Page 138 – Pat Mora

This Month’s Día Dynamo is Joseph Rodriguez

Joseph Rodriguez and nephew Pete Ezekiel Rodriguez.

About twenty years ago, when I was still living in El Paso, I received a letter from a boy in Houston asking if I would be his “poet friend.” The boy, Joseph Rodriguez, now my cherished friend, included his photo. The first ten Día Dynamos are librarians, most working in public libraries. With Joseph, I introduce other equally committed dynamos who don’t spend their days with library patrons. Joseph’s doctorate is in education, and he works at the University of Texas at Austin on improving teaching effectiveness. In the years I’ve had the pleasure to know Joseph, he has been a creative advocate for diversity and for literacy, for bookjoy. His passion and planning consistently inspire me. Gracias, Joseph, for your commitment to Día.

1. When and how did you become interested in sharing bookjoy?
RJR: In 2001, a group of community organizers and I got together to advance family literacy and promote college readiness. We founded the East End Education Project in Houston, Texas. We established “Bookjoy in the East End,” an annual program to celebrate the power and joy of languages, books, and storytelling. We established partnerships with the Children’s Museum of Houston, Houston Chronicle, Houston Community College, HoustonPBS Channel 8, and Houston Public Library, among others.

2. How did you first learn about Día and what has been your experience with Día?
RJR: I learned about Día in 1996, and since then I have worked with literacy teams and volunteers to adopt and promote Día. I have seen Día grow in the lives of children and families in places where I have lived: Gambier, Ohio; Willimantic, Connecticut; Houston and Austin, Texas.

3. What are your hopes for Día 2011, Día’s 15th Anniversary?
RJR: I hope that more organizations and schools adopt and promote Día—even on a daily basis—and recognize how relevant multiple literacies are to create and interpret meaning across world languages and human cultures. Literacy has been my passport to discover worlds beyond my own, and I want to share this experience and Día with more generations of readers and thinkers.

4. What helpful tip(s) do you have for those organizing a Día event for the first time?
RJR: My recommendation would be to adopt the practice of collaboration with organizations and businesses committed to linking families and children to books and diverse languages. Our Día work in many towns and cities across the country has been strengthened with people who recognize the benefits of literacy and multilingualism in the lives of readers of all ages, colors, and abilities.

5. What is your favorite example of Bookjoy as either a child or an adult?
RJR: A few years ago, I explained to an editor at the Houston Chronicle how our family would sit together in our living room to work on puzzles and board games or we would find our favorite reading spot in our house, including the front patio and backyard. Literacy happened everywhere and even in public spaces: riding on Houston’s MTA buses to the supermercado or neighborhood library or even while eating a raspa at the park. Words and ideas were alive—then and now. I am fascinated at how interconnected the word libre is to libro.

6. What are you reading now?
RJR: Every day, I read and reread to shape my thinking and creativity.

I just finished reading Pat Mora’s letters to teachers in ZING! Seven Creativity Practices for Educators and Students (2010). As an educator, I am motivated to practice my personal creativity with my students.

I am enjoying Evidence (2009), a volume of poems by Mary Oliver.

A native of Wisconsin recommended Rascal (1963) by Sterling North, and I am learning about a young boy’s adventures and how animals can become our best friends.

Since I was a young boy, I have been interested in the Statue of Liberty, which was originally named “Liberty Enlightening the World.” (Isn’t that a great name for a statue that also describes the power of literacy?) At a school book fair in Creedmoor, Texas, I found Lady Liberty: A Biography (2008) written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Matt Tavares. The words and art capture the detail and history of this gift to the U.S. from the French.

A Grand Autumn

What a glorious autumn in Santa Fe! Though soon all the gold leaves on the aspens and cottonwoods will fly away, they have been stunning and a grand source of energy. I’ve been traveling again: two wonderful Texas visits, to Brownsville and Fort Worth. At the former, I met many children, and wonderful librarians and community members very excited about growing Día in that region. In Fort Worth, I saw about a thousand students in two days from 250 kindergarteners—at once, and beautifully behaved; to a group of teens interested in creative writing. Again, I met more committed librarians. How they energize me and how grateful I am to them and to the wonderful teachers with whom they work. And speaking of teens, I was fortunate to be on a poetry panel at YALSA organized by poetry champion Dr. Sylvia Vardell. I so enjoyed meeting librarians who savor working with young adults. My final trips of 2010 are to the Savannah Book Festival and to NCTE in Orlando.

