A Día Wordle

We had fun creating this Día Wordle. You can make your own word cloud at the Wordle website.

Día in School Libraries

My library will be participating in Día de los Ninos/Day of the Child. We will be celebrating by having the students do their artwork depicting reading and literacy. It will be an on going process throughout the month of April, with the finished products to be displayed on Friday, April 30th. Paperback books will be given to the participants.

Thanks to our guest blogger Linda Hinojosa, Librarian at Buckner Elementary/ Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD  in Pharr, Texas. We're happy that school libraries are holding Día celebrations too, whether on their own or in cooperation with area public libraries. April 2010 is the 25th Anniversary of School Library Month.

Linda sent us several examples of her students' artwork.

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.

Pat Speaks in Las Vegas & Writes About Día States

Over a thousand visitors since April 1 at our first Díapalooza! Wow! Laurina Cashin who is coordinating this project and I are really smiling. I smiled lots this month as I participated in Día events in Galveston, Corpus Christi, Las Vegas, Nevada, and when I chatted about Día with dedicated librarians at the Texas Library Association (TLA). In Corpus Christi, I had the honor of reading from my work for adults at the Texas A & M English Department and of speaking about Sharing Bookjoy (and Día) at a reading and literacy conference on campus. I met inspiring librarians and teachers in Las Vegas, NV, thanks to the commitment of Mary Nelson Brown, Youth Services Coordinator for the County Library District. Mary believes that we want children and families reading all year long, and that  Día is an important annual celebration of family reading. Mary and her team are thinking about how to grow relevant literacy celebrations throughout the city. Are your schools and libraries planning to work together to promote your community as a reading community?

One of the Día activities at Las Vegas is making milagros for the children's department bulletin board.

Día States

Flo, Trujillo, one of our Día Dynamos, promotes Día throughout New Mexico and secures a Día proclamation from the Governor. Freda Mosquera is doing this same important work in Florida. The California State Library promotes Día state-wide as does the Texas Library Association. Know of any other states who promote Día state-wide?

Literacy Quote of the Week

"Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today."

                                                  — Gabriela Mistral

Charlotte Mecklenburg Celebrates Día

This year the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library celebrates Día with author/illustrator Keiko Kasza. There'll be readings and signings, roving performers, theatre and puppets, books and music, and a book give-away.

These pictures represent the last three Día celebrations at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (formally Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.) You can see more on the library's Flickr site.

Thanks to our guest blogger Meryle A. Leonard, Outreach Manager/ Community Engagement Department at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

Día in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor

For the last three years we have partnered with the Ann Arbor District Library and alternated sites. This year's event will be Sunday, April 25 from 1:30-4:30 pm at the downtown library in Ann Arbor. The program will feature Mariachi Mexico 2000 and Xitlalic, a traditional folk dance troupe.

I am including our "passport" for the event. Kids will move around the library participating in the various activities. At most stations there will be stamps for their passport. No prizes, just keeping track of the things they do. It seems to work pretty well, both as an informational piece about what is going on, but as a souvenir of the day. Kids love getting their passports stamped!

Thanks to our guest blogger Donna DeButts, Community Relations Coordinator at the Ypsilanti District Library (MI)
 

TLA Supports Día

El Día de los niños, El Día de los libros really embodies all of things libraries stand for: literacy, diversity, sharing, and a celebration of learning. The fact that Día reaches out to children and families makes it a powerful framework for advancing education while promoting a love of the wonderful languages and cultures that make us – and our communities – vital and unique.

In Texas, we heartily encourage all of our libraries to participate in this important event and to celebrate multicultural literacy all year long! We have several ways of recognizing libraries that conduct Día programming through out PR Branding Iron Awards and through applications for Texas Book Festival Literacy Grants.

To check out some great tips for holding Día programs, go to the Texas State Library website.  Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from Día celebrations here in Austin.

Thanks to our guest blogger Gloria Meraz, Director of Communications at the Texas Library Association.

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.

Día and Colorín Colorado

I hadn't heard of Día until I came to Colorín Colorado, but I quickly found that one of my favorite parts of the job was to learn more about multicultural children's books and the work of authors like Pat Mora. One of the early things I did as a website manager was to update our Día resources, which gave me a great introduction to the celebration.
Every year I track Día events around the country through news stories; it has been wonderful to see Día spread like wildfire as more communities begin to look for ways to bring Latino families together around reading and books. I think Día gives educators and librarians who may be new to working with Latinos a familiar model that can serve as a multicultural/multilingual bridge. It also encourages them to take a fresh look at their bilingual/Spanish-language books, resources, and literacy programs so that they can start building their own outreach efforts to the Latino community.

Many thanks to our guest blogger Lydia Breiseth, Website Manager at Colorín Colorado. We'll run a full interview about Lydia's work at Colorín Colorado in May. 

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.