HOUSTON, TX—The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in New Jersey has recognized two Piñata Books as co-winners in their respective categories for the 2025 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. The prize comes with a cash award.
Adriana Camacho-Church’s bilingual children’s picture book, Grandma, Where Will Your Love Go? / Abuela, ¿adónde irá tu amor? (Piñata Books, 2023), tied for the prize in the Pre-K-Grade 3 category with The Heights of Love by Boyd Bauman.
Beautifully illustrated by Gastón Hauviller, Camacho-Church’s sweet story depicts the loving relationship between a young girl and her grandmother and the girl’s growing realization that her grandmother will not always be physically present.
In the Grades 7-12 category, A Bridge Home (Piñata Books, 2024) by Mona Alvarado Frazier tied for the prize with Beware the Smart Kids by Matthew J. Kushin.
Alvarado Frazier’s engaging young adult novel introduces readers to Jacqueline Bravo, a high school senior fighting to help support her family and make a better life for herself against the struggles of women and Mexican Americans for equal rights in 1970s California.
Both books have been critically acclaimed:
“Frazier highlights elements of California history that are often overlooked, portraying the strength of a community in giving its people a bridge to a better life. With its honest teenage voice and a gritty realism that evokes what life would have been like for a Mexican American teenager in the California of the 1970s, this novel stands out. An excellent example of historical fiction that teaches and also transports.”
—Kirkus Reviews on A Bridge Home
“A sweet bilingual picture book sharing the love between a grandmother and granddaughter, including the possibility of a time when one might not be here any longer. Short and beautiful lyrical sentences describe the places where her love for her granddaughter will be: the sun, the shade, in drops of rain, in the darkness and the wind, and whenever she bakes—just as they would bake together. They both have brown skin. VERDICT: A solid addition to bilingual picture book collections, this is a great choice for those looking for stories about grandparents as well as for discussing loss.”
—School Library Journal on Grandma, Where Will Your Love Go? / Abuela, ¿adónde irá tu amor?
Arte Público Press is the nation’s largest and most established publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by US Hispanic authors. Its imprint for children and young adults, Piñata Books, is dedicated to the authentic portrayal of the themes, languages, characters and customs of Hispanic culture in the United States. Books published under the imprint serve as a bridge connecting home and school to support family literacy and elementary education. Based at the University of Houston, Arte Público Press, Piñata Books and the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage project provide the most widely recognized and extensive showcase for Hispanic literary arts and creativity. For more information, please visit www.artepublicopress.com.
