The Red Carpet of ALA

The Newberry/Caldecott ceremony has nothing to ask the academy awards or any others. For instance, the speeches this year were the top of the cream—or like we say in Spanish la crema y nata—nata which we eat it with bread or bananas.

If I ever had to choose among any red carpet, I would always go with the $3.99 red bathmat of the interviews at Caldecott/Newberry. Check it out:

To see more go to On the Red Carpet at Ala with Jim Averbeck and Maria van Lieshout, with guess interviewer Betsy Bird.

My moment at the red bathmat is there too in an individual video segment, but my favorite is audiomalfunctioned Mo Willem’s.

More ALA Views: Pura Belpre Award Ceremony

First a definition/description:
"The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented 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." --from ALA website

And now my report.

At my signings, during the days before the award ceremony last week, I handed out a lot these printed invitations:

Then on Sunday afternoon I combed my hair (which I rarely do otherwise), "ironed my best tie, and pumped the tires of my bike," and the celebration began!

Here is…

...what I saw at the Pura Belpre:
-The California Pavilion in all colors with mexican sarapes adorning the tables and balloons crowning the stage.

-Gorgeous Irania all the way from North Carolina libraries, the Fresno gang, the San Francisco public library—present, Jackie Woodson and her baby, the Harcourt family, my agent Ms. Sheedy, Maria van Lieshout and Jim Averbeck representing my writer’s group, Lisa Brown, the South Carolina gang, my father and mother in law, my editor Reka Simonsen and the Holt group, Suzy from Nevada, Rene Colato and his stories, Visalia—present, the Pura Belpre committee, Fuse#8, my husband, my son and his guitar…I don’t have enough air to name everybody who was in the audience and all of those who helped put this fiesta together.

Here some images from timomeara@gmail.com

…what I heard at the Pura Belpre:
-Suni Paz opening the celebration with her guitar, and her songs old and sweet like the ones my mother always sings.

-My son’s guitar, strumming solemnly the love-declaration song to a ghost, la Llorona.

-A lullaby.

…what was said at the Pura Belpre:

-“When I started submitting my story (Los Gatos Black on Halloween) to publishers, editors would ask me, ‘but what does Spanish have to do with Halloween?’” –Marisa Montes, Pura Belpre text honor speech.

-“I would ask my mother, “mom, would you rather be right or be happy?”, and she would answer, “honey, it makes me very HAPPY to be RIGHT!”
“Una cucaracha!”—Carmen Agra Deedy, text honor speech.

-“If only there were words I didn’t have to say, Like Juan Francisco Manzano, and Cuba, I could do my speech with out crying.”—Margarita Engle, the night before her Pura Belpre speech.

-“De colores, de colores se visten los campos de la primavera…” Audience singing accompanied by the music of the children mariachi band.

...what I brought to give away:
-I had a chance to share my Gatos Black in Halloween bookmarks I designed. They looked like this on each side:

..what I learned at the Pura Belpre:
-Margarita Engle has heard la Llorona cry. After my speech and my mention of the ancient Mexican ghost of the weeping woman, she told me how in the mountains she had heard a female mountain lion's cry, warning against anybody coming closer to her babies, “And you don’t know,” Margarita said, “whether it is a mother lion or la Llorona—the cry so much like a woman weeping.”

-Hope, Esperanza, is a beautiful name for beautiful women. Gracias, Hope for taking care of me that day.

ALA views

Back in my studio after an excellent weekend in Anaheim. Here are a few images of the exhibits from husband’s camera.

And so here are the...

Things I learn in Anaheim: Maps are deceiving. A two block walk in the broiling streets of Anaheim—from hotel to convention center—means a sweaty 25 minute workout.

Things I ate at Anaheim: Ice-cream sundae I made myself at the Roaring Brook Press Bowling Party on Friday evening. I also ended up with stiff right forearm and a 14 point score.

Things I saw in Anaheim: Books by Latino, for Latinos, about Latinos:

Pablo. Pablo Neruda, by Gerogina Lazaro and Marcela Donoso.

Outstanding: The work of Rafael Lopez continues to mesmerize me, wow! Take a lookybook of Our California , written by Pam Muñoz Ryan

And BOOK FIESTA! Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day; Una celebración de El Día de los niños/El día de los libros

And I also found Rudy Gutierrez’s two first books, feasts to the eyes.

Papá and Me by Arthur Dorros

And Pele, King of Soccer/Pele, El Rey del Futbol, by Monica Brown, of which I don’t have an image of, but I can testify for its magnificence.

My attention went to these books not only because these are Latino, but because they are visually and thematically outstanding.

Montgomery Elementary and crossing haunted lagoons

I visited Montgomery Elementary in Davis before the end of the school year. We had assemblies and a mask making workshop. I was in awe with the skeleton masks the kids designed! Ribbons and pompoms where some of the favorite decorating material and were used so creatively that I couldn’t keep my mouth closed.

And so here are some questions sent to me from the third graders.

What is your favorite book you've made?
It is hard for me to choose a favorite book I have made. Some of them gave me unforgettable experiences, like Harvesting Hope: the Story of Cesar Chavez, a book that keeps making me friends with people who work and honor the legacy of Chavez. And I love Just a Minute with its birthday party theme, just like the cumpleaños I used to celebrate with my family in Mexico. Little Night is a book that reminds me of things my mother used to do and play with me when I was a child. This was a challenging book for me to paint due to its dark and yet colorful quality, and so I especially appreciated the satisfaction it gave me, after all my work and sweat, to do a good job. And Los Gatos Black is a celebration of the many things I used to be afraid of when I was a child, including witches, werewolves, el Coco, and la Llorona. Have you ever been afraid of la Llorona? I have!
My newest favorite is Just in Case, the sequel to Just a Minute. In this new book Sr. Calavera back comes back to the land of the living for this year’s Grandma Beetle’s birthday party. For this occasion—and in his quest to be on time—Sr. Calavera comes riding a bicycle decorated with tassels and bolitas, just like the bicycle I had when I was a child.

What is Señor Calavera supposed to be?
To me Sr. Calavera is a candied skeleton. The inspiration for this character was the Mexican sugar skulls children eat during the celebration for Day of the Death. These sugar skulls are always very colorful with lots of icing decorations. That is why Señor Calavera has decorations on his face, arms, and knees.

Why did you swim across the haunted lagoon?
I swam across the haunted lagoon because I didn’t want to be left behind inside haunted waters! This is how it happened:
When I was growing up in Mexico, my sisters and I became competitive swimmers. Our coach was a very creative person, and he constantly devised trainings that were very out of the ordinary.
For this particular training, the swimming team traveled to a youth camp at the edge of the famous Catemaco Lagoon. Catemaco is beautiful, hot and jungle-like, but it is also known for being land of witches and magical things. In the middle of the lake there are some tiny islands, one with herons, another one with monkeys. North of Catemaco, in the Monte Cerro Blanco, it is said that an annual meeting of witches and healers is held every March.
Our team consisted of my two younger sisters, two other girls, about four boys, and I. We all climbed into a small boat and took a short ride past one of the first islands, before my crazy coach made us jump into the water. “I’ll wait for you on the other side,” he said pointing at the direction where we were supposed to head towards. All I knew was that I needed to start swimming or else I would be left behind alone inside the dark waters of the Catemaco Lagoon. Some of the boys were already swimming ahead. At first I couldn’t even see the shore at the other side. We girls stayed together as a group for most of the swim. But we all, boys and girls, swam cutting through on one side of the lagoon; it is a huge lagoon (28.01 square miles) and it would have taken forever had we swam across the middle. It took us over two hours to reach the other side.
Would you like to see how beautiful Catemaco is? Here is a slide show I found online:

Maybe another I’ll tell you another time about the time our crazy coach made us swim to an island in the sea.

Where was Señor Calavera trying to take Grandma Beetle?
Hmmmm, where do YOU think?


Finally, here are some drawings from the letters I received from Mrs. Carol Stuwart’s 6th Graders. Look at the many interpretations of Señor Calavera!

Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children

Little Night has been name a Capitol Choices, and as I received the news, I found this book-award talk for Book Week:



Check this one too for Home of the Brave:

What to bring to ALA?

While I wait for Miss fuse #8’s next video blog, where she will tell me what to bring to ALA, here is my own list of don’t-forgets:

I-pod with Maria Bethania’s music from album Brasilerinho

Books Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth and Kaline Klattermaster's Tree

Itinerary, addresses, map

Son with waxed eyebrow (yes, one eyebrow is all he has)

Underwear
Husband with haircut (hopefully)
Pura Belpre Speech

Skyscraper-heels shoes for no walking at the Caldecott/Newberry

Bookmarks

Pictures of Chacho and Luna so that I don’t miss them too badly
Silver signing pens
Lots of bob pins
Handmade purse

Gatos Black’ Pura Belpre printed invitations. Print one of your own here

Am I forgetting anything else?

Edison Charter Academy

I visited Noah’s school at the end of last month.
Noah, is a little boy who 1) loves books 2) bakes cookies and other munchies with the help of his family 3) along with his bother and sister goes out into the neighborhood to sells those cookies and munchies so that he can make money to bring author’s to his school. Who wouldn’t want to come and visit Noah’s school? I came and this is what we did:

We painted tattoos

We wore silly hats. Thanks goodness it was crazy hat day at Edison Charter Academy, so I felt just at home. My favorite hat? An hamburger hat with mustard lettuce and all that a teacher was wearing.

We admired the incredible skeletons made at the art class: dancing, skeletons listening music in their i-pod, skeleton super-heroes... you name it. I wish I had taken the art class too.

and we made faces at the photographer

It was a mighty good day in San Francisco!

Busy May

Much happened in the last month. Things like:

San Benito, Texas, with a beautiful author's festival that looked like...

