Mora, Pat 1942–

(Patricia Mora)

PERSONAL: Born January 19, 1942, in El Paso, TX; daughter of Raúl Antonio (an optician and business owner) and Estela (a homemaker; maiden name, Delgado) Mora; married William H. Burnside, Jr., July 27, 1963 (divorced, 1981); married Vernon Lee Scarborough (an archaeologist and professor), May 25, 1984; children: (first marriage) William Roy, Elizabeth Anne, Cecilia Anne. Education: Texas Western College (now University of Texas—El Paso), B.A., 1963; University of Texas—El Paso, M.A., 1967. Politics: Democrat. Religion: "Ecumenical." Hobbies and other interests: Reading, walking, traveling, visiting with family and friends.

ADDRESSES: Home—3036 Plaza Blanca, Santa Fe, NM 87507; 2925 Sequoia Drive, Edgewood, KY 41017. Agent—Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown Ltd., Ten Astor Place, New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Writer, educator, administrator, lecturer, and activist. El Paso Independent School District, El Paso, TX, teacher, 1963–66; El Paso Community College, El Paso, part-time instructor in English and communications, 1971–78; University of Texas—El Paso, part-time lecturer in English, 1979–81, assistant to vice president of academic affairs, 1981–88, director of university museum and assistant to president, 1988–89; full-time writer, 1989–. Host of Voices: The Mexican-American in Perspective, broadcast on National Public Radio affiliate KTEP, 1983–84. Member of Ohio Arts Council panel, 1990. W.K. Kellogg Foundation, consultant, 1990–91, and member of advisory committee for Kellogg National Fellowship Program, 1991–94. Distinguished Visiting Professor, Garrey Carruthers Chair in Honors, University of New Mexico, 1999. Advocate to establish El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros (Children's Day/Book Day), a national day to celebrate childhood and bilingual literacy held during National Poetry Month, instituted April 30, 1997. Through RE-FORMA, the National Association to Promote Library Service to the Spanish-Speaking and Latinos, Mora and her siblings established the Estela and Raúl Mora Award. Gives poetry readings and presentations, both nationally and internationally.

MEMBER: Academy of American Poets, International Reading Association, National Association of Bilingual Educators, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Texas Institute of Letters, Friends of the Santa Fe Library, Museum of New Mexico Foundation, Spanish Colonial Arts Society, National Council of La Raza.

AWARDS, HONORS: Award for Creative Writing, National Association for Chicano Studies, 1983; Poetry Award, New America: Women Artists and Writers of the Southwest, 1984; Harvey L. Johnson Book Award, Southwest Council of Latin American Studies, 1984; Southwest Book Award, Border Regional Library, 1985, for Chants; Kellogg National fellowship, 1986–89; Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship, 1986; Leader in Education Award, El Paso Women's Employment and Education, 1987; Chicano/Hispanic Faculty and Professional Staff Association Award, University of Texas—El Paso, 1987, for outstanding contribution to the advancement of Hispanics; Southwest Book Award, 1987, for Borders; named to Writers Hall of Fame, El Paso Herald-Post, 1988; Poetry Award, Conference of Cincinnati Women, 1990; National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in creative writing, 1994; Southwest Book Award, 1994, for A Birthday Basket for Tia; Americas Award commendation, Consortium of Latin Americas Studies Program, "Choices" list designation, Cooperative Children's Book Center, "Children's Books Mean Business" list designation, Children's Book Council, and Notable Books for a Global Society designation, International Reading Association, all 1996, all for Confetti: Poems for Children; Premio Aztlan, and Women of Southwest Book Award, both 1997, both for House of Houses; nomination, Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award, 1997, for Pablo's Tree; Tomás Rivera Mexican-American Children's Book Award, Southwest Texas State University, 1997, Skipping Stones Book Award, 1998, and Apollo Children's Book Award nomination, Apollo Reading Center (Florida), 2002, all for Tomás and the Library Lady; Book Publishers of Texas Award, Texas Institute of Letters, 1998, and finalist, PEN Center USA West Literary Award, PEN West, 1999, both for The Big Sky; Pellicer-Frost Binational Poetry Award, 1999, for a collection of odes; Alice Louis Wood Memorial Ohioana Award for Children's Literature, 2001; Teddy Award, Writers' League of Texas, and Books for the Teen Age selection, New York Public Library, both 2001, both for My Own True Name. Mora also has received the Choices Award, Cooperative Book Centers.

WRITINGS:

PICTURE BOOKS; FOR CHILDREN

A Birthday Basket for Tía, illustrated by Cecily Lang, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1992.

Listen to the Desert/Oye al desierto, illustrated by Francesco X. Mora, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Agua, Agua, Agua (concept book), illustrated by Jose Ortega, GoodYear Books (Reading, MA), 1994.

