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WORK TITLE: For a Girl Becoming
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WEBSITE: https://adrianamjgarcia.com/
CITY: San Antonio
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COUNTRY: United States
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Kirkus Reviews Apr. 15, 2025, review of Garcia, Adriana M.: FOR A GIRL BECOMING.
Publishers Weekly vol. 271 no. 7 Feb. 17, 2025, , “For a Girl Becoming.”. p. 49.
Kirkus Reviews June 15, 2023, , “Gonzalez, Xelena: REMEMBERING.”.
Kirkus Reviews Oct. 15, 2020, , “Gonzalez, Xelena: WHERE WONDER GROWS.”.
MBR Bookwatch Jan., 2018. Lorraine, Nancy. , “All Around Us.”.
Kirkus Reviews Aug. 15, 2017, , “Gonzalez, Xelena: ALL AROUND US.”.
Adriana M Garcia
Media Arts: Graphic Artist; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Illustrator, Muralist, Painter, Photographer
Adriana M. Garcia creates visual art, paints murals and illustrates books. This home-grown San Antonio, Texas based artist dedicates her brush to portraying the stories of this region in hopes to affirm it’s unique tapestry of cultural heritage. Her most recent work includes collaborating with the World Heritage Center (WHC), the City of San Antonio (COSA), and architecture team Dunaway on the design enhancement of the veranda that encloses the new WHC building. Additionally, Garcia’s design for a gathering circle, requested by the community, will be constructed on the same grounds in 2025.
Adriana works with large institutions and smaller groupings as she continues in the traditional mural medium. A favorite teaming up being with artist sisters, Manola and Maria Ramirez on painting, MOTIVATED COMMUNITY and JOYOUS MOMENTUM at Ramirez park community center in partnership with San Antonio Street Art Initiative (SASAI) and COSA.
Garcia also translates her large-scale creative skills to composing intimate portable illustrations for picture-books which she thinks of mini-murals for readers. She has crafted five books successfully bringing notable author’s words to life in celebration of the Latino experience. Her debut picture-book with author Xelena Gonzales All AROUND US was awarded the prestigious Pura Belpre Honor Award and her subsequent picture-books have garnered recognition and awards as well including features in the New York Times and National Public Radio. New illustrations for FOR A GIRL BECOMING by first Native American US poet laureate, Joy Harjo, will be published April 2025.
Adriana has exhibited her artwork both locally and nationally and has been invited to present at conferences, colleges and museums. She has enjoyed working as an arts administrator and an art/design instructor for both youth and adult learners.
Garcia’s image-making toolkit is evolving to include augmented reality (AR) a technology that increases storytelling capabilities by incorporating 3D interactivity, animation and sound into what would otherwise be a static experience. She hopes to include AR in future projects to expand upon information that can be conveyed.
Recent Work
Adriana M. Garcia
2024 Pura Belpré Illustration Honor for REMEMBERING
Adriana M Garcia, an award-winning artist, muralist, scenic designer, was born and raised on the west-side of San Antonio, Texas. Her debut picture book, All Around Us by Xelena González, was awarded the Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor, American Indian Youth Literature Award Picture Book Honor, ALA Notable Children’s Book, Tomás Rivera Mexican American Picture Book Award, and Texas Institute of Letters Literary Award for Best Picture Book. The companion picture book, Where Wonder Grows by Xelena González, received the Pura Belpré Illustrator Medal. Remembering by Xelena González, was named a 2024 Pura Belpré Illustration Honor Book and Ezra Jack Keats Award finalist. Adriana is also the illustrator of El cuarto turquesa/The Turquoise Room by Monica Brown and forthcoming For a Girl Becoming by former US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (spring 2025 Norton Young Readers).
Garcia is known for her 117-foot mural entitled “De Todos Caminos Somos Todos Uno” for the San Pedro Creek project in San Antonio. In collaboration with area nonprofit organizations, Garcia has created many community murals including SOMArts in California, Northwest Vista College, South West Workers Union, Bill Haus Arts, San Antonio Cultural Arts Center, and Casa de la Cultura in Del Rio, Texas. In all of her artwork and murals, Adriana honors our ancestors, speaks to access to education and literature for all, and gives voice to mental health, immigration, and women’s rights. Adriana has exhibited her artwork locally and nationally and has been invited to present at conferences, schools and museums including American Library Association (ALA), National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS), and the McNay Art Museum. She has enjoyed working as an arts administrator and an art/design instructor for both youth and adult learners. To see more of Adriana’s work, visit her at www.adrianamgarcia.com .
