An independent magazine about Dia, the April 30 celebration that links every child to books, languages and cultures.
Children, books and the last day of April
The Bookjoy Journal is an independent magazine about Dia, El día de los niños/El día de los libros: the April 30 celebration that honors children and connects them to books. History, book lists, program planning and family reading routines, in one place.
Recent guides
Fresh from the magazine
The newest guides across the four shelves: what the day is, how to choose the books, how to run the program and how to keep reading at home.
Día Basics
What Is Dia?
Dia, El dia de los ninos El dia de los libros, pairs every child with books each April 30. See what a Dia celebration holds and how families join in.
One date, every child, every book: the shape of the day.
Día Basics
The History of Dia
Trace Dia from Mexico's April 30 Children's Day to Pat Mora's 1996 idea and the library sponsorship that carried Children's Day Book Day nationwide.
From 1925 Mexico to a library near you.
Book Lists
Bilingual Picture Books for Story Time
See how bilingual English Spanish picture books work at story time, what to check before buying and how to match titles to ages and language goals.
Parallel, interleaved, embedded: pick the right format.
Book Lists
Own Voices Chapter Books for Dia
Move past picture books: chapter books and middle grade novels with bilingual and bicultural themes for readers aged eight to twelve.
Older readers, stronger shelves.
Library Programs
The Dia Tool Kit
A working tool kit for Dia planners: program outlines, book talking, storytelling, readers theater and reading aloud, built chapter by chapter.
The chapters of the old Texas kit, rebuilt.
Library Programs
Planning a Dia Event
Plan a Dia celebration step by step: date, partners, volunteers, room layout, publicity and a calm routine for the day itself.
Eight weeks out to the thank you note.
The four shelves
A magazine in four sections
Basics and history first, then the books, then the program, then the home routines. Each shelf opens with an index of its guides.
- 01
Día Basics
What Dia is, what the name means and the history that made April 30 a book day.
- 02
Book Lists
Multicultural and bilingual titles by age, and the checks that make a stack work.
- 03
Library Programs
The tool kit, the timeline, the craft table and the money: a whole program, planned.
- 04
Reading at Home
The home side of the celebration: read aloud routines and the summer plan.
Section 1 of 4
Día Basics
What Dia is, what the name means and the history that made April 30 a book day.
Día Basics
What Is Dia?
Dia, El dia de los ninos El dia de los libros, pairs every child with books each April 30. See what a Dia celebration holds and how families join in.
One date, every child, every book: the shape of the day.
Día Basics
The History of Dia
Trace Dia from Mexico's April 30 Children's Day to Pat Mora's 1996 idea and the library sponsorship that carried Children's Day Book Day nationwide.
From 1925 Mexico to a library near you.
Section 2 of 4
Book Lists
Multicultural and bilingual titles by age, and the checks that make a stack work.
Book Lists
Bilingual Picture Books for Story Time
See how bilingual English Spanish picture books work at story time, what to check before buying and how to match titles to ages and language goals.
Parallel, interleaved, embedded: pick the right format.
Book Lists
Own Voices Chapter Books for Dia
Move past picture books: chapter books and middle grade novels with bilingual and bicultural themes for readers aged eight to twelve.
Older readers, stronger shelves.
Kept at their old addresses
Two guides that kept their historical URLs
This domain hosted the Texas Dia program for years. Two of its pages mattered enough to rebuild at the exact addresses they always had, tool kit chapters and history included.
Restored guide
The History of Dia
From 1925 Mexico to a library near you.
Restored guide
The Dia Tool Kit
The chapters of the old Texas kit, rebuilt.
Section 3 of 4
Library Programs
The tool kit, the timeline, the craft table and the money: a whole program, planned.
Library Programs
The Dia Tool Kit
A working tool kit for Dia planners: program outlines, book talking, storytelling, readers theater and reading aloud, built chapter by chapter.
The chapters of the old Texas kit, rebuilt.
Library Programs
Planning a Dia Event
Plan a Dia celebration step by step: date, partners, volunteers, room layout, publicity and a calm routine for the day itself.
Eight weeks out to the thank you note.
Library Programs
Dia Crafts and Activities
Papel picado banners, marigold bookmarks, make a book cover and story puppets: quiet crafts that keep children making between story times.
Four tables that never fail.
Library Programs
Funding a Dia Program
How library Dia programs get money: state association grants, Friends groups, local sponsors and low cost plans that work without any grant.
Money for books, from somewhere.
Section 4 of 4
Reading at Home
The home side of the celebration: read aloud routines and the summer plan.
Reading at Home
Reading Aloud in Two Languages
Read aloud in two languages without perfect fluency: shared reading tricks, switching languages mid book and routines for busy weeks.
Frequency beats fluency, always.
Reading at Home
A Bilingual Summer Reading Plan
Build a summer that carries both languages: library cards, weekly stacks, read aloud slots and simple records children keep themselves.
The season school lets go.
Field notes
Four views from the guides
Scenes from the pages of the magazine, each with the guide that explains it in full.
