Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

According to the Hispanic Heritage Month website, "During National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) we recognize the contributions made and the important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and celebrate their heritage and culture."

Since 1995, the Association for Library Service to Children sponsors an annual award 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 award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library.

Here are a few of the Pura Belpre narrative winners:

• Juana & Lucas by Juana Medina
• Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle
• I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosin
• Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
• The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
• The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle
• The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle
• The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales
• Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

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