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.

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día

Let’s creatively make Día fun for ourselves and others.

I'm posting a Reflection each day during April in honor of Dia’s 15th Anniversary. All thirty Reflections will be available as a downloadable pdf at the end of the month.



15 Día Nuggets: #11 Families as Día Partners

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. This month during our second Díapalooza, we’ll finish with Nuggets 11, 12, and 13; showcase the 15 Día Dynamos, and share Bookjoy quotes from kids, our final Nugget.

All 15 Nuggets are available as completed on Pat's web site, individually and as a single downloadable packet.

15 Día Nuggets for Día’s 15th Anniversary

#11 Families as Día Partners

Since Día is a daily commitment, creatively involve parents, adult and young adult family members throughout the year as literacy partners. This list focuses on the particular role libraries and schools play in empowering families who may not view themselves as literacy mentors. Diverse strategies are essential for motivating all community families to be reading families.


1. Provide staff training to increase the effectiveness of literacy programming and outreach for diverse populations within the community.

2. Affirm the importance of multilingual families as literacy partners by using multiple languages in greetings and on signs, ads, web pages, graphics, posters and in family bookjoy sessions throughout the year.

3. Partner with families who speak other languages in presenting bilingual story times, programs, and literacy games.

4. Demystify the library with family tours and presentations that address the interests and concerns of the families served, showcase resources and encourage participation in programs such as Summer Reading.

5. Engage families as storytellers and in creating and sharing literacy posters and kits, and in exploring ways to create and share stories digitally.

6. Model creative strategies for instilling bookjoy at home such as sharing family stories and reading together.

7. Be innovative in helping families create libraries at home, seeking book donations where possible.

8. Introduce and model reading, writing, and arts activities including having families write, illustrate and share their own books.

9. Establish monthly family literacy nights at which students, teachers, and families collaborate in presenting thematic storytelling, puppet shows, etc. to the community.

10. Provide relevant sessions to assist families to be literacy advocates in their family and community, tailoring sessions to their reading practices and languages.

11. With families as partners, plan, implement and assess family literacy leadership training as part of your efforts to empower families within the school or library community.

12. Start an outreach storytelling program in which families volunteer at hospitals and retirement homes or in which older children read aloud to younger ones.

13. Form book clubs for the various literacy levels in your community by assessing the impact of literacy and literature programs on the various communities served.

14. Encourage families to visit the local public and school libraries, to volunteer, check out materials, and collaborate in Día celebration programming.

15. Invite families to be active members of your Día celebration planning committee. You’ll wonder how you got along without their fresh ideas and enthusiasm.

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día

Let’s remind one another often that Día is a daily commitment and not only an annual celebration.

I'm posting a Reflection each day during April in honor of Dia’s 15th Anniversary. All thirty Reflections will be available as a downloadable pdf at the end of the month.

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día

Let’s create regular time to reflect on the importance, challenges and
opportunities of Día’s goals.

I'm posting a Reflection each day during April in honor of Dia’s 15th Anniversary. All thirty Reflections will be available as a downloadable pdf at the end of the month.

International Children's Book Day

Today is International Children's Book Day, a holiday celebrated across the globe for over 40 years, and designated to inspire a love of reading and highlight children's books.

Doris Gebel, USBBY* president-elect, believes, "Both El día de los niños/El día de los libros and International Children's Book Day have similar and complementary goals: inspiring a love of reading and advocating for literacy, celebrating the cultural backgrounds of children the world over through literacy efforts. It is fitting that the month of April begins with International Children's Book Day and culminates with El Día de los niños, Día de los libros."

* USBBY is the US national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día.

Let’s see ourselves as part of the National Día Community connected by our commitment to the potential of each child and to the pleasure and power of literacy.

I'm posting a Reflection each day during April in honor of Dia’s 15th Anniversary. All thirty Reflections will be available as a downloadable pdf at the end of the month.

This Month's Día DynamoS

Double pleasure. As part of celebrating Día's 15th Anniversary, I've introduced you to 15 Día Dynamos that are archived on my site.

