Día Dynamo and Youth Services Coordinator at the Farmington Public Library (NM) proudly gave me a copy of Blended Zine edited by Erica and staffed by her fellow teens in San Juan County, New Mexico. I was so impressed by the quality of the work in the zine and by the fact that this is a teen production.  What a fine model of school, library, and community cooperation.

My name is Erica Brown, I’m 17 years old, a senior in high school and I have been home schooled my entire life. I’m involved in several programs besides Blended such as Mayor’s Teen Advisory Council, UMATTR (http://www.umattr.com/), coaching second grade cheerleading for Upward basketball, and Student Leadership and the Worship team through my church. In January of 2009 when I was 15 years old, I applied for a position at Blended Zine. I had submitted before and thought it was a really cool project, so I wanted to get involved. I was hired as a general staff member and joined the 12 person staff. In June of ’09 after the current editor graduated, I was promoted to the position of editor.

Do you think of yourself as creative?
EB: I would definitely think of myself as of creative. My whole life I’ve loved experimenting with different art forms whether it was painting, drawing, writing or music. I always try to do something different and think outside of the box. Creativity is one of the most defining aspects of my life. I like to be different from what most people are doing. I like to be crazy and stay on the edge of new and exciting things.


In what ways does creativity shape your life?
EB: I love creativity in any form. I love dancing and learning new things and figuring out things that haven’t been done. I also love music. I love just experimenting with music to make something different or a new sound. Something I really enjoy is making sidewalk murals with chalk. Chalk is one of my favorite mediums. For Blended over the past few years I have submitted a broad range of pieces. Drawing, etchings, paintings, digital art, and in our most recent issue, poetry! I really like expressing myself in so many different ways.

Blended, May 2010

 As for balancing school and creativity, I think the two can be a wonderful combination. I truly believe that creativity produces rational thinking because when you don’t limit yourself to the norms, you open up your mind to so much more! You can look at things from more perspectives. One of my favorite subjects is math. Although math is very precise, there are limitless possibilities that are just wonderful to explore, and for me personally this sparks a lot of curiosity. No matter what subject you are researching or writing on, creativity can helps you see things from new perspectives or different viewpoints.


That’ s why Blended is such a great program for teens to get involved with. It sparks creativity. We've had many teachers tell us that they've had students improve in school after submitting and getting published in Blended. I think that’s one of the greatest effects a program like this could ever have.


Blended, December 2010

 Blended Zine has been one of the biggest parts of my life for the past two years. I was so blessed with the opportunity to be part of the program and it has changed my life in more ways than I can list. I am currently working on the eighth issue, and my fifth and last issue as part of the staff. It has been a truly amazing experience!

Tell us about your most memorable teacher.
EB: I have been home schooled my entire life [so] my most memorable teacher is definitely my mom! She has taught me the importance of thinking for myself, being my own person and just being myself! Although, I have been taking college classes part time since my junior year, in my second semester I took inter-personal communication. My teacher was wonderful! She definitely made a profound impact on my life.

Release Party December 2010

Blended Zine is published three times each year by the Farmington Public Library, Farmington NM. All submissions and published pieces are from students, ages 13-19, living in San Juan County. The Mission Statement states "Blended strives to be a positive influence and helps teens stay connected and involved with the community. Along with the Farmington Public Library, Blended enlightens, enriches, and changes lives by providing innovative, optimistic and constructive influences for adolescents.

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Uno, Dos, Tres: One, Two, Three Featured Title for Summer Reading Program

Pat's picture book Uno, Dos, Tres: One, Two, Three is a featured title for this summer's Collaborative Summer Library Program's (CSLP) theme "One World, Many Stories." TeachingBooks.net has created an audio clip of Pat talking about how she came to write the book, and reading from it.

Creativity Interview: Marina Tristan

What a pleasure to introduce blog visitors to my friend Marina Tristan. One of the joys of this blog is connecting visitors to people I like, respect and find interesting. How long have I known Marina? Have I ever not known her I ask myself. My first book, CHANTS, a poetry collection was published in 1984 by Arte Público Press, and I'll always be grateful to AP for that act of faith. Marina and her colleague Carmen Peña Abrego are so essential to my relationship and my mental image of AP, that I can't imagine the Press without them. Ever modest, in the interview below, Marina has focused on her practical skills, and they are many. What matters to me about Marina is her caring, her thoughtfulness, her warmth, her reliability, her laugh. I've never met a single person who doesn't like and respect her. A high standard for the rest of us.