This fall season seemed a good time to post an essay on leadership (and geese) that I wrote years ago. Interesting that many of the ideas surfaced again in my newest book, ZING! Hope you enjoy the essay.

Wishing you a Thanksgiving that includes lots of laughter and becomes a wonderful and sustaining memory in your life. I’ll have two of my children and a dear son-in-law (I call him my son-in-spirit) here with me. I’m giddy with delight.

15 Día Nuggets: #2 Funders and Partners

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. This list is the second Día Nugget. We’ll post the Nuggets on this blog periodically and archive them on my site as we do the Día Dynamos. During Díapalooza, 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

#2 Possible Funders and Partners for Your Día Celebration

1. Foundations, corporations, banks
2. Local businesses and food stores
3. Media: newspapers, including those in languages other than English, TV and radio, especially public stations
4. Churches, synagogues, mosques, and other faith-based communities
5. Service organizations: Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, United Way etc.
6. Book stores: independents and chains
7. Youth organizations: Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Boys/Girls Clubs, YMCA/YWCA, etc.
8. State and regional chapters of REFORMA, IRA, NAEYC, NCTE
9. Children’s museums, community, and cultural centers
10. Childcare centers, Head Start, Even Start, after school programs
11. Health centers/organizations, WIC, physicians, dentists
12. Departments of Parks and Recreation; Police and Fire Departments
13. Parent organizations, Library Friends groups
14. Professional and Amateur Sports teams
15. State and local governmental offices: Governor, Mayor, Children’s Services

Thanks for joining Día’s National Community & sharing bookjoy!

Good Luck! Pat Mora

Click here to download a pdf of available Día Nuggets.

Two Día News Flashes: Jeanette Larson Is a Día Dynamo and Exciting Día News from ALSC

Jeanette Larson

How grateful I am to my friend Texas librarian Jeanette Larson who has been an active Día supporter from the beginning. The key word in that first sentence is “active.” Jeanette is a do-er. Long before I was that familiar with the Web, it was Jeanette who said, “We need to get Día on the Web, and we need a Día booklet.” What a gift to me and Día. As you’ll see in her answers, through the years, Jeanette has been helping Día grow, and now she has completed an ALA book, El día de los ninos/El día de los libros: Building a Culture of Literacy in Your Community Through Día. Gracias, Jeanette. (And don’t you love her Halloween answer below?)

1. When and how did you become interested in sharing bookjoy?
JL: My parents both were big readers and they shared bookjoy with all of us. I remember being about 6 or 7 years old and teaching my younger siblings to read. As I recall, or have been told, I did that primarily by sharing books and reading to them. We always received books as gifts.

2. How did you first learn about Día and what has been your experience with Día?

JL: It was very early in Pat’s planning and promotion. I don’t even remember how or where I met Pat but I was working at the Texas State Library when she was starting Día. Part of my work included helping libraries plan programs and services. Pat mentioned Día and her desire to encourage libraries to participate. We had just finished creating a resource guide for Read to Your Bunny, an early literacy project started by author/illustrator Rosemary Wells and I suggested to Pat that we create a similar manual for Día to help libraries get started. We gave that manual, which is still available at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/ninos/, to hundreds of libraries in Texas and also made it available to libraries in Florida and any other libraries that wanted it. I also worked with Austin Public Library on several of their celebrations and served on the Texas Library Association’s committee to create the Día Toolkit. Even as a professor for Texas Woman’s University I include Día in my classes and encourage students to create sample programs for libraries. My latest Día project is a book for ALA/ALSC that will be published in April 2011.

3.What are your hopes for Día 2011, Día’s 15th Anniversary?
JL: I really hope that like a Quinceañera, the 15th anniversary marks a “coming of age” for Día. It has flourished and has many friends and supporters but it can now mature and reach its full potential. I’d like to see more libraries, especially school libraries, celebrating bilingual literacy and my hope is that more languages can be encompassed in that celebration.

4. What helpful tip(s) do you have for those organizing a Día event for the first time?
JL: Start small and grow. Don’t be afraid to ask for support and assistance. People are very willing to help. Read El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros: Building a Culture of Literacy in Your Community through Día (ALA, 2011) as it provides tons of information on organizing and expanding Día events.

