Hi Girls and Boys,

This is a strange time in our country, isn’t it? Because of the pandemic, we wear masks even when we’re with our friends. We wash our hands more and practice social distancing. We don’t get too close to people except the family we live with.

Scientists are working to create a vaccine to protect all of us from the Covid virus. Once we have that vaccine, that OUCH, like the OUCH from our flu shot every year, will mean we can enjoy our usual life and run and play without masks.

I have been busy with my desert garden, Face-timing with our granddaughter and chatting with family on the phone. I’ve been writing new books and working so that girls and boys all over the country enjoy Children’s Day, Book Day--every day. Do you do that? I read every day.

Next April 30th, Children’s Day, Book Day will be 25 years old. Wow!

How are you going to celebrate at your home, school and library? Maybe, you’ll make your own book.

Your reading friend,
Pat

Hi Girls and Boys,

I hope you enjoyed a good summer and that reading good books was part of the fun.

I feel so lucky to be a reader and to have public libraries I can visit. I also feel lucky that I can read in English and Spanish. Maybe you get your books at your school library. What kind of books do you like to read? What is your favorite time to read?

Who is the cute girl in this picture? She’s Bonny, my granddaughter who is six-years-old. I certainly can’t pick her up anymore, but we enjoy card games, reading together, and playing charades. What do you enjoy with your family?

Bonny and I also enjoy baking together. This summer we enjoyed making empanadas, little pies. The recipe is in the back of my new book, My Singing Nana.

Every day of the year is Children’s Day, Book Day. Special celebrations are held on April 30th all over our country. I hope you celebrate at home, at your school, and at your public library.

Your reading friend,
Pat

Dear Girls and Boys,

I have written you about seventeen letters through the years. I hope you enjoy reading them. This year I want to remind you that my mom, my three children and I were born in El Paso, Texas. My dad was born in Mexico. He came to El Paso with his family when he was a little boy.

I love many landscapes--oceans and beaches, forest--and deserts.

Now I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. My husband and I love to look at the trees, hill, and mountains from our back deck. Below are some photos from around our house. In the winter, we do have snow even though we are in the desert. I like to read about the birds, plants and trees that grow here. Reading is one way that I keep learning. What do you like to read about?

This year and every year be sure your school celebrates Children’s Day, Book Day / El día de los niños, el día de los libros (nickname Día) in April, https://www.patmora.com/whats-childrens-day-book-day/.

Your reading friend,
Pat

  

  

Hi Girls and Boys,

In November, because of Thanksgiving Day, we think about being grateful. I’m grateful this November that last spring, my husband and I flew from the state of New Mexico to Oaxaca (wah HAH kah), a state in the country Mexico. We had visited years ago, and again enjoyed beautiful old churches, eating delicious foods, and strolling on cobbled streets hearing Spanish.

Mexico's largest tree

At a store where they sold beautiful weavings, we learned how natural dyes are made from pecan shells, bark, and even from the cochineal bug that lives on prickly pear cactus. Guess what color that dye is. BRIGHT red! http://www.teotitlan.com/naturaldyes.htm

We also enjoyed returning to see Mexico’s largest tree, one of the largest trees in the world, a Montezuma cypress. I enjoy travel and always learn from it.

I am very excited about my new book. The illustrations are beautiful! I hope you enjoy the book and try the water activities.

        

I enjoyed writing these two books with my daughter Libby Martinez. Why don't you write a story with your mother or father or a friend?

                

Two of my other books that you could enjoy in a special way this month are:

        

Want to create a circle with your class or family or friends and talk about what you’re thankful for this year? I’m very thankful for Bonny, my granddaughter. I’m going to teach her about Children’s Day, Book Day and about bookjoy.

I am very, very grateful to be a reader, I want Bonny to be a reader, and I want you to be a reader too.

Hi Girls and Boys,
As always, I’ve been thinking about you. Have you been reading this summer? I sure have. I read every day.

I traveled a lot this spring and summer and thought of you at each location. In April, I went to Little Rock, ARK and spoke to many children about bookjoy at the beautiful Clinton Presidential Center. Then, Vern, my husband who's a professor and teaches anthropology and archaeology, and I flew across the Atlantic to Delft, Holland. I enjoyed seeing lots and lots of canals, cows, and a few windmills. Since I live in the desert, all that water and greenery were amazing!

We then flew to the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain. I thought of you at the amazing market with many merchants selling food, fresh fruits and CANDY. We took a train to the coastal city of San Sebastián in the Basque part of Spain where people speak Spanish and Euskara. Surprise! Although Spanish or Castilian is Spain's national language, Spain has three other official languages: Euskara, Catalán and Galician.

