“In 1996, I was becoming more and more aware of how many children didn’t have books at home, how many families did not visit their libraries, and how few diverse books were published. When I learned about the Mexican tradition of celebrating April 30th as El día del niño, the day of the child, I was excited! I thought, “We have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We need Children’s Day too, but all of our children need to be readers.” I wanted to grow a nation of readers.”—Pat