So much to celebrate about families! There's Mother's Day in May, Father's Day in June and National Parent's Day on the 4th Sunday in July. Hooray!
Let's give children their own day: join us to share bookjoy and celebrate children every April with Children's Day, Book Day/El día de los niños, El día de los libros.
Page from Book Fiesta! written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Rafael Lopez.
Click the picture to see a larger view.
Books celebrating nature are a perfect fit for summertime!
Extra credit: three of these books are bilingual, supporting fluency in dual languages.
The Desert is My Mother/El desierto es mi madre
This Big Sky
Water Rolls, Water Rises/El agua rueda, el agua sube
Listen to the Desert: Oye al desierto
My daughter Libby Martinez and I wrote I Pledge Allegiance, inspired by our aunt Ygnacia Delgado, whom my siblings and I (and our children) called Lobo. In this book, Libby asks Lobo why she wants to be a citizen. Lobo answers, "The American flag--red, white, and blue--wrapped itself around me to protect me...The flag made me feel...(s)afe and warm." May we strive to live up to the ideals of our country. Happy 4th of July!
Pat
Illustration from I Pledge Allegiance by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez. Click to see larger image.
Just in time for Independence Day, First Book is giving away four Summer Reading Sets of I Pledge Allegiance by Pat and daughter Libby Martinez.
Comment on their Facebook page with an answer to the question, "How do stories help celebrate citizenship?" for a chance to win a set of 35 hardcover copies of I Pledge Allegiance!
For complete giveaway rules (and a special message from Pat), visit http://bit.ly/2t4wQXg Children’s Day, Book Day is often known as Día, meaning day for our daily commitment to celebrating all our children and to motivating them and their families to be readers, essential in our democracy. As part of their daily commitment, many of our Día partners share resources to promote summer reading to teachers, parents and children:
Summer Reading and Fluency: Tips for Parents, from Reading Rockets.
For teachers, AFT's Share My Lesson offers thousands of lesson plans to support summer reading assignments and reinforce the skills and strategies that students have developed during the school year.
First Book's A Simple Bag of Books Can Help Beat Summer Slide shows that giving kids a chance to choose books that interest them is especially powerful during the summer when they are out of school and at risk for summer slide.
ALSC's 2017 Summer Reading Lists are free downloads that libraries can make available to patrons.
Although I didn't really get to know my grandfathers, I've enjoyed writing about grandfathers/abuelos. I had a fabulous dad, though, and treasure the many years we had with him, wonderful memories.
Pat
 Illustration by Cecily Lang from Pablo's Tree |
 Illustration by Raul Colón from Tomás and the Library Lady |
 Illustration by Rafael López from Yum! ¡Mmm! ¡Qué Rico! America's Sproutings |
 Illustration by Maribel Suárez from Let's Eat ¡A comer! |