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2022 Pura Belpré Awards

Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15-October 15, which makes this an especially great time to check out this year’s Pura Belpré Award and Honor books. The Pura Belpré Award, “established in 1996, is presented annually 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.” 

Vamos! Let's cross the bridge

Vamos! Let's cross the bridge

by Raúl the Third
 
2022 Youth Illustrator Award Winner
 
Using their new truck to carry party supplies over the bridge, Little Lobo and his dog Bernabé are stuck in traffic and decide to throw an epic party to pass the time. 
Boogie boogie, y'all

Boogie boogie, y'all

by C. G Esperanza
 
2022 Youth Illustrator Honor
 
Lively and colorful with a read-aloud beat, this picture book celebrates the rich culture of the Boogie Down Bronx, inviting readers to an epic block party! 
Bright Star

Bright Star

by Yuyi Morales

2022 Youth Illustrator Honor 
 
Making its way through a border landscape teaming with native flora and fauna, a fawn must overcome its fears when it comes face-to-face with an insurmountable barrier, in a visually stunning picture book from the creator of the New York Times best-selling Dreamers.
De aquí como el coquí/ From here like the coquí

De aquí como el coquí/ From here like the coquí

by Nomar Perez
 
2022 Youth Illustrator Honor
 
When Miguel and his parents move from Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland, Miguel misses their home, his grandparents, and his pet frog, Coquí, but he soon realizes that New York City has more in common with back home than he originally thought. 
May your life be deliciosa

May your life be deliciosa

by Michael Genhart
 
2022 Youth Illustrator Honor
 
Each year on Christmas Eve, Rosie's abuela teaches her not only how to make a delicious tamale, but how to make a delicious life--one filled with love, plenty of spice, and family
The last cuentista

The last cuentista

by Donna Barba Higuera
 
2022 Children's Author Award Winner
 
Había una vez...There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children--among them Petra and her family--have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet--and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard--or purged them altogether. Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, anyhope for our future. Can she make them live again?
Barefoot dreams of Petra Luna

Barefoot dreams of Petra Luna

by Alda P. Dobbs
 
2022 Children's Author Honor
 
After her mother dies and her father is dragged away by soldiers in 1931 during the Mexican Revolution, 12-year-old Petra Luna will do anything to keep her family safe and lead them to a better life across the U.S. border. 
Child of the flower-song people : Luz Jiménez, daughter of the Nahua

Child of the flower-song people : Luz Jiménez, daughter of the Nahua

by Gloria Amescua
 
2022 Children's Author Honor
 
This visually stunning biography tells the extraordinary story of how model and teacher Luz Jiménez became “the soul of Mexico”—a living link between the indigenous Nahua and the rest of the world. 
De aquí como el coquí/ From here like the coquí

De aquí como el coquí/ From here like the coquí

by Nomar Perez
 
2022 Children's Author Honor
 
When Miguel and his parents move from Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland, Miguel misses their home, his grandparents, and his pet frog, Coquí, but he soon realizes that New York City has more in common with back home than he originally thought. 
How Moon Fuentez fell in love with the universe

How Moon Fuentez fell in love with the universe

by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
 
2022 Young Adult Author Award Winner
 
When she takes a job as a “merch girl” on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers, Moon Fuentez, the twin sister of a social media star, questions her destiny as the unnoticed, unloved wallflower she always thought she was. 

by Jonny Garza Villa
 
2022 Young Adult Author Honor 
 
With the one person who understands him fifteen hundred miles away, Jules must face his fears about coming out alone, which accidentally propels him into the life he’s always dreamed of. 
Somewhere between bitter and sweet

Somewhere between bitter and sweet

by Laekan Zea Kemp

2022 Young Adult Author Honor 
 
An ambitious girl who fears disappointing her traditional Mexican-American parents finds her world upended by a long-held secret before she bonds with a boy who would protect his immigration status and newfound family. 
Where I belong

Where I belong

by Marcia Argueta Mickelson
 
2022 Young Adult Author Honor 

Guatemalan-American high school senior Millie Vargas struggles to balance her family's needs with her own ambitions, especially after her mother's employer, a Senate candidate, uses Millie as a poster child for 'deserving' immigrants.