Adriana notes, “I create as a way to document the lives, as a way to honor a person’s existence and make visible the marks they have imprinted upon me and the environment — a legacy left as well as those still to come. I believe in the social importance of art. It is the most accessible way to protest, love, heal, and learn.”
Friday, June 13, 2025
Q&A with Adriana Garcia
Adriana Garcia is the illustrator of the new children's picture book For a Girl Becoming, written by the former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. Garcia's other books include Where Wonder Grows, written by Xelena Gonzalez. Garcia lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Q: What do you think Joy Harjo’s poem says about girlhood and family traditions?
A: I think Joy’s poem recognizes the complexities of growing up and understands that it is a journey wrought with highs and lows but also of transformation. The poem affirms that the family traditions which give us solace and guidance can carry us through this becoming.
Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, “Visualizing Indigenous traditions and underlying values of family and interdependence, it’s a profoundly loving blessing of a book for anyone in a place of becoming.” What do you think of that description, and what do you hope kids and adults take away from the book?
A: What a beautiful review. Because I view Joy’s powerful words as a benediction, I put love and intention in each illustration. I feel my painting became a part of that blessing. Personally, I feel like I still have a lot of “becoming” to do. I look forward to it because I’m surrounded by amazing people.
I grew up with my immediate family and extended family celebrating not only life milestones together but also recognizing personal achievements and accolades. Today my family has extended to a chosen family and a larger community.
Our success is dependent on us holding each other up throughout our lives. By doing so we reinforce the sense that we are not alone. A sentiment that I feel this book communicates beautifully.
Q: What was your artistic process as you worked on For a Girl Becoming?
A: I so often showcase my community in the work I do, by using friends and family as models for the images. Since I know them and their personal journeys, I couldn’t help but reflect on their lives as I painted.
This makes the process so much more special to me. It becomes a chance to visit, chat, take photos, and create memories. Fleshing out the compositions becomes a puzzle where I can create any puzzle piece to fit what’s missing.
Additionally, as I created the illustrations I listened to audiobooks Crazy Brave and Catching the Light by Joy Harjo. I found her voice and words informed the painting and helped guide them in the right direction. Creation is personal so I did sprinkle in all kinds of details in the illustrations that I hope add to its uniqueness.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I gave myself a goal of illustrating five picture books when I started out in 2017. Today For a Girl Becoming is a celebration of a plan completed.
I am now in the early stages of developing a graphic novel that focuses on my ancestors. They were part of a traveling carpa group, akin to a traveling tent circus, but they would perform specifically for migrant workers and other Mexican-American barrios throughout Texas and the Southwest during the Depression.
My work is based on my grandfather’s stories of traveling together with his siblings and parents as La Carpa Hermanos Garcia, entertaining audiences with vaudeville-like performances that included acrobats, fortune tellers, singers, dancers, strong-men, musicians, ventriloquist, seamstresses, and so much more. This is an important part of my legacy—uplifting my community through art.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
April 29, 2025
Let's Talk Illustrators #321: Adriana Garcia
I am so happy to share my interview here with Adriana Garcia, the illustrator of US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's picture book For a Girl Becoming. Adriana was incredibly gracious with her peek behind the curtain for this book, and I'm so pleased to share that peek with you all today. Enjoy!!
About the book:
A baby girl is welcomed to the breathing world by generations of her family and set on the magnificent journey of becoming. As she grows, she is reminded of her connections to the natural world; to her family, her ancestors, her neighbors; to the source of all magic and sorrow--and of her responsibility to uphold and honor those connections.
Let's talk Adriana Garcia!
LTPB: How did you become the illustrator of For a Girl Becoming? What were the first images that popped into your mind when you saw Joy Harjo’s text?
I am grateful that The Creator granted this opportunity. My previous picture books with Xelena González really showcased familial bonds within Mestiza and Indigenous families, so I believe others became aware of my work that way. When Joy Harjo’s team reached out and asked me to illustrate this sacred poem, I could not say no. Plus, when the poet laureate asks you to do something, you do it.
