2010 Pura Belpré Award Winners

Just wanted to share with you the winners of 2010′s Pura Belpré Award. Established back in 1996, the award goes to “a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.”

Author Award winner:

• Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez – A YA (young adults) novel about the friendship between two children from different backgrounds, one an American citizen, the other one an undocumented immigrant whose lives come together due to necessity. I’ve enjoyed reading several of Alvarez’s adult novels and although this is one Vanessa is way too young for, I’ll definitely be checking it out myself!

Illustrator Award winner:

• Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day by Pat Mora, illustrated by Rafael López – We’re so happy to hear two books by one of our favorite bilingual book’s author, Mora, won this award for their illustrations. In case you don’t know her or her books, you can find a review of Book Fiesta and an interview with Mora here.

Author Honor books:

• Diego: Bigger Than Life by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, illustrated by David Diaz.
• Federico García Lorca by Georgina Lázaro, illustrated by Enrique S. Moreiro – This book is part of an awesome series by Lectorum called Cuando los Grandes eran Pequeños. Be on the lookout for a ReadMe post reviewing this series in the not too distant future.

Illustrator Honor books:

• Diego: Bigger Than Life by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, illustrated by David Diaz.
• My Abuelita by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Yuyi Morales.
• Gracias/Thanks by Pat Mora, illustrated by John Parra – Another one of Pat Mora’s books. We wrote about it here. Perfect to teach children how and why to be thankful.

Congratulations to all the winners!