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.
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's website, Pat's Bookjoy blog, or the American Library Association website.