We love museums, so we then went by bus to the city of Bilbao to visit the wonderful Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. At the front of the museum is huge “Puppy.” He’s covered in flowers that change with the seasons. Behind the museum, is another art piece, a GIANT spider, and a river, La ría Bilbao. Many years ago, my maternal grandfather, Juan Domingo Landavazo, a Spanish sea captain, sailed down that river to the Atlantic and then on to Mexico, where he met my grandmother. I so liked looking at the river my grandfather sailed to begin his journeys.

Did you enjoy Halloween? I wish I could have seen all of you in your costumes. When my three children were little, they would start planning their costumes in the summer.

This past summer, my husband and I went to Colorado. How we enjoyed the red rocks and bluffs, the rivers, the wildflowers. Do you know what c o l o r a d o means in Spanish? Some of you know. It means red, and when we see the amazing red boulders, we know why the Spanish settlers used that word.

I've published three new books for kids. I hope you find them at your school or public library. Gracias*Thanks is a bilingual book about a boy who is grateful for special parts of his day. Do you know the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"? My book A Piñata in a Pine Tree changes the words in the song using many words in Spanish. Another new book is Book Fiesta. It's also a bilingual book about how much fun it is to read. You'll even see children reading in the mouth of a whale! I think you'll really like all the wonderful illustrations in these books.

Please explore my web site and see all my books and even some family photos. You can write and tell me what you liked.

I sure like reading and hope you do too.

Your reading friend,

Dear Girls and Boys, It has been too long since I wrote you a letter. What have I been doing? In April, I'm always busy visiting El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children's Day/Book Day celebrations. This year, I went to Detroit, Michigan and to Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina. You can see some photos below. I enjoyed meeting children and families and hearing good Latin music.

Do you like music? What's your favorite kind?

I hope that you're reading this summer? I am. Are you sharing books with your family and friends? Did you join the Summer Reading Club at your library? I used to do that when I was a little girl in El Paso, Texas. I hope that your library has the newest book, Wiggling Pockets, from my bilingual series My Family*Mi familia. What do you think is in Danny's pockets?

Bilingual books are a good way to practice reading English and Spanish. I'm bilingual, and I grew speaking both. Now I enjoy writing books in both.

One of my daughters is a cat veterinarian and one (a lawyer) works at the Philadelphia Zoo. The vet and I are going to get a behind-the-scenes visit at the zoo soon. Doesn't that sound like fun? I'll tell you about it when I write you again in the fall.

Your friend,
Pat

My new children's book is a book of haiku, Yum! ¡MmMm! ¡Qué Rico! Have you seen it? The illustrations by Rafael López are amazing. This weekend, I'm having a Yum! Party for some of my friends. We're going to enjoy eating the fourteen foods in the book, foods native to the Americas. How many foods native to the Americas can you name? Have you tasted all of them? I wish you could all come to my party.

I have some pictures that I took for you when I went to Finland with my husband in June. Look at a map and find New Mexico, the state where I live, and then find Finland. Even on a plane, that was a long trip. I'm from the desert, so I'm used to lots of sun. I was surprised that in Finland, there are more than 180,000 lakes! Most of our days there, it was cloudy. I'll teach you how to say "thank you" in Finnish, Kiitos, pronounced KEE TOHSS.

One morning I went to visit the public library and guess what section I spent time in? The children's section, of course. I found children's books in many languages including English and Spanish, the two languages I speak.

Have you been reading some good books? Have you been reading every day? That's one of my favorite times, my reading time. Fall and winter when it's cold outside, it's nice to get warm and comfortable with a good book. It's fun to share books with your family and your friends too. Your friend,
Pat Mora

Manolo Valdes' Las Meninas in Helsinki Park, June 2007	Helsinki Harbor View, June 2007	Pat & Vern at Sibelius Monument, June 2007
A Helsinki Island, June 2007	Another Helsinki Island, June 2007

Dear Girls and Boys,
Do you like to play in the snow? If you were here with me in Santa Fe, New Mexico, would you build a snow man outside my window or maybe a snow bunny like the rabbits I see run by? We had so much snow last week that our wrought iron table out back looked like a snow turtle, una tortuga.

I’ve been making a list of the pájaros, the birds, that come to my bird feeder in all this white cold—sparrows, house finches, juncos, and big, blue jays. Do you know the names of four kinds of birds in your area?

And guess what I heard howling last night? Coyotes!

In my last letter, I said that my husband and I were going to Japan. We did at the end of 2005. I loved seeing all the beautiful fall leaves around Lake Towada, a beautiful crater lake.

Have you been reading many books including the ones I write for you? Picture books are for all ages, remember. Even high school teachers use them in their classes. I always give my three grown children picture books as presents.

