Sampler of Latino Children's Books Authors

For more complete information on Latino writers, please consult the section “Resources for Serving Latino Children and Families” on this web site.  Below is but a sampling of the Latina and Latino authors who write for children in this country, where they live, and where they were born.

Ada, Alma Flor                                  San Francisco, CA born in Cuba

Alarcón, Francisco                            Davis, CA, born in Wilmington, CA

Alvarez, Julia                                    Weybridge, VT, born in Dominican Republic 

Ancona, George                               Santa Fe, NM born in Brooklyn, NY

Anaya, Rudolfo                                 Albuquerque, NM, born in Pastura, NM

Anzaldúa, Gloria                               Santa Cruz, CA born in South Texas

Cisneros, Sandra                             San Antonio, TX born in Chicago, Ill

Cofer, Judith Ortiz                            Athens, GA, born in Puerto Rico

Delacre, Lulu                                    Silver Spring, MD, born in Puerto Rico

Garza, Carmen Lomas                     San Francisco, CA,  born in Kingsville, Texas

González, Lucía M.                           Hialeah, FLA, born in Cuba

Gonzales Bertrand, Diane               San Antonio, TX, born there

González, Rigoberto                        NY City, born in Bakersfield, CA, raised in MX

Herrera, Juan Felipe                        Fresno, CA, born in Fowler, CA

Jiménez, Francisco                          Santa Clara, born in El Rancho Blanco, Mexico

Martinez, Victor                               San Francisco, CA, born in Fresno, CA

Mohr, Nicholasa                               NY, born in NY

Mora, Pat                                         Santa Fe, NM & KY, born in El Paso, Texas

Ryan, Pam Muñoz                            San Joaquin Valley, CA, San Diego, CA

Rodríquez, Luis                                Chicago,IL, born in Juárez, Mexico

Saenz, Benjamín Alire                      El Paso, TX, born in Las Cruces, NM

Silva, Simón                                     San Bernardino, born in Mexicali, Mexico

Soto, Gary                                        Berkeley,CA, born in Fresno,CA

Reminders:

1. The U.S. Latino population is highly diverse in race and country oforigin among other characteristics.  This national community has strong loyalty to the Spanish language, to the preservation of culture, and to family which includes respect for the elderly and the nurturing of children.

2. In your community, celebrate April 30^th, Día de los niños/Día de loslibros, a day for linking all children to books, cultures, languages.

3. Teens will also enjoy books by authors such as Marjorie Agosín, Isabel Allende, Julia Alvarez, Ana Castillo, Denise Chávez, Rosario Ferré, Cristina Garcia, Ray González, Oscar Hijuelos, Alberto Rios, Esmeralda Santiago, Helena María Viramontes and poets including Lorna Dee Cervantes, Martín Espada and Virgil Suárez among others.

4. Many Latinas and Latinos feel a strong debt to the indigenous writers of the Americas, past and present, and to writers who published in Spanish in Spain and the Americas such as Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Gabriela Mistral.

Statistics Worth Pondering

·        1 in 8 of our school-age children comes from a home in which a language other than English is spoken (Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Hmong, Russian, Arabic, Navajo, etc.)  Virtually all of the world’s languages are spoken in our multicultural country.

·        From a demographic though not power perspective, the terms majority and minority  are becoming obsolete.  Latinos comprise about 13% of the population—and growing, and 16% of the U.S. population under eighteen years of age.

·        Latinos are projected to be the largest “minority” by 2020.  More than 60% of Latinos are of Mexican descent.  1 in 8 children come from homes in which Spanish is spoke.   The family heritage may be from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central America, Cuba, etc.  Do our libraries, book stores, schools, and conferences, reflect these statistics?

·        Only about 2% of the 5,000 children’s books published in the U.S. annually are by or about Latinos.  How can you help change this sad fact?