Since 1925, Dia de los ninos or Day of the Children has grown to an annual celebration throughout Mexico. The day recognizes children, pays homage to their importance in society, and endorses their well being. Pat Mora, a Texan native, back in 1966 first heard of the holiday and she started to think she could turn this into one good idea and so Dia de los libros was bred.
Mora felt promoting literacy went hand in hand with supporting the well being of children. Grass roots support for a celebration linking language and literature to Dia del Nino, grew.
Oralila Garza de Cortes, manager of the children's department at San Antonio Public Library at the time immediately supported the concept, and through the work and support of both, El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros became a reality on April 30th 1997.
The goals of both Dia de los ninos/Dia de los libros, extended beyond a single April 30th observance and called for a daily commitment of:
- honoring children and childhood
- promoting literacy and the importance of linking all children to books, languages, and cultures
- honoring home languages and cultures, and thus promoting bilingual and multilingual literacy in this multicultural nation, and gobal understanding through reading.
- involving parents as valued members of the literacy team
- promoting library collection development that reflects our plurality
Love and support your children every day........