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In 1995 the Texas State University College of Education honored distinguished alumnus Dr. Tomas Rivera, by developing the Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award. This award honors authors and illustrators who create literature that depicts the Mexican American experience. It helps keep alive Dr. Rivera’s legacy in literature and works towards sustaining the vision he saw for the education of Mexican Americans in the United States. In addition it raises conscious awareness among parents, teachers, and librarians of this distinguished literature so these books can inspire, entertain, and educate all children both at home and at school.

The 2008 winner of the award is Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales. Written for children in grades K -5, Montes weaves Spanish words into the rhyming text and tells the story of black cats, witches, skeletons and other spooky creatures that march to a haunted casa on Halloween night. Once there the creatures enjoy a fiesta with music and dancing until there is a “RAP! RAP! RAP!” at the door. This causes the frightened spooks to hide, for “The thing that monsters most abhor/Are human niños at the door! Of all the horrors they have seen/ The WORST are kids on Halloween!”

Marisa and Yuyi were kept busy last week with Tomas Rivera Book Award ceremonies and book signings! On Thursday, October 30th, they were honored at a special luncheon held at the university president’s home where they received their award prize and plaque. Later in the day, accompanied by a mariachi band, they attended the Author/Illustrator Presentation on campus.

The next day, as part of the Texas Book Festival Reading Rock Stars Program, the Tomás Rivera Committee selected a public school in Austin and bought every student a copy of Los Gatos Black on Halloween with the award seal on the cover. Yuyi and Marisa did a presentation at the school and the students were thrilled to get their books signed.

The whirlwind weekend of festivities continued on Nov 1st, when Montes and Morales participated in the Texas Book Festival by giving the Tomás Rivera Award reading session and then signing books for festival attendees. Click here to watch it on Youtube !

PaperTigers will continue to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month until mid November.

First a definition/description:
"The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth." --from ALA website

And now my report.

At my signings, during the days before the award ceremony last week, I handed out a lot these printed invitations:

Then on Sunday afternoon I combed my hair (which I rarely do otherwise), "ironed my best tie, and pumped the tires of my bike," and the celebration began!

Here is…

...what I saw at the Pura Belpre:
-The California Pavilion in all colors with mexican sarapes adorning the tables and balloons crowning the stage.

-Gorgeous Irania all the way from North Carolina libraries, the Fresno gang, the San Francisco public library—present, Jackie Woodson and her baby, the Harcourt family, my agent Ms. Sheedy, Maria van Lieshout and Jim Averbeck representing my writer’s group, Lisa Brown, the South Carolina gang, my father and mother in law, my editor Reka Simonsen and the Holt group, Suzy from Nevada, Rene Colato and his stories, Visalia—present, the Pura Belpre committee, Fuse#8, my husband, my son and his guitar…I don’t have enough air to name everybody who was in the audience and all of those who helped put this fiesta together.

Here some images from [email protected]

…what I heard at the Pura Belpre:
-Suni Paz opening the celebration with her guitar, and her songs old and sweet like the ones my mother always sings.

-My son’s guitar, strumming solemnly the love-declaration song to a ghost, la Llorona.

-A lullaby.

…what was said at the Pura Belpre:

-“When I started submitting my story (Los Gatos Black on Halloween) to publishers, editors would ask me, ‘but what does Spanish have to do with Halloween?’” –Marisa Montes, Pura Belpre text honor speech.

-“I would ask my mother, “mom, would you rather be right or be happy?”, and she would answer, “honey, it makes me very HAPPY to be RIGHT!”
“Una cucaracha!”—Carmen Agra Deedy, text honor speech.

-“If only there were words I didn’t have to say, Like Juan Francisco Manzano, and Cuba, I could do my speech with out crying.”—Margarita Engle, the night before her Pura Belpre speech.

-“De colores, de colores se visten los campos de la primavera…” Audience singing accompanied by the music of the children mariachi band.

...what I brought to give away:
-I had a chance to share my Gatos Black in Halloween bookmarks I designed. They looked like this on each side:

..what I learned at the Pura Belpre:
-Margarita Engle has heard la Llorona cry. After my speech and my mention of the ancient Mexican ghost of the weeping woman, she told me how in the mountains she had heard a female mountain lion's cry, warning against anybody coming closer to her babies, “And you don’t know,” Margarita said, “whether it is a mother lion or la Llorona—the cry so much like a woman weeping.”

-Hope, Esperanza, is a beautiful name for beautiful women. Gracias, Hope for taking care of me that day.

We are going to San Marcos to receive the Tomas Rivera Book Award!

Not only is San Marcos warm and beautiful, but they make the best of celebrations.

I was there first in 2004 to receive the award for Just a Minute. The next year my husband Tim and I were brought again for the 10th anniversary celebration. All the authors and illustrators winners of the first ten years were there too. We all took turns being interviewed for a film about the award, we rode together in a big van like if we were a rock band, and we talked, had meals together, attended events galore, and were bonded for ever and until the end of the world. Here are a couple of pictures of most of us.

RIF and Macy's are teaming up in a program called Be One For The Books to help kids who can't afford books to be able to receive books.
Donate $3 for RIF, Get a SavingsPass for $10 off a $50 Purchase at Macy's*, and Help Children Discover the Joy of Reading.

by Renee Kirchner, Teaching Tips Contributing Editor

It’s only natural for kids to want to pack away their books during summer vacation. They want to play with friends, swim, and ride their bikes. However, a summer spent without books could cause their current reading levels to drop before school starts in the fall. If you make summer reading a pleasant pastime, kids will be more likely to pick up a book.

Summer is a great time for kids to branch out and try reading something new. In summer there are no book reports or projects to complete when they finish a book. Reading should be for pure enjoyment. Encourage your children to read books from many different authors and genres. If they normally read mysteries, suggest that they try biographies, historical fiction, science fiction, or poetry. Don’t limit summer reading to hardcover or paperback books either. Children would probably enjoy reading comic books, magazines, and newspapers also. The objective in the summer is to make reading fun.

Learning how to choose their own reading material is an important skill for young children. Children are more apt to read a book if they select it. Parents can model book selection by taking their children to a library or a bookstore. Pick up a book and look at the cover. Next, flip through the pages and read the jacket out loud. Let your children hear your thoughts. For example, “I love books by this author. I’m so glad he has written another one. I think I’ll check it out and see if I like it.” Children also need to understand that it’s ok to not like a book. Everyone has started a book and then decided it wasn’t for them. Children do not instinctively know that it’s ok to not finish a book if they don’t like it.

Children might become overwhelmed when they see the huge selection of books available at the bookstore or the library. It might be a good idea to visit some websites and get some book recommendations first. Here are some excellent websites to try:

RIF (Reading is Fundamental

The RIF (Reading is Fundamental) website if full of great information. There are fun summer activities for families that are centered on reading. The website also has recommended reading lists broken down by children’s ages and interests.

KidsReads.org

This website is excellent if your child is looking for the newest releases. Each month a new selection of books are reviewed and posted. Frequently there are in-depth author interviews on the website so kids can read about their favorite authors.

American Library Association

The American Library Association has lists of recommended reading that will please everyone. The lists include classics, paperbacks, Newbery Award books, Caldecott Award books, and many others. Children will never run out of book suggestions after visiting this site.

This summer can be a great adventure for your children when you mix free time with some great books. Have a great summer and happy reading.