Our grand finale is a Día Dynamo Duo: Sara Howrey and Lise Tewes. These modest women each wanted to decline the recognition to focus attention on her Día colleague and friend. Symbolically, however, they are shining examples not only of their personal commitment and innovative strategies, but they show us how Día leaders create a literacy legacy.

What hope Sara gave me when I met her years ago in the Cincinnati/Northern KY area where I lived for a time. Sara was unstoppable in her determination to involve the public library in creating new partnerships. She also brought attention to Día within ALA nationally. Like all good Día leaders, she created a committee that she nurtured, so that when Sara retired, Lise was ready to bring her talents to assuming that leadership role. Día has grown thanks to these two amazing women who consistently teach and inspire me.
¡Gracias!

Sara Howrey

1. When and how did you become interested in sharing bookjoy?

SH: As a reluctant but competent reader, I didn’t think much about bookjoy until I attended a REFORMA meeting in San Francisco while I was still in library school (2001). At that meeting the REFORMA librarians said it was possible to do bilingual storytime without reading or speaking Spanish. What fun! What a challenge! And, believe me, those librarians demonstrated bookjoy that day as they read a picture book page by page in two languages (English and Spanish). The room was electric with enthusiasm for bilingual storytime. Then I met Pat Mora, and she convinced me we not only have the opportunity but the obligation to share the pleasure of reading with children and adults regardless of their native and home languages. For me, bookjoy began with bilingual picture books, and I still believe bilingual storytimes are the pinnacle of bookjoy today.

2. How did you first learn about Día and what has been your experience with Día?
SH: As soon as I was hired as a children’s librarian and allowed to write a grant for bilingual storytime, I was involved in celebrating El Día. For many years I enjoyed the indescribable rewards of planning and presenting El Día in our tri-state area, which is rich with many nationalities and languages. I treasure my ever-growing list of friends who are always willing to help with Día by reading in their home languages.

3.What are your hopes for Día 2011, Día’s 15th Anniversary?
SH: Wouldn’t it be grand if every single public library and school library in the United States celebrated Día? If not now, when?

4. What helpful tip(s) do you have for those organizing a Día event for the first time?
SH: Make certain your celebration features the joy of literacy in all the home languages of your community. Search for native speakers of foreign languages and select simple bilingual picture books for them to read . . . don’t be afraid to ask these willing and enthusiastic new friends to help with your event. (You can find new foreign language friends everywhere: ethnic bakeries and restaurants, universities, health care centers. Seek and you shall find!)

5.What is your favorite example of Bookjoy as either a child or an adult?
SH: I tutor children with dyslexia and experience bookjoy every time a once-struggling reader begins to read fluently. I’ll never forget the expression on a young man’s face as he truly experienced bookjoy for the first time while reading Heat by Mike Lupica. As he completed a particular passage, he stopped, looked up, and searched my face to see if I had noticed the critical and surprising turn of events in the story. I’m glad I was there to witness his miracle of reading with understanding and pleasure.

6. What are you reading now?
SH: In addition to the books my students are currently reading aloud (Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech, Baseball Great by Tim Green, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien), I am reading:
• Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1. Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith and the editors of the Mark Twain Project.
• Rise to Rebellion: A Novel of the American Revolution by Jeff Shaara.

Lise Tewes

1. When and how did you become interested in sharing bookjoy?
LT: I have always been an avid reader, but I guess my first experience sharing bookjoy was as a mother reading with my 7 children. Reading together was part of our everyday activities, and my children, who now range in age from 26 to 16, still remember their favorite children’s books and the special closeness of those times spent reading together.

2. How did you first learn about Día and what has been your experience with Día?
LT: I first learned about Día through working at the Kenton County Public Library, from my colleague Sara Howrey. Sara was the driving force in the KCPL’s involvement with Día. She organized the first Día celebration at our Covington location in 2004, all on her own. In 2005, Sara joined forces with a neighboring library and the local Catholic Diocese Hispanic Ministry to present a joint Día celebration. I was part of that cooperative event. The partnership with other libraries grew through 2009, including up to 7 different libraries and a dozen community partners celebrating Día at one location together! This experience of networking and supporting each other, financially as well as emotionally, gave us all confidence and commitment to Día. While the partnership has dwindled in the past two years, each library is now offering its own Día event in its own community, so the presence of Día in the Greater Cincinnati area has actually grown.