Joy’s words are very evocative. I immediately saw horses—lots of them! They helped guide the work, and if you notice, they are woven throughout the book, threading the pages together in various ways. I also knew the newborn child would appear at the beginning and at the end, each time within loving hands. Whether those hands belong to an ancestor or a new mother, we know that they are there to bless and to welcome this new child. There was another line that really stuck with me: “…the singing of medicine plants / who danced back and forth in shawls of mist.” For me, that really set the tone of what I hoped to create on the canvas.
LTPB: What did you find most difficult in creating this book? What did you find most rewarding?
I so often showcase my community in the work I do, by using friends and family as models for the images. Since I know them and their personal journeys, I couldn’t help but reflect on their lives as I depicted Joy’s powerful words. Because it is a benediction, my painting became a part of that blessing. I contemplated their losses and gains, their joys and their pains. It became an opportunity to pray for them. It brought up a lot of emotion, and I think that is reflected in the work. This is my fifth picture book, and it took the longest to create. When you finish a monumental task like that it feels like taking a long deep breath. And that’s when you realize you’re a part of something miraculous, like birth. So while the whole process was the most challenging, it has also been the most rewarding.
Ultimately, I hope it is something Joy is proud of and something every book lover can resonate with, even if they cannot read the words yet.
LTPB: What did you use to create the illustrations in this book? Is this your preferred medium? How does your process change from book to book?
These illustrations are acrylic paint on paper, which is now my preferred medium for picture books. I created the illustrations for our first book digitally because I had recently purchased a Wacom tablet and wanted to challenge myself to learn the medium. At that time the tablet had to be hardwired to my computer. So I learned that while convenient, I didn’t want to be tethered to the computer or any device for that matter.
I found that my preferred way of creating is using pigment with brush. Not only is it a tactile medium, it is also a very physical event that involves my body and lots of movement. I get really close to the canvas, then look at it from across the room or I’ll twist my body to get into the right position to paint. There is a conversation that happens between the artwork and myself. I really like seeing the paintings evolve over time. They greet me when I enter my studio, so I immediately see the progress being made or the work that awaits me. The spreads in the beginning are full of possibility, and toward the finish line, they are populated with so many intentions, questions, and decisions. I like that all 20 spreads take up space in the studio, beckoning me to add color and line.
There is a world within each spread that’s been made alive in my mind and hopefully now in the minds of our readers.
I begin a picture book project by writing out the text on small postcards so I'm not overwhelmed by the large white paper canvas I end up on. Then using a pen and watercolor I get my initial thumbnails ideas out on those same cards sometimes with doodles only recognizable to myself. I then switch to fully developing the image out on a larger canvas. I’ve played with a variety of canvas sizes, but I think I’ve hit upon the right size now, which is 125% larger than the spreads you see in the book. I’m also a muralist and designer, so I try to experiment with each project and let it tell me what it needs, staying open to new possibilities. With each book, I’m able to refine my process a little more.
LTPB: What are you working on now? Anything you can show us?
Visitors to my hometown of San Antonio can check my work at our newly unveiled World Heritage Center. I was responsible for the design of the veranda that provides shade and encompasses the building with images of our native flora and fauna. My other creation will be on the floor within the ground’s of the building. It will be constructed with etched colored concrete and is designed to welcome a drum circle or serve as a gathering space which honors the four directions as well as our city’s river. The concept was based on community input and honors many of the indigenous customs and knowledge still alive in our area previously known as Yanaguana.
I’ve also been experimenting with animation lately, specifically with the rotoscoping technique. I’m working on a project that is part of a multimedia movement based performance called “Happy Birthday, Mom!” created by my friend Jacque Salame.
LTPB: If you got the chance to write your own picture book autobiography, who (dead or alive!) would you want to illustrate it, and why?
It’s interesting that you ask that because I am in the early stages of developing a graphic novel that could be called an autobiography in the sense that it focuses on my ancestors. They were part of a traveling carpa group, akin to a traveling tent circus, but they would perform specifically for migrant workers and other Mexican-American barrios throughout Texas and the Southwest during the depression. My work is based on my grandfather’s stories of traveling together with his siblings and parents as La Carpa Hermanos Garcia, entertaining audiences with vaudeville-like performances that included acrobats, fortune tellers, singers, dancers, strong-men, musicians, ventriloquist, seamstresses, and so much more. This is an important part of my legacy—uplifting my community through art.
