15 Día Nuggets: #7 Día’s Full Name in 15 Languages

Pat Mora

We’re catching up with the Día Nuggets, posting #7 today, resulting in #s 1-8 available individually and as a downloadable packet.

To assist those of you planning Día celebrations at your schools, libraries, etc., we’re sharing 15 Día Nuggets, 15 lists of 15 items to assist you in your planning. During our second Díapalooza during April 2011, we’ll showcase the 15 Día Dynamos, 15 Mora Award winners and the 15 Día Nuggets, etc. Click here to read blog posts from our first Díapalooza!

15 Día Nuggets for Día’s 15th Anniversary
Nugget #6 What Every Día Advocate Needs to Know
El día de los niños, El día de los libros/Children’s Day, Book Day
 
1. American Sign Language: click here to view video

2. Chinese:

3. Croatian: Dječji dan, Dan knjiga

4. French: Le Jour des Enfants, Le Jour de les Livres

5. German: Kinderstag, Der Tag der Bücher

6. Greek: Ημέρα του Παιδιού, ημέρα βιβλίου

7. Hindi: Bacche ka din, Kitab ka din (Punjabi: Bacche da din, Kitab da din)

8. Italian: La Festa dei bambini, La Festa dei libri

9. Navaho: Ałchíní Baa Hózhóogo Bee E’e’aah Naaltsoos Wólta’ Bee E’e’aah

10. Polish: Dzień Dziecka, Dzień Książki

11. Portuguese: Dia da criança, Dia do livro

12.Russian: Детский день, книжный день OR День де т ей, День книги

13. Swahili: Siku ya Watoto, Siku ya Vitabu

14. Tagalog: Ang araw ng bata, Ang araw ng aklat

15. Vietnamese: Ngày Nhi-đồng/Ngày Thư-viện

Creativity Salon: an Interview with Christina Díaz Gonzalez

Pat Mora

Dr. Carol Brochín Ceballos

Dr. Carol Brochín Ceballos

Let me introduce you to two new friends, both bright and talented Latinas. I enjoyed lunch with each of them while we were at NCTE in Orlando last year. First, congratulations to Dr. Carol Brochín Ceballos for recently receiving the Outstanding University English Language Arts Educator Award from the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. Yea, Carol! Carol is a faculty member in the English Department at UT El Paso, the department I studied in for my Bachelors and Masters degrees. The program she’s in didn’t exist when I was a student in my home city. How the campus has changed, and Carol is a wonderful addition. Carol and I share the pleasure and perspectives of being from the Texas border.

Now let me introduce you to a new writer from Florida, Christina Díaz Gonzalez, who has published her first book, The Red Umbrella. How exciting! Her book is published by Knopf, a division of Random House that has been very supportive of my work including my work on Día. Christina, a lawyer, is teaching me about the Cuban experience in the U.S., especially in Florida. I’m wishing Christina a long and rewarding writing life.
1. Tell us about yourself.

CDG: I am the author of The Red Umbrella, a young adult novel that is loosely based on my parents’ and mother-in-law’s experience in coming to the U.S. from Cuba through the historic Operation Pedro Pan (the largest exodus of unaccompanied minors in the Western hemisphere—over 14,000 Cuban children were sent to the
Christina Díaz Gonzalez

Christina Díaz Gonzalez

US by themselves during 1960-62). Having my debut novel published was a dream come true. I remember getting the call from my editor at Random House and how I literally did a “happy dance” when I realized people everywhere would be reading what I wrote. What made it made even more special was the fact that this book was a tribute to what my parents and the over 14,000 Cuban children experienced during Operation Pedro Pan. I was going to get to tell a version of the immigrant story and showcase that incredible spirit of American generosity. I couldn’t have asked for more!

2. Do you think of yourself as creative?

CDG: This is an interesting question because I’ve never considered myself to be creative…I was just a girl with a very vivid imagination who loved to read and write. However, the more I think about it, I suppose all writers are creative… so yes, I guess I am creative!

3. How do you nurture your creativity?
CDG: I am inspired by so many things. Sometimes it’s art, music, books, movies, tv or just observing the world around me. I try to stay open to all ideas…wherever they come from.

Red Umbrella4. What are your challenges in your creativity practices? Is fear an element?
CDG: Oh my, fear is ALWAYS something to be reckoned with and overcome. Self-doubt tries to rear its ugly head while I’m writing and it is a battle to ignore it. Then, when the book is done, there are the nagging questions of whether others will love it. I’ve found that the only way I can move forward is to focus on the story itself and trust that others will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

5. Do you have a space that helps you be more creative?
CDG: I don’t have one particular spot for creativity. It all depends on the book I’m writing. It seems that certain books call for me to be in a bright, sunny spot and other require a more gloomy setting.

