In the News: New books, Librotraficantes, Rodriguez, Mora

Upcoming Releases:

• Margarita Engle’s The Wild Book, for children ages 10 and younger, will be released Tuesday. The story focuses on a girl who struggles with reading.

• Carolina de Robertis’ Perla, about an Argentine woman who discovers a painful secret about her parents’ past, will come out March 27.

Arizona:

• The Librotraficante Caravan, led by Aztec Muse publisher Tony Diaz, made its way from Houston to Tucson – with stops in San Antonio, El Paso and Albuquerque – to distribute $20,000 worth of Latino-themed books that were banned by the Tucson school district. The journey received coverage from The New York Times, El Paso Times, San Antonio Express-News, Arizona Daily Star and The Texas Observer.

• Here’s a great New York Times article about how the state’s ban on ethnic studies has affected classroom studies, such as a visit by author Matt de La Peña.

Awards:

• Pat Mora won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award for her book, Gracias/Thanks.

Author profiles:

• Bless Me Ultima author Rudolfo Anaya talks about his banned books in the Albuquerque alternative newspaper, Alibi.

• The Los Angeles Times features a great profile of Luis J. Rodriguez.

Contests:

• Luis Alberto Urrea provides the prompt for NPR’S Three-Minute Fiction contest. Deadline is March 25.

• The Hispanic Reader is taking the week off. When we come back, we’ll celebrate the birthdays of two Nobel Prize winners. Happy Spring Break!

Note: This post was updated to include The New York Times article.