Terry in her dress

Authors and organizers

Sweet bread, pan dulce, for 600 people

aguas frescas of delicious flavors

My amigo Rene Colato full of stories

And the High School mariachi band that made me cry

And then, one afternoon, when we were free from school visits and festival, we, eight children’s books authors and two organizers, crossed the border and, if only for a few hours, my Corazon was where it belongs: We were in Mexico.

Americas Award and the secret

The America’s Award announced its 2008 winners, honors and commendations. The picture book winner is none other that one of my favorite productions of last year: Yum! Mmm! Que Rico! America’s Sproutings, by Pat Mora, illustrated by Rafael López. I have already ordered the novel winner, Red Glass, by Laura Resau.

I did get an announcement too. And announcement that was first a secret. Here are the specifics:

The keeper of the secret: Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo, organizers of the USC’s first Annual Celebration of Latino children’s Literature, and –and unknowingly to me a member of the Americas Award 2008 committee.

What I was doing: I was minding my own business sittin in one of the front rows. I was the closing keynote speaker.

Witnesses: conference attendees including speakers Dr. Katie G. Short and Lucia Gonzalez plus about 300 people who came to this first-time incredible conference in South Carolina.

How the secret was revealed: Jamie introduced the conference, welcomed the attendees, and then proceeded to announced that they had held an announcement until that morning, so that he could let me know in person that Little Night had been selected as an Americas Honor book.

My reaction: “viva!”

Here is the complete winner’s list

Herminia

Abuela doesn’t want to be called abuela, instead she wants to be called Mamá. Mamacita if you are afraid of her.

Even thought her husband the indio soldier already died, Mamacita still runs the house like military barracks. She shouts orders to her hijos and hijas, to the entenada who is nothing to her but lives in the house since her mother gave her away as a child, to her brother with sombrero, to the service girls who never go home, to the daughter-in-law who goes home only sometimes if she is granted permission, to the parrot before it got eaten by a rat, to the dog Loba tied on the roof, to the chayote plants growing wild in the garden. Mamacita, bellowing with the big drum of her belly, likes to give orders, and the house obeys.

This house, long like a chorizo, smells like carnitas fraying in the stove and candles lighting the Niño Jesus inside a glass box above her bed. But when Mamacita unties her braids at night, tired of giving orders all day long, what she longs for is the dusty smell of soldado indio. The bed feels so lonely since he left. The only thing her cama is good for now is turning around at night and for dreaming—dreaming that she is a child again and people call her Jirafa, giraffe with her long neck rising her eyes above the coffee fields where she works carrying sacks with the strength of a man. To Mamacita the world beyond looks misty and smell like pork.

But Mamacita stopped dreaming a long time ago. So long ago that her old birthday has already arrived and people now call her a pajarito; a little bird with her gray feather plastered to her skin and her hooked beak dipping weakly to the ground. Yet Mamacita likes birthdays almost as much as she likes giving orders, so shaking the flimsy feathers of her wings, she celebrate her pajarito birthday giving more orders. She is almost turning a 100, so her orders are a wish. With faint chirps that take her breath away, as the candles die out, she asks that the day comes for her to sleep with her soldado indio again. And like everyone else, the days obey.

Hermia Fuentes Viuda de Morales
Mach 22, 1914- May 2, 2008

Cesar Chavez day of service and learning

Here are a few things to do to celebrate today Cesar Chavez birthday:

Sign the petition for a National Cesar Chavez Holiday
Learn how to build a playground in your own community
Share Cesar Chavez Day bookmarks and posters
Bring Cesar Chavez to your classroom

Take youth-action
Join a parade or celebration

Send a Cesar Chavez e-card
Be creative
Be peace

Tomas Rivera Award for Los Gatos Black on Halloween

We are going to San Marcos to receive the Tomas Rivera Book Award!

Not only is San Marcos warm and beautiful, but they make the best of celebrations.

I was there first in 2004 to receive the award for Just a Minute. The next year my husband Tim and I were brought again for the 10th anniversary celebration. All the authors and illustrators winners of the first ten years were there too. We all took turns being interviewed for a film about the award, we rode together in a big van like if we were a rock band, and we talked, had meals together, attended events galore, and were bonded for ever and until the end of the world. Here are a couple of pictures of most of us.

Alright, San Marcos, here come Marisa, Los Gatos Black and I!

Little Night is the 2008 Golden Kite Award for Illustration

Those SCBWI folks always make my day! This is the third time in my life time that I receive a call from Lynn and Steve with good news.

The first time was eight years ago, when they announce that I had won the Don Freeman grant after I presented the very first illustrations of what eventually will become my book Just a Minute. A few years latter they honored me with a Golden Kite Honor.

This year? They left a message in my answering machine, to which I listen to after I came back from running with my dogs. This time my reaction was 1) to call back Lynn and Steve immediately, and 2) to try to do so by using my TV control remote.

That is what happens to my head when I am thinking with my heart.

Open Wide, Look Inside: Just a Minute podcast

Published by Tricia Stohr-Hunt at Open Wide, Look Inside, and narrated by Laura Bradlee, here is a podcast about using Just a Minute: A trickster Tale and Counting Book across the curriculum.