Spring-Summer 2005 -  Volume 11 -  Number 1

Arlington Reads—And Meets Pat Mora, Who Writes (and Speaks)

Pat Mora (back row, center) was joined by Dr. Luis A. Rosado f(back row, second from right) rom the College of Education and Sally Spaniolo (right). The students are members of BESO, the Bilingual Education Student Organization.

Mary Jo Lyons (left), Pat Mora (center) and Sally Spaniolo raffled books after Mora's talk.

UTA Libraries' Mary Jo Lyons (left) and UTA alumna Karen Borta, CVS 11 evening news co-anchor. Borta also addressed the importance of community reading programs.

Passionate and articulate about the importance of children’s’ literacy and the importance of libraries, award-winning author Pat Mora addressed a standing room only crowd in UTA’s Carlisle Suite on April 21, 2005, at the conclusion of the six-week “Arlington Reads” program. Mora read selections from Tomás and the Library Lady, her book based on the true story of young Tomás Rivera, of Crystal City, Texas, the child of migrant workers who became the first minority Chancellor in the University of California system. Mora has written over 20 children’s books (several are in production) and seven books for adults.

The event was hosted by UTA’s First Lady, Sally Spaniolo, and joining Mora to speak to the group was Karen Borta, co-anchor of CBS 11 News in Dallas, and UTA alumna. This program was a part of Arlington Reads, a community-wide reading initiative that focuses on specific books, and is a collaborative project of the Arlington Public Library, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington Independent School District, Tarrant County College, and Reading & Radio Resource.

For more information about Mora’s books, visit http://www.patmora.com/. For more about Rivera, visit here.

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