One of the best things since the creation of SpanglishBaby has been the amount of stuff I have discovered related to anything bilingual and bi-cultural. Although there is not a whole lot out there, I have to admit I’ve been surprised about some of the things I’ve found.
As an avid reader, I’ve always complained about the lack of bilingual/Spanish children’s books in both bookstores and public libraries, but lately I’ve discoverd things are not as bad. So I present you with a list of 4 publishing houses, most of which are only dedicated to bilingual or Spanish children’s books. You can order most of their books through La Tiendita and if you can’t find them there, you can always go directly to their websites.
1) Children’s Book Press – “Founded in 1975, CBP is the only nonprofit independent publisher solely dedicated to first voice multicultural and bilingual children’s literature, by and about people from the Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, and Native American communities. Our books embody our commitment to diversity, literacy, and community.” I love what they’re all about. I reviewed one of their books here. That same book was recently chosen as an Honorable Mention at the 2009 International Latino Book Awards, as I wrote about here.
2) Piñata Books – “Founded in 1994, Piñata Books, an imprint of Arte Público Press, is dedicated to the publication of children’s and young adult literature focussing on U.S. Hispanic culture. With its bilingual picture books for children and its entertaining novels for young adults, Piñata Books has made giant strides in filling the void that exists in American publishing and literature: books that accurately reflect themes, characters and customs unique to U.S. Hispanic culture.” I’ll be writing more about this publishing house soon. For now, I just wanted to share with you that they’ve published some of Pat Mora’s awesome books.
3) Cinco Puntos Press – “With roots on the U.S./Mexico border, Cinco Puntos publishes great books which make a difference in the way you see the world.” I don’t know much about them, but I really like what they’ve published!
4) Groundwood Books - “Many of our books tell the stories of people whose voices are not always heard in this age of global publishing by media conglomerates. Books by the First Peoples of this hemisphere have always been a special interest, as have those of others who through circumstance have been marginalized and whose contribution to our society is not always visible. Since 1998 we have been publishing works by people of Latin American origin living in the Americas both in English and in Spanish under our Libros Tigrillo imprint.” I absolutely love folktales, and it looks like the one to the left is a pretty good compilation of some.
Antes de despedirme, I wanted to share something both Ana and I are very excited about: an upcoming new monthly series related to literacy, bilingualism and even a giveaway – who doesn’t like a giveaway, right? More details to come soon, I promise…
If you know of any publishing houses and/or authors of bilingual children´s books we welcome you to leave a link in the comments.
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We all in our family love to read and sometimes I would like to have books in Spanish that are not just translations of English books, do you know what I mean? I like Spanish books that show our latin culture too. Thanks Roxana I, as you, sometimes complain about not finding good books in Spanish, here is a great source of information, I will check them out!
.-= Silvia´s last blog ..Tour Virtual para Escritores Latinos presenta Estevan Vega =-.
Rayo, Luna Rising, Lee & Low, and Scholastic (to name a few) have also produced a large number of multicultural books. CBP is WONDERFUL! And I highly recommend them…
Thanks, Roxana!
~Monica
Thanks, Monica. I will definitely check out all your recommendations!
Usborne and Kane/Miller also publish some very nice Spanish books. I think you all should check out the books I’ll be making available for the “week of giveaways”.
I believe the “Latin Baby Book Club” has reviewed several Kane/Miller titles.
I have a Latino Book Store in L.A. and I went to Book Expo America in New York last month and I noticed a couple of publishers not included here. The four publishers mentioned in the article are great. CBP best sellers include those by Francisco X. Alarcon and Juan Felipe Herrera. In addition to Pat Mora, Piñata Books also has fantastic titles by Victor Villaseñor, author of “Rain of Gold”. In addition to these and all the recommendations above, I was really impressed with what Raven Tree Press is coming out with. me+mi publishing is also a standard favorite for its bilingual board books and sideline items.
John,
Thanks so much for these recommendations. This week we´re starting a monthly feature of publishers and authors of bilingual children´s books and we´ll be sure to contact them.
Please feel free to leave us your store´s info either here or in the forums. If you leave it in the forums it will be of great use to our readers from the SoCal area. I for one am very interested!
I self published a book recently, “Ruins of a Society and the Honorable.”
I have been finding it extremely difficult even to have a Literary Agent just look at my book. Here’s a little about the book and hope someone in the right position will do the right thing and reconsider.
“Ruins of a Society and the Honorable,” is an autobiography, a legacy and a story based on real life circumstances as I lived it and remember it to the best of my knowledge. It contains incidents which took place in one day and a half while at Sing Sing Prison, where I worked, and outside the prison’s environment.
It then sidetracks to speak of other stories, voice opinions and reflects on my life as a young Latino growing up in New York City Brooklyn and abroad. Although 75 percent of this book is based on prison experiences, other parts of this book relates to the many life encounters we’ve all experienced in our own lives in one form or another.
An interesting point about this book is, throughout this book the actual story stops with an asterisk, (*) to voice an opinion or explain a different set of circumstances; then it continues onto the actual story with the words. (STORY CONT)
My book received many good feedback’s and reviews from family members, friends and coworkers. Although I have not yet received any professional reviews from local newspapers or magazine publications, be advised of the following:
“Winner of the Literary Awards for 2009 Best Autobiography/Biography”
—Multicultural Literature Advocacy Group, Living in Color Literary Awards, March 20, 2010.
“Thank you for thinking of me”
—Sonia Sotomayor, United States Supreme Court Justice, February 23, 2010.
“A Prison Story/Autobiography like you have never read before”
—Michael Levine, WBAI 99.5 FM. Expert Witness Radio, March 22, 2010.
“Nominated as Finalist for the 12th Annual International Latino Book Awards”
—Jim Sullivan, Executive Director, May 28, 2010.
Please check out the Review of my book. Thank you Ivonne Figueroa.
http://www.elboricua.com/BookReviews.html
http://www.elboricua.com/index.html
You can read excerpts on Google Books:
http://books.google.com/books?id=AATK3HID3rUC&lpg=PP1&dq=1451506007&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=1451506007&f=false
This is a great site! Just wanted share that Children’s Book Press is now an imprint of Lee & Low.
This is a great website! I just wanted to share that Children’s Book Press is now an imprint of Lee & Low.
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