SATA
ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: The Last Beekeeper
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.pablocartaya.com/
CITY: Miami
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
Agent: Kaitlin Kneafsey, Penguin Young Readers, kkneafsey@penguinrandomhouse.com; info@pablocartaya.com; married with two kids.
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL EDUCATION:
Loyola Marymount University, B.A. (writing); Vermont College of Fine Arts, M.F.A. (writing).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author, screenwriter, speaker, and educator. Director of literary arts programming at The Betsy-South Beach Hotel’s Art Basel Miami; created the Writers for Young Readers authors program in Miami, FL; secured funding for the first TransArt Festival in Miami; led literary festivals; judged the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature; and conducted writing workshops and lectures at colleges, libraries, community organizations, and K-12 classrooms. Worked with Disney, Apple+, and Sesame Street on projects adapted from television series and movies.
AWARDS:American Library Association’s Pura Belpré Honor, 2018, for The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora; ALSC Notable Book, 2019; Schneider Family Book Award Honor, 2020.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
[open new]
Pablo Cartaya is a critically acclaimed best-selling author, screenwriter, speaker, and educator. He has facilitated writing workshops and lectures; judged the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature; and created the Writers for Young Readers authors program in Miami, Florida. As a prominent Cuban-American writer, Cartaya has published numerous books for young people, centering around the themes of family, culture, community. On his homepage, he explains: “My heritage inspires everything about me creatively. It’s like air… I preserve my heritage by knowing that my voice matters. That my stories are worth telling.”
His first book for children is the 2010 Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes, co-written with Martin Howard and illustrated by Kirsten Richards. In a world where people have cupcakes on top of their heads, Tina Cocolina is anxious to win the Cream of the Top Cupcake contest and be crowned Queen. Children compete by wearing carefully designed toppings on top of their cupcake heads, such as buttercream or berry. Although Tina is encouraged to enter the contest next year and be content to just be a helper this year, she perseveres in concocting the perfect topping, even though she is bullied by her teammates. A recipe for cupcakes is included in the book. Writing in Booklist, Shelle Rosenfeld liked the swirly frosting patterns and encouraging message, saying, “Whimsy is really the driving force here, a tone that’s extended in the cheerful, candy-colored illustrations.” However, School Library Journal contributor Heather Acerro proclaimed that the book is “as appealing as the plethora of pink mass-market books targeting girls, and it reads about the same.”
Cartaya’s 2017 The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora was named a Pura Belpré Author Honor Book. Thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora is proud of his family’s La Cocina de la Isla restaurant, a mainstay in the community. He gets his first job washing dishes, and the family hopes to expand the restaurant. But sleezy land developer Wilfrido Pipo wants to raze the building to put up a high-rise tower. As Pipo wines and dines the townspeople to get them on his side, Arturo and the rest of the Zamoras decide to mobilize the community to fight back. Arturo gets help, as well as butterflies in his stomach, from Carmen, a young Spanish girl who moved into his apartment building. Arturo reads from poet Jose Marti to impress Carmen, and gains inspiration from letters left by his late Abuelo. “Cartaya presents a delightful portrayal of boyhood, skillfully navigating Arturo through the awkwardness, funniness, and messiness that often accompany young love,” said a Kirkus Reviews critic. Jonathan Hunt pointed out in The Horn Book Magazine that the use of English and untranslated Spanish in the text adds “a welcome and authentic texture to Cartaya’s debut novel about a young boy on the cusp of adolescence.”
Heritage and feelings of not belonging are the themes in Cartaya’s Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish. Born in Puerto Rico to a Hispanic father and white mother, Marcus has lived most of his life in Philadelphia. He’s huge for his age and uses his bulk to protect kids from bullies. But when a bully calls his younger brother Charlie, who has Down Syndrome, retarded, Marcus punches him in the mouth and is suspended from school. His mother decides it’s time to visit Puerto Rico to regroup and reconnect with the family of his estranged father and learn about his roots. Unable to speak Spanish, Marcus feels like an outcast in his homeland. The book “shines in its small moments examining Puerto Rico’s unique locales through the eyes of the Vegas,” said The Horn Book Magazine reviewer Eric Carpenter. Ruth Quiroa declared in School Library Journal that as he learns about Puerto Rican wildlife, food, and community life, “Marcus eventually comes to terms with his life challenges, including his own identity.”
In Each Tiny Spark, Cartaya’s first middle grade novel written from a girl’s perspective, his sixth grade protagonist juggles ADHD and a political awakening. Atlanta-based Cuban American Emilia Torres feels awkward when her software developer mother leaves for a conference and leaves Emilia in the care of her Marine father, who recently returned from deployment and suffers from mood swings and PTSD. On top of that, Emilia’s abuela wants her to act like a lady and prepare for her quinceanera, and in social studies class she’s learning about the injustices against immigrants.
