Angela Cervantes is the Mexican American author of popular children’s novels Lead with Your Heart (American Girls book); Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring; Gaby, Lost and Found; Allie, First at Last and; Lety Out Loud, which won a 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Award. In addition to her original novels, Angela authored the junior novelization for Disney/Pixar’s animated-film, Coco and Disney’s animated film, Encanto.
Angela is a daughter of a retired elementary-school teacher who instilled in her a love for reading and storytelling. Angela writes from her home in Kansas City. When she’s not writing, Angela enjoys reading, running, gazing up at clouds, and taking advantage of Taco Tuesdays.
Career Highlights
- Encanto: The Junior Novel is published by Disney Random House on October 12, 2021
- Lead With Your Heart is published by American Girl Books on March 30, 2021.
- In 2021, Angela’s short story Yoli Calderón and Principal Hayes is included in the Mexican American anthology Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America by publisher Philomel.
- Lety Out Loud is named a 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Book Award by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.
- Lety Out Loud is published by Scholastic Press on February 26, 2019
- Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring is named as a finalist for the Texas Bluebonnet Master List (2019-2020)
- Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring is published by Scholastic Press on March 27, 2018
- Coco: The Junior Novel is published by Disney Random House on October 10, 2017
- Angela attends the Hollywood premiere of the Disney/Pixar movie, Coco, on November 9, 2017
- Allie, First at Last is published by Scholastic on March 30, 2016
- Gaby, Lost and Found is published by Scholastic on July 29, 2013
- In 2008, The Kansas City Star Magazine named Angela an Emerging Artists.
- In 2007, Angela won third place for Creative Nonfiction in the Missouri Review’s audio competition for her story “House of Women” which is based on her time in Guadalajara, Mexico
- In 2007, Angela’s short story “Ten Hail Marys” wins the Kansas City Voices Best of Prose Award (Whispering Prairie Press)
- In 2005, Angela’s short story, Pork-Chop Sandwiches is published in “Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul”
- In 2001, Along with Chicana poetry group Las Poetas, Angela opened for El Vez at the Grand Emporium in Kansas City.
