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2023 Pura Belpre 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.” 

The coquíes still sing / : A Story of Home, Hope, and Rebuilding

The coquíes still sing / : A Story of Home, Hope, and Rebuilding

by Karina Nicole González

2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor, 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Author Honor
 
 
"Co-quí, co-quí! The coquí frogs sing to Elena from her family's beloved mango tree--their calls so familiar that they might as well be singing, "You are home, you are safe." But home is suddenly not safe when a hurricane threatens to destroy everything that Elena knows.
A land of books : dreams of young Mexihcah word painters

A land of books : dreams of young Mexihcah word painters

by Duncan Tonatiuh
 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor
 
Paying tribute to Mesoamerican ingenuity and celebrating the universal power of books, this book, as told by a young Aztec girl, shows how her parents and others paint manuscripts to document their history, science, tributes and sacred rituals. 
Magic : once upon a faraway land

Magic : once upon a faraway land

by Mirelle Ortega
 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor
 
Growing up on a pineapple farm in Mexico, a young girl discovers the magic in everyday transformations that take place around her.
Phenomenal AOC : the roots and rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Phenomenal AOC : the roots and rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

by Anika Denise
 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor
 
In 2019, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest congresswoman in America. How did this young Puertoriqueña become an unstoppable force in politics? Find out in this accessible and engaging book for young readers. AOC's remarkable story begins in her childhood Bronx home and comes full circle the moment AOC became America's youngest Congresswoman. Ocasio-Cortez's empowering journey reminds us that everyone, regardless of their age, race, creed, wealth, or zip code, is capable of being a voice for change.
Srta. Quinces/ Miss Quinces

Srta. Quinces/ Miss Quinces

by Kat Fajardo
 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor
 
Sue just wants to spend the summer reading and making comics at sleepaway camp with her friends, but instead she gets stuck going to Honduras to visit relatives with her parents and two sisters. The trip takes a turn for the worse when Sue's mother announces that they'll be having a surprise quinceañera for Sue, which is the last thing she wants. She can't imagine wearing a big, floofy, colorful dress! What is Sue going to do? And how will she survive all this 'quality' time with her rambunctious family?
 
Still Dreaming/ Seguimos Soąndo

Still Dreaming/ Seguimos Soąndo

by Claudia Guadalupe Martn̕ez
 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor
 
A child dreams of a life without borders after he and and his parents are forced to leave their home during the Mexican Repatriation.
 
Where wonder grows

Where wonder grows

by Xelena González
 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Award
 
When their Grandma invites them to explore her collection of treasures in her special garden, her granddaughters find their imaginations sparked by these objects from nature that each tell a powerful story. Illustrations.
The notebook keeper : a story of kindness from the border

The notebook keeper : a story of kindness from the border

by Stephen Briseño
 
2023 Pura Belpré Youth Author Honor
 
Based on a true account, this moving and beautifully illustrated picture follows Noemi and her Mama as they flee their home in Mexico and head for the U.S. border, where an unexpected act of kindness changes their lives forever. 
Tumble

Tumble

by Celia C. Pérez

2023 Pura Belpré Youth Author Honor
 
While trying to make a life-changing decision, 12-year-old Adela Ramirez searches for her birth father, which leads her to the legendary Bravos, professional wrestlers who teach her what it really means to be part of a family. 
Frizzy

Frizzy

by Claribel A. Ortega

2023 Pura Belpré Youth Author Award
 
Tired of going to the salon to have her curls straightened every weekend, Marlene slowly learns to embrace her natural curly hair with the help of her best friend and favorite aunt. 
Breathe and count back from ten

Breathe and count back from ten

by Natalia Sylvester
 
2023 Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Honor
 
Verónica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body.
High spirits : short stories on Dominican diaspora

High spirits : short stories on Dominican diaspora

by Camille Gomera-Tavarez

2023 Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Honor
 
This collection of 11 interconnected short stories from the Dominican diaspora explore machismo, mental health and identity by following one extended family across multiple generations.
The lesbiana's guide to Catholic school

The lesbiana's guide to Catholic school

by Sonora Reyes

2023 Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Honor
 
Transferred to a Catholic school, 16-year-old Yami Flores finds it hard to fake being straight when she falls for Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, but refuses to follow her heart until she learns to live her full truth out loud. 
Burn down, rise up

Burn down, rise up

by Vincent Tirado

2023 Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Award
 
When an urban legend rumored to trap people inside subway tunnels seems to be behind mysterious disappearances in the Bronx, sixteen-year-old Raquel and her friends team up to save their city--and confront a dark episode in its history in the process