An introduction: My name is Marina Tristán, and I’m a mother, daughter, sister, friend. And the assistant director of Arte Público Press, the oldest publisher of U.S. Hispanic literature.

1. Do you think of yourself as creative?
MT: Not at all! If you ask my friends and colleagues to describe me in a word or two, they would say that I’m practical, matter of fact, pragmatic. I don’t think I was encouraged to be creative when I was a child. Or maybe it’s just my personality, or maybe it’s that life demands I be productive. I certainly enjoy and appreciate all kinds of creativity, from literature to film and music. I have read voraciously all of my life, and I listen to a wide array of music constantly. But when people ask me if I write, I always say “No!” I have come to realize that I DO write, though it’s usually communication that’s geared to being clear and efficient (another word my friends would use to describe me). But when I write copy to describe books that we publish, there’s definitely an element of creativity involved. What words and images should I use to intrigue potential readers without giving the story away?

2. How do you nurture your creativity?
MT: At this point in my life, it’s important to nurture creative thinking in ways that don’t require much of a learning curve. Someday I’ll take knitting and dance lessons. But for now, because I’m a reader, I consciously hang on to words, phrases, headlines. I read the newspaper every day, not only to be informed, but to be inspired. I’m a fan of NPR’s Storycorps and tune into that kind of programming for inspiration. I also make time for movies and live performances to fulfill my appreciation for creative arts.

3. Do you have a space that helps you be more creative?
MT: The kitchen, at least when I’m not cooking for company! But seriously, I’m fortunate to work with a group of smart and creative women who are great to brainstorm with. We enjoy gathering around the table in my office and debating which words or phrases are just the right ones to describe authors, books, events. It’s important, I think, to be able to throw out ideas without fear of embarrassment or humiliation. The work we do in promoting books and authors published by Arte Público is made more powerful by our collaborative spirit.

4. In what ways does creativity shape your work and your life?
MT: I think “creativity” has been an important component in my life as a way to make things work. Whether we’re short of resources at work—human or financial—or I’m juggling too much between responsibilities as a mother, daughter, or friend, thinking “creatively” helps me to do more than I initially think I can. And of course I have been fortunate to be involved with books and authors for 25 years at Arte Público, and working in an environment where producing books is our daily work means that creativity is something I experience daily.

5. Has any book been particularly helpful in trusting or developing your creativity?
MT: Sometimes the simplest concepts are the most creative. I’m excited about a bilingual picture book Arte Público is publishing this spring. The Land of Lost Things/ El país de las cosas perdidas epitomizes imagination and creativity. It’s about a young boy who loses his blue pencil and imagines entering—through his pencil box—a strange and mysterious land.

Pura Belpré and Américas Children's Book Awards

The most recent issue of the enewsletter, NoveList School News, focuses on the theme of multicultural literature and includes an interview with Jamie Campbell Naidoo, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama, about the Pura Belpré  and Américas Children's Book Awards. He has served on both book award committees. Here's a list of Pat's books that have won these awards.

2010 Américas Commended List
2010 Belpré Illustrator Medal Book

1996 Américas Commended List

2006 Belpré Illustrator Medal Book
2006 Belpré Author Honor Book

2010 Belpré Illustrator Honor Book

2010 Américas Commended List



1997 Américas Award 
Commended Title



2008 Américas Award for Children’s Literature

15 Día Nuggets: #6 What Every Día Advocate Needs to Know and #8 Children's Books About Sharing Bookjoy

Today, we're posting two more Día Nuggets! All available Nuggets are on my site, and you can also download a Nugget packet.

If you visit this blog or my web site, you know that April 2011, we’re celebrating Día’s 15th Anniversary. My web team and I were so pleased at comments about our first Díapalooza last April that we’re having a second Díapalooza in 2011. 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 Díapalooza 2011, we’ll showcase the 15 Día Dynamos, 15 Mora Award winners and the 15 Día Nuggets, etc. Send us your I-días!

