Poetry highlights in honor of National Poetry Month!
Poet of the Day: Pat Mora
Poet, author, and former English teacher Pat Mora was born on January 19, 1942, in El Paso, Texas. She is the author of many books, including poetry collections for children, teens, and adults; nonfiction; and a family memoir told in the voices of ancestors, House of Houses. She is a strong literacy advocate and is the founder of Children's Day/Book Day. This popular event is celebrated across the country each year on April 30, and this year is the 25th anniversary! Pat is a popular national speaker on creativity, inclusivity, and bookjoy, and is also the recipient of many honors, including a National Endowment of the Arts Poetry Fellowship, a Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship, three Southwest Book Awards, and the Premio Aztlán Literature Award. 
This poet belongs in our classrooms because . . .
Pat Mora is a leading figure in contemporary Hispanic poetry and is a strong advocate of bilingual literacy. Family, Mexican American culture, and the desert are all important themes in her children's books, poetry, and nonfiction for adults.

Early in her career, Pat Mora coined a concept she named "bookjoy," which describes the pleasure of reading. Children's Day/Book Day is one way she hopes to spread bookjoy to younger readers, and in her book Bookjoy, Wordjoy, she brings together a collection of her poems that celebrate the ways words and books can take us on wonderful adventures and bring us joy.
A Poem by Pat Mora
"A breeze strokes my face, 
    brings me back to spiders 
and lizards busy at their chores, 
   private conversations—
sights and sounds I savor.
   This earth, my home."
An excerpt from "My Rock"
Teaching Connections
Pat Mora is profiled in the NCTE text Living Voices: Multicultural Poetry in the Middle School Classroom. As a poet, she’s not only still living and writing, but she also has a cultural background that parallels many of the lives of our students.
 
Pat Mora talks about opening the "treasure chest" of her heritage in this Reading Rockets video.
 
In "Bookjoy, Wordjoy" Pat Mora’s playful, enchanting poetry invites us all to experience the excitement of reading and writing, while captivating illustrations by Raul Colón interpret the magic of the verses.
 
Bring Pat Mora's work into the classroom with "Color of Silence: Sensory Imagery in Pat Mora's Poem ‘Echoes’." The poem "Echoes" demonstrates that our senses are powerful tools for literary analysis and comprehension as students use their senses to discover new ways to read and write.
 
Pat Mora's poetry collection My Own True Name is featured in this lesson available from the Expanding Canon.
 
More poems by Pat Mora

 
"Fences"
 




Find more ideas and activities for use with Pat's poetry on her website.
Special Thanks to Today's Curator

Lisa Storm Fink works at the National Council of English with Professional Learning and Member Engagement, and is project manager of ReadWriteThink.org. She is a certified elementary teacher and a current university instructor. Lisa is an elected trustee of her village library board and a champion of libraries. Her two daughters are her pride and joy.