In an interview with School Library Journal, Cartaya explained to Marva Hinton that he was inspired by his own teenage daughter to write from the perspective of a girl: “It was my way of trying to understand, respect, and listen to who she is and how she sees the world. I added many layers to this story—social activism, military families, immigration policies, community history, school redistricting—but at its heart, this is a book about a father and a daughter finding their way back to each other.” A Kirkus Reviews writer pointed out the diversity of religions and racial complexions in the community, saying the book is a “pitch-perfect middle-grade novel that insightfully explores timely topics with authenticity and warmth.”
The Last Beekeeper, illustrated by Carlos Velez Aguilera, is set in the future after an environmental disaster. Yolanda Ciceron and her family work the farms but are having trouble with their strawberries. Yoly wants to go to the technologically advanced city of Silos and study to become a surgeon, and she agrees to get help from the corrupt Mayor Blackburn, who has schemed to keep her family perpetually in debt. As Yoly and her older sister Cami try to improve their crops and clear their debts, they discover old writings from their grandmother’s journal that explain how bees were once used to pollinate and where they can find the last-known beehive. In School Library Journal, Hilary Tufo found some of the villains flat, but the book “ultimately sparks conversation about our own climate crisis. An action-packed adventure that reflects our own mistakes and predicts our fears for the future.”
[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 1, 2010, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes, p. 66.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2017, review of The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora; May 15, 2019, review of Each Tiny Spark.
School Library Journal, November 2010, Heather Acerro, review of Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes, p. 66; June 2018, Ruth Quiroa, review of Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, p. 74; August 2022, Hilary Tufo, review of The Last Beekeeper, p. 85.
The Horn Book Magazine, July-August 2017, Jonathan Hunt, review of The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, p. 129; September-October 2018, Eric Carpenter, review of Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, p. 77.
ONLINE
Pablo Cartaya homepage, https://www.pablocartaya.com/ (February 1, 2023), author profile.
School Library Journal, https://www.slj.com/ (October 2019), Marva Hinton, “Finding the Kindling for Each Tiny Spark with Pablo Cartaya.”
About Pablo Cartaya
Pablo's headshot
Pablo is proudly bilingual en español y ingles and is very excited to be once again visiting communities in-person as well as virtually. Follow him at @phcartaya on Instagram and Twitter.
Want to know more?
Pablo's childhood photosPablo Cartaya is an internationally acclaimed author, screenwriter, speaker, and educator. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, and on Oprah’s Booklist. Pablo has worked with Disney, Apple+, and Sesame Street on projects adapted from television series and movies. In 2021, he served as a judge for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature and has taught creative writing workshops and spoken at various universities and conferences throughout the world. He calls Miami home and Cuban-American his cultura. Novels include: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish, Each Tiny Spark, and the upcoming climate dystopia The Last Beekeeper. He also contributed to the collection of essays Hope Wins published in 2022. Notable Awards and Honors include: 2020 Schneider Family Book Award Honor, 2019 ALSC Notable Book, 2018 American Library Association’s Pura Belpré Honor, 2018 Audie Award Finalist, and 2018 E.B. White Read Aloud Book Award Finalist.
Fun Facts!
I write entire drafts long hand before typing it on a computer.
I was in sitcoms and commercials in English and Spanish including co-starring on NBC’s “Will & Grace”.
I was Ricky Martin’s body double in a music video.
I did Spanish voice overs for South Park.
I was a bottle dancer in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" in college.
My dad is a veteran of The Bay of Pigs.
I worked in professional kitchens and restaurants for a long time – I’ve done practically every job.
I love the Miami Heat – like seriously, I’m kind of a fanatic.
I’ve met and hung out with a lot of really cool people but the coolest is probably Ricky Martin. Queen Latifah is a pretty close second.
If I were going to choose another career I would probably be a pianist, who is also a rockstar. 😊
Frequently Asked Questions
search
About Events
Do you do events?
Yes! I love to travel around the country visiting schools, bookstores, and more. And I am so happy to be visiting communities in-person again!
Do you do virtual visits?
I do! I do less running around than I do during my in-person visits, but they’re still just as fun!
What are your events like?
During my in-person events, I give 45-minute presentations (each with a Q&A), do a book signing, and have lunch with students, faculty, and staff. Sometimes, the day can also include an evening event open to the community.
