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- LFHS Cross Country
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- Los Fresnos Annual Cook-Off Is Right Around The Corner
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LF Library’s Dia del Niño/Dia del Libro Celebration
- Updated: May 10, 2024
Iris Garcia
Special to LFN
The annual Día del Niño/Día del Libro event took place at the Los Fresnos Community Park on Friday, April 26th. The event organized by the Ethel L. Whipple Memorial Library continues to grow every year as more local agencies and community partners join the celebration.
El Día del Niño/Día del Libro (Children’s Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is a nationally recognized initiative that emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. It is a commitment to linking children and their families to books, languages, and cultures.
The American Library Association (ALA) shares that the goals of all Día programming are 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.
The Los Fresnos library aimed to achieve just that, by inviting bilingual children’s local author, Maria Carrales, also known as Grandma Cookie, as a guest for a special story time. Mrs. Carrales shared pieces of her three published works and had the children entertained by doing a sing-a-long of popular children’s songs. In addition, the event hosted multiple informational booths, such as Head Start: Niños Inc., W.I.C., BCSF Health and Human Services, and Triumph Public HS, who provided valuable information to the families of the community.
In a continuous effort to promote literacy, the library also distributed over 200 free books that children were able to personally pick from when they visited and boarded the Los Fresnos CISD Literacy Bus. It is an incredible team effort and collaboration that drives the success of any community event, and for that, the library would like to thank all the wonderful volunteers, sponsors, and community partners, such as the Friends of Library, Los Fresnos CISD Family Engagement, Walmart of Los Fresnos, Coastal Event Rentals, City of Los Fresnos Public Works, LF Police Department, Fragile Planet, Olmito Community Church, and Nueva Vida youth group, among many others, for their support and participation.
In conclusion, the City of Los Fresnos shared on their Facebook page, “We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who attended and contributed to the success of Ethel Whipple Memorial Library’s Día del Niño | Día del Libro celebration. We want to express our sincere appreciation to all the volunteers, organizers, and sponsors who worked tirelessly to make this event possible. Your dedication and hard work are deeply appreciated, and we are grateful for your commitment to promoting literacy in our community. A special thank you goes to our sponsor Coastal Event Rentals LLC for their generous support. We are incredibly grateful for their partnership.”
We look forward to next year’s Día del Niño/Día del Libro event!
