La Bloga: An Interview With Children’s Book Author Monica Brown

“I love My Name is Celia and My Name is Gabriela. You are doing an incredible contribution to children’s literature with your Latino biographies picture books. What is your research process for writing these biographies?

I try to be a meticulous researcher and honor the historical record, if there is one and it is accurate. As Latino/as, we are sometimes absent from this record and that is partly why I write. Since I was a scholar before I was a children’s writer, research comes naturally, but this is only the beginning of the process. I try to let my subject inspire my writing. Though I wrote a picture-book biography of Celia Cruz, her music–its rhythm, its joyful energy, the lyricism””is present on every page. In my forthcoming biography Pelé, King of Soccer (HarperCollins RAYO, 2009), I tried to capture the physical genius, the grace, and the spirit of his gift, on the page. My collaborator, illustrator Rudy Gutierrez, has done an amazing job!”

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