Pat Mora's Blog, page 92

School and Public Library Collaboration for Día Events

When we read Hope Crandall's article "Community Collaboration for a Día Celebration," co-authored with Mary Parra and Deeda Chamberlain and published in the Winter 2009 issue of OLA Quarterly, we knew we wanted to interview her for the blog. Her enthusiasm and support of Día is infectious.

Hope Crandall provides library services in English and Spanish at Washington Elementary School in Woodburn, OR. She loves multicultural celebrations for all
ages. Hope is a member of OASL, OLA, and REFORMA.


Le...

Library Funding Opportunity

The National Center for Family Literacy and Better World Books have joined together in support of family programming and literacy efforts at libraries. Three $10,000 grants are available to libraries through the Better World Books/NCFL Libraries and Families Award. The deadline is March 3 and you can get the application online.

The award can be used for El Día de los ninos/El Día de los libros, Children's Day/Book Day events or other related family literacy programs.

Resources

From time to time we like to post about resources we think will interest our readers. And we welcome resource suggestions and comments from our readers too.

Library Sparks is a magazine for elementary level teachers and children's librarians. Each issue is packed with lesson plans, activities and programming ideas; all intended to help motivate kids to love reading and integrate wonderful literature throughout the curriculum. The March issue features an interview with author Claire Nivola, a c...

The Spirit of Paper Tigers Project

We like keeping up with activities and news at PaperTigers.org and were excited to learn about a new project, The Spirit of Paper Tigers, just announced yesterday! The idea is to donate 100 sets of seven multicultural titles each to schools and libraries in need throughout the world. As stated on the website

"Many organizations are doing excellent work in getting books to children through schools and libraries in areas of need, and our efforts are not intended to replicate their work. The...

Teens Talk to Pat

Pat is the featured author on Random Buzz this week, February 1-5. Each day, she'll respond to questions about her new book, Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love and read love poems submitted by her readers.

Random Buzz is an online book community that teens can come to, to discuss upcoming books and connect with other avid readers and authors. There are over 55,000 members. Random Buzz offers teens the opportunity to receive ARC's, participate in activities hosted by the Head Buzzer, win ...

Reading Magic

I've started a new picture book which means while I'm trying to deal with paper work, e-mails, spring trip details, and promoting April 2010 Día celebrations across the country, I'm longing, yes longing, to be playing with my new project.


I recently began A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel and am learning all kinds of wonderful details and enjoying how smoothly they are presented. The book reminded me of the obvious fact that as readers, we agree on the meaning of a set of symbols. For a...

Pura Belpré Awards

On January 18, many significant awards for the top books, audiobooks and video for children and teens were announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter meeting. Included in the announcements were the Pura Belpré Awards honoring Latino writers and illustrators whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience. Pat is "simply thrilled" for both Rafael López and John Parra, Belpré winners for their illustrations of two of her picture books. Lóp...

Dizzy

  It's always an exciting moment to hold a first copy of one of my books in my hands. I tend to stare at the envelope suspecting what's inside. When a Texas librarian suggested the idea of writing a collection of love poems for teens, I was initially a bit hesitant since I always have a list of the books I want to write, and such a book had never been on my list.


I began the poems that became Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love in 2005 supported on the journey by Nancy Hinkel, my wonderful...

Happy New Year

Dear Blog Readers,

Hope you are enjoying happy and healthy holidays. We've had snow in Santa Fe, and it's plenty cold, but the sky is blue and beautiful above the snow-covered hills. My son, husband, and I were talking about the gifts we're grateful for last night, and certainly one of mine is the pleasure of bookjoy. Aren't we lucky to be readers and to want to share that pleasure with family, friends, others? One of my favorite books this year was Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. What a...

Happy Holidays!

Maybe you've sung it while caroling, or you've heard it in the car or at home, but chances are you've listened to the carol "A Partridge in a Pear Tree" this holiday season. Give yourself or a young one a holiday gift with Pat's new book A Piñata in a Pine Tree! This new rendition of the familiar carol, with brightly colored exquisite folk art by Margaly Morales, trades medieval English presents for traditional Latino gifts – burritos bailando (dancing donkeys), lunitas cantando (singing...