Oge Mora Comes to Tulsa for Books to Treasure

It sounds like a scene from a picture book: A little girl grows up in a busy house with seven siblings, just across the street from her neighborhood library. Nearly every afternoon, she heads to the library, where the shelves are filled with stories that capture her imagination. The librarians know her by name, and she stays until closing time.

But this isn’t a scene from a picture book. It’s the childhood of Oge Mora, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and went on to become an award-winning author and illustrator. She landed her first book deal while still a senior in college.

Now, Mora is bringing her love of books and libraries to Tulsa as the featured author for the Tulsa City-County Library’s Books to Treasure program, which provides Tulsa County second graders with a special library card featuring her artwork and a copy of her book Saturday.

“It was a second home for me and my siblings,” Mora says. “It really felt like a family to me and still does.”

“I think there’s still a part of me that feels like the library kid I was as a kid,” she adds.

A Story Close to Her Heart

Mora’s Saturday tells the story of a young girl named Ava and her mother, who look forward to spending Saturdays together. When their carefully planned day takes one disappointing turn after another, they discover that being together matters more than anything on their itinerary.

The story was inspired by Mora’s relationship with her own mother, who worked seven days a week while raising eight children.

Despite her demanding schedule, Mora’s mother made a point of planning special outings with her children, from concerts and museum visits to making sushi together at home. But Mora remembers that her mother often apologized for not being around more.

“I didn’t really care what we were doing,” Mora says. “I just liked having that time with my mom.”

Years later, a conversation with her editor helped bring those memories to the surface. Her editor was apologizing for falling behind on reviewing manuscripts while caring for her sick daughter. That exchange reminded Mora of her own mother’s apologies and inspired her to write a new story.

Those memories became the inspiration for Saturday, which Mora considers something of a love letter to her mother.

“I feel like everything I wanted my mom to understand about how I felt about her was really reflected in that book,” she says.

Mora also included a small piece of her childhood in the illustrations: Ava’s neighborhood library sits across the street from her home, just as Mora’s did when she was growing up.

Parents have approached Mora at events or written to tell her how much Saturday means to their families. Some are single mothers, while others work long hours and see their own experiences reflected in the story.

“That my story can have that immense importance in your life is just a really humbling, humbling thing,” she says.

A Library Connection

As a high school student, Mora volunteered in the library’s homework help center, working with younger children on reading and school assignments.

Years later, after becoming a published author, one of her first library visits brought her back to the Martin Luther King Library. The woman who had once overseen the library’s youth programs had become its director and helped organize Mora’s visit.

She also gave Mora a gift: a magnet featuring a childhood photo of Mora and a message from the library staff that read, “We are so proud of you.”

Mora still has the magnet and considers it one of her favorite gifts.

After the librarian died a few years ago, Mora dedicated a Little Free Library outside her Rhode Island home to her memory. Built by a friend, the little library looks just like Mora’s house.

The little library is stocked primarily with picture books, and its shelves are sized to accommodate them. There are even steps so young children can reach the books themselves.

Mora says neighborhood children regularly stop by to choose something to read. With a preschool now located across the street, the library has become especially popular.

From Reader to Author

As a child, Mora loved Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold and the books of Tomie dePaola, especially 26 Fairmount Avenue. She later had the opportunity to meet both artists.

She remembers waiting for hours in the bitter cold to attend a book signing with dePaola in Boston. Despite the long line of admirers, he took time to personalize every book she and her sister brought and even offered to take a photo with them. Mora was so touched by dePaola’s generosity that she decided she wanted to offer young readers that same kind of experience if she ever became a published author.

“Those kind of moments, those experiences can inspire somebody for the rest of their lives,” she says.

Mora now has the opportunity to meet young readers at library visits and book signings, something she remembers looking forward to as a child. Her debut picture book, Thank You, Omu!, received a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award.

But when she learned that her artwork would appear on library cards distributed to Tulsa County second graders, it felt surreal.

“I think the first time I saw it, I was just like, ‘Are you sure? Me?'” she says.

She remembers that one of her earliest dreams as an aspiring author was simply to walk into a library and find a book with her own name on its spine.

Through Books to Treasure, Tulsa County second graders will have a book of Mora’s to keep and a library card of their own. For a little girl who once spent nearly every afternoon at her neighborhood library, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting honor.

Meet Oge Mora

When: 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6

Where: Hardesty Regional Library, Connor’s Cove, 8316 E. 93rd St., Tulsa

Admission: Free and open to all ages.

For more information, visit tulsalibrary.org/kids/books-to-treasure.