Celebrating Día (Children's Day/Book Day)
Brown butterfly with gold stripe, small fly, pink flowers.
NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1564956
April is filled with the happiness of knowing that summer is just around the corner. For some of us, the scent of spring flowers brings nostalgia and memories. At the Library, April brings celebrations of Poetry Month, the World Literature Festival, National Library Week, and Immigrant Heritage Week. We are lucky to have librarians and staff from all over the world and they all have their own stories regarding the month of April. As a children's librarian by profession, I think first of Children's Day, Book Day.
Children's Day, Book Day (El Día de los Niños, El Día de los Libros) often referred to just as Día, is a celebration of children, families, and the magic of reading. Its roots in American libraries and schools come from the author and poet Pat Mora who was inspired by Mexico's El día del niño (Day of the Child) traditionally celebrated on April 30 to celebrate children—much like is done for Mother's Day and Father's Day. Mora envisioned a year-long initiative (hence día/daily) to motivate all children to become lifelong readers and experience "bookjoy."
Many libraries across the country look to Día as a time to share languages, cultures, and stories from other countries around the world with all the children who use the library. This month NYPL continues this tradition by celebrating the World Literature Festival for all ages. Here are a few parts of the festival especially for children:
Explore titles by author and poet Pat Mora
Mora's books include the bilingual picture book Book Fiesta!:Celebrate Children's Day- Book Day/ Celebremos El Dia De Los Ninos- El Dia De Los Libros
Pig builds his brick house.
Leslie L. Brooke. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1699465
As part of the librarians and staff who work daily to promote reading and lifelong learning, I can tell you that we feel a duty to provide for all of our young patrons and we are inspired to learn more about the children in our diverse communities because many of us were once part of that diversity. In this spirit, I invite you to be inspired to read with your child a story from our collection of fairy tales, myths, fables, legends, and folklore from around the world.
Use our catalog to explore fairy tales and folktales for children or find recommendations in these blog posts: