Pat Mora's Blog, page 91

Literacy Quote of the Week

Each Sunday during Díapalooza we'll post a literacy quote in addition to our regualar post.

"It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations--something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own."
                                     -- Katherine Paterson

Día Translations

Día is a celebration of ALL languages and ALL cultures. You can use these translations in your programing or find others to fit the languages and cultures of your community. We'd like to expand our list, so please add translations to the comments section or write to webcontact@patmora.com.

(My thanks to several members of ALSC for assistance with the translations.)

International Children's Book Day

Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, 2 April, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.
Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD. It decides upon a theme and invites a prominent author from the host country to write a message to the children of the world and a well-known illustrator to design a poster. This year the theme...

Díapalooza is Here!

Welcome to our first Díapalooza! We hope you enjoy a month of Día posts--ideas, visuals, inspiration and contests. Today, we're introducing my visual history of our first 15 years of growing reading families and of daily working together across the country to link all children to books, languages and cultures.
Click here to see all the illustrations of the Día Visual History.
Thank you for joining our virtual Día community. We hope you'll visit often and add your thoughts and ideas to the...

Kudos

From a recent press release: "REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, an affiliate of the American Library Association, announces Oralia Garza de Cortés and Susana Hinojosa as the 2010 Arnulfo D. Trejo Librarians of the Year (LOTY). The award is named in honor of Dr. Arnulfo D. Trejo, the founder and first president of REFORMA and is made possible by the generous financial support of the Trejo Foster Foundation for Hispa...

Women's History Month

March, National Women's History Month, is a grand time to think of the brave and bold women nationally, internationally, and in our own lives. I think of the women who now lead countries and who serve in national and state government positions in the U.S. In a celebrity culture, I think of the usually unknown female musicians, scientists, dancers, painters, women working at non-profits and all the educators investing in the next generation. I think of the unsung women who prepare meals at hos...

Announcements

There's still time to register for the National Celebration of Latino Children's Literature Conference, Connecting Cultures and Celebrating Cuentos, at the University of Alabama April 23 and 24. Nationally-recognized Latino children's literature expert Oralia Garza de Cortés, award-winning Latina author Monica Brown, and award-winning illustrator Rafael López are all keynote speakers. There'll be breakout sessions, research posters, talks by authors and illustrators, and book signings.

The

Doesn't a night of storytelling sound like a grand family...

Doesn't a night of storytelling sound like a grand family literacy program? REFORMA is planning such March festivities for Noche de Cuentos . The press release from REFORMA reads:

"The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking is launching Noche de Cuentos 2010, a family literacy focus program generously supported by the American Library Association as part of ALA President Camila Alire's Family Literacy Focus Initiative. Noche de...

It's Díapalooza!

Please join us right here for DÍAPALOOZA, a month-long, virtual celebration of El día de los niños, El día de los libros/Children's Day, Book Day. Every day during April, the post(s) will celebrate and support Día's main goal of daily linking all children to books, languages and cultures.

We're inviting your participation and hope you'll send us visuals—videos, photos, posters, children's art work; as well as stories, interviews, poetry, anecdotes, testimonials, interesting and surprising Día...

Presenting Díapalooza AND the new Día Dynamos!

News Flash! Soon we'll be posting information about how you can be part of our first Díapalooza next month. Each day of April, we'll post Día ideas, photos, testimonials, etc. look for more information to come soon or email us to be put on the mailing list.

I'm grateful for each of the committed Día advocates out there—librarians, teachers, professors, pre-service librarians and teachers, authors and illustrators, parents, students, etc. ¡Gracias! We've recognized a few of the Día Champions...