15 Día Nuggets for Día’s 15th Anniversary

Nugget #6 What Every  Día Advocate Needs to Know

1. Día is a daily commitment to link all children to books, languages and cultures with annual, culminating celebrations in April.

2. Día honors both children and the power and pleasure of books.

3. Día enhances communities by supporting families and literacy.

4. Your effective advocacy requires vision and revision.

5. Advocacy is incredibly hard work requiring enthusiastic, reliable allies.

6. Parents are essential as valued members of your literacy team.

7. Growing the Día concept in your community and nationally requires optimism, energy, creativity, action, and collaboration.

8. Forming new partnerships requires patience and consistency.

9. Planning a Día celebration need not involve a large budget.

10. Many models (large and small) and suggestions are available on the Web.

11. Experienced celebration planners welcome your questions.

12. Día = Diversity in Action. (Coined by North Carolina librarians.)

13. Día needs visibility to reach its potential in our democracy. Publicize your celebrations, write articles for professional journals, use social networking options, volunteer to speak at conferences, etc.

14. Sharing bookjoy is fun, rewarding and important.

15. Día needs you and your unique talents.

 

Nugget #8 Children's Books About Sharing Bookjoy

1. Amadi's Snowman by Katia Novet Saint-Lot, illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo (Tilbury House)
2. Best Place to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom, illustrated by Michael Garland (Random House)
3. Book! By Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Maggie Smith (Clarion)
4. Book Fair Day by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Thor Wickstrom (Penguin)
5. Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children's Day, Book Day/ Celebremos El día de los niños, El día de los libros by Pat Mora, illustrated by Rafael López (HarperCollins)
6. A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Inés by Pat Mora, illustrated by Beatriz Vidal (Knopf)
7. Lola Loves Stories and Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw (Charlesbridge)
8. Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don’t) by Barbara Bottner, illustrated by Michael Emberley (Random House)
9. Reading Grows written and photographed by Ellen B. Senisi (Albert Whitman)
10. Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr, illustrated by Todd Parr (Little Brown)
11. Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Lee & Low)
12. Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre (Children’s Book Press)
13. Tomás and the Library Lady by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colón (Knopf)
14. Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown, illustrated by John Parra (Tricycle)
15. Yasmin's Hammer by Ann Malaspina, illustrated by Doug Chayka (Lee & Low)

NYT Article to Ponder

I so admire the words and work of Nicholas Kristof. When I speak around our country, a land of significant economic disparities, I often say that children are sometimes proud of speaking Spanish related to the economic level of their families. Non-Latino children in private schools brag to me about speaking Spanish. Some Latino children whose families are struggling to survive in our country wonder whether to admit that they are bilingual. Sad irony. Let me know what you think of Kristof’s op-ed piece “Primero Hay Que Aprender Español. Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen.”

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New Contest for Bilingual Publishing

Ediciones Monarcas—a new, not-for-profit publisher of bilingual (Spanish-English) books for children—announces the Infinity Auto Insurance Leer Conmigo Award in Children’s Literature. Each month they will award a $1,000 prize and publish the best submission received. A contest website is coming soon. For now, you can read guidelines and more information here.

Two Día News Flashes: Jeanette Larson Is a Día Dynamo and Exciting Día News from ALSC

How grateful I am to my friend Texas librarian Jeanette Larson who has been an active Día supporter from the beginning. The key word in that first sentence is “active.” Jeanette is a do-er. Long before I was that familiar with the Web, it was Jeanette who said, “We need to get Día on the Web, and we need a Día booklet.” What a gift to me and Día. As you’ll see in her answers, through the years, Jeanette has been helping Día grow, and now she has completed an ALA book, El día de los ninos/El día de los libros: Building a Culture of Literacy in Your Community Through Día. Gracias, Jeanette. (And don’t you love her Halloween answer below?)


1. When and how did you become interested in sharing bookjoy?
JL: My parents both were big readers and they shared bookjoy with all of us. I remember being about 6 or 7 years old and teaching my younger siblings to read. As I recall, or have been told, I did that primarily by sharing books and reading to them. We always received books as gifts.

