Celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) on April 30th, and Every Other Day of the Year!

By now, most of us know that 1 out of every 2 children born in the US is of Latino heritage, and that by 2050 nearly 30% of this country’s population will be Latino. What some of you may not know, is that studies have revealed that children who are read to from an early age (preferably before they begin school), do better once they get to school. And a child who does better in school is more likely to stay in it, and go on to college, and become a contributing member of society. So if we want to ensure a bright future for our Latino children as their numbers continue to grow, we should make an effort to read to them as much as we can, and to make that a priority in our lives. El día de los niños/El día de los libros provides us with a perfect opportunity to celebrate children, books, and the act of reading!

Founded in 1996 by author Pat Mora, “Día” as it is commonly called, is “a daily commitment to link all children to books, languages and cultures.” Día is housed at the American Library Association, and there are Día celebrations held at libraries all across the country on or near April 30th. To learn more about Día and its celebrations, get a brochure of recommended books, and much more, visit Día’s official website.

This is particularly exciting year for Día, because its founder, Pat Mora, has released her first ever Día themed bilingual picture book, entitled Book Fiesta!, illustrated by the amazing Rafael López. LibreríaLectorum.com recently interviewed the author about Día and her new book. Click here to read that interview. To learn more about Pat Mora, Día, and the book, visit the author’s website.

I have listed some Día events in my calendar. That, along with the information and resources found in the websites mentioned above, should provide you with many options for celebrating Día today, this week, this month, and this year. So tell your friends and family to celebrate, read to their kids, and buy books by Latino authors! That is the best investment we can all make in our future!

The titles below belong to a list of Día recommended titles put together by The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) - a division of the American Library Association (ALA), REFORMA - the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking, and the Association of American Publishers’ Publishing Latino Voices for America (PLVA) Task Force. It includes books in English and Spanish, as well as in the popular bilingual format. I think that it provides a nice variety of titles to help you begin to build your library. Enjoy!

¡Feliz día de los niños y los libros!

Being Bilingual and Bicultural

Although NBC’s series on the Hispanic-American experience called “We the People” aired nearly two weeks ago, I strongly believe that the clip below is worth a second look because it deals with some of the issues that we have all faced as producers and/or supporters of Latino literature.

Regardless of whether you are a publisher, author, translator, marketer, publicist, or reader of Latino literature, you have undoubtedly come across questions about being bilingual and/or bicultural. These questions acquire a particularly high degree of importance when they relate to children and their exposure to two languages from an early age. For instance, some believe that having access to two languages and cultures is beneficial to children because it expands their view and experience of the world, while others worry that acquiring two languages at once will lead to linguistic confusion and slow down learning. This particular question is of special interest to parents and educators, and it deserves an answer.

The clip below does a wonderful job of discussing studies related to some of the most common linguistic and cultural issues facing Latinos in the U.S., which is why I think that all of us interested in Latino literature should take a couple of minutes to watch and comment on it. In addition to language acquisition, the clip also deals with “acculturation,” “interculturation,” and other equally important topics related to being bilingual and bicultural. I would love to know what you think about some of the topics it touches on, about your own experiences, and what you have learned. Latino literature is by definition bilingual and/or bicultural, so this concerns us all. Please post your comments on this very important topic. I look forward to reading them.

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NBC Joins the Conversation

Two-thirds of the Latino population voted for Obama, effectively helping him to get into office by winning him states that had previously gone to the Republicans, such as Florida, New Mexico, and Colorado.

This fact has not gone unnoticed by the mainstream media.

Last night, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams launched a week-long series called WE THE PEOPLE, highlighting the "Hispanic Experience" in the U.S., which in fact calls attention to many issues that have hereto gone virtually unnoticed by said media, such as the staggering rate of growth of the U.S. Latino population (1 out of 2 babies born in the U.S. is now of Latino heritage). Expect to see more reports like this one, and watch them whenever you can. It is important for the media to know that there is a great deal of interest on the topic on the part of viewers.

Below is last night's first segment, which, I was glad to find, also highlighted Latino CHILDREN. Latino children are, after all, the ones responsible for this great demographic leap. Let's hope that publishers see the new face of America shown at the end of the video, and produce more books for THEM. Enjoy!

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And the Awards Go To... (What a Wonderful Surprise!)

Here is a nice follow up to the last post that could not wait until my return to the States:

On Monday, the American Library Association (ALA) released its official announcement of their Youth Media Awards for 2009:

The following is a listing of the 2009 Pura Belpré Awards, which honor the work of Latino authors and illustrators "whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in children's books." (It is worth mentioning that the previously biannual award will be granted annually from now on.)

The 2009 Belpré Illustrator Award went to Yuyi Morales for “Just in Case," published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership. The book is a follow up to Morales´ 2004 Belpré winner "Just a Minute."

The 2009 Belpré Author Award went to Margarita Engle for “The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom” published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC. This marks Engle´s second consecutive win; she won the award last year for "The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano."

The Belpré Illustrator Honor Books were: “Papá and Me” illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, written by Arthur Dorros, published by Rayo, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; “The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos” illustrated by Lulu Delacre, written by Lucía González, published by Children’s Book Press; and “What Can You Do with a Rebozo?” illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla, published by Tricycle Press, an imprint of Ten Speed Press.

The Belpré Author Honor Books were: “Just in Case” written by Yuyi Morales, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership; “Reaching Out” written by Francisco Jiménez, published by Houghton Mifflin Company; and “The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos,” written by Lucía González and published by Children’s Book Press.

And perhaps the biggest surprise of the year: In addition to receiving this year´s Belpré Medal for narrative, Margarita Engle´s “The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom” was also named a Newbery Honor Book! A first for a Latino author!

So let´s congratulate all of this year´s winners, and celebrate this new milestone! This is already shaping up to be another wonderful year for Latino literature! ¡Felicidades!

For a complete listing of ALA´s Youth Media Awards for 2009 go to: http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/january2009/ymawrap.cfm

An Update and Some Shameless Promotion

I am out of the country until the first week of February, when I will resume posting. In the meantime, I want to let you know that I continue to work on future posts that I hope will be of interest to you, and that I am still open to ideas and suggestions, so keep those coming, and keep visiting and subscribing!

I can´t resist taking advantage of this forum to share some news as well: On January 1st of this year, Rayo published the bilingual Pelé, King of Soccer/ Pelé, El rey del fútbol, by award-winning author, Monica Brown. I am letting you know about it not because I edited the book, as many of you already know, but because I really believe that it is excellent, and worth knowing about. And I am not alone: Pelé has already received many positive reviews, two of them starred. Since this blog is about promoting and supporting the work of excellent Latino authors and illustrators, I wanted to share the excellent work that Monica Brown and Rudy Gutiérrez did on this book and encourage you to check it out. You can find a link to both the author and illustrator´s websites on this page. Monica´s page has links to the reviews and to an interview I did with her for Críticas magazine. Personally, I think that this book represents the first opportunity to help make this the year that we celebrate Latino children´s literature! Buy It Here