Sampler of Latino Children's Books Authors and Illustrators
For more complete information on Latino writers, please consult the section "Resources for Serving Latino Children and Families" on this web site. Below is but a sampling of the Latina and Latino authors and illustrators who create books for children in this country, where they live, and where they were born. If an author or illustrator has a website, his or her name has a direct link, so you can reach the website by clicking on the name. Winners of the Pura Belpré Award, both Medal and Honors are included in the Sampler as well as winners of the Américas Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature (Award and Honorable Mentions) and the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award.
Alma
Flor Ada; San Francisco CA · born in Cuba
Renato Alarcao; Brazil · born in Brazil
Francisco Alarcón; Davis CA · born in Wilmington CA
Malin
Alegria; La Frontera CA · born in San Pancho
Isabel
Allende; San Rafael CA · born in Peru but is Chilean
Julia
Alvarez; Weybridge VT · born in Dominican Republic
Rudolfo Anaya; Albuquerque NM · born in Pastura NM
George
Ancona; Santa Fe NM · born in Brooklyn NY
Gloria Anzaldúa; deceased · born in South Texas
Jorge
Argueta; San Francisco · born in El Salvador
Paula S. Barragán; Quito Ecuador · born Ecuador
Diane Gonzales Bertrand; San Antonio TX · born San Antonio
Anilú Bernardo; Plantation FL · born in Cuba
Ethriam Brammer; Detroit MI · born in El Centro CA
Monica
Brown; Flagstaff AZ · born in Peru
Pricilla García Burris; Santa Ana CA
Viola Canales; Stanford CA · born in South Texas
Robert
Casilla; Connecticut · born in New Jersey
Omar S. Castañeda; deceased, born in Guatemala
Julia Mercedes Castilla; lives in Houston TX · born in Columbia, SA
Ana
Castillo; Anthony NM · born in Chicago
Consuelo Mendez Castillo; born in Texas
Joe
Cepeda; Los Angeles, CA · born in Los Angeles
Veronica
Chambers; lives in Philadelphia PA · born in Brooklyn NY
E. Charlton-Trujillo; Madison WI · born in South Texas
Becky
Chavarría-Cháirez; New Mexico · born in San Antonio TX
Sandra
Cisneros; San Antonio TX · born in Chicago IL
Judith Ortiz Cofer; Athens GA · born in Puerto Rico
Raul Colon ; New York NY · born in Puerto Rico
Amy Cordova; Taos NM
Lucha
Corpi; Oakland CA · born in Mexico
Ina Cumpiano; San Francisco CA · born in Puerto Rico
Carmen Agra
Deedy; Georgia · born in Havana Cuba
Lulu Delacre; Silver Spring MD · born in Puerto Rico
David Diaz ; San Diego CA · born in Ft. Lauderdale FL
Domi; Tlaquepaque Mexico · born in Oaxaco Mexico
Arthur Dorros ; Seattle WA · born in Washington DC
Margarita Engle; CA · born in Los Angeles CA of Cuban American descent
D. H. Figueredo; New Jersey · born in Cuba
Ernesto Galarza; Nayarit, Mexico · near Tepic
Stephanie Garcia ; Hoboken NJ · born in Los Angeles CA
Xavier Garza; San Antonio TX · born in South Texas
Carmen
Lomas Garza; San Francisco CA · born in Kingsville TX
Elizabeth
Gomez; San Francisco CA · born in Mexico
Lucía M. González; Hialeah FL · born in Cuba
Rigoberto
González; New York NY · born in Bakersfield CA, raised in Mexico
Maya
Christina Gonzalez' San Francisco · born in Southern CA
Carmen
T. Bernier Grand; Oregon · born in Puerto Rico
Reyna Grande; CA · born in Guerrero Mexico
Susan
Guevara ; lives in Santa Fe NM
Akemi
Guitierrez ; lives in CA
Juan
Felipe Herrera; Fresno CA · born in Fowler CA
Pauline Rodriguez Howard; San Antonio TX
Francisco Jiménez; Santa Clara CA · born in El Rancho Blanco, Mexico
Ana Juan; Madrid Spain · born in Spain
Rene
Colato Lainez; Sun Valley CA · born in El Salvador
Ofelia Dumas Lachtman; Los Angeles CA · born in LA of Mexican descent
Daniel Lechon; Houston TX, born in Mexico
Loretta Lopez
; New Jersey, Texas, New York, born in El Paso TX
Rafael
Lopez; lives in San Diego CA · born in Mexico City
