Sitting amid colorful messages like “Children's Big Day” and “My (heart) For You,” he scrawled away on the Pescadero Elementary School playground.
Such was the scene at El Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book,) an event that jointly hails children and literacy. It has been celebrated for generations in towns, schools and libraries across North and Central America and, on Friday, it came to Pescadero through Puente. More than 100 families participated.
  
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“He learns a lot of things and he also explores” at this event, said Gloria Lascarez of Pescadero, speaking of her 3-year-old son Felix. “I like it very much because he learns and he is also carrying on a tradition.”
As pop music thumped from a radio, children romped under a bright tarp held by parents. They gyrated with hula hoops, climbed a jungle gym, teamed up for jumprope and got creative with chalk. Nearby, Sonrisas Community Dental Clinic outreach coordinator Diane Grech and Puente Migrant Education Coordinator Joshua Crockett sat at tables holding toothpaste, information and toys, games, shoes and a child's bike donated for a Puente benefit raffle.
Lines snaked from tables laden with salads, enchiladas, spicy “pozole rojo” soup (made with chicken and corn) and desserts of jello, cookies and fruit, all made by local families.
Inside the multipurpose room books were at the forefront. Young children eagerly listened as Duck and Rabbit, and “Beautiful Birds,” read with animation in English and Spanish by Half Moon Bay Library Community Librarian Armando Ramirez and Tokenz owner Sheila Edwards-May.
Each child would go home with a bag of school supplies and a book donated by the Coastside Mother’s Club.
Anglo families also enjoyed the Hispanic tradition.
“(Anglos and Spanish-speaking people) cross paths all the time” in Pescadero, said Vickie Fought, mom of a preschooler. “We have Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, Grandparents Day, but we don't celebrate children. What a great idea, to have Children's Day.”
“We're warmly welcomed into this community,” said Jim Jacques, father of a third-grader. “We appreciate the multiculturalism.”
Day of the Child/Day of the Book goes back to the 1920s, with roots in Mexico and celebrations in Venzuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Brazil. Enter Pat Mora of Texas, a recognized author of more than two dozen children’s books, who decided in 1996 that literacy went hand-in-hand with supporting kids.
She went to University of Arizona Latino faculty and staff, who in turn approached their local chapter of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking community at large. The idea spread to Latina advocacy groups, and sparked grassroots support.
Celebrations centered around April 30 as a time to honor childhood. The idea is to link children to books, languages and cultures honor native languages and cultures, involve parents and develop literary collections that celebrate plurality.
It's all familiar to Puente Community Builder Rita Mancera. Growing up in Mexico City, she attended Day of the Child at stadiums, with music, games and gifts.
“Literacy is the topic we wanted to have in the (Coastside) celebration,” she said. “We really just want to provide the community with one celebration they are used to. It’s all about the children.”
It’s equally about their families, said Lobel.
“Parents are needing support to read to their children and children are needing support to become early readers,” she said. “If they’re not read to as children, (families) don’t know that reading is important to building a child’s vocabulary.”
“It's wisdom for the future,” said Epimenio Bernandino of the emphasis on literacy.
Sitting with wife Felicitas Lascarez (no relation to Gloria,) watching their 3- and 11-year-old sons and 8-year-old daughter romp in the celebration, he went on: “To me, there are a lot of memories from when I was a child.”
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