2009 Pura Belpré Award Winners

The 2009 Pura Belpré Awards were announced on Monday. In honor of that occasion, we’ve added a special section in our on-line bookstore that lists this year’s winners, as well as all previous winners of this special award. Just click on our store image in the sidebar and then click on the Pura Belpré category.
This year’s winners include the following books:

Author Award

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom
by Margarita Engle

It is 1896. Cuba has fought three wars for independence and still is not tree. People have been rounded up in reconcentration camps with too little food and too much illness. Rosa is a nurse, but she dares not go to the camps. So she turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her.

Illustrator Award

Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book
illustrated and written by Yuyi Morales

Yuyi Morales takes us on a new journey with Señor Calvera, the skeleton from Day of the Dead celebrations. Señor Calvera is worried. He can’t figure out what to give Grandma Beetle for her birthday. Misunderstanding the advice of Zelmiro the Ghost, Señor Calvera decides not to get her one gift, but instead one gift for every letter of the alphabet, just in case. Una Acordéon: An accordion for her to dance to. Bigotes: A mustache because she has none. Cosquillas: Tickles to make her laugh…only to find out at the end of the alphabet that the best gift of all is seeing her friends. Morales’s art glows in this heart-warming original tale with folklore themes, a companion book to her Pura Belpré-winning JUST A MINUTE.

Author Honor Books

Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book
illustrated and written by Yuyi Morales

Reaching Out
by Francisco Jiménez

The Storyteller’s Candle / La Velita de los Cuentos
written by Lucía González, illustrated by Lulu Delacre

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Illustrator Honor Books

Papá and Me
illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, written by Arthur Dorros

The Storyteller’s Candle / La Velita de los Cuentos
written by Lucía González, illustrated by Lulu Delacre

What Can You Do With a Rebozo?
illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla