2018 Author Award Winner  

“LUCKY BROKEN GIRL”

by Ruth Behar

Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: 5 – 6

ISBN-13: 978-0399546440

In “Lucky Broken Girl,” fifth-grader Ruthie Mizrahi, who is newly arrived to the United States from Cuba in the 1960’s, is confined to a full-body cast after a life-changing accident. Surrounded by her Cuban-Jewish family and a diverse group of neighbors, Ruthie finds the strength and the courage to heal and grow.

2018 Illustrator Award Winner

“LA PRINCESA AND THE PEA”

by Susan Middleton Elya

Illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal

Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: Preschool - 3

ISBN-13: 978-0399251566

This tale is set amid guinea pigs, stone arches and fuzzy indigenous Peruvian textiles. Juana Martinez-Neal’s mischievous characters play out the fairy tale—with a twist. Cultural elements inspired by the Peruvian village of Huilloc and the Colca Canyon add vibrancy and playfulness in Martinez-Neal’s acrylic and colored pencil illustrations.

2018 Author Honor Books

“THE EPIC FAIL OF ARTURO ZAMORA”

by Pablo Cartaya

Publisher: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: 5 - 6

ISBN-13: 978-1101997239

Arturo spends the summer working at his Abuela’s Cuban restaurant in Miami. When he learns of plans to tear down the building, he enlists the help of his friends to save the restaurant. This humorous coming-of-age tale celebrates family, music and poetry, and embraces failure as a springboard to growth. 

“THE FIRST RULE OF PUNK”

by Celia C. Pérez

Publisher: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: 4 - 7

ISBN-13: 978-0425290408

Twelve-year-old Malú O’Neill-Morales is biracial, Latinx and punk. Tasked with being a “señorita," she instead decides to follow the first rule of punk: “Be Yourself.” Malú creates zines about her inner thoughts while navigating a new school where she’s not seen as Latinx enough, starting a punk band along the way. 

2018 Illustrator Honor Books

“ALL AROUND US”

by Xelena González

Illustrated by Adriana M. Garcia

Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press 

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: Preschool - 2

ISBN-13: 978-1941026762

“Grandpa says circles are all around us.  We just have to look for them.”  The cycle of life is explored through the eyes of a grandfather and his granddaughter in the Mestizo tradition. Digital images use colorful contours, as well as vibrant color to depict the visible and the invisible circles in everyday life.  

“FRIDA KAHLO AND HER ANIMALITOS”

by Monica Brown

Illustrated by John Parra

Publisher: NorthSouth Books, Inc., an imprint of NordSüd Verlag AG 

Amazon Recommended Grade Level: Preschool - 3

ISBN-13: 978-0735842694

The connections between Frida Kahlo and her xoloitzcuintles, monkeys and other pets are palpable in Parra’s warm acrylic illustrations that feature Mexican folk art. Facial and body expressions show how Frida was comforted and inspired by her pets and how her personality was shaped by and reflected in them.  

Higher Education

“WE ARE AZTLAN!: CHICANX HISTORIES IN THE NORTHERN BORDERLANDS”

Edited by Jerry García

Publisher: Washington State University Press

ISBN-13: 978-0874223477

Mexican Americans/Chicana/os/Chicanx form a majority of the overall Latino population living in the United States. Scholarship on their presence, experience and contributions has been focused, until recently, on the Southwest. In this collection, Chicanx scholars, both established and emerging, offer academic and non-academic perspectives specifically on the areas of the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. These multidisciplinary papers address colonialism, gender, history, immigration, labor, literature, sociology, education and religion. Here El Movimiento (the Chicanx movement) and the Chicanx experience are set beyond the boundaries of the Southwest, illuminating how Chicanxs have challenged racialization, marginalization and isolation in the northern borderlands.

“REDEMPTIONS: A COSTA RICAN NOVEL”

by Carlos Gagini  

Translated by E. Bradford Burns

Publisher: San Diego State University

ISBN-13: 978-0916304676

San Diego State University Press’ edition of Carlos Gagini’s novel “El árbol enfermo” (here translated as “Redemptions”) is a classic novel of Costa Rica, first published in 1918. This is the first English translation and also is notably one of the few Central American novels available in English. Set in and around San José during the first years of the twentieth century when the influence of the United States-economic, political, military and cultural was intensifying rapidly, “Redemptions” tells the story of the seduction and betrayal of a young Costa Rican woman (and symbolically of her country and region) by a North American entrepreneur.

“GABRIELA MISTRAL: THE AUDACIOUS TRAVELER”

Edited by Marjorie Agosín

Publisher: Ohio University Press

ISBN-13: 978-0896802308

Gabriela Mistral is the only Latin American woman writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Yet her achievements in poetry, narrative and political essays remain largely untold. “Gabriela Mistral: The Audacious Traveler” explores the complex legacy of Mistral and the way in which her work continues to define Latin America. It addresses for the first time the vision that Mistral conveyed as a representative of Chile during the drafting of the United Nations Human Rights Declaration. It depicts Mistral as a courageous social activist whose art and writings against fascism reveal a passionate voice for freedom and justice.

“CUBAN SPANISH DIALECTOLOGY: VARIATION, CONTACT, AND CHANGE”

Edited by Alejandro Cuza

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

ISBN-13: 978-1626165090

Despite the significant presence of Cuban immigrants in the United States, current research on Cuban Spanish linguistics remains underexplored. “Cuban Spanish Dialectology: Variation, Contact, and Change” addresses this lacuna in Cuba Spanish research by providing a state-of-the-art collection of articles from a range of theoretical perspectives and linguistic areas, including phonological and phonetic variation, morphosyntactic approaches, sociolinguistic perspectives and heritage language acquisition. Given the increasing interest in Cuban Spanish among graduate students and faculty, “Cuban Spanish Dialectology” is timely and relevant to Hispanic linguistics, as well as  Cuban Spanish dialectology in particular.  This volume includes a forward by Purdue University’s Robert M. Hammond.