REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and Spanish Speaking, is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary and will be holding it’s 4th National Conference this week. The four day conference starts Sept 15 (which coincides with the start off National Hispanic Heritage Month) at the Westin Hotel in Denver, CO, USA and is expected to draw over 500 participants. The theme for the conference is “Elevating Latino Services to a Higher Level: Juntos in the Mile High City!” and a plethora of events have been scheduled including seminars, author readings, continuing education workshops, enlightening panel discussions, and vendor exhibits.

If you are in the Denver area and interested in attending, you should know that you don’t have to be a member of REFORMA to attend. Non-members can still register and are welcome to come participate as well as purchase exhibit only passes. Click here to download the schedule and see what might appeal to you.

Among the many great events planned is an author luncheon with award winning author and literacy advocate Pat Mora on Sept 16 from 12:30 – 2:00 pm

Extreme Yum: The Zing of Sharing Bookjoy & Growing Día

A former teacher, university administrator, consultant, and the author of many award winning children’s books, Pat is the also the founder of the family literary initiative El día de los niños / El día de los libros, Children’s Day / Book Day (Día), now an initiative of at the American Library Association. The year-long commitment to linking all children to books, languages and cultures, and of sharing what Ms. Mora calls “Bookjoy,” culminates in Día events across the country. Día celebrated its 15th Anniversary in April 2011.

To learn more about Pat Mora  read our interview with her here.

PaperTigers’ September 2007 and September 2008 issues focused on National Hispanic Heritage Month and include interviews, articles, books and artwork that capture the Hispanic temper of our times.

Children’s Day/Book Day (El día de los niños/El día de los libros), also known as Día is a celebration of children, families, and reading. Held annually in the USA on April 30, Día celebrations emphasize the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Founded by author Pat Mora in 1996, Día is now hosted by the Association for Library Service for Children (ALSC) along with founding partner REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking.

2011 marks the 15th anniversary of  Día and there are plenty of great events planned! Visit the ALSC’s  Día Celebrations page to find out all the details. Use the interactive map to search for events in your area and find out how others across the country celebrate literature, culture, and family! Let the ALSC know what’s going on in your community and they’ll send your library 100 Día stickers. Use the 2011 Día Media Kit to download logos and brochures and read the #dia11alsc Twitter feed.

The Arthur F. Turner Community Library in Sacramento, CA,  has an exciting Día event planned for this Saturday, April 16th. Author Jorge Argueta and author/illustrator Maya Christina Gonzalez will be on hand to read and sign their books, there will be bilingual stories, crafts, free book giveaways and more! Click on the poster image above to enlarge and get all the details.

On April 30th the national kick-off for Día takes place at the Pima County Library System (Valencia branch) in Tucson, AZ.  There, Pat Mora, ALSC members, and the general public can join the Pima County librarians in an afternoon filled with children’s reading events and a discussion on the history of Día.

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to visit the site of one of the first libraries in the nation to embrace El día de los niños/El día de los libros,” said Mora. “Libraries play such a key role in supporting family literacy within diverse communities. From bilingual story hours for children to adult literacy and English as a Second language programs – libraries are truly part of the American Dream and are an important key to lifelong learning.”

Mora is the author of many children’s books including the Pula Belpre award-winning book Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day : Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros. Read PaperTigers’ interview with Pat Mora here and click here to watch ¡Colorín Colorado!’s video interview with Pat about Día’s 15th Anniversary.

February has arrived and with it Black History Month in Canada and African American History Month in the USA. To see some of the celebrations planned in the USA click here and in Canada click here. In honor of the month, many websites and bloggers are highlighting the richness of children’s literature that focuses on Africa, African Americans, African Canadians and the African diaspora. Here’s a small sample of what’s being offered:

The Brown Bookshelf has launched 28 Days Later, a month-long showcase of the best in picture books, middle grade and young adult novels written and illustrated by African Americans.

