If you have been following me on my Instagram for some time, or have read a couple of my blog posts about books, it is no secret that children books are the way to my heart. Books from Latinx and Hispanic authors are my ultimate favorite.
In this blog post you will find a list of 12 Latinx Hispanic authors who are currently publishing and writing books for bilingual or bicultural children. You will find info on their journey as book authors and where to find their books as well.
Delia Ruiz
Delia Ruiz is a Latinx author from San Antonio, TX. She is an educator and holds a BA in elementary education and a Master’s in differentiated instruction in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Writing a book was always a dream for Delia.
She is the author of Roqui’s Pandero Beat and just signed on with the publisher Soaring Kite Books to release a bilingual board book set that debutes in 2023. Delia loves expressing herself via writing and hopes to inspire the next generation of writers who also come from immigrant households. In her free time, Delia enjoys dancing, reading, writing, and walking her two pugs.
About the book
Author of Roqui’s Pandero Beat, released in May 2021
Book summary: Roquí is a coquí frog who lives on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. Roquí has a big dream of playing plena music on the pandero drum, but he is afraid his small size will get in the way of becoming a musician. Follow Roquí’s journey while tapping to his syllable beat!
Get the book
Get in touch!
https://www.instagram.com/aventuras.en.esl/
Maritere Bellas
Award-winning author, bilingual parenting expert, speaker, writer, podcast host, IG-Live host, and social media influencer, Maritere R. Bellas combined her passion for writing and her devotion to motherhood to create a diverse platform of resources for parents, becoming a pioneer in offering information for parents looking to raise bilingual, multilingual, and multicultural children long before online resources were available.
About the books
Maritere is the author of four award winning parenting books: Raising Bilingual Children, Cómo Criar Niños Bilingues, published by Simon and Schuster in 2014, and Arroz con Pollo and Apple Pie: Raising Bicultural Children and Arroz con Pollo y Apple Pie: Cómo Criar Niños Biculturales, published in 2016. Her first bilingual children’s book, Luisito’s Island/La Isla de Luisito was published by ReadConmigo.org in 2018. Last December, her new bilingual children’s book, I have a Secret/Tengo un secreto, was released by 1010 Publishing.
Get the books
http://maritererodriguezbellas.com/book/
Get in touch!
https://www.instagram.com/latinaboomermom/
Natalia Simons
Natalia was born in England to a Spanish mother and an English father. She grew up bilingual and spent every summer in a quaint village in Spain with her grandparents and many cousins. She absolutely loves languages and different cultures and studied languages at university. She’s travelled extensively around Latin America and Spain and has worked in Children centres.
About the books
She has launched her book business called “Bilingo Books” and will be publishing more bilingual books in the upcoming months. The idea to be a self published author came when she was made redundant from her job due to the pandemic. It gave her time to go back to her passion, writing books. She was rejected from traditional publishers so decided to go down the self-publishing route and she’s ever so glad she did and it opened up a new world.
Her bilingual books are “The Spanglish Girl/ La Chica Espanglish”. This month she will publish her next bilingual book called. “The Mexiglish Girl / La Chica Mexiglish”
The Spanglish Girl/ La Chica Espanglish
Anna spends her summer holidays in Spain with her grandparents and at first doesn’t know much Spanish. The children in the village laugh at the way she speaks; they say she speaks differently to them. Her grandmother reminds her how lucky she is to speak two languages and have two heritages. The book will help readers with their Spanish and demonstrate the importance of kindness.
Get the book
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/bilingobooks/
https://www.facebook.com/BilingoBooks/
Alexandra Alessandri
Alexandra Alessandri is the author of Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela! (Albert Whitman) and Isabel and Her Colores go to School (Sleeping Bear Press). The daughter of Colombian immigrants, she is also a former Associate Professor of English and a poet, with some of her work appearing in The Acentos Review, Rio Grande Review, Atlanta Review, and Young Adult Review Network. Alexandra lives in Florida with her husband and son.
About the books
Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela!
Ava Gabriela is visiting her extended family in Colombia for the holidays. She’s excited to take part in family traditions such as making bunuelos, but being around all her loud relatives in an unfamiliar place makes Ava shy and quiet. How will Ava find her voice before she misses out on all the New Year’s fun?
Isabel and Her Colores Go to School
English, with its blustery blues and whites, just feels wrong to Isabel. She prefers the warm oranges and pinks of Spanish. As she prepares for class at a new school, she knows she’s going to have to learn–and she would rather not! Her first day is uncomfortable, until she discovers there’s more than one way to communicate with friends. This is a universal story about feeling new and making new friends.
Get the books
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/apalessandri/
Susana Ilera Martínez
Susana is a writer, designer, and aspiring poet from the beautiful Cali, Colombia. She lives in Miami, Florida where she enjoys taking pictures of sunsets, her orchids, and her two cats.
About the books
The bilingual author has an extensive catalogue, including Clara – Cuentos & Poemas , an anthology of poems for every emotion and season. Through this compilation.
Her newest collection of short stories and illustrations, Lo que escribo en la arena (cuentos y otras cosas que se olvidan), beautifully showcases the author’s versatile storytelling abilities as well as introducing the audience to a brand new range of topics and emotions.
Inspired by her love for storytelling and children’s literature; Illera Martinez, in collaboration with Snow Fountain Press, published her first children’s book: Lala, a different kind of lizard (Una lagartija diferente). This title was recognized in 2020 with second place in the International Latino Book Awards for “Most Inspirational Children’s Picture books”. This also became the first book in the Lala the Lizard™️ bilingual series, followed by Lala and the Pond by The Rock (Lala y el Charco de la Piedra), which is available August 2021.
Get the books
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/susanailleramartinez/
Marta Almansa
Marta Almansa Esteva is a Spanish mum of one and pediatric nurse in the United Kingdom. Her family is multilingual and she self-published her first bilingual children’s book in 2020. Being a mum and a children’s nurse, she realized there was an important need to have more health-related books for children, and in 2021 she self-published a book to teach first aid to young kids. She strongly believes that children with first aid skills are potential life-savers
About the books
‘There it is!’ is a fun and educational bilingual search and find book
It gets kids engaged and interested to find real-life images while they learn vocabulary in two languages. It’s great for bilingual or expat families, language teachers and children learning a second language. ‘There it is!’ has been translated to 5 languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Catalan.
‘Nurse Bear Does First Aid’ teaches young kids basic first aid skills and how to call an ambulance, because they can help too! Aimed at ages 2 to 6 years old, this book covers checking vital signs, handwashing, cuts, burns, head injuries, asthma attacks, allergies, and more. With images of real-life tools and materials used by healthcare professionals, it helps children recognise and become familiar with them.
Get the books
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/martaalmansabooks/
Rosario Ana
Rosario Ana was born in a small town in Asturias, in northern Spain.
Since she was little, she enjoyed writing stories and poetry, but what she liked the most was reading adventure and mystery books.
Since then, reading and writing have been part of her life, along with other passions such as nature, travelling and, above all, being a mother.
She lives in the UK, where she graduated in Environmental Science.
About the book
In December 2020 she published her first book for children, “In Search of the Secret Gate”, that became a number one Amazon Spain best-selling book.
The book also has an English edition with the title “In Search of the Secret Gate”.
The sequel, “In Search of the Secret Gate 2”, will be released in September 2021.
Get the books
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/rosarioanaautora/
Leticia Ordaz
Leticia Ordaz is the founder of bilingual publishing house Cielito Lindo Books and an award-winning children’s book author at the International Latino Book Awards. She is also an Emmy-nominated anchor/reporter in Sacramento, California. Leticia is the author of The Adventures of Mr. Macaw, That Girl on TV Could Be Me! The Journey of a Latina News Anchor, and Mr. Macaw’s Paleta Adventure. As a literacy ambassador, she is excited to share bilingual stories with children around the world. Leticia hopes to break barriers and change statistics that currently show only 5% of children’s books feature Latinx characters or subjects, and there are only 5% Latinx authors and illustrators in the U.S.
About the books
Mr. Macaw’s Paleta Adventure is a spellbinding celebration of Latino culture. Features English and Spanish on every page, for easy language comprehension for Early Readers. It whips up the fun of bilingual education from the very beginning, building their vocabulary and fostering a positive view of lovable Latinx characters.
