ZAPATA – Lifetime educator, author, and book publisher Dr. María Alma Gonzalez Pérez has won a Purple Dragonfly book award and has been named a top-three finalist in the International Latino Book Awards (ILBA).
Dr. Pérez, a former University of Texas Pan American Starr County campus director and professor of bilingual education, was awarded second place in the annual Purple Dragonfly Book Awards contest in the cultural diversity category for ¡Todos a Comer! – A Mexican Food Alphabet Book. The Dragonfly Book Awards, which are sponsored by Story Monsters, LLC, recognizes excellence in children’s literature.
¡Todos a Comer! – A Mexican Food Alphabet Book was selected as a top-three finalist for the 2017 ILBA in the Best Latino Focused Children’s Picture Book category. The ILBA awards are the largest Latino cultural awards in the USA. They have honored the accomplishments of 2,404 authors and publishers over the past two decades.
Of her award-wining book, Dr. Pérez said, “This text is a resource for the classroom with a culturally regional focus aimed at addressing the needs of Hispanic children in the United States. These children are losing so much of their culture because of the English-only curriculum they are exposed to in this country. Instead, these children need to be made aware of their culture and their identity. It is our goal that this book will be of interest and use for bilingual/dual language and early childhood programs.”Dr. Pérez is also the author of a Spanish poetry collection, Cantos del Alma y del Corazón – Poesía Original, which has received commendations as a finalist in the ILBA’s Book Design category for Best Use of Photos.
According to the Latino Book Awards director Kirk Whisler, “The 2017 Finalists for the 19th Annual International Latino Book Awards are another refection of the growing quality of books by and about Latinos. In order to handle this large number of books, the awards had 196 judges. The Awards celebrate books in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Finalists are from across the USA and Puerto Rico, as well as from 20 countries outside the USA.”
The ILBA ceremony will be held September 9 in Los Angeles at the Dominguez Ballroom at California State University Dominguez Hills. The Awards are produced by Latino Literacy Now, an organization co-founded by Edward James Olmos and Kirk Whisler, and co-presented by Las Comadres de las Americas and the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking (REFORMA).
(¡Todos a Comer! – A Mexican Food Alphabet Book (ISBN: 978-0982242223) and Cantos del Alma y del Corazón – Poesía Original (ISBN: 978-0982242209) are available through Amazon.com in the U.S. and Europe. Bulk orders and teacher packs, as well as author-signed books can be ordered directly from the publisher at www.delalmapublications.com)