2. How did you first learn about Día and what has been your experience with Día?

JL: It was very early in Pat's planning and promotion. I don't even remember how or where I met Pat but I was working at the Texas State Library when she was starting Día. Part of my work included helping libraries plan programs and services. Pat mentioned Día and her desire to encourage libraries to participate. We had just finished creating a resource guide for Read to Your Bunny, an early literacy project started by author/illustrator Rosemary Wells and I suggested to Pat that we create a similar manual for Día to help libraries get started. We gave that manual, which is still available at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/ninos/, to hundreds of libraries in Texas and also made it available to libraries in Florida and any other libraries that wanted it. I also worked with Austin Public Library on several of their celebrations and served on the Texas Library Association's committee to create the Día Toolkit. Even as a professor for Texas Woman's University I include Día in my classes and encourage students to create sample programs for libraries. My latest Día project is a book for ALA/ALSC that will be published in April 2011.

3.What are your hopes for Día 2011, Día’s 15th Anniversary?
JL: I really hope that like a Quinceañera, the 15th anniversary marks a "coming of age" for Día. It has flourished and has many friends and supporters but it can now mature and reach its full potential. I'd like to see more libraries, especially school libraries, celebrating bilingual literacy and my hope is that more languages can be encompassed in that celebration.

4. What helpful tip(s) do you have for those organizing a Día event for the first time?
JL: Start small and grow. Don't be afraid to ask for support and assistance. People are very willing to help. Read El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros: Building a Culture of Literacy in Your Community through Día (ALA, 2011) as it provides tons of information on organizing and expanding Día events.

5.What is your favorite example of Bookjoy as either a child or an adult?
JL: At Halloween I give out books along with the candy. It's wonderful to see the delight in a child's face when he or she gets to pick a book. Sometimes the kids are not even interested in the candy; they know that the book is the real treat!

6. What are you reading now?
JL: I am on a non-fiction award committee so I'm reading a lot for that. I usually read a least two books and listen to an audiobook at the same time so there are really too many titles to list. I just finished Border Crossing by Jessica Lee Anderson and The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler. I love mysteries so am reading Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery edited by Sarah Cortez and Liz Martínez. For my book discussion group I'm reading The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom. Another type of bookjoy is the joy of discovering a book I might not have read without some encouragement.

Exciting Día News from ALSC!

Beginning Tuesday, November 2, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is pleased to accept applications for mini-grants intended to expand youth literacy programs to include and celebrate a variety of cultures in public libraries. Up to 15 mini-grants will be awarded: up to eight at $4,000 each; and up to seven at $6,000 each.

Intended as an expansion of El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Día), the mini-grants will be awarded to libraries that demonstrate a need to better address the diverse backgrounds within their communities.

The mini-grants are part of the Everyone Reads @ your library grant awarded to ALSC from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. For more information, and the application form, go to http://everyonereads.zhost.net/. The deadline for receipt of applications is November 29, 2010.

Pat Talks about Bilingual and Multicultural Publishing

In 2009, Pat was interviewed for a planned update of the Texas Library Association (TLA) Día site. As part of the interview, Pat was asked the question: What is your hope for the growth of bilingual and multicultural books for children and teens?

"I’m a bit uncomfortable with the word “multicultural” which is usually used to mean work by non-Anglo authors. All books are cultural in that they are written by a particular person who is part of a culture, a way of seeing the world. I’ve been having the same problem with the word “mainstream.” What does that really mean? Given our national plurality, the true mainstream is diverse. So what are most of the books published and reviewed and honored? A protected stream? To change metaphors, America’s authentic chorus is diverse. Why all those voices are not fairly represented in the award system and published is a fascinating question.

I can feel mighty discouraged when I read the statistics that document the growth of diversity in the student population and the lack of growth in the diversity of the authors who are published for children and young adults. I’ve written about this topic for years and stressed the importance of diversifying the editorial and marketing staffs, particularly at major publishing houses, and the need for teachers and librarians to be vocal and effective advocates for the books their students deserve, books that reflect the students’ lives and stories. Though educators say they like and need bilingual books, publishers often say that the books don’t really sell. I begin with two assumptions. Publishing is a business. If an editor publishes books that don’t sell, that editor is in trouble. Since most people are people of good will, I’ve often suggested that conference panels with editors and librarians/teachers exploring this challenge could be helpful.

In the last year, I’ve become more aware that bilingual books can be intimidating to monolingual librarians and teachers. An interesting challenge for TLA, given its commitment to Día and family literacy, is how to assist librarians to develop strategies for using bilingual books with all students."

Read the full interview about Día, programming for teens, and reading here.

Publishers Support Dia

We thank the many publishers who sent their good wishes for Día and contributed images and links about their diversity books. We hope to see growing support for Día from the publishing community.

Candlewick supports Dia’s goals of linking all children to books, languages and cultures by publishing books like Roberto's Trip to the Top.

Here are some links to downloadable material such as activity and discussion guides and posters for a few Charlesbridge books that we think would be a good addition to the DIAPALOOZA festivities!

“Get swept away in a book” -- a Literacy Poster with art from Our Seasons by Grace Lin, illustrated by Ranida McKneally

“Get down to your library!” -- a Literacy Poster with art from Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw

Activity and Discussion Guide for Join Hands! by Pat Mora and photographs by George Ancona


Cincos Puntos Press has teacher's resources for many of their titles and author videos.

Children's Book Press helped create the poster and bookmark for the San Francisco Día celebration. These materials are also available for download on theirwebsite, in a blog entry posted about Día.

Little Brown has an educator's guide available for Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez.

Penguin Young Readers offers a great resource for educators, a website for teachers and librarians that contains all sorts of curriculum and discussion guides, title information, and a wealth of other materials available for download.

Honoring the Desert on Earth Day

Even though only one day a year is designated as Earth Day and only one is designated as El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros, parents and educators know that books, reading, and our planet’s resources should be celebrated every day. On this Earth Day, read Pat Mora’s The Desert Is My Mother/El desierto es mi madre to combine celebrating the Earth with reading to your children!

The first picture book ever published by Arte Público Press’  imprint for children and young adults, Piñata Books, was Pat Mora’s The Desert Is My Mother/El desierto es mi madre. Based on a poem Pat wrote years ago, The Desert Is My Mother “celebrates a child’s connection with her desert home … [she] is fostered by the joy and awe of lonely places.” (Booklist, 1994) Instead of portraying the desert as an empty expanse of land, the desert is depicted as a giver of comfort, spirit, sustenance, and beauty.

Since its initial publication in a hardcover edition, Desert is My Mother has been included in numerous textbooks for children and has been released in a paperback edition and in an audio book format by Lorito Books. Hundreds of thousands of children have enjoyed the book’s poetic language while learning about the environment. In this downloadable teacher's guide, teachers are provided with strategies and activities to support the acquisition of literacy skills and reading comprehension.

So on Earth Day, help a child discover the beauty of words and the world around them. In the desert, in the forest, at sea … every day is Children’s Day/Book Day!

For information on a special Día discount for this and other bilingual children’s books, click here.

Thanks to our guest blogger Marina Tristán, Assistant Director at Arte Público Press.

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.

Summer Book Club, part 2

One of the highlights of my summer was hearing from Conni Su Siminski about this summer book club. Talk about sharing bookjoy! Yea to Conni Su, the moms and the girls! Hope others will send us your bookjoy sharing ideas. Pat

(More about the summer book club from Connie Su . . .)

The Summer Book Club with about 10 girls from Monte Vista Elementary School in La Crescenta, CA, met weekly for 6 weeks. Pat's book was the kick off and the best book to do that as it had all these great foods to taste and haiku to read plus lots of additional educational facts and tips. The girls went around the table and took turns reading everything on the page...the facts and the haiku. The girls learned so much and had a ball. There was lots of interaction and discussion encouraged and Moms (or Grandmother as in my case) were present and could contribute as well. Photos were taken at each meeting to be displayed and used to make a craft at the end to take home. It was a multicultural group of girls and the club covered different genres: Haiku the first week, then poetry the next week with Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. Each girl read her favorite from the book along with other classic poems. Another week it was a nonfiction book, What To Do About Alice, which was about Alice Roosevelt with a feminist bent . One week the girls had a tea party complete with gloves and hats and tea sandwiches while reading, The English Roses by Madonna. One week the girls met at the local Barnes and Noble for their meeting and another at the beautiful downtown Los Angeles public library. The last meeting discussed the book Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, which the girls read during the week. Afterwards, they watched the movie of it while the moms got a BBQ together and all the girls’ families came and had dinner together. It was a feast and a glorious way to end the summer book club. All in all the entire 6 weeks had an air of excitement and festivities and fun!

Starting a book club. . .

For moms looking to start a book club, here’s another idea. A club at our school is headed by a mom who has it in her home each month. It is a Mother/Daughter Book Club and this year the moms will select the books beginning with Frindle by Andrew Clements. The club meets each month for about 1 1/2 hours with healthy snacks and beverage at the end. Moms read the books with the girls during the month so everyone can help in discussion. Each girl draws a paper from a hat naming a role they will have to help expedite the discussion. The roles are: Discussion Director leads the group to talk about the book by asking inspiring questions; Problem Prober finds the problem in the story and how it is solved; Theme Teller discusses the theme and sub-themes and the overall 'big idea' of the book; Connecting Captain connects between the book and the world experiences around them or what it reminds them of in their own life or another book; Character Captor analyzes the main characters in the story and talks about their qualities; Setting Specialist reports on the setting of the story and how that affects the story; Word Wizard looks closely at the special words the author chose to use in the story like funny words, long words, descriptive words, etc.; Passage Picker picks an interesting passage from the story to share and tells how the story is made more powerful by that passage; Artful Artist makes something to creatively represent an important part of the story which could be a drawing, map, costume, props and the groups guesses which part of the story is represented. A great side benefit for the above group was learning all the parts of a good story in a fun way. Both of the book clubs function differently but enhance the love of reading, camaraderie of the girls and the moms, and makes reading and discussion fun! Nothing could be better!

Summer Book Club

A short time ago a woman in California wrote Pat about her book, Yum! ¡Mmm! ¡Qué Rico! America's Sproutings, mentioning that her granddaughter would be reading Yum for her upcoming book club meeting. Isn’t that cool? Pat sent the girls, 10 third-graders at Monte Vista Elementary School in La Crescenta, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, a personal note.

Dear California Readers,

I wish I could be with you when you talk about YUM! Aren’t the illustrations wonderful? The illustrator lives in CA and also illustrated my book, BOOK FIESTA! You can read my answers to questions readers ask me here. I loved being a third grader and going to the library’s summer reading club. How I would have liked being in a book club like yours. Keep reading and writing.

Pat Mora

Here’s a delightful account of the first meeting of the Summer Book Club sent to Pat from the grandmother, Conni Su.

Hi Pat,

Just to let you know...yesterday's Girl's Summer Book Club was a fantastic success and because of your book!! If you can believe it, the girls lasted 3 hours...from 2 PM to 5 PM reading every word of your book, drawing their own special fruits on the butcher paper covering the dining table, making Haiku and mostly tasting every fruit in your book except the chili's (they smelled chili powder very briefly instead)...we did notice you wrote the chili pepper haiku in one syllable words like the music term, staccato, to represent 'hot.' They thought that was really clever! We had cold, fresh prickly pear and it was enjoyed by the women but the girls only wanted to smell and lick it. The girls gasped with joy when I read your email and were proud we adults would work together on something to put their school on your blog. Some girls expressed an interest to write to you. For any who follow through is there a PO Box number or anything where we can send the collected drawings and writings?

Again, thank you so much. The diversity of the girls aided their enjoyment of the book with the places of origin of the foods hitting home for several. One girl drew a Brazilian flag to celebrate it being touted more than once. All in all it was a great ice breaker and we had so much fun munching and interacting and everyone sharing stories and experiences from either their homeland or just picking from their garden. YUM! AND a day of real learning, too!

Thanks for being part of our very special day!

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!