Sign your children up for the third annual Latino Children’s Summer Reading Program, which starts on June 1. It is sponsored by Latinas for Latinos Lit. Two of my bilingual picture books are included in this awesome program—Alicia’s Fruity Drinks under the Food Theme and Lupita’s First Dance under the Music Theme. Register now. It is free. http://latinas4latinolit.org/reading/

The program:

“FOR FAMILIES: Designed specifically for Latino families, our 10-week summer programs are infused with cultural images and themes. You’ll find our suggestions for wonderful Latino children’s literature, as well as literacy activities to develop your child or student’s reading and writing skills.”

“GROUP PARTICIPANTS: This year, we’re excited to announce that groups can participate for free, too! Registration opens on May 1st and it’s simple. Just register your group below and you’ll receive an official Group Number that you can share with your students. They enter that number when they sign up online (at home) and then all their information will be tracked. You’ll be able to know what books they’ve read over the summer and more depending on which program you assign them.”

“Writing is a pleasure, and I feel that if I did not enjoy writing, no one would enjoy reading my books.” — Beverly Cleary

Yesterday, I was a guest speaker at UT Arlington Library where the topic was, “Stories To Our Children/Historias Para Nuestros Hijos.” I was to inspire the parents in the audience to write their own stories, but I feel they inspired me more. Some of them have participated in this awesome program before and had written their stories, which were then bound into beautiful books. With an imprint of their thumbs, many pledged to write more stories in the future. I did as well. Congratulations to Ivonne Kieffer, Yulianna Aceves, Alicia Rueda Acedo, and Sarai Suarez and the UT student volunteers for making this all possible. And special thanks to Miranda Want for transporting me around.

I am honored to have been interviewed on the WordMothers blog, which is “dedicated to showcasing women’s work in the literary arts around the world.”

Are you about to start your Great American Novel and are overwhelmed by the word count? Try reading this very brief article on the Dear Editor blog that addresses this topic. Some of the advice: “Pledge not to count words until you type THE END on the final scene. Do not set word count goals for your writing sessions.” Read on.

If you love to read but sometimes cannot find the time, go to the Publishers Weekly blog on “How To Become a Better Reader in 10 Steps” by author Gretchen Rubin. She offers ten excellent tips on this topic.

A fellow writer cross-stitched this lovely piece for me.

Yesterday I helped celebrate El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros by doing three school visits here in San Antonio. The first was at Schulze Elementary; the second was at Adams Elementary and the third one was at Patrick Heath Library in Boerne. The library sponsored a picnic-like event and free books were given to the children at the end of the celebration. Fun, fun day!!

Here is a link to El Dia’s founder, author Pat Mora.