My presentations are more like shows! I don’t use PowerPoint or slides or anything like that. As I speak, I will code-switch (moving from Spanish to English) while using personal anecdotes to explain why I write what I write. Ultimately, events are a fun discussion about the ideas of family, culture, and community. Some kids have even called it stand-up with heart!
Virtual visits consist of a 45min meeting that includes a personal chat with the group and answering any questions. The time flies by and the kids really get something out of it.
The aim of my virtual visits is to have a conversation—one where the kids learn a bit about me, and I ask them questions about themselves. We laugh, we think, and, again, we learn about the three things I live for: family, culture, and community.
Will you visit my school?
I’d love to discuss the possibility of visiting your school! Please reach out about visits using my event contact form. If you’re a kid, talk to your teacher or librarian!
How can I book an event?
Please fill out the event contact form and someone will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss possibilities. Looking forward to hearing from you!
About Books
Which book should I read first?
My books are standalone, so you can read them in any order that you like! My first book was The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, and my most recent is Each Tiny Spark with a few more exciting titles coming soon!
Where can I buy your books?
My books are available anywhere books are sold. However, I love to suggest my local independent bookstore, Books and Books! You can find Books and Books purchase links on each book’s page.
¿Tus libros estan traducides en español?
¡Tengo un libro en español! El Épico Fracaso de Arturo Zamora. Y también está en audiobook en español. Y, como extra, yo ise la narración de la versión en español y también inglés! Woohoo, bilinguismo!!!
About Pablo
What does heritage mean to you? How do you identify and why?
Heritage means knowing yourself. Understanding that you come from somewhere. That you have a history that can be claimed. I identify with my abuela and my abuelo’s Cuban history. The gifts they passed on to me have helped me better understand who I am. I carry them with me as a formation of my own identity.
¿Piensas regularmente en inglés o en español? ¿Cuál prefieres?
Regularmente en inglés pero trato de hablar lo más posible en español. Especialmente con mis hijos! Prefiero vivir con los dos idiomas constantemente bailando juntos en mis conversaciones.
How does your heritage inspire your creativity?
My heritage inspires everything about me creatively. It’s like air. You don’t question whether you need it to breathe, it’s an involuntary act done in order to survive. This is how I view my heritage - it gives me oxygen to breathe air into my creativity. It gives me life.
¿Cómo aparece tu herencia en tus obras?
Mi herencia aparece en todos aspectos de mis obras. En los personajes (siempre tengo una abuelita en mis obras), el ambiente del escenario, hasta la propia comida! Mi herencia está en todo lo que escribo.
¿Cuál es el regalo más grande que te ha brindado tu herencia?
El regalo más grande que me ha brindado mi herencia es conocer a mis abuelos y todo lo que me enseñaron cuando estaban vivos. Me dieron el regalo más lindo que se puede dar a un nieto - historia. Con eso, pude entender quien soy.
How do you preserve your heritage as a writer?
I preserve my heritage as a writer by being unapologetic in showcasing my culture, family, and community in everything I write. I preserve my heritage by knowing that my voice matters. That my stories are worth telling.
About Writing
Why did you decide to start writing?
I started writing as an act of discovering myself. Who I was. What I wanted to say. How I wanted to say it. My identity is very tied to my writing. I am a child of immigrants. I grew up in the United States and wanted more than anything to feel connected to both my Cuban heritage and my American one. Sometimes I felt lost in the middle of those identities. Like I didn’t fully belong in either. I guess writing was the way to bridge the gap between my two selves. To give me stories to claim. To have stories to share with people that might feel the same way. Like they’re caught between cultures not feeling like they truly belong in either. I think deep down, that’s what pushed me in the direction to write the kind of stories I write and continue to write. To discover and connect the bridges of my cultural identities - to make sense of the space I call home.
What is your writing process like?
My writing process happens in this order: Wander aimlessly. Pause and get a little terrified cuz I’m lost. Hear a Voice. Find the Place. Write it down. Research. Revise. Revise. Revise. Release.
Let me explain.
Every book I write begins very much like wandering in the woods without a clear path or direction. Most of the time I have absolutely no idea where I’m going. Like, zero. I don’t outline. I don’t plot. I wander aimlessly. You know that Tolkien quote, “not all those who wander are lost?” Well, when it comes to starting a book project, I’m crazy lost. Like no idea what’s up. That’s real talk. It’s probably why I like writing long hand to begin my drafts. I think a great deal of discovery comes from seeing your thoughts come alive with a pen and a pad. I love scribbles and messy notes. Probably cuz my brain likes to work out the puzzles of my scribbles. That’s when I start organizing my thoughts more clearly.