I hope that 2007 is a great year for you and your family. Visit the library often, and on April 30th, celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children’s Day/Book Day at home, school and at your public library.
Your friend,
Pat Mora

Dear Girls and Boys,
I hope you enjoyed a good summer. Did you join the Summer Reading Club at your library? If not, do that next year. I always liked joining at the Public Library in my hometown of El Paso.

My husband is a professor of archaeology at the University of Cincinnati. Do you know what state Cincinnati is in? This summer, I went with him to some conferences in Brazil and Germany. I always think of you when I’m traveling because I know I’ll come home and write to you.

Brazil is the largest country in Latin America. Because Brazil is below the equator, their seasons are opposite to ours. In Florianópolis on the island Santa Catarina, I enjoyed walking along the beach and watching the beautiful turquoise waves. No one was swimming since it was winter in Brazil. Do you know what language Brazilians speak? Portuguese. I love languages, so I also enjoyed learning words and phrases in Portuguese. Try saying, “good morning” in Portuguese, “bom dia,” pronounced boh DEE ah

In Berlin, I saw many monuments and museums. Try saying “good morning” in German, “guten morgan,” pronounced GOO ten MOR ghen. In October, I get to visit Japan. I’m very excited.

I hope that you will enjoy your new school year, that you will visit the library often, and that you will read and enjoy many books.
Your friend,
Pat Mora

Dear Girls and Boys,
One day I visited a museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico where I now live. I saw some paintings I really liked by Maria Hesch. “These paintings would make a wonderful picture book,” I said

Maria had studied the art of Grandma Moses, and then Maria had painted the Santa Fe of long ago when she was a little girl. I studied Maria’s work, and then I wrote a book about her, Maria Paints the Hills. We used Maria’s paintings in the book. Have you read it?

Maybe you would like to look at a book of paintings and write a story or poem about it. You could also find a book partner. One of you could write the book, and the other could illustrate it.

I’m busy writing new books for you. I sit at my computer and play with words and ideas. Writing is fun, and it is also hard work. Because I’m bilingual, I can choose words in English or Spanish. I can choose abuelita or grandmother.

Soon I will visit my three grown children who live in Austin, Texas. I will see their pets too. Our family will laugh together and talk about books. We feel lucky that we are all readers.

Enjoy many, many books!
Your friend,
Pat Mora

Dear Girls and Boys,
Thanks for visiting my web site. I wish I could talk to each of you about what you like to read. When I visit schools, I tell you that I read every night. Do you?

I also tell you that I'm a writer because I'm a reader, and I tell you how lucky I feel to be bilingual. When I write I can use words in English or Spanish. I can write cat or gato.

2001 was a very exciting year for our family. Cissy, my youngest daughter, became Dr. Cissy, a veterinarian. I know many of you want to become vets too. Don't you? Do you take good care of your pets? Cissy did. She took very good care of our cats and now she cures cats all day long since she works at an all feline clinic. At her home, she has two BIG cats and a Chihuahua.

Cissy reads every night too just like she did when she was little. She had to read many thick books to become a vet so she was glad she had the reading habit.

Cissy and her sister Libby who's a lawyer and her brother Bill who's a textbook editor were all born in El Paso, Texas, where I was born. Now I spend part of the year in Santa Fe, New Mexico and part in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area where my husband teaches archaeology.

We're a family that likes to laugh together, eat together, and to talk about books. What does your family like to do?

Keep reading! Your friend,
Pat Mora

Civitella Ranieri Castle Umbertide, Italia, July 26, 2003

Dear Girls and Boys,
Today is our last day in the castle. We will take to trains to Rome, and then fly to Paris and back to the Cincinnati airport.

It has been very, very hot here, and there is no air conditioning, just a small fan. I have enjoyed writing in a castle and looking out at the beautiful fields. Wheat is being harvested now, and the sunflowers are drooping down, heavy with seeds.

I have not enjoyed having a bat fly through our room some nights, but I will miss looking at the turrets outside. At the base, they are so big and wide, so sturdy.

Visit the family photo album in this “Kids’ Stuff” section of the web site to see some pictures from the castle. I was thinking of you when we took them.

I read some new books at the castle, wrote poems, and worked on a book of letters to teachers and librarians. They are very special people, aren’t they?

I hope you will have a great school year and that you will enjoy many new books!

Your friend,
Pat Mora

Civitella Ranieri Castle Umbertide, Italia, June 26, 2003
Dear Girls and Boys,
A week ago my husband Vern and I flew from Kentucky to Paris and then on to Rome. It was very hot in Rome, but like the million tourists who come to this big city every year, we visited some of the famous sites like the Roman forum, the Colisseum, the Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s Basillica and the Pantheon. We saw amazing statues, paintings and mosaics.