The idea of creating a graphic novel grew out of a project I created in 2021. With the help of a Luminaria grant, I created an augmented reality experience enabling users to interact with recordings, simple animations, informational text and historical family photos that gave a brief history and description of the Carpa Hermanos Garcia tradition. Once completed I wanted to do more to honor and expand upon the stories I knew of my grandfather’s time as el gran comico, Don Fito.
A big thank you to Adriana for talking to me about this gorgeous book and revealing more about her process. For a Girl Becoming publishes today from Norton Young Readers.
Author Xelena Gonzalez and illustrator Adriana Garcia on their new children's book
March 25, 20238:00 AM ET
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday
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Scott Simon
7-Minute Listen
Transcript
Author Xelena Gonzalez and illustrator Adriana Garcia talk about rocks and about working together on their new children's book, "Where Wonder Grows," for our series "Picture This."
Sponsor Message
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In the picture book "Where Wonder Grows," a woman takes her grandchildren to a special garden, where they discover crystals, seashells, meteorites and magical rocks. The book is by two friends, the author Xelena Gonzalez and the illustrator Adriana Garcia.
XELENA GONZALEZ: It's a funny thing because any time anyone in the industry has asked us what this book is about, we say it's about rocks and children's connection to nature and to their grandparents. And I think we feel a little pressed to explain more because we know there's this, like, elevator speech that's required that we should perfect. But any time we've told kids when kids ask us what's your next book about and we say it's about rocks, they say, yes. And they'll close their eyes, and they're so excited. Like, they just get it.
ADRIANA GARCIA: 'Cause they're so cool (laughter). I remember as a kid, like, picking up rocks and sand and roly-polies. And there's, like, a whole world in the things that we find in nature. And so I think that's why.
SIMON: The grandmother and the children spread out a purple blanket on the ground. The words read, this is the place where wonder grows and stories blossom, where we gather our magic rocks and relics from nature. It is the second book by Xelena Gonzalez and Adriana Garcia, which makes them a great team for our children's book series, Picture This. Here's how they work together.
GARCIA: Well, it starts with tacos (laughter). It starts with food.
GONZALEZ: Oh, yeah, yeah. We get together over tacos, and we usually talk about our lives. And we laugh a lot, and sometimes we walk together. Yeah, I think in the beginning when we started, we would set up a meeting, and we would try to get down to business.
GARCIA: And it just didn't happen (laughter).
GONZALEZ: Yeah, I'd be like, what? You're - you know, you're dating this person? Or, you know, you're moving? You know, those kind of - these...
GARCIA: Life events and everything - yeah.
GONZALEZ: So now we know. Just get all of that out of the way.
GARCIA: Get it out first.
SIMON: Xelena Gonzalez says the idea for "Where Wonder Grows" started while she and Adriana Garcia were on tour for their first book, "All Around Us."
GONZALEZ: We went on a six-week, multistate road trip...
(LAUGHTER)
GONZALEZ: ...Promoting our book. And along the way, we kept finding these really cool rocks, just finding them in nature, seeing them on the landscape. We stayed with different people - right? - at different people's houses. And so we had one where this kid said, do you want to come to this rock party? And it was kind of like a tea party.
GARCIA: She had a basket of rocks. (Laughter) And she, like, dumped them on the floor, and she just started talking about them.
GONZALEZ: And so there was just rocks instead of dolls. We kept meeting with mostly young kids, mostly young readers, but also adults who had this fascination with rocks and some sort of really cool activity happening with rocks that we were being invited to observe and participate in. And so we both kind of said, like, OK, I think our next book has to be about rocks. But Adriana really had these visuals, these gorgeous visuals. We just said, OK, well, let's roll with it. Let's let the illustration lead the way this time.
GARCIA: They're very colorful. I am a muralist, and I liked using really bold colors like pinks and blues and greens and purples and - but I really love using a lot of color. I remember when I was in school being told that I used too much color, which I thought was perplexing (laughter). But I was like, OK, well, that's what you think. And so it's messy, colorful, beautiful pictures of family and rocks - a lot of rocks (laughter).