I dedicate one notebook to each book project (usually a black Exceed notebook) and write whatever comes to mind. As I get deeper into the woods, questions begin to arise. I write those questions in the notebook and spend hours thinking about their meaning. This is the beginning of what I call the internal discovery of the novel. It’s typically when a voice pops onto the page. Then I ask more questions. Who is this person speaking? What does she want? What is she afraid of? What makes her happy? What makes her sad? Where does she live? Then a place emerges. That’s when I begin researching.
I research a lot. I mean, hours upon hours of research. I read articles, interview people, visit places, and watch a bazzilion hours of YouTube videos. FUN FACT: For the airport scene in Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, I watched a two hour YouTube video of a family flying from Miami to Puerto Rico and walking through Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport and getting in a cab. And it was unedited! Then I flew to Puerto Rico to do research and chronicled my own flight and airport experience. This made up roughly one page of the entire novel! Like I said, I do a ton of research.
After research I revise, revise, and revise. This is crazy important. You remember that part I said earlier about the “internal discovery of the novel?” Well, revising helps you understand why you’ve written the story. We each have a story inside that wants to be told (whether you want to be an author or not). We each have a voice that wants to speak. Finding the voice is the first step. Understanding the voice comes in revision.
The last part seems obvious but it’s important to understand. There comes a point you have to channel your inner Elsa and just “Let it go”. Your teacher or your editor or whoever is going to get it next will help you through the next phase. But you have to send it off to get another set of eyes on the story.
Anyway, that’s how I more or less do things. It’s not perfect but it works for me. Maybe it will for you? Or, maybe you’re like, nah, I need to plot this story! That’s cool too. Whatever it is, make it comfortable for your style. Make it yours. You’re the one writing it, after all.
Pablo Cartaya
Email: pcartaya@unr.edu
Website: Pablo Cartaya's website
Summary
Pablo Cartaya is an internationally acclaimed author, screenwriter, speaker, and educator. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, and on Oprah’s Booklist. Pablo has worked with Disney, Apple+, and Sesame Street on projects adapted from television series and movies. His novels have been published by Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Disney Publishing Worldwide.
In 2021, Pablo served as a judge for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature, selecting a longlist, shortlist, and winner for the nation’s most prestigious literary award. Over the past decade, Pablo has facilitated approximately over one hundred and fifty writing workshops and lectures. Most have taken place at colleges, universities, libraries, and a variety of community organizations, and K-12 schools throughout the U.S., and in countries across the globe including Sweden, Canada, Jamaica, and Mexico.
Additionally, Pablo served as director of literary arts programming and community engagement at the prestigious four-star, four-diamond boutique hotel, The Betsy-South Beach. During his tenure he led the first literary festival celebrating and highlighting Latinx authors and creators; created the first hybrid literary and visual arts program for Art Basel Miami at The Betsy; helped secure seed funding and performance spaces for the first TransArt Festival in Miami, FL; created the first Writers for Young Readers authors program in Miami, FL; and received a grant for The Betsy Writer’s Room, a dedicated space in the luxury hotel to host writers and creators gratis for up to four days of residency. During his tenure, he oversaw the development of over twenty creative arts initiatives and over four hundred residencies for writers and creatives.
Novels include: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish, Each Tiny Spark, and the upcoming climate dystopia The Last Beekeeper. He also contributed to the collection of essays Hope Wins published in 2022. Notable Awards and Honors include: 2020 Schneider Family Book Award Honor, 2019 ALSC Notable Book, 2018 American Library Association’s Pura Belpré Honor, 2018 Audie Award Finalist, and 2018 E.B. White Read Aloud Book Award Finalist.
Education
B.A. in Writing, Loyola Marymount University
MFA in Writing, Vermont College of Fine Arts
Pablo Cartaya
Pablo Cartaya is a critically acclaimed best-selling author, screenwriter, speaker, and educator. His work includes The Last Beekeeper, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish, and Each Tiny Spark, and. His novels center around the themes of family, culture, community, and have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, and on Oprah's Book Club.
Genres: Children's Fiction
New Books
October 2022
thumb
Leo El Magnifico
(Ghostwriter)
Novels
The Epic Fail Of Arturo Zamora (2017)
Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish (2018)
Each Tiny Spark (2019)
The Last Beekeeper (2022)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
Picture Books
Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes (2010)
A Father’s Day Q&A with Pablo Cartaya, Father & Author of Children’s Books
Published: Monday, June 12th 2017 in Living Well by
Pablo Cartaya Author
I first met Pablo Cartaya during a presentation of one of his books. He was reading Tina Cocolina, his first book, and had kids from the audience role playing the story very vividly. Pablo truly has a natural ability to engage both kids as well as adults. As part of our Father’s Day Newsletter Edition, I decided to reach out to Pablo for a Q&A on fatherhood and his latest book, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora.