Patricia Santos Marcantonio; Oregon · born in Pueblo CO
Floyd Martinez; Oregon · born in New Mexico
Victor Martinez; San Francisco CA · born in Fresno CA
Nicholasa Mohr; New York · born in New York
Marisa
Montes; Walnut Creek CA · born in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Pat Mora; Santa Fe NM · born in El Paso TX
Magaly
Morales; Mexico · born in Mexico
Yuyi
Morales; CA · born in Mexico
Jose Ortega; Toronto and New York · born in Ecuador
Nancy Osa; Portland OR · born in Chicago
Amanda Irma Pérez; Oxnard CA · born in Mexico
Jan Romero-Stevens; Arizona · born in Las Vegas NM
Pam Muñoz
Ryan; San Joaquin Valley CA · born in San Diego CA
Jose
Ramirez; Los Angeles CA · born LA
Antonio Ramirez; Guadalajara, Mexico, born in Mexico City
Luis
Rodríquez; Chicago IL · born in Juárez Mexico
Alfonso Ruano; Madrid · born in Toledo Spain
Benjamín
Alire Saenz; El Paso TX · born in Las Cruces NM
Enrique
Sanchez; Mexico City · born in Guadalajara
Simón
Silva; San Bernardino · born in Mexicali Mexico
Gary
Soto; Berkeley CA · born in Fresno CA
Maribel Suarez; Mexico City · born in Mexico City
Carmen
Tafolla; San Antonio TX · born San Antonio
Pablo
Torrecilla; Los Angeles CA · born in Madrid Spain
Leyla
Torres; Vermont · born in Bogata Columbia
Ana Veciana-Suarez; Miami FL · Cuba
Anne Vega; lives in Granville OH
Beatriz
Vidal; Argentina · born in Argentina
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Reminders:
1. The U.S. Latino population is
highly diverse in race, religion and country of origin among other
characteristics. This national community has strong loyalty to the
Spanish language, to the preservation of culture, and to family which
includes respect for the elderly and the nurturing of children.
2. In your community, promote the family literacy initiative
Día de los niños/Día de los libros, Children's Day/Book Day. Support the culminating celebrations of a year of
linking all children to books, languages, and cultures on or about April 30th.
3.
Teens will also enjoy books by authors such as Marjorie Agosín, Isabel
Allende, Julia Alvarez, Ana Castillo, Denise Chávez, Rosario Ferré,
Cristina Garcia, Ray González, Oscar Hijuelos, Alberto Rios, Esmeralda
Santiago, Helena María Viramontes and poets including Lorna Dee
Cervantes, Martín Espada and Virgil Suárez among others.
4.
Many Latinas and Latinos feel a strong debt to the indigenous writers of
the Americas, past and present, and to writers who published in Spanish
in Spain and the Americas such as Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca,
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Gabriela Mistral.
Statistics Worth Pondering
· One in four children born in the U.S. is Latino.
· One in four of our school-age children comes from a home in which a language other than English is spoken (Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Hmong, Russian, Arabic, Navajo,
etc.) Virtually all of the world’s languages are spoken in our multicultural country.
· From a demographic though not
power perspective, the terms majority and minority are
becoming obsolete. Latinos comprise about 14% of the population—and
growing, and 16% of the U.S. population under eighteen years of age.
· Latinos are the largest “minority.” More than 60% of Latinos are of Mexican descent. Spanish is spoken in homes whose country of origin may also be Puerto Rico, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, etc. Do our libraries, book stores, schools, and conferences,
reflect these statistics?
· Latinos are younger than the U.S. population as a whole.
· Only about 2% of the 5,000
children’s books published in the U.S. annually are by or about Latinos, a sad statistic that doesn't change as the statistics above do. How can you help change this fact?
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