Pablo's Tree, illustrated by Cecily Lang, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Charles Ramirez Berg) The Gift of the Poinsettia, Piñata Books (Houston, TX), 1995, also produced as a play, Los Posadas and the Poinsettia, with text by Pat Mora and Charles Ramirez Berg.

The Race of Toad and Deer (retelling), illustrated by Maya Itzna Brooks, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1995, revised edition with new text and illustrations, illustrated by Domi, Groundwood/Douglas & McIntyre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2001.

Tomás and the Library Lady (biography), illustrated by Raul Colon, Knopf (New York, NY), 1997, published as Thomas and the Library Lady, Dragonfly Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Delicious Hullabaloo/Pachanga deliciosa, illustrated by Francesco X. Mora, Spanish translation by Alba Nora Martinez and Pat Mora, Piñata Books (Houston, TX), 1998.

The Rainbow Tulip, illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles, Viking (New York, NY), 1999.

The Night the Moon Fell (retelling), illustrated by Domi, Groundwood/Douglas & McIntyre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2000.

The Bakery Lady/La señora de la panadería, illustrated by Pablo Torrecilla, translated by Gabriela Baeza Ventura and Pat Mora, Piñata Books (Houston, TX), 2001.

A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Ines (biography), illustrated by Beatriz Vidal, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Maria Paints the Hills, illustrated by Maria Hesch, Museum of New Mexico Press (Santa Fe, NM), 2002.

The Song of Francis and the Animals, illustrated by David Frampton, Eerdman's Books for Young Readers (Grand Rapids, MI), 2005.

POETRY; FOR CHILDREN

The Desert Is My Mother/El desierto es mi madre, art by Daniel Lechon, Piñata Books (Houston, TX), 1994.

Confetti: Poems for Children, illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez, Lee & Low Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Uno, dos, tres/One, Two, Three, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 1996.

The Big Sky, illustrated by Steve Jenkins, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1998.

My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984–1999 (anthology), illustrated by Anthony Accardo, Pinata Books (Houston, TX), 2001.

Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers (anthology), illustrated by Paula S. Barragán, Lee & Low Books (New York, NY), 2001.

POETRY; FOR ADULTS

Chants, Arte Público Press (Houston, TX), 1984.

Borders, Arte Público Press (Houston, TX), 1986.

Communion, Arte Público Press (Houston, TX), 1991.

Agua Santa/Holy Water, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1995.

Aunt Carmen's Book of Practical Saints, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1997.

OTHER

Nepantla: Essays from the Land in the Middle, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1993.

House of Houses (memoir), Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1997.

Mora's books have been translated into several languages, including Bengali and Italian. Work represented in anthologies, including New Worlds of Literature, Norton (New York, NY), Revista Chicano-Riqueña: Kikirikí/Children's Literature Anthology, Arte Público (Houston, TX), 1981, Tun-Ta-Ca-Tún (children's literature anthology), Arte Público Press 1986, The Desert Is No Lady: Southwestern Landscapes in Women's Writing and Art (also see below), edited by Vera Norwood and Janice Monk, University of Arizona Press (Tucson, AZ), 1997, Many Voices: A Multicultural Reader, edited by Linda Watkins-Goffman and others, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 2001, and Wachale! Poetry and Prose about Growing up Latino in America, edited by Ilan Stevens, Cricket Books, 2001. Contributor of poetry and essays to periodicals, including Best American Poetry, 1996, Calyx; Daughters of the Fifth Sun, Horn Book, Kalliope, Latina, Ms., New Advocate, and Prairie Schooner.

ADAPTATIONS: The text of Mora's poem "Let Us Now Hold Hands" was adapted into a song by Jennifer Stasack for MUSE, a choir at the University of Cincinnati. Mora is among the subjects of The Desert Is No Lady, a film by Shelley Williams and Susan Palmer produced by Women Who Make Movies, 1995; the film, which profiles nine contemporary artists and writers from the southwestern United States, prompted a book of the same name (see above).

SIDELIGHTS: Considered among the most distinguished of Hispanic writers, Pat Mora is praised both as an author and an activist for cultural appreciation and conservation. An educator and speaker, she is also a respected advocate for literature and literacy. Mora seeks to establish the recognition and preservation of Mexican-American culture and fostering pride in Latino heritage. She often is called both a regional writer and a feminist. Characteristically, her works are set in the southwestern United States and feature her birthplace of El Paso, Texas, and the surrounding desert as images. In addition, they promote the value of women both nationally and internationally. Considered both specific and universal, Mora's books feature Mexican and Mexican-American protagonists—including herself and her family—and include Hispanic history, legends, customs, and traditions.

