Each year on April 30, El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day)—also referred to as Día!—countless libraries and community organizations celebrate the importance of diversity and literacy for all children.
Embracing a child’s home language and culture contributes to their cognitive, social emotional, and literacy development. Día emphasizes this!
Día creates empathy and awareness
Linking children and their families to diverse books, languages, and cultures is vital. Communities prosper from more empathetic and culturally aware citizens, as children represent a community’s hopes and dreams.
The purpose of Día celebrations are to connect children to a world of learning through books and activities that focus on children’s interests, involve families, and develop skills.
Sharing good books with children should take place every day. Families should read together every day! Reading after dinner or before bed is a great way of establishing good reading habits. Día is the perfect opportunity to remind parents of this simple method to help improve their child’s chances to succeed in school and in life.
Celebrating with Community Partners
On Saturday, April 29, 2017 United Way of Greater Austin hosted a Día de los niños free family event at Allan Elementary on Gonzales Street.
Partners such as AVANCE, Project HOPES, and others, including BookSpring, provided families with resources and fun diverse engaging activities.
Through BookSpringGo, families were provided with books, an engaging experience, and best practices for parents in engaging their child through books.
Love of reading starts at home
It is crucial for parents, caregivers, and even older siblings to be a role model to children. They do as you do! Let them see you reading books, comics, magazines, or newspapers. Excitement is contagious! If you love the story, so will they!
Respecting culture, heritage, and language is a powerful tool for strengthening families and communities. While April 30 observes bilingualism, many libraries and literacy programs continue the celebrations throughout May, as well as year-round.
Día is a literacy initiative in collaboration with national, state, and other literacy organizations. It is a part of the Association of Library Services for Children.
About BookSpringGo
BookSpringGo serves over 100 ReBook partners ranging from low income schools, clinics, and other social service agencies. Over 75% of partners serve a Spanish speaking population and are in need of good quality bilingual children’s books.
In honor of El día de los niños, to adequately provide for Central Texas families, we ask you to consider hosting a bilingual children’s book drive. Keep the celebration of children and literacy going through the month of May!
Learn more about donating books here.
For inquires or more information on BookSpringGo email mariela.rodriguez@bookspring.org.