GONZALEZ: I think she also does a really exquisite job of combining these very real things. Like, you can see this is a rock. This is a garden. These people look like the people in real life. But then, there's something really magical that happens. There's this fantasy world that changes from page to page. Like, in the beginning, when we're looking at the volcanic rocks that are put into the sweat lodge, the grandmother is holding the rock and says, you know - she asks us to wonder why this one has so many holes like secret rooms. And you turn the page, and essentially, the grandmother is holding what looks like a mini volcano, right? And so the rock doesn't actually do that, but they - we're seeing the children wonder and fantasize and imagine.
GARCIA: My process is I like to take photographs of people - family members, friends. And then, I will print them all out in a contact sheet, and then, I will look at the ones that I like. And sometimes I will cut them up and put them together. And then, from that, I use that as a reference when I'm painting. So with this book, I took photographs of Xelena's family.
GONZALEZ: (Laughter) So I want to add, that was another way that the readers sort of guided this. My daughter is featured in "All Around Us" with my dad, and it's become such a treasure in our family. So my nieces have always lived next door to us here on the West Side of San Antonio. We're very, very close. We have a big compound here. So they asked Adriana - they said, can we be in the next book? Will you put us in the next book (laughter)? And so Adriana said, sure.
GARCIA: I like to take photographs of friends and family members, one, because I love my friends and family. To me, everybody is so beautiful, and I want them to see what I see and how beautiful they are. And I really want to show them reflected - the people that I know, people who look like me - reflected in our - in children's books and our media.
GONZALEZ: I think when it comes to Native American heritage, quite often in children's literature, we see Native Americans represented as these, like, relics from centuries ago and, you know, something that doesn't exist. It's really important to show brown families as they are today, these slice-of-life stories, families still enduring and still living and still holding true these very simple questions, right? Like, OK, well, we learn in school that a rock is not a living thing. Is that the case? Right? Is there something deeper here?
I remember studying about the hundreds of languages that existed in what we now call, you know, the Americas and how of the vast majority of them, more than 70% of them did not have a distinct word for human being versus a plant being or an animal being. That alone - like, the power of words and linguistics - like, is amazing, how that can affect the way one views the world.
And I think - I don't know that anyone would argue with the fact that we have an unhealthy relationship with our environment right now. And so we can re-imagine something else, a different relationship with nature and seeing ourselves as a part of it. And you don't have to be a brown child or a Native American child to see that. Anyone can see that at any age.
SIMON: Xelena Gonzalez and Adriana Garcia talking about their book for children, "Where Wonder Grows." Our series Picture This is produced by Samantha Balaban.
(SOUNDBITE OF LEO KOTTKE'S "SNORKEL")
Artist Feature: Adriana M. Garcia
San Antonio artist portrays culture through murals and children’s books
Portrait of Adriana M. Garcia. Courtesy of Adriana M. Garcia.
Portrait of Adriana M. Garcia. Courtesy of Adriana M. Garcia.
Isabella McGovern, Assistant Magazine Editor
March 1, 2022
Born and raised within an artistic family on the Westside of San Antonio, Adriana M. Garcia has always loved to draw. Her uncle, Rodolfo “Diamond” Garcia, was a painter and one of the founding members of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. Rodolfo Garcia, Adriana’s father and their brothers would check out the paintings Rodolfo created to have discussions and critiques on them. She appreciates her family’s artistic capabilities and recalls when her dad and his brothers would share a journal of ideas and sketches. She also has memories of going to her grandfather’s house and passing by the murals on Hamilton St. As a child, Garcia thought the murals were inspiring because they depicted a beautiful expression of Mexican culture, which at the time, was not shown everywhere.
In school, Garcia did well in all her classes, but her passion was for art. She had the support of her parents, especially her mother, to pursue art in college. Garcia attended Carnegie Mellon School of Art in Pittsburgh, Pa. and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1999.
After graduation, Garcia enrolled in Northwest Vista College to learn more about computers and gain new skills.
After Northwest Vista College, Garcia worked as a graphic designer for independent companies and started volunteering to paint murals at local arts centers. She connected herself with non-profits to offer her services, whether for graphic design or other artistic styles.
Garcia has done many other projects, from paintings and drawing to paper works and set designs. Her most recent works are the San Pedro Creek Culture Park mural, the Northwest Vista College mural and her illustrations in children’s books.
