A celebration of reading, books and “bookjoy” is planned at the 3rd annual Children’s Day-Book Day (El día de los ninos/El día de los libros).
Music, refreshments and book readings are planned Thursday and Friday, April 24 and 25, at three branches of the Houston Public Library. These events are free and open to the public, and sponsored by Arte Público Press (APP), Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Public Library, the Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston and the Mexican American Studies Student Organization.
Children’s author Lupe Ruiz-Flores and illustrator Carolyn Dee Flores will read from their acclaimed bilingual books: “Canta, rana, canta/Sing, Froggie, Sing,” “Lupita’s First Dance/El primer baile de Lupita,” “Bailemos Salsa/Let’s Salsa,” and “Dale, dale, dale: Una fiesta de números/Hit It, Hit It, Hit It: A Fiesta of Numbers,” all published by APP’s Piñata Books.
Events are planned for:
- 4 p.m. Thursday, April 24 at Carnegie Neighborhood Library, 1050 Quitman
- 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 at Oak Forest Neighborhood Library,1 349 West 43rd St.
- 3:30 p.m., Friday, April 25 at Young Neighborhood Library, 5260 Griggs Rd.
El día de los niños/El día de los libros is the brainchild of author Pat Mora, an El Paso native who got her publishing start at APP in 1985. She coined the term “bookjoy” to mean a pure love of what reading brings—a connection, an exchange, an enrichment. Día, as it’s affectionately referred to, is an initiative to focus children and families on literacy, culture and language. Housed at the American Library Association, Día began in 1996 and is celebrated across the country at the end of April.
Arte Público Press is the nation’s largest and most established publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by U.S. Hispanic authors. Its imprint for children and young adults, Piñata Books, is dedicated to the realistic and authentic portrayal of the themes, languages, characters and customs of Hispanic culture in the United States. Books published under the imprint are designed to serve as a bridge from the home culture to that of the school, as well as to support family literacy and elementary school education. Based at the University of Houston, Arte Público Press, Piñata Books and the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project provide the most widely recognized and extensive showcase for Hispanic literary arts and creativity.
WHAT: The annual Children’s Day-Book Day (El día de los ninos/El día de los libros)
WHEN: Thursday and Friday, April 24 and 25
WHERE: 4 p.m. Thursday, April 24 at Carnegie Neighborhood Library, 1050 Quitman
1:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 at Oak Forest Neighborhood Library, 1349 West 43rd St.
3:30 p.m., Friday, April 25 at Young Neighborhood Library, 5260 Griggs Rd.