Get the books
The Adventures of Mr. Macaw, Las Aventuras del Sr. Macaw (bilingual picture book)
That Girl on TV Could Be Me!: The Journey of a Latina News Anchor / ¡Yo Podría Ser Esa Chica el la Tele! El Camino de una Noticiera Latina
(bilingual non-fiction picture book)
Mr. Macaw’s Paleta Adventure (Sensory Board Book)
Get in touch
Cielito Lindo Books (Latina-Owned Children’s Book Publisher)
Rukia Kufakunoga
Rukia Kufakunoga is an author from Michigan. She is a second generation immigrant born to a mother from Tanzania and mother from Panama. Rukia went to Central Michigan University where she received her bachelor’s of science degree from Central Michigan University. She is the founder of Latina Looks Like Me TM, an empowerment brand dedicated to educating the world about the diversity & beauty of the Latino culture. Rukia is a Afro-Latina who is proud of her culture.
About the books
Latina looks like me” is a book series that depicts the importance of embracing characteristics that make us unique. This book will teach young girls how to confidently embrace their ethnicity, and boldly share their experiences with the world
Get the book
https://www.latinalookslikeme.com/book
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/latinalookslikeme/
https://www.latinalookslikeme.com
Sandy Zanella
Dr. Sandy Zanella is a mom of 2, a physician by training and a kids yoga teacher. She is the author and creator of Children’s book “Happy Yogis.” She wants to encourage children especially Latin kids to love and accept themselves as they are, be confident and resilient, she dreams with helping families thrive and find joy together through yoga. This is why it was so important for her to publish a bilingual Spanish edition of her book.
About the books
Happy Yogis is a colorful pose by pose family yoga book inspired by her kids. A book with positive affirmations to skyrocket kids confidence, a meditation and a breathing exercise to give children the tools they need to practice mindfulness and help them relax their body, refocus their mind and reduce stress & anxiety. There are two editions, one in English and the second one bilingual (Spanish & English)
Get the books
Bilingual
English
She is also the co-author of “Doctoras con Alas” an inspiring book in Spanish that tells the stories of 26 women who migrated and started a new life abroad.
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/mymindfulmomlife/
Cristina Sicard
From Canton, Ohio, Cristina Sicard has loved writing picture books since she was little. She hasn’t gotten much bigger, but her love for storytelling has. Everything to her is a story! Cristina especially loves hearing stories from her family in the Dominican Republic.
About the books
The books she writes are intended for both children and the inner child we all have as adults. She believes “It is so important for Latina authors like myself to write books that for too long were not considered good enough to make it on the market”.
Harmony
Harmony is a llama and he wishes he lived in Peru with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins instead of on a farm in Ohio. Whenever he thinks about the family he may never see, Harmony is sad. That is, until the owner of the farm on which he and his parents and many other llamas live, shows Harmony that he is special and loved and he can have a family in Ohio, too.
Sabana the sloth
What makes Sábana the Sloth extra special is her Mami illustrated the stunning, colorful, and of course cute pictures you will see. The messages highlighted in Sábana the Sloth help through life’s pain as well.
Get the books
Get in touch
https://cristinasicardauthor.com/
Katherine Emely Gomez
Katherine Emely Gómez is a Visual Artist known for her self-portraits, featuring symbolic dreamlike imaging using photography and oil painting. Gómez’s work has been selectively presented in gallery exhibitions, locally and across several states in the US including a Solo Show in New York City. She holds a Masters in Fine Arts from Lehman College- the City University of New York.
About the book
Her educational picture book “Mixing Colors with Fruits and Tropical Dishes” together with the “Three Art Lesson Plans & Activities/A Guide for Parents and Teachers” book debut in 2020 for children and families to enjoy. As a Dominican American, food was a major factor in upbringing her family’s Dominicanism and iconic dishes at her center table: From breakfast plates like Mangu (Tres golpes) and Morir Soñando to dinner cuisines like Shrimp with Mofongo, Rice with Beans, Meat and Avocados.
Get the book
Get in touch
https://www.instagram.com/katherineemelygomez/
As a plus, some of these authors offer zoom visits and read alouds for your school. We were so lucky to have Katherine Emely Gomez and we are excited to have Maritere Bellas visit us this school year.
Share this blog post with your school librarian, teacher friend or a mom who wants to expand her home library.
Do you have my self published bilingual book?
My first bilingual children’s book “A veces en inglés, a veces en español” is officially here!.
In this book you will find a story of how a little boy finds two cultures and two languages, not only in his home but in the world around him.
Click here to purchase the book on Amazon
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