The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a divison of the American Library Association, and REFORMA (the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate, ) hosted the Pura Belpré annual Celebración to honor the 2014 medal and honor winners on Sunday, June 29, 2014 at Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Pura Belpré Award was established in 1996 and honors Latino writers and illustrators whose works of art best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience in a book for children. It is named for the first Latina librarian who distinguished herself for her storytelling and outreach work with children and their families while working for the New York Public Library during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Los Ganadores
From left to right Meg Medina, Matt de la Peña, Margarita Engle, Yuyi Morales, Rafael López and Angela Dominguez
Palabras from Meg Medina winner of the 2014 Pura Belpré award from the novel, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass.
"Buenas tardes a todos. Good afternoon. I just love hearing you say the title. It’s funny how books come to be. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass wasn’t supposed to be a novel. In fact, if it had been left up to me, the very idea for this book would have been left alone, dried out and harmless. It would have stayed one of those memories from childhood that was better left buried."
Palabras from Yuyi Morales winner of the 2014 Pura Belpré award from the picture book, Niño Wrestles the World.
"I come from a great magnetic place of poetic beans, automatic cac- tuses, astral farmers, supersonic fire-eaters, cybernetic cowboy char- ros, and neon-colored serapes. It is actually called Mexico; I live there now. It is my great joy to come to my beloved country of work, from my beloved country of birth, to join this celebration of niños, niñas, reading, and books—this freedom to cross from one land to the other, I treasure in the name of all of those who don’t have it. And, yes, I would fly or walk or swim or cross a bridge to wherever a Pura Belpré celebration is happening, because what better company to have than you to celebrate not only this year’s awards, but also the 10th anniversary, diez años, of having received my first Pura Belpré Medal?"
René Colato Laínez
Award winners from left to right: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand -Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life!, Margarita Engle -The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, Yuyi Morales -Los Gatos Black on Halloween, Marisa Montes -Los Gatos Black on Halloween, Carmen Agra Deedy -Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale, Raúl Colón - My Name is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez, and Dana Goldberg representing Maya Christina Gonzalez- My Colors, My World.
ALSC and REFORMA organized a big fiesta to celebrate the Pura Belpré Award Winners on Sunday, June 29th at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA. The speeches were full of memories, family and corazón. Yuyi Morales revealed her childhood espantos of la Llorona, Cucuy, and the hairy hand. Carmen Agrada Deedy talked how she got inspired to tell her Martina Cockroach story to a group of elementary students after her saw a big cockroach crawling in the school auditorium. Carmen T. Bernier-Grand discussed many similarities in the life of her mother and the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
Here are a few more pictures of the Celebracíon.
Marisa Montes talking about Los Gatos Black on Halloween.
Determination is the main key. Editors did not get the idea of some black gatos speaking Spanish and celebrating Halloween. Does the gatos from Latin America know about Halloween? But she did not give up and now has a beautiful picture book. Yes, los gatos know about Halloween and Día de los muertos, too. They are bilingual!
Raul Colon received an honor award in illustration for his book
My Name is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez. This was written by la famosa Monica Brown. Order her new picture book Pelé, King of soccer/ Pelé, el rey del fútbol which is coming out in December.
Yuyi Morales receiving her award... At the end of her speech, she had a little sorpresita, she sang La llorona while her son played the guitar. To read Yuyi's report about Pura Belpré Award visit her blog at
www.yuyimorales.blogspot.comHere is the list of all the winners.
Margarita Engle, Medal winner for text-
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano.
Yuyi Morales, Medal winner for illustration-
Los Gatos Black on Halloween.Carmen T. Bernier-Grand - Honor for text-
Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life!Carmen Agra Deedy - Honor for text-
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale.
Marisa Montes - Honor for text-
Los Gatos Black on Halloween.Raúl Colón - Honor for illustration-
My Name is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez.
Maya Christina Gonzalez- Honor for illustration-
My Colors, My World/ Mis colores, mi mundo.
****
Read Monica Brown's new interview
Author of My Name is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez.
Author Monica Brown discusses the links between literacy and culture and highlights the importance of bilingual books. She also talks about her own writing and why she loves writing picture book biographies... Read more at
www.papertigers.org
Sotirios A. Barber is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame and James E. Fleming is The Honorable Frank R. Kenison Distinguished Scholar in Law at Boston University School of Law. Together they have written Constitutional Interpretation: The Basic Questions which examines the fundamental inquiries that arise in interpreting constitutional law. Below they respond to a Stanley Fish article about their new book.
As the authors of Constitutional Interpretation: The Basic Questions, we thank Professor Stanley Fish for his generous reference to the book as a guide through the long-standing debate on approaches to constitutional interpretation. (“Does Constitutional Theory Matter?”) We write to express more than gratitude, however, for we are puzzled by two elements of Fish’s piece: his denial that theories of interpretation matter and his description of our position in the debate. (more…)
Share This