6. How do you find time to be creative; to develop your creative life? Do you set aside a regular time each day or go on a retreat, etc?
CDG: I am always thinking of different stories and scenes for the book I may be writing, but I sometimes have to force myself to set aside time to put it all down on paper (or in my case type it on my laptop) because life (and laundry) seem to get in the way. Thankfully, I have a critique partner (similar to a gym partner) and we check-in with each other to make sure the writing gets done!

Pura Belpré and Américas Children’s Book Awards

Pat Mora

The most recent issue of the enewsletter, NoveList School News, focuses on the theme of multicultural literature and includes an interview with Jamie Campbell Naidoo, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama, about the Pura Belpré  and Américas Children’s Book Awards. He has served on both book award committees. Here’s a list of Pat’s books that have won these awards.

2010 Américas Commended List
2010 Belpré Illustrator Medal Book
1996 Américas Commended List

 

2006 Belpré Illustrator Medal Book
2006 Belpré Author Honor Book
2010 Belpré Illustrator Honor Book
2010 Américas Commended List

 

1997 Américas Award 
Commended Title

 

2008 Américas Award for Children’s Literature

15 Día Nuggets: #6 What Every Día Advocate Needs to Know and #8 Children’s Books About Sharing Bookjoy

Pat Mora

Today, we’re posting two more Día Nuggets! All available Nuggets are on my site, and you can also download a Nugget packet.

If you visit this blog or my web site, you know that April 2011, we’re celebrating Día’s 15th Anniversary. My web team and I were so pleased at comments about our first Díapalooza last April that we’re having a second Díapalooza in 2011. To assist those of you planning Día celebrations at your schools, libraries, etc., we’re sharing 15 Día Nuggets, 15 lists of 15 items to assist you in your planning. During Díapalooza 2011, we’ll showcase the 15 Día Dynamos, 15 Mora Award winners and the 15 Día Nuggets, etc. Send us your I-días!

15 Día Nuggets for Día’s 15th Anniversary
Nugget #6 What Every  Día Advocate Needs to Know

1. Día is a daily commitment to link all children to books, languages and cultures with annual, culminating celebrations in April.

2. Día honors both children and the power and pleasure of books.

3. Día enhances communities by supporting families and literacy.

4. Your effective advocacy requires vision and revision.

5. Advocacy is incredibly hard work requiring enthusiastic, reliable allies.

6. Parents are essential as valued members of your literacy team.

7. Growing the Día concept in your community and nationally requires optimism, energy, creativity, action, and collaboration.

8. Forming new partnerships requires patience and consistency.

9. Planning a Día celebration need not involve a large budget.

10. Many models (large and small) and suggestions are available on the Web.

11. Experienced celebration planners welcome your questions.

12. Día = Diversity in Action. (Coined by North Carolina librarians.)

13. Día needs visibility to reach its potential in our democracy. Publicize your celebrations, write articles for professional journals, use social networking options, volunteer to speak at conferences, etc.

14. Sharing bookjoy is fun, rewarding and important.

15. Día needs you and your unique talents.

 
Nugget #8 Children’s Books About Sharing Bookjoy

1. Amadi’s Snowman by Katia Novet Saint-Lot, illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo (Tilbury House)
2. Best Place to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom, illustrated by Michael Garland (Random House)
3. Book! By Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Maggie Smith (Clarion)
4. Book Fair Day by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Thor Wickstrom (Penguin)
5. Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children’s Day, Book Day/ Celebremos El día de los niños, El día de los libros by Pat Mora, illustrated by Rafael López (HarperCollins)
6. A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Inés by Pat Mora, illustrated by Beatriz Vidal (Knopf)
7. Lola Loves Stories and Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw (Charlesbridge)
8. Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don’t) by Barbara Bottner, illustrated by Michael Emberley (Random House)
9. Reading Grows written and photographed by Ellen B. Senisi (Albert Whitman)
10. Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr, illustrated by Todd Parr (Little Brown)
11. Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Lee & Low)
12. Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre (Children’s Book Press)
13. Tomás and the Library Lady by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colón (Knopf)
14. Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown, illustrated by John Parra (Tricycle)
15. Yasmin’s Hammer by Ann Malaspina, illustrated by Doug Chayka (Lee & Low)

NYT Article to Ponder

Pat Mora

I so admire the words and work of Nicholas Kristof. When I speak around our country, a land of significant economic disparities, I often say that children are sometimes proud of speaking Spanish related to the economic level of their families. Non-Latino children in private schools brag to me about speaking Spanish. Some Latino children whose families are struggling to survive in our country wonder whether to admit that they are bilingual. Sad irony. Let me know what you think of Kristof’s op-ed piece “Primero Hay Que Aprender Español. Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen.”

 

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New Contest for Bilingual Publishing

Ediciones Monarcas—a new, not-for-profit publisher of bilingual (Spanish-English) books for children—announces the Infinity Auto Insurance Leer Conmigo Award in Children’s Literature. Each month they will award a $1,000 prize and publish the best submission received. A contest website is coming soon.