Dreamers (children's book)

Last updated
Dreamers
Dreamers Book Cover.jpg
Author Yuyi Morales
IllustratorYuyi Morales
CountryUnited States
GenreChildren's Non-Fiction
Published2018
AwardsKirkus Prize for Young Children's Literature, California Reading Association Eureka! Silver Honor Book 2018, Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book Award 2018, Pura Belpre Illustrator Award 2019

Dreamers is a children's non-fiction book written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales. The book was first published on September 4, 2018 by Neal Porter books under Holiday House publishers. It chronicles Yuyi Morales' journey from Mexico to the United States with her young son, Kelly. Morales explores the importance of literacy and the function of libraries in society.

Contents

Synopsis

Morales describes crossing a "bridge to the other side" [1] at which point she and Kelly became immigrants. She describes the difficult transition period in which she was surrounded by an unfamiliar language and has trouble assimilating, which she referred to as making "mistakes." [2] During this time she and Kelly discover a local library, where they learned the language and books became their "life." [3]

Main characters

Yuyi Morales is narrator and describes her experiences in first person. She references her son Kelly in both written and illustrated detail.

Background

Significance of the Title

"Dreamers" is known as an executive order [4] on immigration, but is explained by Morales as being less political and more descriptive of her and her son: "Kelly and I were Dreamers in the sense that all immigrants, regardless of our status, are Dreamers: we enter a new country carried by hopes and dreams, and carrying our own special gifts, to build a better future." [5]

It was actually Morales' editor, Neal Porter, who suggested the title. Morales herself was hesitant, stating:

"I didn’t want to say that we are all dreamers because that weakens the fight for the Dreamers’ movement. At the same time, I wanted to signal that making the journey of leaving your country, all of the risk, all of the changes that you have to encounter in a new country, is the result of how we dream for a better future. We are dreamers because we come here hoping to do something better for ourselves and our children." [6]

Immigration

Dreamers was in response to the political climate surrounding immigration to the United States. As Morales explained in the end pages of her book:

"How could children relate to my experience as an adult? Charlotte, my agent, had been insisting this was the time; it is right now, she insisted, when anybody who is an immigrant should be telling their story. Elections had happened, and the USA had elected a man who ran his campaign over the backs of immigrants, calling them words meant to take away their humanity. Neal, my editor, said, "We need your story now, Yuyi." But I was unsure that I could come up with the right words, in a story for children, to counteract the prejudice, discrimination, and hate exuding in the country." [5]

End pages

After the book finishes, Morales takes an opportunity to repeat the story in a personal narrative form, expanding on the details of the broader plot she just finished presenting. She clarifies that that bridge connected Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas, and they crossed when Kelly was two months old. She explains her reasoning for her migration, which was to marry her son's father and allow her son to meet her ill grandfather. Her mother-in-law introduced Morales and Kelly to the library where she relied on illustrations to convey they meaning of books. Morales and Kelly frequented the Western Addition Branch, Richmond Branch, Presidio Branch, Mission Branch, and the San Francisco Main Library. [5]

Reception

In a review for Teaching for Change's Social Justice Books website, Debbie Reese wrote that the book "is a celebration of what migrantes bring with them when they leave their homes. It's a story about family. And it's a story to remind us that we are all dreamers, bringing our own gifts wherever we roam. Beautiful and powerful at any time but given particular urgency as the status of our own Dreamers becomes uncertain, this is a story that is both topical and timeless". [7]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pam Muñoz Ryan</span> American writer

Pam Muñoz Ryan is an American writer for children and young adults, particularly in the Multicultural genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pura Belpré</span> Puerto Rican writer, puppeteer, and librarian

Pura Teresa Belpré y Nogueras was an Afro-Puerto Rican educator who served as the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City. She was also a writer, collector of folktales, and puppeteer.

The Pura Belpré Award is a recognition presented to a Latino or Latina author and illustrator whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth. It was established in 1996. It was given every other year since 1996 until 2009 when it was changed to be given annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucia M. Gonzalez</span> American writer

Lucia M. Gonzalez is a children's author and librarian. In 2020 she was elected as president of the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association. She was president of REFORMA in 2010-2011.

Neal Porter is an American children's book editor. He is the founder of Neal Porter Books, an imprint of Holiday House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margarita Engle</span> American childrens writer, columnist, poet

Margarita Engle is a Cuban American poet and author of many award-winning books for children, young adults and adults. Most of Engle's stories are written in verse and are a reflection of her Cuban heritage and her deep appreciation and knowledge of nature. She became the first Latino awarded a Newbery Honor in 2009 for The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom. She was selected by the Poetry Foundation to serve from 2017 to 2019 as the sixth Young People's Poet Laureate. On October 9, 2018, Margarita Engle was announced the winner of the 2019 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature. She was nominated by 2019 NSK Prize jury member Lilliam Rivera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafael López (illustrator and artist)</span> Mexican-American illustrator and artist

Rafael López is an internationally recognized illustrator and artist. To reflect the lives of all young people, his illustrations bring diverse characters to children's books. As a children's book illustrator, he has received three Pura Belpré Award medals from the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA in 2020 for Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln,Drum Dream Girl in 2016 and Book Fiesta! in 2010. He created the National Book Festival Poster for the Library of Congress and was a featured book festival speaker at this event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg Medina</span> American childrens writer (born 1963)

Meg Medina is an American children’s book author of Cuban descent whose books celebrate Latino culture and the lives of young people. She is the 2023 – 2024 National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature. Medina is the recipient of the 2019 John Newbery Medal for her middle grade novel, Merci Suárez Changes Gears and the Pura Belpré Award for Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (2014) and the Pura Belpré Award Honor Book in 2016 for Mango, Abuela and Me).

