Reading is Good Trouble
When I was a kid, I used to get in trouble for reading too much. It’s true. I’d lug books everywhere I went, including to the dinner table. In between bites of chicken enchiladas or a forkful of spaghetti, I’d read. I’d read right up until my mom would call...
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Listen Up! 5 Reasons Audiobooks Are a Powerful Reading Tool
I have always enjoyed listening to audiobooks during long flights or road trips. A gripping thriller can quash boredom and make the time fly. So, when I signed a contract with Tantor Media to have my children’s books turned into audiobooks, I was overjoyed. Having my children’s books like Lety...
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Book Cover Reveal Day!!
My next children's novel, The Cursed Moon, will hit bookstores in September! But the book cover reveal is TODAY!! The Cursed Moon is the scary children's story I’ve wanted to write since I was a kid. Actually, the novel's plot is inspired by a scary story I once told my...
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What is Día de Los Niños?
I first learned about Día de los niños or The Day of the child when I lived in Guadalajara, Mexico. At the private school where I taught English, it was celebrated every April 30th. On this special day they allowed students to show up to school in their pajamas. The...
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Championing Diversity: Ten Ways You Can Support Diverse Children’s Authors
I love being a children’s writer and I enjoy being part of a growing diverse literary world. As I child who loved to read, I never saw children like me or children that had a Hispanic/Latino surnames like mine in the books at our school. That absence felt wrong. I...
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Banned But Not Broken: My Personal Story
In November 2022, the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) organization notified me that my children's novel, Gaby, Lost and Found, was removed from school library bookshelves throughout Florida’s Duval County Public Schools (DCPS). I was shocked by the news. At the beginning of 2022 Gaby, Lost and Found had been on...
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Teacher’s Pick: Me, Frida and The Secret of the Peacock Ring
Let's be honest. Most of us purchase stuff from Amazon. What once started out as an online bookstore is now the world's largest online retailer selling everything from books to bird feeders. Amazon's massive influence has shifted our shopping habits and that extends to how we as consumers buy our...
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Pura Belpré Honor Book Award for Lety Out Loud
I'm happy to announce that my children's novel, Lety Out Loud, was named a 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Book. Woo hoo! Wait! What is a Pura Belpré award? The Pura Belpré Award was named for the first Latina librarian in New York City. Annually, the American Library Association (ALA) and...
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Author’s Inspiration: Lety Out Loud
When I sit down to write, I always try to create the kind of stories that I craved as a young girl. Since pets were a huge part of my childhood, I write about brave, smart Latinx main characters who are determined to protect animals. Lety Out Loud was inspired...
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Three Reasons to Have Bilingual Children’s Books in The Classroom
As a children's author who conducts school visits all across the country, I've met some amazing ESOL (English for Students of Other Languages) teachers who ask me if my children's books are available in Spanish. I'm happy that I can answer YES! There are many reasons having my books translated...
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Happy Birthday, Frida Kahlo! Book Giveaway!
In honor of Frida Kahlo's birthday on July 6th, me and Sugar Chat Cookie Studio are celebrating with a fun giveaway for two lucky winners! More details below. Sorry, we can only accommodate entries from Continental USA. Me and Cindi from Sugar Chat Cookie studio. Two winners will be randomly selected...
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Book-Inspired Classroom Art!
My Frida Kahlo-inspired children's novel, Me, Frida and The Secret of the Peacock Ring, has inspired some beautiful classroom art! Frida Kahlo would be proud, right? Thanks to the Texas Book Festival's Reading Rockstar Program, teachers and their students in the Rio Grande Valley were the first to receive a...
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Book Cover Reveal: Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring!
Please judge this book by its cover The amazing artist behind the book cover for Me, Frida and The Secret of the Peacock Ring is Rafael Lopez. Rafael is an award-winning illustrator who has worked with some of the top names in the children's publishing industry. I met Rafael once...
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Book Cover Reveal: Coco: The Junior Novelization
Day of the dead or Día de los Muertos is a very special holiday for me. It's a time to honor and remember our ancestors. So, it was an honor to write Coco: junior novelization for Disney Pixar. I enjoyed hunkering down for three months at my desk writing about...
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Diverse Books and Voices- My partial list
Often, I'm asked for diverse book recommendations, so I made a list. This list is by no means complete nor organized in any profound way. I'm sure that I'm leaving off LOTS of books, but these are the ones I've managed to read (in between my writing schedule) and have...
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Book Cover Reveal: Allie, First at Last is Here!!
My second children's book, Allie, First At Last, is almost out to the world! To prepare we must have a book cover reveal. But first, why are book cover reveals so important? It seems like all author celebrate cover reveals, right? Book cover reveals are for the readers! It's the...
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Ten Coolest Moments as a Published Children’s Author
My first book Gaby, Lost and Found was published by Scholastic in 2012. Since its publication in 2012, there have been some major moments for me as a debut author. See a few highlights below. Enjoy! Let the count down begin! 10. I Met Judy Blume at the ALA –...
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