Afro-Latinx Author/Book List

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1	Afro-Latinx Author/Book List
2	Date	Author	Author Bio	Book & Synopsis	Grade Level	Resource Highlight	Description	Resource Link	Bookstore to Highlight	Other resources
3	Week of February 1st	Elizabeth Acevedo	is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High—which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal—and Clap When You Land, which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist. She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem, Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC with her love.	The Poet X: "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 all her frustration and passion 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 named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami's determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she doesn't know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can't stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent."	Young Adult/High School	AFRO-LATINO CULTURE AND IDENTITY: A GUIDE FOR SPANISH TEACHERS	A breakdown of what the term Afro-Latino means and resources for learning about famous Afro-Latinos in Spanish class.	https://spanishmama.com/afro-latino-resources-for-teachers/	https://www.willasbookskc.com/	https://afrotech.com/10-black-owned-online-bookstores-to-support-while-at-home
4	Week of February 7th	Junot Diaz	Junot Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. He is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, and PEN/O. Henry Award. A graduate of Rutgers College, Díaz is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the cofounder of Voices of Our Nation Workshop.	Elementary: Islandborn: "Every kid in Lola’s school was from somewhere else. Hers was a school of faraway places. So when Lola’s teacher asks the students to draw a picture of where their families immigrated from, all the kids are excited. Except Lola. She can’t remember The Island—she left when she was just a baby. But with the help of her family and friends, and their memories—joyous, fantastical, heartbreaking, and frightening—Lola’s imagination takes her on an extraordinary journey back to The Island. As she draws closer to the heart of her family’s story, Lola comes to understand the truth of her abuela’s words: “Just because you don’t remember a place doesn’t mean it’s not in you.” Young Adult: "This is How you Lose Her": In prose that is endlessly energetic, inventive, tender, and funny, the stories in This Is How You Lose Her lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart. They remind us that passion always triumphs over experience and that “the half-life of love is forever.	Elementary & Young Adult	TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS	Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace where teachers buy and sell original educational materials.	https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:Afro%20Latinx%20	https://www.blkbrwn.com/	http://www.elboricua.com/Poem_Y%20tu%20abuela.html
5	Week of February 14th	Author & Illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera	Cozbi A. Cabrera was born in Brooklyn, NY to parents who were born in Honduras. A former art director for music, she creates and illustrates picture books for young readers. In addition to writing and painting, she loves working in textiles. Her handmade dolls or "muñecas" are collected around the world.	My Hair is a Garden: "After a day of being taunted by classmates about her unruly hair, Mackenzie can’t take any more and she seeks guidance from her wise and comforting neighbor, Miss Tillie. Using the beautiful garden in the backyard as a metaphor, Miss Tillie shows Mackenzie that maintaining healthy hair is not a chore nor is it something to fear. Most importantly, Mackenzie learns that natural black hair is beautiful." Me & Mama: "On a rainy day when the house smells like cinnamon and Papa and Luca are still asleep, when the clouds are wearing shadows and the wind paints the window with beads of water, I want to be everywhere Mama is."	Elementary	Black History Month Resources: Afro-Latinx Resources	Black History Month Resource Guide: In honor of February being Black History Month, highlighting a number of African American resources that are available through UNLV Libraries, in addition to a variety of web resources.	https://guides.library.unlv.edu/c.php?g=441689&p=4341187	https://www.essencebookgallery.com/	https://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/
6	Week of February 21st	Author & Illustrator Eric Velazquez	Eric Velasquez was born in Spanish Harlem to Afro-Puerto Rican parents and grew up in Harlem. The many awards he has won include a Pura BelprE and the Coretta-Scott King/John Steptoe Award. He illustrated Ol' Clip-Clop by Patricia C. McKissack, which received starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. He lives in New York with his family.	"Octopus Stew," about a boy named Ramsey who must save his grandmother from the gargantuan octopus she's cooking. "Looking for Bongo" - Where could Bongo be? Help a young boy find his beloved toy—and figure out how he got lost to begin with. The boy knows Bongo was right there with him this morning—but suddenly, Bongo is missing. He asks his whole family if they've seen the stuffed toy. "Yo no sé," says abuela, "I don't know." Mom and Dad haven't seen him either. And Gato just meows and runs away. When he finds Bongo, the boy is thrilled—but he still doesn't understand how his toy ended up there. So he sets a trap to catch the Bongo thief. . . . Eric Velasquez's detailed, expressive illustrations follow the boy's investigation throughout his home, giving a glimpse at a warm, multi-generational family.	Elementary	Five Ideas for Teaching about Afro- Latino Identity	Ideas for educators to recognize, celebrate, and incorporate Afro-Latino history into black history lessons.	https://www.unidosus.org/progress-report/its-black-history-month-here-are-five-ideas-for-teaching-about-afro-latino-identity/		https://mcpl.info/staff-picks/YA%20Black%20History%20Month
7	Week of February 28th	Veronica Chambers	Veronica Chambers is a prolific author, best known for her critically acclaimed memoir Mama’s Girl. She coauthored the award-winning memoir Yes, Chef with chef Marcus Samuelsson, as well as Samuelsson’s young-adult memoir Make It Messy, and has collaborated on four New York Times bestsellers, most recently 32 Yolks, which she cowrote with chef Eric Ripert. She has been a senior editor at the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and Glamour. Born in Panama and raised in Brooklyn, she writes often about her Afro-Latina heritage. She speaks, reads, and writes Spanish, but she is truly fluent in Spanglish. She is currently a John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University.	The Go-Between: "She is the envy of every teenage girl in Mexico City. Her mother is a glamorous telenovela actress. Her father is the go-to voice-over talent for blockbuster films. Hers is a world of private planes, chauffeurs, paparazzi and gossip columnists. Meet Camilla del Valle—Cammi to those who know her best. When Cammi’s mom gets cast in an American television show and the family moves to LA, things change, and quickly. Her mom’s first role is playing a not-so-glamorous maid in a sitcom. Her dad tries to find work but dreams about returning to Mexico. And at the posh, private Polestar Academy, Cammi’s new friends assume she’s a scholarship kid, the daughter of a domestic. At first Cammi thinks playing along with the stereotypes will be her way of teaching her new friends a lesson. But the more she lies, the more she wonders: Is she only fooling herself?" ABOUT SHIRLEY CHISHOLM IS A VERB A timely picture book biography about Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress, who sought the Democratic nomination to be the president of the United States. Shirley Chisholm famously said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” This dynamic biography illuminates how Chisholm was a doer, an active and vocal participant in our nation’s democracy, and a force to be reckoned with. Now young readers will learn about her early years, her time in Congress, her presidential bid and how her actions left a lasting legacy that continues to inspire, uplift, and instruct."	Young Adult/High School					https://martamorenovega.org/
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