Margo Tenenbaum’s blog The Fourth Musketeer specializes in historical fiction for children and teens, and throughout the month of February will focus on reviewing African American titles.

Reading Rockets.Org has just updated it’s Black History Month section where you’ll discover great online resources for the classroom and for family discussions. I’ve just spent the morning watching the video interviews with award-winning writers and illustrators.

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre has compiled a list of Canadian books that are recommended reads for Black History Month.

Check out School Library Journal‘s Places in the Heart: Celebrating Black History Month article in which top children’s authors were asked to choose their favorite children’s book about the black experience. Rick Margolis says “The title could be for kids of any age—from a picture book or graphic novel to a chapter book or collection of poems. We told them it could be new or old, fiction or nonfiction. The only requirement? It had to be a book that they truly loved—and, of course, it couldn’t be one of their own.”  Grace Lin, Mitali Perkins, Cynthia Kadohata,  Pam Muñoz Ryan, Pat Mora and others share their answers here,

If there is a website or blog that you’ve come across we would love to know about it. Please share it with us and our readers by leaving a comment.

Children’s Day/Book Day, also known as El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Día), is a celebration of children, families, and reading held annually in the USA on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Founded by author Pat Mora in 1996, Día is now hosted by the Association for Library Service for Children (ALSC) along with founding partner REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking.

Visit the ALSC’s  Día Celebrations website to see what is planned this year. You can register your library’s Día program, print brochures, use the interactive map to see what other communities are doing to celebrate as well as access the updated list of books and list of Web sites for Día 2010.

Other great ways to get into the Día spirit are to visit Pat Mora’s blog Bookjoy! and also to read Pat’s book Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day: Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros. Illustrated by Rafael López and dedicated to the members of REFORMA and ALSC, “who connect children and books,” Book Fiesta! is a vibrant bilingual homage to the importance of reading and books in children’s lives. The book includes a letter from Pat about why she founded El día de los niños/ El día de los libros, and suggestions for celebrating the occasion creatively and with gusto. Read PaperTigers’ review of Book Fiesta here.

Interested in learning how you can get a Día celebration organized in your community? Click here for information on upcoming educational sessions such as the one to be held June 28, 2010, during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. entitled “Día is Diversity in Action”.

As a poet, I’m always interested in new poetic forms.  Join Hands! by Pat Mora (with photographs by George Ancona, Charlesbridge, 2008) introduced me to the pantoum.  The pantoum is a poetic form derived from Malaysia.  It is composed of quatrains where the second and fourth lines are repeated as the first and third lines of the following quatrain.  In Join Hands!, Mora uses the form (with slight alterations in her repeating lines) to create a poem about celebrating life through dancing, singing, masquerading and parading.  The book takes you through the lines, one line per page, with accompanying photograph per line.  A few Spanish words like ‘amigos’ and ‘canciones’ are used. (Mora is known for her bilingual Spanish/English books.)   The explanation of the form comes at the end of the book.  I wish it had come at the beginning, however!  Reading the text linearly while viewing the picture made it seem a bit confusing.  However, I did enjoy the lively photographs by George Ancona,  accompanying each line.  They feature children dancing and strutting and holding hands.

Have you heard of the pantoum or tried your hand at writing one?  A few months after I read this book, I encountered a pantoum written by Canadian poet, Robyn Sarah in her latest book, A Pause for Breath.  The form seemed vaguely familiar when I suddenly realized I had encountered it in Mora’s book.

This week’s Poetry Friday host is Danika at Teaching Books.

Earlier today the American Library Association (ALA)  announced the top books, audiobooks and video for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in Boston.