“I am a father first. Followed by an author, speaker, actor, and pretty much everything else after.” This is how Pablo describes himself. Pablo is the author of The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora (Viking/Penguin Random House), the forthcoming Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, and Tina Cocolina (Viking/Penguin Random House). When he is not traveling, he spends his days writing, revising, cooking, and doing homework with his two very awesome kids who call him Papa. You can visit him at: www.pablocartaya.com
Pablo Cartaya Reading The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
When/How did you decide to be a writer?
I decided to become a writer when I realized the power of books. Books allow you to transcend time, space, place, and person. They unlock your thoughts, challenge your beliefs, raise questions, and with a little luck, allow you to dream yourself into a story. Reading is like yoga for the soul. It is a uniquely human endeavor.
Why children’s books?
Young people just get things better than we do. Plus they’re so much cooler than we are.
Tell us a bit about your latest book The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora.
The book is the story of a thirteen-year-old boy named Arturo Zamora who is fighting a greedy land developer threatening to tear down his abuela’s restaurant. Arturo has a first encounter with love, discovers poetry, and learns the importance good old-fashioned community activism. Family is at the heart of this book, plus food. Lots and lots of food. I’m happy to say the book has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, been an Amazon Best Book of the Month choice, a Barnes and Nobles Best Book of the Month, and is on “50 Most Brilliant Books of Summer” for Scholastic Teacher Summer Reading Guide. You can buy it wherever books are sold. Here is a link to the publisher’s website: (http://tinyurl.com/japdq8m)
Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
I understand that your schedule allows you to spend a lot of time (more than the average American father) with your kids. How do you see the role of fathers in the 21st century?
I understand that my schedule is a privilege I worked very hard to attain. That being said, it isn’t always easy. Sometimes I have deadlines and can’t spend the time with my kids. But they understand I work at home and are amazing about it. Truly.
I can’t speak to all of fatherhood in the 21st century but I can look at the kind of father I hope to be. My role is to be a fervent supporter of my kids. To give them a sense that they can make their own choices and if they stumble and need me, they know I’ll be there. And I make it a point to thank them every day for being amazing humans.
What are some of the most challenging aspects of being a dad?
I want so desperately to do right by my children, to make things as easy for them as possible. But it’s not perfect. They will make mistakes. I will make mistakes. The thing I hope the most is that they grow up to be good human beings who are independent, hard working, and care about their world.
Learn more about Pablo at www.pablocartaya.com
'You have a story': Cuban-American author Cartaya encourages Freedom Middle students to embrace heritage
Kerri Bartlett
The Tennessean
SKIP
Best-selling author Pablo Cartaya led an assembly on embracing cultural differences at Freedom Middle School on Wednesday.
During a spirited talk at Freedom Middle School on Wednesday, Cuban-American author Pablo Cartaya asked students to repeat after him: "I have a story." The message reverberated throughout the gymnasium.
Before empowering students to embrace their culture, family and community, Cartaya told them a little about his own.
Growing up as a second-generation Cuban American in New York City, Cartaya said he sometimes rejected aspects of his culture because of surrounding societal pressures. He lost his fluency in Spanish after 12 years of public school education, scoffed at traditional Cuban music as a young boy and later even changed his name while working as an actor to become more marketable — or to sound more American.
A journey to tell his story
Cartaya said he reached a turning point when he showed his father — a political prisoner in Cuba who was tortured while jailed under the Fidel Castro regime — his head shot as an actor, with his newly declared name underneath.
"At the time, I thought it was no big deal," Cartaya said. "A lot of actors change their names. At least that's what I told myself until I showed it to my father. He looked at it, and said 'OK,' and that's it."
Deep down, Cartaya knew something was wrong, but trying to dodge the issue, asked his mother what was bothering his father.
"Do you know what your father went through?" Cartaya told students, repeating his mother's words. "He was a political prisoner. He was tortured. And when he got out, he had to leave the person he loved the most in this world — his grandfather."
His grandfather's name was Pablo.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Share your thoughts in the Franklin Hub about this story and other topics that matter to your community.
Embracing his roots
After that conversation with his mom, Cartaya set out to immerse himself in relearning his Cuban culture. He enrolled in college and began learning the skill of writing and storytelling, which led him to write some of the most critically acclaimed children's books that teach children to be proud of their culture and who they are.
Cartaya drew laughter and empathy from students when he told about his grandmother's mango milkshakes, his family's Latin dancing moves and the sadness when his beloved grandmother died when he was eight.
"I missed speaking in my native tongue of Spanish with her," he said. "Ask questions of your elders. Ask them where they grew up, what it was like. Learning about your community and culture helps you to understand more about who you are."