Adriana M. Garcia. “De Todos Caminos Somos Todos Uno,” Mural painting. Photo by Al Rendon. Courtesy of Adriana M. Garcia.
At San Pedro Creek Culture Park, located in Downtown San Antonio, is a mural done by Garcia titled “De Todos Caminos Somos Todos Uno,” “From All Roads, We Are All One” in English. It was created around the Tricentennial of San Antonio in 2018. Garcia wanted to make sure indigenous people of San Antonio were represented in the mural, and that it tells the story and timeline of San Pedro Creek. From the outer parts of the mural, it depicts Mother and Father spirits telling the story of life and death. There is indigenous culture on the left and settlers on the right of the mural. On the left side, the sun is setting which is a metaphor for the way of life and how the indigenous’ lives would be forever changed. In the middle of the mural, it shows the present-day with children playing in the creek and finally, all around the mural are paintings of the flowers along the creek.
The Northwest Vista College mural Garcia worked on is called “Changing the World.” She created this mural alongside Dr. Sandra Garza and her fall 2018 and spring 2019 Mexican American Fine Arts Appreciation students and hosted meetings to discuss the history of education in San Antonio. They wanted the mural to highlight the student walkout in 1968 for demands of equity in the classroom. They also wanted to emphasize everyone’s ability to receive an education, all thanks to our elders, who paved the way and helped us gain access to education. In the center of the mural, it showcases profiles of students who went to the campus. It symbolizes the survival, support and political activism that many students at Northwest Vista College show.
Adriana M. Garcia. “Changing the World.” Mural painting. Courtesy of Adriana M. Garcia.
“Once you create something, it’s no longer yours,” said Garcia. “It’s out there for everybody to impart what they are taking from it and what they feel from it and what the viewer resonates with, [which] is really important and I love hearing what people take away from the art they see.”
Finally, Garcia created artwork for two children’s books written by her friend, Xelena González. For their first book, “All Around Us,” they got together in 2017 and applied for a block grant to be able to present it to the community while Garcia finished the illustrations. The story is about a little girl talking to her grandfather about circles that are all around us, whether metaphorical or literal. The main point is that these circles represent taking care of our Earth, each other and the circle of life.
“I feel like it’s a natural progression from working on murals to books,” said Garcia. “[With] murals, you are creating a big composition and it’s very narrative, so with children’s books, it’s an extension from that; it’s being narrative but in book format.”
Once Garcia and González finished and presented their book to the community, they received nothing but praise. They then took it to a publisher, Cinco Puntos Press, and were granted the opportunity to publish their book. They won three awards: The Pura Belpré Illustrator Award, the American Indian Youth Literature Award and the Tomas Rivera American Children’s Book Award.
The other book, “Where Wonder Grows,” is about a grandmother and her granddaughters discussing rocks on the surface of the Earth. She tells them where these rocks come from, how to be in the world and that rocks are reminders of how powerful we are no matter how small we are.
Garcia painting her vibrant mural. Photo by Christopher Cantoya. Courtesy of Adriana M. Garcia.
Garcia and González are working on another book that is set to come out in 2024, and Garcia will also illustrate another book called “The Turquoise Room” by Monica Brown coming out this Sept.
Currently, Garcia is working on a project using augmented reality technology (AR) with a grant from Luminaria. She is also working with the city of San Antonio to create design enhancements for the new World Heritage Building to be built by Mission Library.
As for her artwork, Garcia will be part of the city’s art exhibition called “Status of Women,” for which Garcia was requested to paint a portrait of Rosie Castro and Emma Tenayuca.
The exhibition will run from March 22 through Nov. 18, 2022. The opening reception will be on Tuesday, March 22 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Culture Commons Gallery.
Garcia, Adriana M. FOR A GIRL BECOMING Norton Young Readers (Children's None) $18.99 4, 29 ISBN: 9781324052241
In this tale from a powerhouse creative team, a family welcomes a child with an empowering and fiercely affectionate blessing to guide her growth.
"The day your spirit came to us rains came in from the Pacific // and all of us who loved you gathered, where / Pollen blew throughout that desert house to bless, / And horses were running the land, hundreds of them, / To accompany you here, to bless." And so a newborn baby girl with "black hair, / Brown eyes," and "skin the color of earth" joins a protective community that spans the heavens and earth. Page turns skillfully capture the passage of time, and as the child grows, she's enjoined to move through the world with compassion and meet both joys and hardships with determination. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Harjo's (Mvskoke Nation) fluid and impassioned second-person text circles back effectively to reiterate its enveloping missive, then appears in full at the book's end. Pura Belpré Award winner Garcia's dynamic and richly layered portraits deftly echo the poem's movement. A palette of vibrant turquoise and leafy green depicts the child maturing and thriving, while immersive double-page spreads in tawny hues seamlessly incorporate Native elements throughout. A standout among affirming picture books, this beatitude-inducing work will quickly become the new go-to baby present.
A stunningly illustrated, tender, and tenacious message--a boon to any bookshelf.(Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Garcia, Adriana M.: FOR A GIRL BECOMING." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A835106655/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ab1cd321. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
For a Girl Becoming
Joy Harjo, illus. by Adriana M. Garcia.
Norton, $18.99 (40p)
ISBN 978-1-32405-224-1
*| That day your spirit came to us rains came in from the Pacific to bless/ Clouds peered over the mountains in response to the singing of medicine plants." In urgent, lyrical lines, U.S. poet laureate Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, follows an Indigenous family in gathering to welcome an infant. Thickly stroked, muralistic paintings by Garcia (Remembering) open with a figure in the sky smudging a desert house. Within it, a woman labors, while outside, horses--"hundreds of them"--run the land "to accompany you here, to bless." A rainbow soon appears over the home, and family gathers bearing myriad gifts ("tobacco and cedar, new clothes, and joy for you"). As fluid, saturated images dotted with horses and rainbows follow the infant's maturation, refrain-like lines urge the child to remember the source of life's gifts (breathing, walking, running, laughing, crying, dreaming), then offer suggestions for how to move through the world Visualizing Indigenous traditions and underlining values of family and interdependence, it's a profoundly loving blessing of a book for anyone in a place of becoming. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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Source Citation
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"For a Girl Becoming." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 7, 17 Feb. 2025, p. 49. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A829933421/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6a15cb45. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
González, Xelena REMEMBERING Simon & Schuster (Children's None) $18.99 8, 29 ISBN: 9781534499638
In González and Garcia's latest collaboration, a Latine child builds a loving altar for the family dog.
When faced with the death of a beloved pet, the unnamed young narrator of this striking picture book methodically collects materials to construct an ofrenda, an altar associated with Dia de los Muertos consisting of photos, candles, foods, and other items to remind loved ones of the departed. The narrator "[gathers] all your treasured toys and bring[s] you the brightest flowers." In the acrylic illustrations, swirls and paw prints representing the canine's spirit surround the family as they mourn and remember. They spread flower petals to make a path to their front door "to guide your way home, on this sacred night / when we welcome back our loving, loyal friends." Even the most cynical reader might find themselves choking back tears at the beautiful, plaintive text and the lush, realistic illustrations in which the beloved dog is too memorable and too large to even fit within the borders of photo frames. If that doesn't put a reader over the top, emotionally, the author's and illustrator's notes will; both of them drew inspiration from the losses of their own pets. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gorgeous, deeply touching exploration of grief and remembrance. (information on building an ofrenda) (Picture book. 4-8)
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"Gonzalez, Xelena: REMEMBERING." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A752722937/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7de9926f. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
González, Xelena WHERE WONDER GROWS Cinco Puntos Press (Children's None) $17.95 2, 16 ISBN: 978-1-947627-46-8
Celebrate the wondrous stories that exist all around thanks to the marvels stored in rocks.
