YOUR AD HERE »

Celebrate Día del Libro in Spanish at the Library

Jhezabeth Lozano, Park City Library’s assistant youth and Spanish services librarian, stands next to a table full of Spanish literature. The Park City Library will host “Día del Libro y del Idioma Español” (Day of the Book and Spanish Language Day) on Monday, April 23. The event will feature a poster contest, a film screening and story times. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)
Tanzi Propst/Park Record | The Park Record

A free Día del Libro y del Idioma Español” (Day of the Book and Spanish Language Day) will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Monday, April 23, at the Park City Library, 1255 Park Ave. For information, visit http://www.parkcitylibrary.org.

The Park City Library invites the public to experience a portion of Spanish-speaking culture on Monday, April 23, during its “Día del Libro y del Idioma Español” celebration, said Jhezabeth Lozano, the assistant youth and Spanish services librarian.

The event, which translates to English as “Day of the Book” and “Spanish Language Day,” originated in 1996 when UNESCO declared April 23 as World Book Day, which is celebrated in more than 21 countries around the world, Lozano said.

“In Spain, it’s a day to encourage reading,” she said.



The Park City Library is set to host the celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the party will include three main activities — a poster contest, a film screening and a Spanish story time.

“My feeling is if you learn more languages, the more global we become and we become global citizens…” Jhezabeth Lozano,Park City Library’s assistant youth and Spanish services librarian.

“Since this is our first Spanish Language and Book Day, we wanted to start it all off with these three main activities,” Lozano said.



Students from any school in grades fourth to twelfth will create posters that have a connection with Day of the Book and Spanish Day.

“The contest is open to anyone who is able to speak and understand a little bit of Spanish, regardless of their nationality,” Lozano said. “We will provide all the materials. The only thing the students need to bring is their creativity.”

Funds for the materials were provided by the Friends of the Park City Library, a nonprofit that raises money to supplement the Park City Library’s budget.

“The only thing we ask is that the students have to work on the posters for one hour here at the library,” Lozano said. “They can make them any way they want.”

The completed posters will be reviewed by a panel of three judges from around the area.

Lozano is looking forward to the contest, because it is modeled after a similar event she hosted for five years as a Spanish teacher at the Interamerican Academy in Guyaquil, Ecuador.

“It was very engaging and the students loved it,” she said. “I hope the students here will enjoy it just the same.”

Shortly after the contest, the library will present a free screening of Carlos Sandanha’s animated comedy “Ferdinand,” rated PG, in the Jim Santy Auditorium. The film, based on the children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf, will be screened in Spanish with English subtitles.

“Ferdinand” is about a gentle Spanish bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in Madrid.

The Spanish story time for preschool kids will be held around the same time as the film screening.

“We know that there are some kids and parents who won’t want to attend the film,” Lozano said. “And we know that there are families who don’t want to go to the story time, so we want to give them a choice.

“The books for the Spanish story time were not all originally written in Spanish,” Lozano said. “They are books that have been translated into Spanish by publishers, and have been authorized for distribution through libraries.”

The story time will also include some games, she said.

Lozano hopes the community will come celebrate Día del Libro y del Idioma Español with her.

“I think it’s important for the Park City Library to embrace Spanish Language and Book Day because Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world,” she said. Worldwide, there were more than 437 million people who spoke Spanish, next to the 1.3 billion people who spoke Chinese languages in 2017, according to the World Economic Forum. And in the U.S., there were 41 million people who spoke and understood Spanish in 2015, according to the Census Bureau.

“If we don’t include Spanish in our libraries, we are taking out a big part of our community,” Lozano said.

“Día del Libro y del Idioma Español” has another connection to the language, Lozano said.

The day coincides with the death of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of “The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha,” more well known in popular culture as simply “Don Quixote.” Cervantes, whose work is considered some of the most important in history, died on April 23, 1616.

“I want to share that with the community, especially with the youth, so they will feel motivated to learn or use more Spanish,” Lozano said. “My feeling is if you learn more languages, the more global we become. We become global citizens.”

The librarian, who started working at the Park City Library four months ago, said she is grateful to the support the staff ggiveseach other when planning events such as “Día del Libro y del Idioma Español.”

“Library Director Adriane (Herrick Juarez) and the other managers work together and lead us ‘hombro a hombro,’ which means ‘shoulder to shoulder,’ as a team,” Lozano said. “I’m also impressed with (Spanish and Youth Services Librarian) Katrina Kmak and how she reaches out to the youth in the community. I just love this spirit of sharing, and I’m so excited to be a part of this celebration.”

Entertainment


See more

Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Park City and Summit County make the Park Record's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.