Best-selling author Pablo Cartaya took some time to speak with a group of students at Freedom Middle School on Wednesday after a school wide assembly. His books, which mirror his experiences growing up as a Cuban-American, were the focal point of a school wide project. Students pictured
are (left) Madison Inman, Elle Lucas, Jalyn Haynes and Amaree Hodge.
Gentrification talk: 'Old Franklin' and now
As part of a literacy project, all of the approximately 580 students at Freedom Middle School read and discussed Cartaya's novel, "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora," a 2018 Pura Belpre Honor Book.
Project organizers and Freedom Middle’s Instructional Literacy Coach Tequila Cornelious and Library/Media Specialist Leah Bishop chose the novel based on its underlying message on the importance of community.
“We chose the book because it represents community and love for family and that your community can also be your family,” Cornelious said.
The book also discussed change that inevitably comes with growth in a community over the years.
Cornelious also explained that she drew parallels from the book and Franklin, particularly, on the topic of gentrification as seen in Franklin's low income downtown neighborhoods — such as the historic Natchez Street and Park Street area where 900-square-foot homes are being torn down to make way for 3,000-square-foot homes.
Cuban-American author Pablo Cartaya delivers a spirited speech to Freedom Middle School students about the beauty of embracing one's heritage.
“One important topic in the book is gentrification, and we were able to make connections to that with what is happening in Franklin," Cornelious said.
Cornelious said classes discussed "old Franklin," compared to newer developments under construction in downtown.
"We discussed how residents grapple with 'how will this change us?'" she said.
For example, a community favorite restaurant, Dotson's, closed in December 2014 after 60 years of operation, and now a two-story office building is being built where residents used to share stories and meals close to the Harpeth River.
Also, Harpeth Square, the most expensive downtown development slated to open soon, could be compared to the book's fictional large development Pipo Place, Cornelious said. Students discussed the pros and cons of development and the importance of preserving community and cultural traditions, amid changing times.
Most of all, the books show students there is great value in sharing and celebrating cultural experiences.
"The Cuban culture represented throughout the book is very rich, and it gave us all an opportunity to celebrate and learn about another culture," Cornelious said. “It has also given our bilingual students opportunities to shine by supporting those of us who do not speak Spanish."
Diversity is Freedom Middle's greatest strength
Pablo Cartaya's books are inspired by his experiences growing up with a multi-cultural background and encourage others to embrace their heritage as a strength.
Freedom Middle School Assistant Principal Adam Demonbreun said that the school's greatest strength is its diversity.
"All of the kids were engaged in Cartaya's delivery, and the best part about our school is its diversity," he said.
According to the state report card released this month, Franklin Special School District shows a diverse population that reflects its surrounding neighborhoods.
With a student population of approximately 3,453, FSSD student demographic is as follows:
FSSD student demographics
Asian students – 6.8%
Black or African American students –14.1%
Hispanic or Latino students – 25.9%
Native American or Alaskan students – 0.7%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students – 0.4%
White students – 52%
Since 2012-13 the Hispanic population has grown by 4.3%, or from 21.6% to its current rate of 25.9%.
"I want to create the idea that we don't have to hide from who we are," Cartaya said. "It's my heart song to them. Their own experience is what they have to claim. They don't have to fit in a box. They are the heroes of their own story."
Cartaya, who resides with his wife and three children in Miami, has visited 21 cities since August and concludes his book tour in Austin.
He is currently working on two new books.
For more information, visit www.pablocartaya.com.
L.A. Libros Fest: Interview With Pablo CartayaDinorah Pinelo, Senior Librarian, Catalog, Friday, September 11, 2020
Portrait of Pablo Cartaya
My heritage inspires everything about me creatively.
Pablo Cartaya is a Cuban-American award-winning author, speaker, actor and educator. His middle-grade novel, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, was named a 2018 Pura Belpré Honor Book, his second novel, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, is in development as a motion picture and his most recent novel, Each Tiny Spark, is a 2020 Schneider Family Award winner.
Pablo is one of the featured authors at this year's Los Angeles Libros Festival, a free bilingual book festival for the whole family. L.A. Libros Fest for Kids & Families will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube on Saturday, September 26.
What does heritage mean to you? How do you identify and why?
Heritage means knowing yourself. Understanding that you come from somewhere. That you have a history that can be claimed. I identify with my abuela and my abuelo’s Cuban history. The gifts they passed on to me have helped me better understand who I am. I carry them with me as a formation of my own identity.
¿Piensas regularmente en inglés o en español? ¿Cuál prefieres?
