The Perry Public Library hosted El dìa de los niňos/El dìa de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) Saturday, and the rainy weather did not stop nearly 100 adults and children from attending the three-hour event.
The children made crafts, played Loteria and got their faces painted in during the celebration of literacy and languages, and every child went home with a free book.
The event was part of a national initiative emphasizing the importance of literacy for children of all backgrounds. According to the American Library Association (ALA), Children’s Day/Book Daily makes “a daily commitment to linking children and their families to diverse books, languages and cultures.”
The ALA says the program aims to:
- Celebrate children and connect them to the world of learning through books, stories and libraries.
- Nurture cognitive and literacy development in ways that honor and embrace a child’s home language and culture.
- Introduce families to community resources that provide opportunities for learning through multiple literacies.
- Recognize and respect culture, heritage and language as powerful tools for strengthening families and communities.
Organizations represented at the Perry multilingual literacy festival included the Perry Child Development Center, the Dallas County Family Development Center, the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Perry L.I.N.K. program and the Parents as Teachers group.