A complete list of all the 2010 literary award winners can be  seen here. Highlights include:

Winner of the John Newbery Medal (for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature):
When You Reach Me written by Rebecca Stead

Winner of the Caldecott Medal (for most distinguished American picture book for children):
The Lion & the Mouse illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney

Winner of the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award (recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults):
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Winner of the Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:
My People illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr. and written by Langston Hughes

Winner of the Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award (honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience):
Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros illustrated by Rafael López and written by Pat Mora

Winner of the Pura Belpré (Author) Award:
Return to Sender written by Julia Alvarez

Mexico is currently in the midst of its Día de los Muertos celebrations and there are some wonderful pictures appearing on various blogs, which highlight the color and exuberance of the festival – such as this at Zocalo de Mexican Folk Art; while Sue at Cottage in the Cedars recalls a past visit to Mexico and gives lots of background information. There are some great children’s books around – I blogged about some last year (including author René Colato Laínez’ as yet unpublished Magic Night, Noche Mágica). My Readable Feast has a new post about the Global Wonders dvd, with an extract to view about The Day of the Dead –it’s also worth scrolling down through the tag to her previous posts too, both for suggestions for children’s books and to see some very impressive home-made sugar skulls…

A new book, Abuelos, by Pat Mora and illustrated by Amelia Lau Carling (Groundwood, 2008), explores a less well-known tradition which carries traits of both Spanish and Pueblo cultures, and which (more…)

If you’ve had a chance to savor Yum! Mmm! Que Rico! America’s Sproutings, or any of the books in this year’s Américas Award list of winners, honor books and commended titles, you will understand how spot-on this award’s committee is in recognizing and honoring accurate portrayals of our Americas’ rich cultural heritage.

As this year’s winners, Pat Mora and Rafael Lopez‘s Yum! Mmm! Que Rico! and Laura Resau’s Red Glass will be honored tomorrow (Oct 4), at a ceremony at the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C. Hosted by the Library of Congress’s Hispanic Division and the Center for the Book, the event is free and open to the public, so don’t miss it if you are in the area!

Yuyi Morales’ Little Night, Jorge Argueta’s Alfredito Flies Home and Carmen T. Bernier’s Frida: Viva la Vida! are among the honored and commended titles selected by the award’s 2008 committee.

What better way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month than by giving these books the recognition and readership they deserve?

Speaking of pirates… today we celebrate Poetry Friday with a sea song. Or the hint of one, at least.

“And silver the coins and silver the moon, / Silver the waves on the top of the sea…” starts Jane Yolen’s The Ballad of the Pirate Queens, an adventure that sings the history of Anne Bonney and Mary Reade, the only two women of the twelve pirates aboard the legendary Vanity ship, in 1720.

Jane Yolen never disappoints. Neither does Poetry Friday, today at Miss Rumphius Effect. This installment unveils priceless treasures, such as Sylvia Vardell’s reviews of new poems by Gary Soto and Pat Mora, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. So hurry up and check them out, mi hearties. They are worth their weight in gold!

This year’s winners of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards and the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature have received the online equivalent of a standing ovation. The all-star lineup of awardees is indeed a reason to cheer and celebrate: they are exceptionally wonderful stories about social justice, equality, world community and other timely subjects.

Among the winners, honorable mentions and commended titles are books that have been praised, time and again, since published last year, by those involved in the children’s book community, PaperTigers included. The following titles (and certainly the ones not mentioned by name in this post) are well worth visiting and revisiting:

Américas Award Winner-
Yum! Mmm! Que Rico! America’s Sproutings by Pat Mora, illus. by Rafael López

Américas Award Honorable Mention-
Little Night, by Yuyi Morales

Américas Award Commended Titles-
My Colors, My World/Mis Colores, Mi Mundo, by Maya Christina González (scroll down the page to see it featured as our Jan’08 book of the month)
Come Look With Me: Latin American Art, by Kimberly Lane
Nana’s Big Surprise/Nana, Que Sorpresa!, by Amada Irma Pérez, illustrated by Maya Christina González
Tricycle, by Elisa Amado and Alfonso Ruano
Sacred Leaf, by Deborah Ellis

Jane Addams Honor Book-
Rickshaw Girl, by Mitali Perkins (more about Mitali and Rickshaw Girl here).