Regularmente en inglés pero trato de hablar lo más posible en español. Especialmente con mis hijos! Prefiero vivir con los dos idiomas constantemente bailando juntos en mis conversaciones.
How does your heritage inspire your creativity?
My heritage inspires everything about me creatively. It’s like air. You don’t question whether you need it to breathe, it’s an involuntary act done in order to survive. This is how I view my heritage - it gives me oxygen to breathe air into my creativity. It gives me life.
I preserve my heritage by knowing that my voice matters. That my stories are worth telling.
¿Cómo aparece tu herencia en tus obras?
Mi herencia aparece en todos aspectos de mis obras. En los personajes (siempre tengo una abuelita en mis obras), el ambiente del escenario, hasta la propia comida! Mi herencia está en todo lo que escribo.
¿Cuál es el regalo más grande que te ha brindado tu herencia?
El regalo más grande que me ha brindado mi herencia es conocer a mis abuelos y todo lo que me enseñaron cuando estaban vivos. Me dieron el regalo más lindo que se puede dar a un nieto - historia. Con eso, pude entender quien soy.
How do you preserve your heritage as a writer?
I preserve my heritage as a writer by being unapologetic in showcasing my culture, family, and community in everything I write. I preserve my heritage by knowing that my voice matters. That my stories are worth telling.
5 Questions with Pablo Cartaya, Author
November 1, 2018 by Keren Moros 0 comments
Photo by Leah Wharton
Pablo Cartaya spent much of his life living in the middle. Born in Miami to Cuban parents and rasied in New York, Cartaya felt “straddled between two identities.”
“I spent years of my childhood wishing my hair was blonde and my eyes were blue and that my skin didn’t tan so much in the sun,” he says. “Because what I saw in the media, from books to television to film, somebody that was blonde, blue eyes with no discernible accent, that’s what was the idea of normal—at least to my eyes.”
As an adult, this struggle to fit into two cultures reached a breaking point while he was working as an actor in Los Angeles. A casting director told Cartaya he didn’t look like a “Pablo” and that he should change his name. His father’s reaction to seeing his new name on headshots led to a life shift for Cartaya.
“He was really hurt by it, because I’m named after his beloved grandfather who he left in Cuba,” Cartaya says. “That became a really profound moment for me in that I didn’t want someone else to claim my identity for me.”
Identity is now a theme of the novels that Cartaya writes for young people. His first, co-written with Martin Howard, was the picture book Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes. He followed it with The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora about a Miami teenager who works at his abuela’s restaurant and is inspired by the work of José Martí. His latest book, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, released this spring, follows a 13-year-old’s journey to Puerto Rico to find his father. His next book will be published by Kokila, a new imprint of Penguin Random House that focuses on telling diverse stories for children.
Cartaya, a Coral Gables resident, spoke to Pinecrest Lifestyle ahead of his appearance at this year’s Miami Book Fair.
1. How did you decide to write novels?
I’ve always been a writer. I used to develop scripts for a producer in Los Angeles and I’ve written stories. [When my daughter] was about 1 year old, I wanted to write a story for her, so I wrote this story about a cupcake searching for her topping [Tina Cocolina]. When it got published by Random House, I was like “Oh, this is a thing?”
… I decided to go to graduate school to really understand what this industry was about, especially the field of children’s literature. … My critical thesis in graduate school I wrote in Spanglish. It was basically to make an argument of why we should use other languages in text. All of my work has become reflective of that cross-cultural experience of being an American living in the United States but having this other cultural identity you also get to claim.
2. How did Marcus Vega come to life?
I always start a story with a scene that’s playing out in my head. When I was writing Marcus Vega, the first thing that I saw was this really tall kid trying to get his younger brother to take a bath. It was always Charlie, and it was always Marcus. … The Puerto Rican identity came about because Dad wasn’t around. So, where is Dad? Oh, he’s in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has always been a place that I love because it’s the closest I could have gotten to Cuba without going.
I wanted to tell a story of a kid who has a non-Latino, American mother and a father of Latin origin living in a small town somewhere in America because … Latin culture is not monolithic. We are everywhere and that story also deserves to be told.
3. What have readers told you about your books?
I just came back from a tour. I was on the West Coast speaking in front of about 500 sixth-graders. This young girl stands up afterward and says, “When I came to this country, I didn’t speak English, and I was bullied for speaking Spanish. But your books are giving me permission to speak Spanish again.”
Going around the country, it kept happening. … I want young people to know that I am listening to them, and that I believe in them and that their voices matter.