After a few days, we took a fast, smooth train to Venice. Since Italian like Spanish is a language based on Latin, I’m enjoying learning some Italian words and phrases like buon giorno (boo-OHN jee-OHR-noh) meaning good morning and grazie (GRAH tzieh) meaning thank you. I love languages and always try to learn some words when I visit another country. So many languages are spoken in our cities that we can learn words from one another in the United States too. How many different languages do people know at your school?

Venice was also hot, but we enjoyed being on an island with no cars. To go somewhere, you walk or take a boat. Venice is a beautiful city with canals winding through it. Many of the two and three-story houses are painted the color of spices: paprika, mustard and cinnamon. We visited more beautiful churches and museums.

Yesterday, we took two trains to the city of Perugia, and then came by car to this amazing castle where we will live for five weeks. Can you imagine living in a castle? We had dinner outside with other writers and some composers and visual artists. Fireflies blinked in the bushes.

This morning we got up early and walked in the cool morning air down a tree-lined road. We looked out at the Italian hills that are a patchwork of green and gold, wheat, corn and sunflowers. We had seen field after field of sunflowers from the train that reminded us of seeing such fields years ago in Spain. I love to look at the flowers all staring at the sun.

I watch the cats at the castle and am writing a book about one,"The Castle Cat."

I will write you again at the end of our visit.

Your friend,
Pat Mora

Dear Girls and Boys,
Do you like lizards? This morning I saw a gray lizard scurry across the wooden deck in my back garden. I have always liked them. I remember that when I was a little girl in El Paso, Texas, my sister and I used to look for lizards behind our house.

What are your three favorite animals? Can you write a story about them?

My husband, Vern, is an archaeologist. He has often gone to Belize to study the Maya. One time when I was visiting Belize, we saw great large green lizards. They reminded me of little dinosaurs. Do you remember which of my books have lizards in them? Why are lizards in the jungle green and the lizards in the desert gray?

Writers write about topics that interest us. Often we’re not sure why we like lizards or turtles or tulips or roses, but we know we do, and we know we enjoy thinking about those topics and imagining them.

I hope you’re reading every night before you go to sleep. I do. It’s one of my favorite times of the day. Do you tell your family and friends about the books you like? It’s fun to share books.

Keep writing and reading! Your friend,
Pat Mora

Dear Girls and Boys,
Thanks for visiting my web site. I wish I could talk to each of you about what you like to read. When I visit schools, I tell you that I read every night. Do you?

I also tell you that I'm a writer because I'm a reader, and I tell you how lucky I feel to be bilingual. When I write I can use words in English or Spanish. I can write cat or gato.

2001 was a very exciting year for our family. Cissy, my youngest daughter, became Dr. Cissy, a veterinarian. I know many of you want to become vets too. Don't you? Do you take good care of your pets? Cissy did. She took very good care of our cats and now she cures cats all day long since she works at an all feline clinic. At her home, she has two BIG cats and a Chihuahua.

Cissy reads every night too just like she did when she was little. She had to read many thick books to become a vet so she was glad she had the reading habit.

Cissy and her sister Libby who's a lawyer and her brother Bill who's a textbook editor were all born in El Paso, Texas, where I was born. Now I spend part of the year in Santa Fe, New Mexico and part in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area where my husband teaches archaeology.

We're a family that likes to laugh together, eat together, and to talk about books. What does your family like to do?

Keep reading! Your friend,
Pat Mora

Dear Girls and Boys,

Do you like books? I do! I'm a writer because I'm a reader. Books are my work and my hobby.

I was born in the desert city of El Paso, Texas, right on the U.S.-Mexico border. My grandparents came there during the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

My dad, Raúl, was an optician, and my mom, Estela, helped him and all of us in our bilingual home. Mom always liked to read, and so the four of us grew up with books. My aunt and grandmother lived with us and spoiled us, my two sisters and my brother. I was the oldest and probably very bossy.

After college, I was a teacher, and then I worked at a university. My favorite job there was directing the museum.

Students often ask me about my children. They are all grown now. Bill is a textbook editor, Libby is a lawyer, and Cissy is studying to be a veterinarian. My son-in-law, Roger, is my webmaster. We often ask each other, "So what are you reading now?"

My husband, Vern, is an anthropology professor. Sometimes I travel with him when he works at archaeological sites. We both like to travel very much and to learn about other cultures and languages. Together we've enjoyed the plazas in Mexico, markets in Pakistan, palaces in India, parrots and toucans in Belize, dark blue seas of Greece, and the rice paddies of Bali.

One of my favorite times is laughing with my family. They're great!

Sincerely,
Pat Mora