Juana Martinez-Neal
Juana Martinez-Neal es autora e ilustradora de libros infantiles. Se crió en Perú donde, siendo hija y nieta de artistas, estudió pintura. Su premio más reciente es la Medalla Siebert del 2020 para Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, escrito por Kevin Noble Maillard. Alma and How She Got Her Name fue su debut como autora e ilustradora, y fue nombrado como un Libro de Honor Caldecott en el 2019 y también recibió mención honorífica para la escritora del Premio Ezra Jack Keats ese mismo año. También está disponible en español bajo el título Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre. Otro libro, La Princesa and the Pea, escrito por Susan Middleton Elya, ganó la Medalla para Ilustración Pura Belpré en el 2018. Ella ahora vive en Connecticut con su familia.
Juana Martinez-Neal is a children’s book author and illustrator. She grew up in Perú where, being the daughter and granddaughter of artists, she studied painting. Her most recent award was the 2020 Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, written by Kevin Noble Maillard. Alma and How She Got Her Name was her debut book as author and illustrator, and it was a 2019 Caldecott Honor book and a 2019 Ezra Jack Keats Award Writer Honor. It is also available in Spanish as Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre. Another book, La Princesa and the Pea, written by Susan Middleton Elya, won the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration. She lives in Connecticut with her family.
Having the access to books that reflected a life similar to what I aspired to represent made me the author-illustrator that I am today. Libraries brought those books to my hands in this country. Books gives us empathy and open worlds to and for us. Libraries make us better people.
Alma doesn’t appreciate her long name until she learns about how it connects her to her family’s history.
Alma siente que su nombre es demasiado largo hasta que su papá le explica la conexión con sus antepasados.
Experience the diverse cultures of Native Americans today through fry bread, which represents different facets of everyday indigenous life: joy, tragedy, and everything in between. The author is a member of the Seminole Nation and includes his family fry bread recipe along with notes that address and dispel stereotypes, along with facts about Native peoples from yesterday and the modern day.
