Past Letters to Children from Pat Mora
A Letter From Pat - November 2007My 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.
A Letter From Pat - January 2007Dear 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.
A Letter From Pat - September 2005Dear 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. A Letter From Pat - June 2004Dear 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! A Letter From Pat - January 2004Dear 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 A Letter From Pat - July 2003Civitella Ranieri Castle 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 A Letter From Pat - June 2003Civitella Ranieri Castle 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 A Letter From Pat - June 2002Dear 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! |
