A Song for Children's Day, Book Day
El día de los niños, El día de los libros (Día)

Día's First Song and Book Fiesta's history
In Día's early days, my friend, librarian Jeanette Larson, an early Día supporter then at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, mentioned that we needed some materials to help promote the Día concept. She offered to produce a booklet and to promote Día on the Web. (This was before my Web days. I was amazed.) Jeanette also said, "Pat, you should write a song for Día that we could include in the booklet." Jim, Jeanette's husband, designed the booklet's purple cover and a page of bookmarks that could be cut out or duplicated. The booklet was produced in March 1998 and was distributed at the Texas Library Association conference that year.

In March 1999, I visited Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. My faculty host, Dr. Charlene Endrizzi, wanted the student orchestra to play the song before my presentation on campus and to have students sing it when I visited Neshannock Elementary in New Castle, PA but there was no written music. Belinda Boone, who worked with Jeanette Larson at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, said "Oh, I know a tune that will work with words Pat has written." Charlene asked Jay Broker, then an adjunct music professor at Westminster College, to listen to Belinda sing the song over the phone. As she sang, Jay wrote the music! You can hear the familiar tune (though at too fast a tempo) here.

Many years later, I was having lunch with Adriana Dominguez, an editor at HarperCollins, and we talked about ideas for a Día book. Adriana was interested in a story that was connected to the library. Because I had already written Tómas and the Library Lady, I wasn't sure another book about the library was the best idea for a book about Día.

Book Fiesta

"I do have this Día song," I said. Adriana, a fine editor, championed the publication of Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros and worked enthusiastically with me and Rafael López to develop the book. We decided on a bilingual book, and I also expanded the text.

I hope the words to Book Fiesta! will be set to music, maybe various versions. We'd love to have the music available on my web site and welcome your good ideas.

Pat is so excited to see and hear students singing about Día. Many thanks to the 5th grade at Tony Serna Jr. Elementary (West Las Vegas, NM) and their teacher, Billie Matthews. Download the sheet music for the song in the video.


Please share with us any videos or musical performances using this or other tunes.
Día Song

This is the day of the children,
los niños, the children.
This is the day of the children
the children and their books.

El día de los niños: El día de los libros,
the day of children and their books,
ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán,
los niños and their books.

Celebrate with piñatas
and musica de colores,
add the papel picado
and baskets and baskets of books,

Silly and sad, scary and glad,
baskets of delicious books.

Read to a favorite person,
read to lizards and cats,
read to the moon humming a tune
as you read from your baskets of books

El día de los niños: El día de los libros,
the day of children and their books,
ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán,
the children and their books.

This is a song that keeps growing,
in Chinese or Navajo too,
so add your verse and sing along,
on this day of children and books.

El día de los niños: El día de los libros,
the day of children and their books,
ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán,
los niños and their books.