Pat Mora's Blog, page 18

Congratulations to My Friends John Parra and Monica Brown

How pleased I was to see work by my friends illustrator John Parra and author Monica Brown honored by the New York Times as among the Best Illustrated Books of 2017. How clever of Monica to select world-renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and her menagerie as a subject for a children’s book, Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos. The Times wrote, “With their folk-art sensibility, Parra’s elegant acrylic paintings evoke Kahlo’s style, her palette and her Mexican environment, but he creates a mood of...

Día Grants for Programs with an African American Focus

The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL) has announced that they are now accepting applications for their grants for Children’s Day, Book Day (El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros) programming with an African American focus. Find details and an application here. Applications must be received by February 26, 2018 and the awards will be announced on or about March 1, 2018. start your dia planning

Libraries that serve children and their families are eligible to...

Greeting a new Día Dynamo

Kyle Zimmer, a lawyer, is the President and Co-founder of First Book, the amazing nonprofit social enterprise founded to ensure that local schools and community programs across the country serving children from low-income families would have a steady supply of the brand-new, high-quality books they so desperately need. With her support, First Book has grown its Día engagement as part of First Book’s commitment to connect children to books that promote diversity and inclusion (Stories for All...

Nurture, Savor, Collaborate and Prioritize

In the Coming Year, Let’s…

Nurture our creative selves.

Cherish family and friends, laughing with them often.

Savor and share the earth’s beauty, the wealth of diverse cultures and languages, the wonder of art, and bookjoy.

Participate in growing a nation of readers since literacy is essential in a democracy.

Affirm the importance of meaningful, life-long education for all that enriches our lives and society, learning-communities of equals committed to reflection and responsible action.

Lead...

Introducing…

…my daughter Libby’s new web site.

Libby’s talents include being a writer, lawyer and gardener.
We have published two books together:

    

For the last three years, Libby and her husband Roger, a Colorado history professor, have been living in Madrid (Spain). Libby and I are working on a new book with that setting.

Enjoy this new site that Libby herself created.

Hurry home, Libby!
Pat

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Shine

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2018: A Reading Year

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The Feast of the Epiphany, January 6

More widely celebrated in Latin America than in the United States, the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings’ Day or Los Tres Reyes, marks the the arrival of the Magi symbolizing that the Christ Child was revealed to the world. The tradition of making (or buying) a Three Kings’ Wreath or rosca de reyes inspired my book, The Bakery Lady: La señora de la panadería. I wrote it to show a close Mexican-American family celebrating this tradition by baking together. I am blessed to have k...

Wishing You the Joys of Christmas: Stories, Food, Music & Lights

Illustration by Magaly Morales from A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas

Pat describes the way she blends different cultures in this holiday adaptation. Video provided by WETV’s ¡Colorín Colorado!.

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Special Spaces

“We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape us.” (Churchill) I used this quote to open the last chapter, December, of my family memoir House of Houses. Has it really been twenty years since this book was published? Writing it, when my husband Vern and I first began to spend time in Santa Fe, was the opportunity to spend time listening, listening literally and in my imagination to some of my favorite voices–my family–and to return to the spaces where I grew up. How were you shap...