Internationally, April 30 is a special day dedicated to children and reading. El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is an annual celebration of children, families, and reading. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
In honor of the occasion, the King County Library System (KCLS) invites kids and families to join in the celebration for a whole week of free activities and events—Saturday, April 25 through Saturday, May 2.
Día week is filled with free special events in the libraries, including World Language Story Times, Multicultural Story Times, Play & Learn, and Special Book Displays, all to emphasize the importance of literacy for children and families from all backgrounds and cultures.
Two regional events including special performances start and conclude the week of celebration:
The Sammamish Library gets things started on Saturday, April 25, with Chinese Story Time at 10am, followed by Arabic stories at 11am. Then the library will rock out with traditional stories and songs from Latin America by Teatro Imaginario, followed by a rousing Musical Journey Around the World by the Marianna Group.
During the week, many KCLS libraries are offering special programs in world languages, including Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Multicultural Story Times in English. All KCLS programs and events are free and open to the public, always.
In addition, many libraries will have special displays of books and other library materials in different languages, and library staff will be delighted to show visitors how to find language learning tools in the library and online.
Día Week wraps up at the Kent Library Saturday, May 2, beginning with a Spanish story time a noon, followed by Put Your Rhythm On, a lively performance featuring music and instruments from Cuba and Brazil at 12:30. At 1:30pm, the festivities conclude with another Musical Journey Around the World with the Marianna Group.
For more information and the complete schedule visit: kcls.org/programs/dia/