A group of dreamers follows Grandma to her special garden. They spread a plush blanket upon the ground and gather the “magic rocks and relics from nature.” The young dreamers sit and wonder as Grandma holds the rocks in her hands, calling on the fiery wisdom of the ancestors molded into testaments of time. What about “the ones with super powers?” ask the dreamers. Grandma takes a crystal—shot through with shades of plum and streaks of cerulean—and speaks of curanderas who harness the healing powers of “quartz of all kinds.” Next, consider the might of coral reefs and shells, deep in the depths where water smooths even the most stubborn rock. Grandma and her dreamers then ponder the meteorites in their hands, envisioning the arcs that these starry fragments undertook to arrive on Earth. Expanding on the infinite flights of fancy unearthed in All Around Us (2017), González (Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation) and Garcia’s latest enchanting collaboration plumbs deeper into the natural curiosities that shape readers’ earthly realities. It’s a sweet summoning emboldened by González’s starry-eyed text, an assortment of phrases and statements that gesture toward the promise found in young readers everywhere. Garcia’s muralist background lends itself here to striking, gorgeous artwork that embodies a whimsical sense of cosmic compassion. Overall, the art showcased in this hopeful manifesto soars.
Simply dazzling. (rock facts) (Picture book. 5-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Gonzalez, Xelena: WHERE WONDER GROWS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A638165985/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=eff8aeff. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
All Around Us
Xelena Gonzalez, author
Adriana M. Garcia, illustrator
Cinco Puntos Press
701 Texas Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79901
9781941026762 $17.95 www.cincopuntospress.com
"All Around Us" is a beautiful book that is aptly described as offering a window into the world of a modern day Mestizo family, inviting readers to make their own questions and connections about that world. Beautifully illustrated with textured, layered dark and light silhouettes and brilliant circles of many bright and dark colors, "All Around Us" tells a wise teaching shared between a proud grandfather and his grandchild, of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltexcan Nation. He tells her that all around them there are circles. The rainbow in the sky is only half a circle, but the other half is underground, "down below in the earth where water and light feed new life. That's the part we cannot see." The girl imagines in her mind what this might be like. The grandfather teaches the girl of the circles in planting seeds in the ground and growing healthy foods to eat and flowers to see. He tells her 'what we take from the earth, we return.' They walk through their neighborhood and discover many other circles all around, a clock, bicycle wheels, the sun, and the moon. The last circle they find is sitting in the area where they have buried the ashes of their ancestors, whom the grandfather remembers. Although he is sad, he tells her, "Even our bodies return to the earth... But that's only half of the circle. That's the part we cannot see." Then he takes his granddaughter to the apple tree which they planted when she was born, where she gives it water. He tells her,"Do you see, my grandchild? We have new life with you." The girl looks up, surrounded by golden light and rainbow rings like a radiating halo, with the words, "I am part of the circle too, the part we can see...just like a rainbow." A great gift has been given in "All Around Us," in the partnering of Xelena Gonzalez and Adriana M. Garcia, long term friends from the Westside of San Antonio, Texas. They wrote and illustrated "All Around Us" using a grant received from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, to share this gift with all.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Midwest Book Review
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Lorraine, Nancy. "All Around Us." MBR Bookwatch, Jan. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A526871205/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=76fce586. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
González, Xelena ALL AROUND US Cinco Puntos (Children's Fiction) $16.95 9, 12 ISBN: 978-1-941026-76-2
In González and Garcia's picture-book debut, a girl and her grandfather reflect on the cycles that characterize life, death, and renewal. "Grandpa says circles are all around us." Above the girl's head, a rainbow stretches across the sky, a vibrant half circle. The other half? It's beneath the Earth, unseen, nourishing. With this modest declaration, González asks readers to rethink the world as one full of unceasing rebirth. A clearer example of this viewpoint soon follows. In the garden, Grandpa and the girl tend to their lettuce, carrots, and chiles, with the resulting stems, leaves, and seeds going back into the ground. "What we take from the earth we return," says Grandpa. Measured and subdued, the bare-bones story demands patience, which may irk readers with a preference for livelier stories, but the author's direct approach and light touch soften the otherwise weighty subject matter. Faded, sketched lines and arcs of dense light enclose the girl and Grandpa (both depicted with golden-brown skin) in half-formed and fully formed circles from picture to picture, while shadows and colors intertwine with people and the scenes around them. On a smaller scale, the duo notes how circles shape their bellies as well as their eyes. Yet it's the final scene--a girl and her grandfather sitting near the buried ashes of their ancestors--that brings everything full circle. In her author's note, González, a member of the Auteca Paguame family of the Tap Pilam Coahuitecan nation, references her, and by extension her characters', mestizo heritage. Life-affirming in its quiet splendor. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Gonzalez, Xelena: ALL AROUND US." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500364895/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=383dce11. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.