HOUSTON, TX—The Pima County Public Library and the Friends of the Pima County Public Library in Arizona have named three Arte Público Press titles to their Southwest Books of the Year: Best Reading 2023 list. The eight-person review panel recognized Jimmy Santiago Baca’s No Enemies: Poems in the Poetry category and Raulito: The First Latino Governor of Arizona / El primer gobernador latino de Arizona by Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford in the Children’s/Young Adult category. Diana J. Noble’s Chances in Disguise was also selected for the Children’s/Young Adult category and was named a Top Pick by the review panel. In No Enemies: Poems, Jimmy Santiago Baca writes urgently about the most important themes of our generation, including education, justice, the environment and even the coronavirus. While many of his poems are stinging rebukes against the wealthy and powerful and their disregard for children living in poverty and for the environment, others …
Bank Street College of Education Recognizes Three Piñata Books as Best of 2023 in Spanish
HOUSTON, TX—The Bank Street College of Education Children’s Book Committee named three Piñata Books to its Best Children’s Books of the Year in Spanish list for 2023. El cumpleaños de mi hermana Dulce / My Sister Dulce’s Birthday by Erika Said, El niño de maíz / The Boy of Maize by Mario Bencastro and Viento, Vientito / Wind, Little Wind by Jorge Argueta were all recognized, and Bencastro’s book was highlighted with a star as an exceptional book for cultural authenticity in text and artwork, among other characteristics. In El cumpleaños de mi hermana Dulce / My Sister Dulce’s Birthday, Erika Said tells the story of six-year-old Dulce, who loves sweets. Vibrant illustrations by Claudia Navarro show Dulce and her sister as they search for the perfect candies to go inside the traditional Mexican birthday piñata. Midwest Book Review called it “a charmingly entertaining bilingual (Spanish/English) picture book” and “an …
Trilingual Children’s Book Receives the 2022 Premio Campoy-Ada Award
HOUSTON, TX—The Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE) and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) awarded Jorge Argueta’s picture book, Viento, Vientito / Wind, Little Wind, the 2022 Premio Campoy-Ada Award in the Children’s Fantasy-Fiction Picture Book category. A poetic ode to the refreshing but sometimes dangerous force of wind, Viento, Vientito / Wind, Little Wind reflects the author’s indigenous roots and his appreciation for the natural world. Gorgeous illustrations by Felipe Ugalde Alcántara complement the text, depicting birds and dandelion seeds floating on the breeze and trees bent under strong gusts. Written from the perspective of a mischievous youngster in English, Spanish and Nahuat, this is the third book in a four-part series about Mother Earth. It has been lauded as a Junior Library Guild selection. Critics have praised Argueta’s previous two books in the series: “A lyrical journey through the water cycle, sure to inspire …
