A Decade of Pura Belpré Award Winners

Created on August 13, 2021, 10:45 am

Last Updated August 13, 2021, 10:50 am

This list includes the 2011-2021 winners. 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. The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. As a children's librarian, storyteller, and author, she enriched the lives of Puerto Rican children in the U.S.A. through her pioneering work of preserving and disseminating Puerto Rican folklore.

1) ¡Vamos!: let's go eat

Author

Raúl the Third

Series

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Talking Book

Description

"Little Lobo, a Mexican American, and Bernabé, his dog, gather tacos, frutas picadas, cuernos, and more and deliver them to los luchadores preparing for Lucha Libre 5000."--Provided by publisher.

Author

Méndez, Yamile Saied

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Seventeen-year-old Camila Hassan, a rising soccer star in Rosario, Argentina, dreams of playing professionally, in defiance of her fathers' wishes and at the risk of her budding romance with Diego.

3) Efrén divided: a novel

Author

Cisneros, Ernesto

Series

Thorndike Press large print middle reader

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"Efrén Nava's Amá is his Superwoman--or Soperwoman, named after the delicious Mexican sopes his mother often prepares. Both Amá and Apá work hard all day to provide for the family, making sure Efrén and his younger siblings Max and Mia feel safe and loved. But Efrén worries about his parents; although he's American-born, his parents are undocumented. His worst nightmare comes true one day when Amá doesn't return from work and is deported...

4) Sal & Gabi break the universe

Author

Hernandez, Carlos Alberto Pablo

Series

Sal and Gabi novels volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

How did a raw chicken get inside Yasmany's locker? When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn't under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal's office for the third time in three days, and it's still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken...

5) Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln

Author

Engle, Margarita

Formats:

Description

Winner of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book

In soaring words and stunning illustrations, Margarita Engle and Rafael López tell the story of Teresa Carreño, a child prodigy who played piano for Abraham Lincoln.
As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and...

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Kit

Description

"An illustrated picture book autobiography in which award-winning author Yuyi Morales tells her own immigration story"--

Author

Acevedo, Elizabeth

Series

Thorndike Press large print The literacy bridge

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Kit, Playaway

Description

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours her frustration onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers - especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class. With Mami's determination to force her daughter...

8) La princesa and the pea

Author

Elya, Susan Middleton

Description

"A rhyming twist on a classic fairy tale in which a queen places a pea under a young lady's mattress to see if she is truly a princess. Incorporates Spanish words and includes a glossary"--

9) Lucky broken girl

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

In 1960s New York, fifth-grader Ruthie, a Cuban-Jewish immigrant, must rely on books, art, her family, and friends in her multicultural neighborhood when an accident puts her in a body cast.

10) A journey to the center of the earth

Author

Series

Dover thrift editions

Formats:

Book, CD audio book, eAudiobook, eComic, Playaway

Description

"In one of Verne's supreme adventures, Professor Lidenbrock discovers a centuries-old document which, when decoded by his brilliant nephew Axel, offers instructions to the Earth's core. Accompanied by an Icelandic guide, they set off on a dangerous and exciting trek that begins with a descent into an extinct volcano. As the explorers travel through geologic time, they encounter a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of humanity"--

11) Juana & Lucas

Author

Series

Juana and Lucas volume 1

Formats:

Description

A spunky young girl from Colombia loves playing with her canine best friend and resists boring school activities, especially learning English, until her family tells her that a special trip is planned to an English-speaking place.

12) Enchanted air: two cultures, two wings : a memoir

Author

Engle, Margarita

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

"In this ... memoir, Margarita Engle, the first Latina woman to receive a Newbery Honor, tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War"--Amazon.com.

13) Drum dream girl: how one girl's courage changed music

Author

Engle, Margarita

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Talking Book

Description

Follows a young Cuban girl in the 1930s as she strives to become a drummer, despite being continually reminded that only boys play the drums, and that there's never been a female drummer in Cuba. Includes note about Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, who inspired the story, and Anacaona, the all-girl dance band she formed with her sisters.

Author

Description

Via spare text, examines Kahlo's creative process.

15) I lived on Butterfly Hill

Author

Agosín, Marjorie

Description

When her beloved country, Chile, is taken over by a militaristic, sadistic government, Celeste is sent to America for her safety and her parents must go into hiding before they "disappear."

16) Niño Wrestles the World

Author

Series

Nino (Yuyi Morales) volume 1

Formats:

eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Señoras y señores, put your hands together for the fantastic, spectacular, one of a kind . . . Niño!

Fwap! Slish! Bloop! Krunch! He takes down his competition in a single move!
No opponent is too big a challenge for the cunning skills of Niño—popsicle eater, toy lover, somersault expert, and world champion lucha libre competitor!
Niño Wrestles the World is in English with Spanish vocabulary, and is a fun, colorful

...

17) Yaqui Delgado wants to kick your ass

Author

Series

Thorndike Press large print striving reader collection

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

"One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn't even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she's done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn't Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn't kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying...

18) Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe

Author

Sáenz, Benjamin Alire

Series

Aristotle and Dante volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.

19) Martín de Porres: the rose in the desert

Author

Schmidt, Gary D

Description

Shares the story of the mixed-race saint known for his healing miracles and advocacy of orphaned children, tracing his rise from slavery to becoming an esteemed member of the Dominican Order.

20) Diego Rivera: his world and ours

Author

Tonatiuh, Duncan

Description

An introduction to the life, career, and influence of the Mexican painter Diego Rivera.