Pat Mora's Blog, page 35

Día celebrations: outside the box

It’s wonderful to see the variety of Día celebrations going on this month! Here are a few unique ones that caught our eye:

Jefferson High School Library, El Paso, Texas
Many elementary schools hold Día celebrations but it’s less likely to find them in the upper grades. The Día event at Jefferson is a celebration of literacy called “Ice Cream for Books.” All faculty, staff, students and their families are invited to enjoy free books (thanks to a grant from First Book), a literary fair, ice cre...

First Book models Día collaboration

Since coming on board as a Día partner, literacy organization First Book has worked tirelessly to support and promote Día, working within their own network and partnering with other organizations. Gracias, First Book!

The Estela and Raúl Mora Award
This year, First Book has partnered with the Mora family to serve as judges for the Mora Awards. Winners will receive a $1,000 First Book Marketplace credit and a plaque to be displayed in a public area by the winning institution, plus two honor aw...

Día celebrations in Broward County, Florida

Broward County children will enjoy some Día celebrations this week!

Broward County Library, 2007 Mora Award winner
The North Lauderdale Saraniero Branch Library’s Children Reading Festival & Festival de Lectura para Niños & Festival Lekti Put Timoun will be a celebration of children, their languages and their cultures, with bilingual presenters and artists, interactive reading STEAM and art stations, guest readers, a children’s art exhibit, bilingual book displays and a book giveaway, featuri...

An abundance of Día events

Our friends at Día partner ALSC have shared some wonderful statistics from this year’s Día Program Registry. As of today, there are 498 programs registered, offered in over 30 languages, including 26 Arabic; 3 Czech; 23 French; 12 German; 2 Greek; 13 Hindi_Urdu; 5 Hungarian; 5 Italian; 22 Japanese; 11 Korean; 26 Mandarin; 3 Nepali; 4 Persian; 4 Polish; 5 Portuguese; 1 Romanian; 15 Russian; 2 Serbo-Croatian; 305 Spanish; 1 Sundanese; 5 Tagalog; 9 Turkish; 7 Ukrainian and 12 Vietnamese.

So far,...

Celebrate books, reading, and our planet’s resources every day

Each year on April 22, Earth Day celebrations remind us to honor our planet’s resources throughout the year, just as Día celebrations held on April 30 remind us to make a year-long commitment to linking children and families to books. Parents and educators know that books, reading, and our planet’s resources should be celebrated every day.

Illustration by Meilo So from Water Rolls, Water Rises

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Celebrate Día with a poem in your pocket

April 21 is Poem in Your Pocket day! Enjoy this Día poem from Pomelo Books’ The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations.

Click to see larger image

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Diversity in Action at TLA this weekend

The Texas Library Association’s annual conference is taking place this weekend in Houston, featuring many authors and illustrators, including Pat, and a wonderful array of programs. Catch Pat at these events on Thursday:

Thursday, April 21
10:00-11:50 a.m.
Diversity in Action with Elementary Literature
Authors, illustrators, and librarians come together to share ideas and strategies for promoting diversity in children’s literature. This important topic brings together many library groups, and...

Time to start a Día tradition

Make this the year to start an annual Día tradition in your family. On April 30th, give your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews a book. Here’s a list of children’s books about sharing bookjoy.

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Yea for Día’s amazing teacher friends

Thank you to Día partner The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for a wonderful blog post, “3 School Settings, 3 Ways to Celebrate Día.” The article was reprinted from “Bringing ‘Bookjoy’ and Cultural Awareness to Children Nationwide,” The Council Chronicle, March 2016, by Lorna Collier. The article shares some amazing Día celebrations at schools.

Thanks to a collaboration with Día partner First Book, The American Federation of Teachers shared “Celebrating Día,” a blog post writt...

Make today a bookjoy day!

Page from Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day
Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros, written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Rafael Lopez.

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