Pat Mora's Blog, page 76

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día
Let's unite our energies, knowledge, and diverse skills, unleashing our creativity, adding our individual zing to sharing bookjoy and creating a nation of readers.
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.

Happy Birthday Dia!

Today I am at the Valencia Library in Tucson. My thanks to ALSC that sponsored my visit to the city in which the Día idea came to me. I remember the moment at the University of Arizona campus so clearly and remember the support of my Latino University of Arizona friends, many members of REFORMA, who quickly supported the idea.


Deep thanks to all the Día supporters around the country who have worked so hard this month to share bookjoy with America's diverse families and children. A special thanks to my web team, Laurina Cashin and Bobbie Combs, Día Dynamos who have worked tirelessly on our blog Díapalooza and who have helped produce Idea Booklet for a Día Year . We hope you will print and read this pdf and put it in your Día file to assist you in your Día planning for next year.

Let's celebrate niños y libros, children and books, throughout the year!

Click here for the full Visual History of Día

Send Us Your Photos!

We welcome a photo or two of your 2011 Día event to use in a video of national 15th Anniversary Celebrations on http://www.patmora.com/. We're gathering photos that focus on the literacy-related aspects of your Día event – author readings, story-hours, book parades, book making, etc. Please send jpegs only.

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día
Let's boldly plan together for Día's 20th Anniversary expanding Día's impact and thus uniting our too-often divided country, uniting for the well-being of all our children. 
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: #15 Bookjoy Quotes

Our last Día Nugget -- enjoy!





15 Día Nuggets for Día's 15th Anniversary#15 Bookjoy Quotes
1. I think its fun to read a dog story to my dog. Katelyn, 8

2. I love reading because it is so relaxing. Kyra, 7

3. I love to read because I enjoy getting lost in stories. It takes me away from reality for a while, and that is truly a blessing! Jean, 45

4. My books are portable and can go anywhere - the biggest benefit of all is you can read them as many times as you like! Kermit, 72

5. I am happy when the story isn't scary. Julia, 3

6. Bookjoy (or the pleasure of reading) means turning off the outside world and escaping into a universe that I choose. Karen, 45

7. I like reading cause you get to read cool books and learn cool things. Paige, 9

8. MY favorite time to read is after everyone has gone to bed -- a good book can take me to places of adventure - of peace - of beauty - I'm only limited by my own imagination. What a great way to end the day! Diana, 50

9. I like to read because I get smart. Keane, 5

10. Well, reading is how you hear about interesting stuff. Gavin, 7

11. Reading is fun because it brings me to a whole new world. John, 10

12. I love (she drew a heart) books because there are adventures and magic and fantasy and I feel like it is happening right in front of me! Lucie, 9

13. I like books because you get captured in the book. Sam, 9

14. I love reading because if helps me with my writing and gets my imagination flowing. Drew, 16

15. Because I like to pretend I'm a librarian. Lauren, 5

All 15 Nuggets are archived and also available as a downloadable pdf.

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.
  

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día
Let's rejoice that Día, this family literacy initiative that works to honor children and to connect them to books, languages and cultures, has grown for 15 years and continues to grow and flourish.
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.

Thank You!

In these final days of celebrating Día's 15th Anniversary, I wish to thank particular organizations and publishers who helped Spread the Día Word this year. Gracias to those listed below and special thanks to my Día partners REFORMA: the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking and the Association of Library Service to Children, (ALSC) a division of the American Library Association (ALA.)

I hope that the list of organizations that promote Día keeps growing and growing. Spread the Día Word!

photo by Michelle BreaIn alphabetical order:

Arte Público Press
California State Library
Charlesbridge Publishing
Children's Book Press
Cinco Punto Press
HarperCollins Children's Books
National Association for the Education of Young Children
National Council of Teachers of English
New Mexico Governor's Office
State Library of North Carolina
Paper Tigers
Random House Children's Books
Reading is Fundamental (RIF)
Southeast REFORMA Chapter
Texas State Library and Archives
United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY)
University of Arizona Press
WETA (Colorin Colorado and Reading Rockets)

Día Poster Artist Maya Gonzalez

My thanks to Maya Gonzalez for her enthusiasm about Día and for creating this wonderful Día poster.




Maya writes about creativity, the Dia poster and her work:

"My name is Maya Gonzalez. I am an artist, author and educator. I've made art for 20 multi-cultural children's books and written two of those. I've also created Claiming Face/Self-Empowerment Through Self-Portraiture: An Educator's Guide to Building the Powerful Link Between Creativity and A Sense of Self and Gender Now Coloring Book/A Learning Adventure for Children and Adults for Reflection Press. I've taught and played and lectured in schools, universities, libraries and conferences. I also make a lot of my own art!

For as long as I can remember I have been a creative beast. Creativity is my life. My blood. A way of being and perceiving the world. I have come to know that we are all artists. It is our birthright and our greatest resource in all of life and it connects us to the power of nature. This is why I am so committed to working with educators to bring creativity as a tool into the classroom for all of our children, but especially our children of color. Over my many years of going into the classroom as an artist working with children, my curriculum called Claiming Face evolved.


I tell kids how I remember being 4 and drawing my round Chicana face on the blank pages in the backs of books. I didn't find my face in books as a child, but I knew in my heart that we belonged there and that we need to see ourselves. That's why I teach kids to create images of their selves. I co-founded a press with my husband called Reflection Press to further this work. Our motto is "a people should not long for their own image." Something happens deep inside of us where there are not always words, when we hold a book or a piece of art in our hands and we can see ourselves reflected back. When I was asked to do the ALA poster for El Dia, I portrayed a grandmother sharing a special moment with many important aspects of life that support and sustain us. These include reading, nature and community with children from many different cultural backgrounds to reflect all the different ways we are.


I began making books in 1995, just in time for El Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros to take hold in this country in 1997. (Thank you for rooting this perfect tree here Pat Mora!) What a great event. I have celebrated it in schools and libraries for so many years I cannot remember the first. In my imagination it has always existed. I can say though that I would have LOVED this as a child. I was just in Sacramento this month celebrating, telling tales and making art with generous and brilliant children creating portraits of themselves as owls! So wise, so able to see in the dark! And for a moment, surrounded by the big library, the books and owl art and kids and all of life, I felt completely at home. "

Today's Día Reflection

Day by day, día por día
Let's gather together when possible to re-excite one another about Día's potential to enrich lives and strengthen families and communities.
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.