1. What made you decide to become an author?

Pat Mora: I'm a writer because I'm a reader. My dear mother loved to read, and I followed her good example. Thanks to her, I discovered BOOKJOY. I liked writing when I was in school, but perhaps because I'd never heard of a writer who was bilingual like me, I didn't think about becoming one. When my three children were little, all the reading I'd done and was doing became the urge to write. I wanted to join the family of writers.

2. What's a typical workday like?

Pat Mora: I have to laugh. I don't have typical days unless we call rushing typical. I've invested a great deal of time in the last ten years in my literacy project, El día de los niños / El día de los libros / Children's Day / Book Day celebrated on April 30th. I also devote time to family, friends, and my little garden. The ideal workday is writing and reading in the mornings and pushing the rest of life to the afternoon. Life fights back.

3. Where do the ideas for your books come from?

Pat Mora: It's a bit of a mystery, and I love the mystery. I try to stay open to possibilities — possibilities to write what might be fun and possibilities to write what needs to be written, what needs to be said. In the case of The Song of Francis and the Animals, I'd written an ode for adults about this much beloved saint and his gentle relationship with animals. Then one day I thought, Oh, this could also become a children's book.

4. How much research do you do before you begin writing? Can you give any examples of unusual research for any of your books?

Pat Mora: Some writers love research; I love the writing process. I became intrigued by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexico's most famous woman poet, for example, when I first heard about her as an adult. I wrote a poem about her for one of my adult collections. Years later, for my children's book about her, I read some biographies but much is speculation since she lived in the 1600s. I also read her poetry and saw an interesting movie made in Argentina about her. Then came the pleasure and challenge of beginning the draft of A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Inés.

For my family memoir, House of Houses, I read many memoirs as preparation, and then I dove in. I know what I'd read helped me shape and add details to what I wrote.

For The Song of Francis and the Animals, I asked my dear friend, Father Murray Bodo, who is a Franciscan and to whom the book is dedicated, for sources that contained stories about St. Francis and ‘critters.’ I'm so grateful to the scholars who compile what I can then explore and play with.

5. Do you rewrite much?

Pat Mora: To the horror of students, I LOVE revision. I tell students that rewriting is my opportunity to polish and improve my initial responses much as a potter slowly burnishes her or his work. I also tell students that I disliked rewriting when I was their age.

6. Do you have any advice for would-be authors and illustrators?

Pat Mora: In the ‘About Pat’ section of my web site, www.patmora.com, I have ‘20 Tips for Writing Children's Books.’

7. What characteristics do writers need most?

Pat Mora: Hmm. Interesting question. It's probably impossible to generalize since there are all kinds of writers, as I say in the ‘Dear Fellow Writer’ in My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults. I think most serious writers are observers, love language, and are persistent in creating time to write.

8. In addition to being the author of more than twenty-five books, you have also recently started the project El día de los niños/El día de los libros. Can you tell us about that?

Pat Mora: I welcome the opportunity to write a bit about this literacy initiative that celebrates its 10th anniversary this April 30th. ‘Día,’ as we call this Children's Day / Book Day concept, stresses linking all children with books, languages, and cultures every day of the year. Then we all celebrate that work on April 30th. Now housed at the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), ‘Día’ is celebrated across the country. Visit my web site for more information and links. Be sure that your school, library and community are part of this sharing of BOOKJOY.

9. Can you tell us one thing people may not know about you?

Pat Mora: Since I'm a private person, I hope there are all kinds of things that people don't know about me! I love hot tea, and I like apples.

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