{"id":1443,"date":"2018-12-31T17:16:27","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T17:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1443"},"modified":"2018-12-31T17:16:27","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T17:16:27","slug":"mora-bookjoy_093018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1443","title":{"rendered":"Mora, Bookjoy_093018"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in El Paso, Texas, Pat Mora<\/span> is a poet, writer, former teacher, university administrator, museum director, and consultant. She is the author of many books of poetry and children\u2019s books. In 2018, the University of Arizona Press published Mora\u2019s seventh adult poetry collection, Encantado: Desert Monologues; <\/span>and Lee and Low Books published her children\u2019s poetry collection, Bookjoy, Wordjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her other adult collections include Adobe Odes, Aunt Carmen\u2019s Book of Practical Saints, Agua Santa: Holy Water, Communion, Borders,<\/span> and Chants.<\/span> Mora also wrote two collections for young adults, Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love<\/span> written in the voices of teens, and My Own True Name.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/span> described Mora\u2019s acclaimed family memoir, House of Houses,<\/span> as a \u201ctextual feast…a regenerative act…and an eloquent bearer of the old truth that it is through the senses that we apprehend love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among her awards are honorary doctorates from North Carolina State University and SUNY Buffalo, a Life-time Achievement Award from the Texas Institute of Letters, a Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, an Honorary Membership in the American Library Association, a Life-time Membership in USBBY, a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship to write in Umbria, Italy, and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Texas at El Paso. Mora was a recipient and judge of a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a recipient and advisor of the Kellogg National Leadership Fellowships.<\/p>\n

A literacy advocate, Mora founded Children\u2019s Day, Book Day, in Spanish, El d\u00eda de los ni\u00f1os, El d\u00eda de los libros.<\/span> Mora and her partners, including the American Library Association and First Book, nationally promote this year-long initiative of creatively linking children and families to books and establishing annual April Children\u2019s Day, Book Day celebrations. April 2018 was the 22nd anniversary of this initiative.<\/p>\n

Mora and her husband live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR<\/span><\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Col\u00f3n<\/span> is a popular children\u2019s book illustrator whose work has also appeared in many national publications. He has illustrated more than forty award-winning picture books, including those by Dr. Jill Biden<\/span> and Frank McCourt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n\u2019s work has been recognized with The David Usher Greenwich Workshop Award from the Society of Illustrators as well as SI Gold and Silver Medals; honors from Communication Arts and 3\u00d73; two Pura Belpr\u00e9 Awards; twice included in the New York Public Library\u2019s 100 titles for Reading and Sharing; and twice recipient of The Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children\u2019s Award.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n is known for his unique mixed-media illustration technique, which creates artwork rich in texture and deep colors. He lived in Puerto Rico as a young boy and now resides in New York City with his wife.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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CHILDREN\u2019S POETRY<\/p>\n

Bookjoy, Wordjoy<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Pat Mora,<\/span> illustrated by Ra\u00fal Col\u00f3n<\/span><\/p>\n

Lee & Low Books<\/p>\n

Hardcover, (978-1-6201-4286-8), 32 pgs., $18.95<\/p>\n

August 7, 2018<\/p>\n

\u201cBooks and Me\u201d<\/h1>\n

We belong<\/p>\n

together,<\/p>\n

books and me,<\/p>\n

like toast and jelly<\/p>\n

o queso y tortillas.<\/p>\n

Delicious! \u00a1Delicioso!<\/p>\n

Like flowers and bees,<\/p>\n

birds and trees,<\/p>\n

books and me.<\/p>\n

Bookjoy, Wordjoy is the newest collection of poetry for children<\/span> from Pat Mora,<\/span> recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Texas at El Paso, among many distinctions. Especially in Texas, y\u2019all may know her best as the founder of Children\u2019s Day, Book Day (in Spanish, El d\u00eda de los ni\u00f1os, El d\u00eda de los libros<\/span>), which celebrated its twenty-second anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Col\u00f3n\u2019s<\/span> whimsical, joyful illustrations are inspired by Mora\u2019s poems and Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo.<\/span> The colors are rich but muted, reminding me of a child\u2019s colored map pencils. One of my favorites in this book is a boy attempting to capture words with a butterfly net as they cavort through the air:<\/p>\n

words that move, like wiggle<\/p>\n

that have a brown scent, cinnamon<\/p>\n

that sweetly stretch, car-a-mel<\/p>\n

hard words, brick<\/p>\n

soft words, lullaby<\/p>\n

Mora describes \u201cbookjoy\u201d as the fun of reading and \u201cwordjoy\u201d as the fun of writing \u2014 listening to words, combining them and playing with them.<\/p>\n

Mora excels at experimenting with words \u2014 sometimes in an easy mix of Spanish and English, the musical language of the borderlands, she calls \u201cbraiding\u201d \u2014 words that can fill your senses, an onomatopoeia of touch, taste, smell, and sight that will stir little ones (and me) out of doors, into the night where fireflies may be<\/p>\n

lanterns<\/p>\n

held by sprites<\/p>\n

who tumble, ride<\/p>\n

the evening breeze<\/p>\n

or a place like \u201cAntelope Canyon\u201d where she writes of the changing seasons and antelope that \u201click spring stars at sunset.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Bookjoy, Wordjoy,<\/span> books are a feast and libraries are the laden tables. In \u201cLibrary Magic,\u201d Mora\u2019s Tom\u00e1s praises the library as \u201ca treasure house that\u2019s free\u201d and exhorts readers to explore. In \u201c\u00a1Bravo! Hip-hop Book Day!\u201d she writes that \u201cSavoring a book buffet, \/ I become a book gourmet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mora is inspiring and encouraging. \u201cNo one sees a tree just the way you see it or hears the wind just the way you hear it,\u201d Mora writes in a welcome to the book. \u201cSo no one can write exactly what you can write.\u201d In \u201cWho\u2019s Inside?\u201d the poet prompts children to \u201cdraw, \/ your inside self, write \/ your inside poem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bookjoy, Wordjoy<\/span> may be the first creative writing handbook for children.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born in El Paso, Texas, Pat Mora is a poet, writer, former teacher, university administrator, museum director, and consultant. She is the author of many books of poetry and children\u2019s books. In 2018, the University of Arizona Press published Mora\u2019s seventh adult poetry collection, Encantado: Desert Monologues; and Lee and Low Books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}