3.What are your hopes for Día 2011, Día’s 15th Anniversary?
LT: I hope that there can be a greater awareness of the importance of reading with children, in all languages, and that public libraries will take the lead in using Día to promote that important literacy message.

4. What helpful tip(s) do you have for those organizing a Día event for the first time?
LT: Look around your own community. Identify the diverse populations that live in your area and reach out to them. Invite them into the Library and ask them to participate in Día. When people are personally invited they feel welcome and committed. Most people from other cultures and countries are pleased as punch to have an opportunity to share their culture and language with others, and Día can be the way to make that initial contact and let all your diverse populations know what the Library can offer. Find partners in your community who are already working with those target populations, and get them involved. Don’t forget to include your “regular” patrons, who may not represent diversity but who still need to be encouraged to share bookjoy with their children! And network, network, network!

5.What is your favorite example of Bookjoy as either a child or an adult?
LT: I still remember the sound of my first child, barely two years old, “reading” aloud to me! We had read the same book so many times that she had memorized it. She “read” it perfectly, without mistake, and I was the proudest mom on earth! Today, she is a high school English teacher, sharing bookjoy with her students, and I’m still the proudest mom on earth!

6. What are you reading now?
LT: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood. It’s the second book of a new series called “The Incorrigible Children of Aston Place.” It’s very clever and funny!

Díapalooza 2011

Ready for our second annual Díapalooza? My web team, Laurina Cashin and Bobbie Combs, and I hope you’re finding the Día Nuggets helpful as you plan for culminating 15th Anniversary Día Celebrations. At the end of April, we’ll post a pdf of a Día Planning Booklet, including the 15 Nuggets and 30 Día Reflections I’ve written. All this material is also archived on my site. We’ve recently changed my web design and enhanced some navigational features so if you haven’t visited in awhile, take a look.

My hope is that when your Día committee does its assessment, you’ll find the booklet a helpful guide on ideas for the future. Next year, print copies of the booklet pdf for your diverse committee and personalize it with your unique cover design.

30 Daily Día Reflections

Visit this blog for a Daily Día Reflection during April. We’re also posting Día News throughout the month. To have your news considered, please complete and submit the form below. Enjoy sharing bookjoy!




Send Us Your Día Celebration News

From Laurina Cashin, blog manager
If you'd like to have your Día celebration featured on Pat's blog during our April Díapalooza, please describe your Día event in 150 words or less. We welcome a visual or two (jpegs only, please) of your team, location, or a past Día literacy-related event. You can also choose to post a Día message as a comment on Pat’s blog.

We may not be able to post all that we receive, but we’ll certainly try. We appreciate your cooperation and enthusiasm. Happy Día to all!

Pat’s blog is Share Bookjoy! (http://sharebookjoy.blogspot.com/) Send all blog posts to Laurina Cashin, lcashin (at)welovechildrensbooks(dot)com.

Name and email:

Library, School, Organization :

Dia Event Description (150 words or less):

Photo description if attached:

Download a pdf of the  blog post form.

Register Your Event

Remember to register your event at the Association of Library Service to Children’s (ALSC) Día website receive colorful complimentary Día stickers for your event.

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)

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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.

News

ALSC announced the opening of 2011 registration for Día. Let others know about your upcoming Día programming and see what Día celebrations are occurring all over the country. Spread the Día word!


Cool stickers, right? Receive complementary stickers when you register.


PoetryTagTime is the first electronic-only poetry anthology for kids! This eBook project was compiled and edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Included are 30 new poems by 30 well-known contemporary poets writing for children -- including a poem by Pat.Visit the website for more information. (Available April 1)

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.