Día means “day” in Spanish. In 1996, author Pat Mora learned about the Mexican tradition of celebrating April 30th as El día del niño, the day of the child. Pat thought, “We have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Yes! We need kids’ day too, but I want to connect all children with bookjoy, the pleasure of reading.” On April 30, 1997, the first annual Día celebrations were held in cities including Tucson, El Paso, and Austin.
El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros focuses on providing children with books in many languages and making reading an integral part of their lives. El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros is supported by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), REFORMA, an ALA affiliate that provides library and information services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking community, and First Book.
NCTE is honored to be an official supporter of Día. In 2005 NCTE members attending the Annual Business Meeting during the Annual Convention passed the NCTE Resolution on El día de los niños/El día de los libros.
For ideas for celebrating El día de los niños, El día de los libros/Children’s Day, Book Day, visit Pat Mora’s website, the American Library Association website, or the ReadWriteThink.org calendar entry.