5.What is your favorite example of Bookjoy as either a child or an adult?
JL: At Halloween I give out books along with the candy. It’s wonderful to see the delight in a child’s face when he or she gets to pick a book. Sometimes the kids are not even interested in the candy; they know that the book is the real treat!

6. What are you reading now?
JL: I am on a non-fiction award committee so I’m reading a lot for that. I usually read a least two books and listen to an audiobook at the same time so there are really too many titles to list. I just finished Border Crossing by Jessica Lee Anderson and The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler. I love mysteries so am reading Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery edited by Sarah Cortez and Liz Martínez. For my book discussion group I’m reading The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom. Another type of bookjoy is the joy of discovering a book I might not have read without some encouragement.

Exciting Día News from ALSC!

Beginning Tuesday, November 2, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is pleased to accept applications for mini-grants intended to expand youth literacy programs to include and celebrate a variety of cultures in public libraries. Up to 15 mini-grants will be awarded: up to eight at $4,000 each; and up to seven at $6,000 each.

Intended as an expansion of El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Día), the mini-grants will be awarded to libraries that demonstrate a need to better address the diverse backgrounds within their communities.

The mini-grants are part of the Everyone Reads @ your library grant awarded to ALSC from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.The deadline for receipt of applications is November 29, 2010.

Honoring My Parents on El día de los muertos

El día de los muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated on Nov. 2. This Mexican custom of building altars to remember the dead has become a popular celebration at museums in the United States. It’s difficult to fully express my thanks to librarian Sandra Rosales who with staff from Lark Branch Library in McAllen, Texas, created an altar in honor of my parents Estela and Raúl Mora also known in El Paso as Stella and Roy. This altar at the Museum of South Texas in Edinburg displayed their favorite foods including pan dulce (yum!), Mexican sweet bread which we all loved/love. Gracias, gracias, Sandra.

Why did you decide to construct this altar in honor of my parents?
SR: I am the head of the children’s department at the Lark Branch Library in McAllen, Texas and I had just finished recommending your books to a teacher so you came to mind. You are obviously very much alive but I remembered attending a workshop where you spoke so lovingly of your parents. I never thought I would be able contact you much less have you approve the altar for your parents. It was a fantastic day for me and my staff when you so graciously approved. We began to make plans immediately.

Have you constructed such an altar before?
SR: This was the second time that we participated in the Museum of South Texas History’s annual Día de Los Muertos celebration. Last year, we constructed an altar for Roald Dahl. You can’t get anymore non-Hispanic than Roald Dahl but we had fun with it.

Why is constructing these altars an important tradition?
SR: Living in the Rio Grande Valley which is on the Texas Mexico border, I had always known of Día de Los Muertos. However, neither I or my staff had ever participated in the holiday. We learned so much of the traditions associated with altars such as it must contain 3 levels, a bowl of water and wash cloth need to be placed so the dead can clean up after their dusty travel and candles to light their way. I remember going home and asking my mother about my grandparents and sharing memories with my brothers and sisters.

What were some of the topics for the other altars in the exhibit?
SR: There were altars for novelists Octavio Paz and Frida Kahlo. I particularly enjoyed the altars done by family members. One celebrated a young man whose family donated his organs. The family placed organ donor cards on his altar. I saw an elderly widow and her granddaughters standing by the altar in honor of her husband.

What were the challenges of constructing this remembrance?
SR: We had to work hard in order to personalize it. My staff constructed a flower corona with a picture of your parents placed in the middle. We printed up pictures of your family since we knew that your parents would like to be surrounded by family. Once you told us your parents favorite foods, then we made sure that your parents would enjoy their meal on their celestial visit. One of my staff members designed two mini-calaveras representing your parents. She placed a multi colored tutu on your mom’s calavera in honor of the rainbow tulip. Your father’s calavera wore eyeglasses and a suit and tie.

It is our greatest hope that you and your family believe that we have brought honor to your parents.

Here’s a photo of Sandra at a recent goodbye party as she moved from a branch to the main library at McAllen. ” For my going away party, I told the children that, the whole time, Miss Sandra was really a princess. As a princess, I wore my gown and tiara. It was so cute, I sat in my plastic lawn chair throne and my story time children came up to me with flowers and presents. It was a lovely send off.”