<i>Viva Frida</i> 2014 childrens picture book by Yuyi Morales and Tim OMeara

Viva Frida is a children's book written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales in collaboration with photographer Tim O'Meara. It was published by Roaring Brook Press in 2014 and was selected as a Caldecott Honor Book in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuyi Morales</span> Mexican-American childrens book author and illustrator.

Yuyi Morales is a Mexican-American children's book author and illustrator. She is known for her books Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, Little Night, and Viva Frida, which received the 2015 Pura Belpre Medal for illustration as well as a 2015 Caldecott Honor. Morales is the first Latina to be a Caldecott recipient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Acevedo</span> Dominican-American poet and author

Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American poet and author. In September 2022, the Poetry Foundation named her the year's Young People's Poet Laureate.

The 2019 Youth Media Awards were held by the American Library Association on January 28, 2019. The awards recognize books written for children and young adults and the authors and illustrators who create them.

<i>Alma and How She Got Her Name</i> 2018 picture book

Alma and How She Got Her Name is a 2018 children's picture book by Juana Martinez-Neal. Alma, whose full name is Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela, thinks she has too many names and so she asks her dad about them. He explains the various people she was named to honor. The book was spurred by Martinez-Neal's Peruvian immigrant experience and the birth of her children. The book was well reviewed and received a 2019 Caldecott Honor for its illustrations. The graphite and colored pencil illustrations feature only a few colors, including blue and pink. Martinez-Neal hoped to evoke the feel of a photo album, in keeping with the book's theme of family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juana Martinez-Neal</span> Peruvian American childrens book author and illustrator

Juana Martinez-Neal is a Peruvian American children's book author and illustrator. Her debut book as an author and illustrator, Alma and How She Got Her Name, was well reviewed and won a 2019 Caldecott Award Honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Parra (illustrator)</span> American illustrator (born 1972)

John Parra is an American illustrator. Parra's books have received awards including the Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book Award, Golden Kite Award, Christopher Award, and an International Latino Book Award. He has additionally worked as an illustrator for corporate marketing campaigns and as an art instructor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica Brown (author)</span> Peruvian-American academic and author

Mónica Brown is an American academic and author of children's literature. Known for her Lola Levine and Sarai chapter book series, as well as numerous biographies covering such Latin American luminaries as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Dolores Huerta, and Cesar Chavez, she writes relatable characters that highlight the nuance and diversity of the Latinx experience and girl empowerment. Her motivation is to show that bicultural children are not made up of cultural fractions but whole people with a rich and vibrant cultural heritage, such as her character the bicultural red-headed Peruvian-Scottish-American Marisol McDonald. Brown is also an English professor at Northern Arizona University.

Susan Marie Guevara is an American sculptor and illustrator, who is best known for her illustrations in picture books. She was born in Walnut Creek, California and now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Susan received a BFA in illustration from Academy of Art College in San Francisco. She took time off between her first and second years and moved to Belgium where she was able to study with Remy Van Sluys and take painting and drawing classes at Royal Academy of Fine Art. She was the first recipient of the Pura Belpré Medal Award in 1996 for Gary Soto's Chat's Kitchen. She won again in 2002 for Gary Soto's Chato and the Party Animals, and was a recipient of a Pura Belpré Honor Award for Susan Elya Middleton's Little Roja Riding Hood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yamile Saied Mendez</span> Argentine author

YamileSaied Méndez is an Argentine American author of picture books, children's books, young adult books, and adult romance. She is a Pura Belpré gold medal winner for her young adult novel, Furia. She is a founding member of Las Musas collective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna Barba Higuera</span> American childrens book author

Donna Barba Higuera is an American children's book author. Her debut novel, Lupe Wong Won't Dance, was a Pura Belpré Award honor book and PNBA winner in 2021. Her middle grade dystopian novel, The Last Cuentista, won the 2022 Newbery Medal and the Pura Belpré Medal.

<i>Lupe Wong Wont Dance</i> 2020 middle-grade novel by Donna Barba Higuera

Lupe Wong Won't Dance, also published as Lupe Wong No Baila, is a middle-grade sports novel written by Donna Barba Higuera, illustrated by Mason London, translated to Spanish by Libia Brenda, and published September 8, 2020 by Levine Querido. The book is a Junior Library Guild selection, a Pura Belpré Award honor book, and PNBA Book Award winner.

References

  1. ↑ Morales, Yuyi (2018). Dreamers. Holiday House. p. 4.
  2. ↑ Morales, Yuyi (2018). Dreamers. Holiday House. p. 10.
  3. ↑ Morales, Yuyi (2018). Dreamers. Holiday House. p. 22.
  4. ↑ "What is DACA and Who Are the DREAMers?". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  5. 1 2 3 Morales, Yuyi, author, illustrator. (2019). Dreamers. Findaway World, LLC. ISBN   978-1-0942-5461-6. OCLC   1114903862.{{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Day, Deanna (Fall 2019). "Yuyi Morales: Dreamweaver and Teller of Tales". Journal of Children's Literature. 45: 82–87 – via EBSCOhost.
  7. ↑ "Dreamers". Social Justice Books. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  8. ↑ "Announcing the 2018 Kirkus Prize Winners". Book Marks. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  9. ↑ "Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Book Awards". Gateway Reading Council. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  10. ↑ "2018 Blue Ribbons | Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books" . Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  11. ↑ admin (1999-11-30). "The Pura Belpré Award winners, 1996-present". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). Retrieved 2020-04-25.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.