Mora is noted for her diversity as a writer as well as for the positive, healing messages with which she underscores her books. As a writer for the young, she has written picture books, a biography, a board book, a counting book, and two retellings of Mayan folktales. She also has written volumes of poetry for children as well as a collection of her poems for young adults, and has edited and contributed to a poetry collection that celebrates motherhood. As a writer for adults, Mora is the author of poetry that characteristically reflects her experience as a person of Mexican heritage—a bilingual, bi-cultural woman who grew up in the southwestern desert. She often addresses the theme of identity, especially that of women, and acknowledges the Hispanic tradition of linking females with the desert. Mora redefines the image by making the desert a strong, independent woman who is both nurturing and sensual, a woman with knowledge to impart to those who will listen. Mora also writes about borders: while recognizing that Mexican Americans live a type of border existence no matter where they live, she sees the border as a powerful image of healing, a place to bridge divisions and to foster mutual understanding. Drawing on her own strength as well as on the women and men who preceded her, the poet attempts to bridge the borders between past and present, between old traditions and new environments, between the sexes, and between Latinos and the world at large. Mora is credited for celebrating the Mexican-American experience while attempting to foster unity among all cultures. In addition to the accolades that she has received as a poet, Mora has been commended as an essayist; she has produced a volume of autobiographical essays, Nepantla: Essays from the Land in the Middle, and a memoir in essay form, House of Houses.

In her children's books, Mora addresses several of the subjects and themes that constitute her books for adults, such as Mexican-American culture, nature (especially the desert), and the importance of family. Mora often features Hispanic boys and girls who have warm relationships with adults, such as parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians. Her works often revolve around celebrations, such as parties and holidays, and are filled with food and music. Thematically, Mora promotes the importance of cultural heritage. While acknowledging that being different is often difficult, she proposes that the young Latino—or any child—can become assimilated while still retaining his or her cultural identity. She also stresses the support of family and friends, self-reliance, and the joys of books and reading, among other subjects. As a literary stylist, Mora favors spare but evocative prose that is filled with descriptions and imagery; she also includes basic Spanish phrases in her works, most of which are published in both English and Spanish. Mora's poetry is often anthologized, and her work is studied in elementary schools, high schools, and colleges. Several of her poems, including "1910" and "Illegal Alien," are considered classics. Mora is generally commended as a writer whose contributions to literature, literacy, and cultural awareness have been significant. She also is noted for introducing children to Latino culture in a joyful and entertaining manner. Writing in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Nicolás Kanellos stated, "Pat Mora has developed one of the broadest audiences of any Hispanic poet in the United States…. Mora's books for children have been acclaimed almost universally for the sensitive and deft portrayals of Mexican Americans and Mexican culture…. Mora's writing for children has also helped to bring Hispanic culture to non-Hispanic children." A writer in Dictionary of Hispanic Biography concluded, "Mora has been essential to the movement to understand and uphold Mexican-American culture…. She provides an excellent model for young Hispanics who are just beginning to understand the past and are about to experience promising futures…. As a successful Hispanic writer, and a writer who writes about and for Hispanics, Mora is an exemplary role model for the young people of an increasingly multicultural America."

Mora features her family extensively throughout her works. Born in El Paso, Texas, the author is the daughter of Raúl Mora, an optician, and Estela Delgado Mora, a homemaker; Mora has three siblings, Cecilia, Stella, and Roy (later Anthony). The Mora family is descended from Mexicans and a Spanish sea captain. Mora's paternal grandparents, Lázaro and Natividad, left Chihuahua during the Mexican Revolution (c. 1916) to escape the violent raids of Pancho Villa. The family settled in El Paso, as did her maternal grandparents, Eduardo and Amelia Delgado, who also had left Mexico during the revolution. Mora's father Raúl was about four years old when he moved to Texas with his family. At seven, he started selling newspapers; by ten, he had the best spots in El Paso. During the Depression, Raúl handled the circulation for the local Spanish newspaper, making a hundred dollars a week in commissions, a princely sum during that time. When the Anglo Americans took over the paper and began to mistreat him, Raúl resigned and went to business college. He then worked at Riggs Optical, a subsidiary of Bausch and Lomb, a company with which he stayed for ten years. During this time, he met and married Estela Delgado. A voracious reader, Estela had excelled as a student in grade school, despite the presence of a racist principal who was prejudiced against Mexicans. As a high school student, she won several speech contests. Estela hoped to go on to college and become a writer, but was unable to continue her education due to the Depression. She met Mora on a blind date when she was seventeen; they were married five years later, in 1939.

As a small child, Mora pointed to a pair of eye glasses and said the word, antiojos, which is "glasses" in Spanish. She then began to run around the house, affixing names to everything in it. "Naming things," she wrote in House of Houses, "the interest continues." Mora and her siblings were taught both English and Spanish by their parents, so, as the author wrote in Nepantla: Essays from the Land in the Middle, "I could derive pleasure from both cultures." Mora often has acknowledged the influence of her maternal grandmother and aunt, who lived with the family. Her grandmother Sotero Amelia Landavazo, called Mamande by the children, was a red-haired orphan who had been taken in and raised by rich relatives. She married Eduardo Delgado, a judge with three grown daughters, one of whom was Mora's mother's half-sister, Ignacia (Nacha) Delgado, whom the Mora children nicknamed Lobo, which is Spanish for wolf. Nacha would come home from work in the evenings and ask affectionately in Spanish, "Where are my little wolves?" Writing in Nepantla, Mora recalled, "Gradually, she became our lobo, a spinster aunt who gathered the four of us around her, tying us to her for life by giving us all she had." Nacha would spin tales in Spanish and English for the children and read to them at night. In a quote that she gave to the California State University—Dominguez Hills NewsRoom, Mora said, "I learned the power of storytelling from my aunt." Writing in Nepantla, Mora called Lobo "a wonderful storyteller" before concluding, "Lobo taught me much about one of our greatest challenges as human beings: loving well." She added, "My tribute to her won't be in annual pilgrimages to a cemetery. I was born in these United States and am very much influenced by this culture. But I do want to polish, polish my writing tools to preserve images of women like Lobo, unsung women whose fierce family love deserves our respect."

Mora attended St. Patrick's School, a Roman Catholic grade school that was run by an order of nuns, the Sisters of Loretto. "Until I'm about seventeen," she noted in House of Houses, "I never consider being anything other than a nun, Sister Mary Jude, the name I'd chosen, the patron saint of the impossible." As a young girl, Mora would put on a black lace shawl and play at being a nun, lining up the dining room chairs like pews in a church and lecturing her imaginary class about the things that her teachers had taught her. She also was learning about the power of words. In House of Houses, Mora recalled, "Early I sank into stories. Lobo's first, though at the time I'm unaware of her luring, unaware that stories are essential as water. I take books home from school and public libraries, join summer reading clubs, read biographies." The stories and poems in Childcraft, a set of books owned by her family, were particular favorites, and Mora devoured the life stories of Clara Barton, Davy Crockett, Amelia Earhart, Betsy Ross, William Penn, Dolly Madison, and Jim Bowie, among others. Mora noted, "I read Nancy Drew books, Bobbsey Twins, Pollyanna, and every book by Laura Ingalls Wilder, whom I discover in the W's." In "Dear Fellow Writer," an introduction that she wrote to her poetry collection My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984–1999, Mora said, "I have always been a reader, which is the best preparation for becoming a writer. When I was in grade school …, I read comic books and mysteries and magazines and library books. I was soaking up language." In an interview with Tey Diana Rebolledo in This Is about Vision: Interviews with Southwestern Writers, Mora said, "I loved writing in school; it came pretty easily to me." She recalled that, after graduating from eighth grade, she wrote religious poems and typed them on her new typewriter. Mora said in a Scholastic Authors Online Library interview. "I had many wonderful teachers who had us memorize poetry. Although, at the time, I probably grumbled and griped about it, it was helpful to me…. I always liked poetry. I had lots of books in my house and I would just open them up and read all sorts of poetry." She also liked to listen to soap operas and to the children's show Let's Pretend on the radio, to watch cowboy shows on television, to play with dolls, to go to movies and to the local swimming pool, and to build forts from bricks and rocks.

Despite her interest in books and language, Mora did not think of becoming a writer as a child. She related in the Scholastic Authors Online Library interview, "I always liked reading, and I always liked writing, but I don't think I thought of being a writer. I say that to students all the time because I never saw a writer like me—who was bilingual. So it's important for kids to realize that writers come in all different shapes and sizes." Although she enjoyed the Mexican traditions at home and often traveled over the border to Mexico, Mora downplayed her ethnicity as a child. She did not want her friends to know that she spoke Spanish to her grandmother and aunt, and she cringed when her father played mariachi music on the radio. At school, Mora found little consolation in being Mexican. "Like many Latinas in this country," she wrote in Nepantla, "I was educated with few if any references to my Mexican-American history, to part of my literary and human heritage." When asked by the Scholastic Authors Online Library interviewer if she ever felt different from other children because of her Hispanic heritage, Mora stated, "There were times when I wished that my Mexican heritage were a part of my school day. I wished that we had had books that had Spanish in them. And I wished that I had seen things about Mexican culture on the bulletin boards and in the library. One of the reasons that I write children's books is because I want Mexican culture and Mexican-American culture to be a part of our schools and libraries."

In 1949, Raúl Mora opened his own company, United Optical. He worked evenings and weekends to support his family, and he was aided in his business by Estela and the children. "When we aren't in school or doing homework," Mora wrote, "my sisters and I go to the optical and clean the desks or wash finished glasses, but there's always a reward, a stop at the Oasis Drive-In." As a high-school student, Mora attended Loretto Academy, a Catholic school for girls that was run by the same order of nuns who had taught her in grade school; she enjoyed the experience immensely. After graduating from high school, Mora thought about becoming a doctor, then decided to be a teacher. She attended Texas Western College (now the University of Texas—El Paso) and received her bachelor's degree in 1963. Shortly after graduation, she married William H. Burn-side, Jr.; the couple had three children: William, Elizabeth, and Cecilia. In the first year of her first marriage, Mora began to teach English and Spanish at grade and high schools in El Paso. When she was twenty-four, Mora was paid a hundred dollars by the Hallmark greeting card company for a children's book that she wrote in rhyme. The book went unpublished, and the fledgling author was not inspired to write again for several years.

Mora received her master's degree from the University of Texas—El Paso in 1967. In 1971, she became a part-time instructor in English and communications at El Paso Community College, a position that she would hold for seven years. In 1981, Mora began her career as an administrator, becoming the assistant to the vice president of academic affairs at the university, and in the same year, was divorced from Burnside. Writing in Nepantla, Mora related the beginning of her journey from teacher to writer: "The seemingly endless stacks of essays to read and a growing desire to write finally convinced me to apply for a position that might require a long day, but allow evenings and weekends for my children and my writing…. Why are you marking someone else's papers? I would ask myself during the last semesters of teaching freshman English. I thought, You need to be marking your own work." She recalled in This Is about Vision: Interviews with Southwestern Writers, "When I went through my divorce and I realized I was edging toward forty, I said to myself, it's now or never. If you're not going to be serious about writing, it's never going to happen." She also became passionate about representing her heritage, sharing the beauty of her culture with others, and affirming the rights of Latinos. Writing in Nepantla, Mora stated, "I am a child of the border, that land corridor bordered by the two countries that have most influenced my perception of reality." As she started to write seriously, Mora began to educate herself about her heritage. She bought books about Mexico and Mexican Americans and, as she wrote in Nepantla, discovered "images, stories, and rhythms that I wanted to incorporate." She also learned about the political and social difficulties that are encountered by indigenous peoples, knowledge that had a profound effect on her. Mora recalled, "I experienced that not uncommon transformation experienced by many whose pasts have been ignored or diminished: I began to see Mexico, to see its people, hear its echoes, gaze up at its silent and silenced grandeur. My Mexicanness became a source of pride."

Initially, the road to being a writer was a difficult one for Mora. She noted in This Is about Vision, "It was hard at the beginning. I have had many more rejections than people would ever think." She acknowledged in Nepantla, "Whereas my administrative friends tried discreetly to ignore my vice, the few writers I knew were suspicious of my daytime work. Some of us seem to have a knack for living in nepantla, the land in the middle." She added, "There probably isn't a week of my life that I don't have at least one experience when I feel that discomfort, the slight frown from someone that wordlessly asks, What is someone like her doing here?" Nevertheless, Mora persevered. She recalled, "I was persistent, particularly after my first poem was published in 1981. Like Kafka, I hung onto my desk with my teeth. Evenings and weekends, after dishes were washed and homework questions answered, I wrote." In 1981, Mora contributed to Revista Chicano-Riqueña Kikiriki/Children's Literature Anthology, a collection published under the editorship of Sylvia Cavazos Pena, and five years later, she contributed to a second anthology, Tun-Ta-Ca-Tun, which also was edited by Pena. In 1983, Mora received an award for creative writing from the National Association for Chicano Studies. Her first book, the adult poetry collection Chants, was published in 1984. In the same year, Mora married Vernon Lee Scarborough, an archeologist and professor whom she had met at the University of Texas—El Paso. She published her second poetry collection for adults, Borders, in 1986, and received a Kellogg national fellowship to study national and international issues of cultural conservation. In 1988, Mora became the director of the museum at the University of Texas—El Paso and also became the assistant to the president of the school.

In 1989, Mora decided to become a full-time writer and speaker. She left El Paso for Cincinnati, Ohio, after her husband, an expert on Mayan culture, was hired to teach anthropology at the University of Cincinnati. In 1991, Mora produced her third adult poetry collection, Communion, a work that features the author's reflections about her travels to such places as Cuba, India, Pakistan, and New York City. That same year, Mora's father retired. At the age of seventy-nine, Raúl developed severe depression, then dementia; he died at the age of eighty-one. Mora profiled her father shortly before his death in House of Houses: "'How are you doing, honey,' he asks when I visit, fighting tears every minute I'm with him. 'When I get better, I'm going to read your poems.' 'I'm working on my writing,' I say, wondering if my parents were disappointed when I left a safe university title and salary, decided to write and speak full-time. 'We all know our mediums,' my father says. 'What we do best. It's like baseball. One throws this way and one throws that.' With totally open hands, my parents gave me my life."

In 1992, Mora produced her first book for children, A Birthday Basket for Tía. A picture book that features an incident taken from the life of her aunt Ignacia Delgado (Lobo), the story describes how young narrator Cecilia, who shares her name with Mora's youngest daughter, finds the perfect present for the ninetieth birthday party that is being held for her beloved great-aunt Tía. With the help—and interference—of her cat Chica, Cecilia fills a basket with reminders of the good times that she and Tía have shared: a mixing bowl that represents their days spent making cookies, a teacup to represent the special brew Tia makes when Cecilia is sick, a book Tia has read to Cecilia, and flowers that represent their times outside. The present is a hit, and Tía puts down her cane to dance with her niece. Written in a repetitive text, A Birthday Basket for Tia is both a story and a counting book (it allows children to count to ninety). A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the work "poignant" before stating that Mora's text "flows smoothly from one event to the next, and clearly presents the careful planning behind Cecilia's gift-gathering mission." Writing in School Library Journal, Julie Corsaro called A Birthday Basket for Tia a "warm and joyful story," while Horn Book's Maeve Visser Knoth called Cecilia "an irrepressible child" before concluding that Mora's text "exemplifies the best of recent multicultural publishing. An honest, child-centered story." Mora has stated that Lobo, the inspiration for Tía, really put down her cane and danced at her ninetieth birthday party.

Pablo's Tree is another of the author's popular picture books with a strong intergenerational relationship at its core. The story is set on the fifth birthday of its protagonist, a boy who has been adopted and who lives with his single mother. Pablo is excited because he is going to be with his grandfather, for whom he is named. The elder Pablo—called Lito, short for abuelito—has established a tradition for his grandson: every year, he has decorated a special tree in his honor, leaving the decorations as a surprise. In past years, the tree has been festooned with balloons, colored streamers, paper lanterns, and bird cages; this year, Lito has chosen bells and wind chimes as his theme. Pablo and Lito celebrate the day by eating apples and listening to the music coming from the tree; Lito also tells Pablo the story of the tree, which was planted when Pablo's mother adopted him. Writing in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Deborah Stevenson commented, "A tale of love and welcome (and neat ornaments), this volume has a celebratory aspect that makes it appealing not just to adoptees but to kids generally.'" Annie Ayres of Booklist called Pablo's Tree a "lovely and resonant picture book that, like the tree that Pablo discovers … rings with happiness and family love." Horn Book's Knoth concluded, "It is a pleasure to read a story which includes adoption and single motherhood without making them central aspects."

The Rainbow Tulip is often considered among Mora's best books. Based on a childhood experience of her mother, Estela, this picture book, which is set in El Paso during the 1920s, features Estelita, a first grader who is caught between two cultures. Estelita realizes that her heritage sets her apart: she sees her mother, who speaks no English and dresses in dark clothes, as old-fashioned. The girls in Estelita's class are dressing as tulips for the upcoming May Day parade, and she wants her costume to be different from the others. When the big day arrives, Estelita comes dressed in all the colors of the rainbow, as opposed to the other children, who are dressed in single hues. Although Estelita is disconcerted at first, she successfully executes a maypole dance and wins her teacher's approval. Her mother, who understands how tough it is to find her place in a new country, tells her that being different is a condition that is both sweet and sour, much like the lime sherbet that is their favorite dessert. Estelita realizes that being different is both hard and exciting, and she recognizes her mother's quiet love for her. Writing in Children's Literature, Joan Carris commented, "This is a gentle story, nice for reading at bedtime. And awfully necessary, it seems to me." Carris also called Estelita "an appealing Mexican heroine" before concluding that "the characters come alive in this timely book." Library Journal's Ann Welton wrote, "Mora succeeds in creating a quiet story to which children will respond…. This tale of family love and support crosses cultural boundaries and may remind youngsters of times when their families made all the difference."

Tomás and the Library Lady is a work that combines two of Mora's most prevalent themes: the joy of reading and the special quality of intergenerational relationships. Based on an incident in the life of author and educator Tomás Rivera, the first Hispanic to become chancellor of the University of California—Riverside, this slightly fictionalized biographical picture book describes how young Tomás, a member of a family of migrant workers who has traveled from Texas to Iowa for work, is introduced to the world of books by a sympathetic librarian. Tomás' grandfather has told him wonderful stories, but has run out of them; he tells Tomás to go to the library for more. At the library, Tomás meets a kindly librarian, who gives him books in English—signed out on her own card. In return, Tomás teaches Spanish to the librarian. When the season ends, Tomás must return to Texas. The librarian hugs Tomás and gives him a shiny new book to keep, and Tomás gives the librarian a loaf of sweet bread baked by his mother. In an end note, readers learn that the library at the university where Tomás later worked now bears his name. Writing in Skipping Stones, Elke Richers commented, "I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story or who wants to know how reading can make a real difference in someone's life. Tomás and the Library Lady is powerful…. Don't miss it!" A reviewer in Publishers Weekly stated that "young readers and future librarians will find this an inspiring tale." In a review of the Spanish edition (Tomás y la senora de la biblioteca) in Booklist, Isabel Schon concluded, "Many of us from Hispanic America, who never enjoyed the luxuries of school or public libraries in our countries of origin, will identify with Tomás' story." Tomás and the Library Lady actually was the first of Mora's books to be accepted for publication, in 1989. However, it was not published for several years due to the difficulty in finding an appropriate illustrator. Finally, with the addition of the art of Raúl Colón, the book was produced in 1997.

Mora's first collection for a juvenile audience is Confetti: Poems for Children. In this work, which is directed to primary graders, narrative poems in free verse describe the American Southwest as seen through the eyes of a young Mexican-American girl. The child, who lives in the desert, views it and its inhabitants through the space of a whole day, from early morning to nightfall. Mora uses the sun, clouds, leaves, and wind as the subjects of several of her poems; in addition, she profiles a wood sculptor, a grandmother, and a baker. A critic in Kirkus Reviews noted that the "best of these poems that mix English and Spanish … warmly evokes familiar touchstones of Mexican-American life." Writing in School Library Journal, Sally R. Dow called Confetti a "welcome addition" and stated that the poems "capture the rhythms and uniqueness of the Southwest and its culture." In The Big Sky, Mora celebrates the land, people, and creatures of the Southwest in fourteen poems; the volume also includes some poems that are set in the author's home of Ohio. She explores such subjects as the sky, a grandmother, a huge mountain, an old snake, a horned lizard, and coyotes. A Publishers Weekly reviewer predicted that the poems in The Big Sky "will delight readers of all ages with their playfully evocative imagery." Lisa Falk of School Library Journal commented, "This gem is both a lovely poetry book and an evocative look at a magical place." Calling Mora's words "wonderful," Marilyn Courtot of Children's Literature commented, "These spare and dramatic poems transport readers to the American Southwest."

Mora's My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984–1999 is a collection of sixty poems the author selected from her adult books; she also wrote several new poems for this collection. Mora uses the metaphor of a cactus, which represents human existence, to join the poems thematically. She groups them into three sections: blooms, which represent love and joy; thorns, which represent sorrow and hardship; and roots, which represent family, home, strength, and wisdom. The poems address such subjects as Mora's life as a Latina in the Southwest; her search for identity; and her experience as a mother, especially of teenagers. The author also weaves Mexican phrases, historical figures, and cultural symbols into her poems. Writing in School Library Journal, Nina Lindsay stated that Mora "has chosen poems with themes that are accessible to, yet challenging for, teens…. This anthology speaks to a young audience, and it should find many readers." Calling the poems "powerful," Gillian Engberg of Booklist noted, "The rich, symbolic imagery, raw emotion, and honesty will appeal to mature teens." Delia Culberson of Voice of Youth Advocates stated, "The author reaches out to her young adult readers with affection and encouragement…. 'Come join the serious and sassy family of writers'—no better advice to the next generation of authors."

After she became a full-time writer and speaker, Mora served as a consultant for the W.K. Kellogg foundation and as a member of the advisory committee for their national fellowship program; she also served as a consultant on the youth exchange program between the United States and Mexico. Mora has taught at the University of New Mexico, where she held the position of Distinguished Visiting Professor. She and her husband have a home in Santa Fe, where they live when they are not in Edgewood, Kentucky, a city near Cincinnati. In 1997, Mora lobbied successfully to establish a national day to celebrate childhood and bilingual literacy. Called El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros, the day is part of National Poetry Month. In 2000, Mora and her siblings established the Estela and Raúl Mora Award, a prize named in honor of their parents and coordinated by REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library Service to Latinos. Mora has become a popular speaker and guest presenter at gatherings of teachers and education professionals. She often speaks at schools, universities, and conferences about such subjects as diversity, heritage, creative writing, cultural conservation, and multicultural education.

In her interview in This Is about Vision, Mora stated her philosophy of writing for children: "There is particular pleasure for me in poetry,… but I see children's books as very close to that. I have very strong feelings that Chicano kids need good children's books, well illustrated, from big publishing houses, and that is something I would really like to work on." She expounded on this theme in the New Advocate: "I want it all—all our complex richness, our diverse cultural experiences and literary traditions, the not-yet-sufficiently-tapped literary wealth, Latino talent. May each of us who cares about literature for children and, by extension, about the lives of children, all our children, deepen our commitment to enrich our literature with Latino voices and visions. They are there, ours for the publishing, then AH! Ours for the reading." In an essay in Horn Book, Mora explained what has motivated her to write: "I write because I am a reader. I want to give to others what writers have given me, a chance to hear the voices of people I will never meet … I enjoy the privateness of writing and reading. I write because I am curious. I am curious about me. Writing is a way of finding out how I feel about anything and everything…. Writing is my way of saving my feelings…. I write because I believe that Hispanics need to take their rightful place in American literature. I will continue to write and to struggle to say what no other writer can say in quite the same way."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Children's Literature Review, Volume 58, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 2000.

Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 209: Chicano Writers, Third Series, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Hispanic Literature Criticism, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1994.

Ikas, Karen Rosa, Chicana Ways: Conversations with Ten Chicana Writers, University of Nevada Press (Reno, NV), 2001.

Mora, Pat, House of Houses, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1997.

Mora, Pat, My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984–1999, Pinata Books (Houston, TX), 2000.

Mora, Pat, Nepantla: Essays from the Land in the Middle, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1993.

Notable Hispanic American Women, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1993.

This Is about Vision: Interviews with Southwestern Writers, edited by William Balassi and others, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1990.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 1994, Annie Ayres, review of Pablo's Tree, p. 507; November 15, 1998, Isabel Schon, review of Tomás y la señora de la biblio-teca, p. 599; March 15, 2000, Gillian Engberg, review of My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984–1999, p. 1377; May 1, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers, p. 1686; December, 15, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of The Race of Toad and Deer, p. 735; November 15, 2002, Gillian Engberg, review of A Library for Juana, p. 605-606; December 15, 2002, Hazel Rochman, review of Maria Paints the Hills, p. 760.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 1994, Deborah Stevenson, review of Pablo's Tree, p. 20.

Childhood Education, mid-summer, 2002, review of The Race of Toad and Deer, p. 34.

Horn Book, July-August, 1990, Pat Mora, "Why I Am a Writer," pp. 436-437; January-February, 1993, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of A Birthday Basket for Tia, pp. 76-77; November-December, 1994, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of Pablo's Tree, pp. 723-724; July, 2001, D. Beram, review of Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers, p. 468; November-December, 2002, Mary M. Burns, review of A Library for Juana, p. 146.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, October, 2002, "An Interview with Pat Mora," p. 183.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1996, review of Confetti: Poems for Children, pp. 1476; August 15, 2001, review of The Race of Toad and Deer, p. 1218; November 15, 2002, review of A Library for Juana, p. 1699-1700.

Kliatt, July, 2002, Patricia A. Moore, House of Houses.

Library Journal, 1999, Ann Welton, review of The Rainbow Tulip.

MELUS, summer, 2003, Elizabeth Mermann-Jozwiak and Nancy Sullivan, "Interview with Pat Mora," pp. 139-152.

New Advocate, fall, 1998, Pat Mora, "Confessions of a Latina Author," pp. 279-289.

Publishers Weekly, August 31, 1992, review of A Birthday Basket for Tia, p. 77; July 21, 1997, review of Tomás and the Library Lady, p. 201; March 23, 1998, review of The Big Sky, p. 99; April 30, 2001, Happy Mother's Day, p. 80; October 28, 2002, review of A Library for Juana, p. 71.

Reading Today, October-November, 2002, "Books about the Love of Books," p. 34.

School Library Journal, September 15, 1992, Julie Corsaro, review of A Birthday Basket for Tia, p. 156; November, 1996, Sally R. Dow, review of Confetti: Poems for Children, p. 100; July, 1998, Lisa Falk, review of The Big Sky, p. 90; July, 2000, Nina Lindsay, review of My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, p. 119; April, 2001, Ann Welton, review of Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers, p. 165; September, 2001, Ann Welton, review of The Race of Toad and Deer, p. 219; September, 2001, Lucia M. Gonzalez, review of Thomas and the Library Lady, p. S27; January, 2002, Ann Welton, review of The Bakery Lady/La señora de la panadería, p. 130; November, 2002, Ann Welton, review of A Library for Juana, p. 146.

Skipping Stones, May-June, 1998, Elke Richers, review of Tomás and the Library Lady, p. 5.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 2001, Delia Culberson, review of My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984–1999, p. 20.

ONLINE

Academy of American Poets, http://www.poets.org/ (August 6, 2004), biography of Pat Mora.

Children's Literature, http://www.childrenslit.com/ (May 21, 2002), Joan Carris, review of The Rainbow Tulip; Marilyn Courtot, review of The Big Sky; "Meet Authors and Illustrators: Pat Mora."

CSUDH NewsRoom: News from California State University—Dominguez Hills, http://www.csudh.edu/ (March 14, 2002), "Renowned Chicana Educator, Poet Pat Mora, Presents a Reading at California State University, Dominguez Hills."

Ethnopoetics, http://www.reed.edu/ (January 28, 2002), Bea Ogden, "Borderlands."

Houghton Mifflin Web site, http://www.eduplace.com/kids/ (May 19, 2002), "Meet the Author: Pat Mora."

Pat Mora Web site, http://www.patmora.com/ (May 19, 2002).

Scholastic Authors Online Library, http://www.teacher/scholastic.com/ (May 19, 2002), "Pat Mora's Biography" and "Pat Mora Interview Transcript."

Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color, http://voices.cla.umn.edu/ (May 19, 2002), Delia Abreu and others, "Pat Mora."