Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers

by Juliet Menéndez, Juliet Menéndez (Illustrator)

Overview

Dream big with the Latinitas in Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers.

Discover how 40 influential Latinas became the women we celebrate today! In this collection of short biographies from all over Latin America and across the United States, Juliet Menéndez explores the first small steps that set the Latinitas off on their journeys. With gorgeous, hand-painted illustrations, Menéndez shines a spotlight on the power of childhood dreams.

From Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to singer Selena Quintanilla to NASA’s first virtual reality engineer, Evelyn Miralles, this is a book for aspiring artists, scientists, activists, and more. These women followed their dreams—and just might encourage you to follow yours!

The book features Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Juana Azurduy de Padilla, Policarpa Salavarrieta, Rosa Peña de González, Teresa Carreño, Zelia Nuttall, Antonia Navarro, Matilde Hidalgo, Gabriela Mistral, Juana de Ibarbourou, Pura Belpré, Gumercinda Páez, Frida Kahlo, Julia de Burgos, Chavela Vargas, Alicia Alonso, Victoria Santa Cruz, Claribel Alegría, Celia Cruz, Dolores Huerta, Rita Moreno, Maria Auxiliadora da Silva, Mercedes Sosa, Isabel Allende, Susana Torre, Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, Sonia Sotomayor, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Mercedes Doretti, Sonia Pierre, Justa Canaviri, Evelyn Miralles, Selena Quintanilla, Berta Cáceres, Serena Auñón, Wanda Díaz-Merced, Marta Vieira da Silva, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Laurie Hernandez.

Latinitas is also available in Spanish.

Godwin Books

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250234629
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Pages:	120
Sales rank:	322,863
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Juliet Menéndez is a Guatemalan American author and illustrator living between Guatemala City, Paris, and New York. While working as a bilingual teacher in New York City’s public schools, Juliet noted the need for more books that depicted children like the ones in her classrooms. She studied design and illustration in Paris and now spends her days with her watercolors and notebook. Latinitas is her first children's book.

Editorial Reviews

"This is an engaging and important book that should stimulate young Latinas to become the best they can be—and I am delighted to be in such good company!" —Susana Torre, acclaimed architect featured in Latinitas

"What will pull young people in is that Menéndez depicts these women as children (Latinitas), both visually and anecdotally . . . What will keep these readers engaged is how their soon-to-be heroines bloom into their future selves on the page." —The New York Times Book Review

"Will inspire young children to follow their own dreams . . . This book belongs in any child’s hands." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

From the Publisher

02/01/2021

Gr 3–6—This title highlights familiar and lesser-known women from Latin America and the United States. The subjects of these short biographies made significant contributions to the world, from science, the arts, technology, and activism. The women are depicted in vibrant watercolor illustrations, and personal details and the lasting impact of each woman's actions are captured in a single page of text. Some of the profiles spotlight trailblazers who are covered widely in other titles, such as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. There are also many who have not been represented in children’s books, such as human rights activist Berta Cáceres. There is not enough material to satisfy research project requirements, but these concise portraits will inspire further reading. VERDICT This inspiring book would make a great launching point for deeper investigation into the lives and accomplishments of these amazing women.—John Scott, Friends Sch. of Baltimore

School Library Journal

★ 2020-11-18
Celebrates the lives of 40 women who hail from all over Latin America and from the United States and who dreamed big and worked hard to follow their passion.

They are presented in chronological order, starting in 1651 with writer and philosopher Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz from Mexico and concluding with present-day U.S. Olympic gymnast Lauren Zoe Hernandez. Young readers will find artists, writers, poets, singers, musicians, dancers, engineers, astronauts, scientists, activists, a soccer star, a spy, and a Supreme Court justice, among others. The women represent different nationalities, ethnicities, races, cultural, and economic backgrounds, and life paths followed, but they are all highly successful role models that will inspire young children to follow their own dreams. Each minibiography appears in a double-page spread, with a charming illustration on the verso and the text on the recto. Capturing some essential quality for each person, the earth-toned, contemporary-feeling graphic illustrations have a folk-art sensibility. The biographies are meant to provide but a glimpse into the life of each person. The author thoughtfully connects with her reading audience by including childhood events and influences that sparked lifelong pursuits—hence the diminutive used in the title of the book. A further 10 women are introduced in the backmatter, with a small portrait and sentence of explanation. There is a sprinkling of Spanish words throughout the text; though there is no glossary included, readers unfamiliar with the language should have no problem understanding.

This book belongs in any child’s hands. (selected sources) (Collective biography. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews