Cassidy Cud Chewing: Pura Belpre' Award 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.

2014 Winner

Morales, J. (2013). Niño wrestles the world. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.

Lucha Libre champion Niño tackles the horrific opponents who line up to wrestle him: La Momia de Guanajuato, Cabeza Olmeca, La Llorona, El Extraterrestre, and El Chamuco. Using his superb talents he defeats them with flair. When Las Hermanitas, his little sisters, wake from their nap, he finds that since they are too difficult to beat he must join them.

Follow-up: Go to Yuyi Morales' Web page at:

http://www.yuyimorales.com/ninowrestles.htm

You can make lucha masks:

Students may want to read other books by Yuyi Morales:

In this original trickster tale, Senor Calavera arrives unexpectedly at Grandma Beetle's door. He requests that she leave with him right away. "Just a minute," Grandma Beetle tells him. She still has one house to sweep, two pots of tea to boil, three pounds of corn to make into tortillas -- and that's just the start! Using both Spanish and English words to tally the party preparations, Grandma Beetle cleverly delays her trip and spends her birthday with a table full of grandchildren and her surprise guest. This spirited tribute to the rich traditions of Mexican culture is the perfect introduction to counting in both English and Spanish. The vivacious illustrations and universal depiction of a family celebration are sure to be adored by young readers everywhere.

Under October’s luna, full and bright, the monsters are throwing a ball in the Haunted Hall. Las brujas come on their broomsticks. Los muertosrise from their coffins to join in the fun. Los esqueletos rattle their bones as they dance through the door. And the scariest creatures of all aren’t even there yet!

This lively bilingual Halloween poem introduces young readers to a spooky array of Spanish words that will open their ojos to the chilling delights of the season.

Los Gatos Black on Halloween is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year, the winner of the 2008 Pura Belpre Medal for Illustration and a Pura Belpre Honor Book for Narrative.

2009 Winner

Engle, M. (2008) The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom. NY: Henry Holt and Company.

This book tells the story of the period in early Cuban history when the country was involved in three different wars for independence between 1868-1898. The captivating story, which includes mostly real people, is told in free verse form which serves to make the story manageable for young people. The amount of text per page is not overwhelming and each page is devoted to one person’s point of view. The simplicity makes the story easy to follow. It is the story of Rosa, a medicine woman and freed slave, who works to heal the injured in all three of Cuba’s wars for independence.