4. What can you tell us about your future work with Kokila?
[The next book] is going to be leading the debut list for Kokila next summer. The protagonist is a female, which I’m really excited about. It’s set in a small town in rural Georgia. The imprint is amazing. I’m really proud, because it’s led by an incredible publisher, Namrata Tripathi, and all of the senior editorial staff are women of color. I feel fortunate to be a part of that new imprint and to be leading off with this next book is really exciting.
5. What do your children think about your books?
My daughter has read my books. She’s in sixth grade. I was making dinner the other day and she comes into the kitchen and she just stares at me. She’s like, “You’re a good writer, papi.” I’m like, “Oh, thank you, honey.” She says, “Marcus Vega is really good.” She just walks off and doesn’t say anything else. I was like, “Well, that’s a sixth-grader, right? She’s going to give me just enough.” But that was all the validation I need in the world—for my daughter to approve of me.
Cartaya will speak at the Miami Book Fair on Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. at Mr. Wembley’s Storytorium in the fair’s Children’s Alley. Visit miamibookfair.com.
My America: Pablo Cartaya
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 20, 2019 BY AMERICAN WRITERS MUSEUM
Each week, the My America blog series will introduce you to one of the writers featured in our new exhibit My America: Immigrant and Refugee Writers Today, opening November 21, 2019. The exhibit is designed to elicit thoughtful dialogue on a wide array of issues with contemporary immigrant and refugee writers delving into questions about writing influences, being multilingual, community, family, duality, otherness and what it means to be American. Check back every Wednesday to learn more about these writers and their thoughts on these themes, as we highlight select quotes from the exhibit as well as reading recommendations. Today, award-winning and “unapologetically bilingual” author Pablo Cartaya shares his thoughts on writing, young people, abuelas and more.
Pablo Cartaya
Pablo Cartaya
Throughout his life, people have been telling Pablo Cartaya to stop speaking Spanish. When he got to kindergarten his teacher told him they don’t speak Spanish in the classroom, even though that was the only language he knew at the time. Fast forward to graduate school when his advisor told him he doesn’t have to use so much Spanish in his work, he could write something normal. But Spanish is normal to Cartaya, so he didn’t listen.
Nowadays, as a published and critically-acclaimed author he’ll see overwhelmingly positive reviews of his books, but the reviewers say it’s just too much Spanish. Pablo’s response to that? “Oh sweetie, then go to Google Translate and figure it out, because I’m not writing it for you. I’m not. I’m writing for all those little brown kids out there that are seeing themselves in a book for the first time, that can smile and laugh when the word abuela comes because they know.”
Cartaya is of Cuban descent, as both his parents are originally from there. His mother was very young when her family came to the United States with “absolutely nothing.” Meanwhile, his father had a “bit of a spat” with Fidel Castro and spent time in prison. Upon release, he moved to the U.S. and never went back to Cuba. This sort of dual identity — being of Cuban descent but also a U.S. citizen — has had a profound impact on Cartaya: “Who—what am I? You know, I’m neither this and I’m neither that. I’m half of this and half of that. I don’t look enough like this, I don’t look enough like that. And so it’s sort of what I call getting caught in the margins, you know, being stuck in the hyphen. Cuban, hyphen, American. And I’m somewhere in the middle, and I don’t look like one thing or the other. That messed with my identity a lot.”
Much of Cartaya’s writing also grapples with that sense of duality, of being “stuck in the hyphen,” especially in regards to young readers trying to find themselves in literature. Read on to hear more of Cartaya’s thoughts on the themes covered in My America, and be sure explore the exhibit in person to hear even more from Cartaya.
Selected Quotes from My America
On Being Bilingual
“I’m unapologetically bilingual and I don’t want to silence that side of my voice anymore. I think kids and readers in general appreciate it. There’s an authenticity that comes with it. The multilingualism that I use in my books is a response to how I naturally hear the world. It’s not because I’m trying to write a bilingual book. I’m writing it because that’s how my world is, those are the sounds that I listen to in my daily life. And I have to bring truth to that.”
On Belonging
Pablo Cartaya featured in My America exhibit at the American Writers Museum“It wasn’t until I started writing stories that I realized that I am not actually alone, that there are a lot of us out there. And by the way, it’s not just Cuban-Americans, it’s Korean-Americans, it’s Russian-Americans. It’s all of these people that live in the hyphens that are just trying to find a space to feel connected, to feel like they belong somewhere. And I think that more than anything that’s where my stories live. My stories live in the hyphens because that’s how I have experienced the world.”
On Owning Your Story
“I always felt very Cuban inside. I felt very connected to my culture, but I was constantly reminded that I wasn’t…And so this idea of erasure really took hold of my psyche, and I said to myself I don’t want to be marginalized. I don’t want my story to be questioned. My story is my own. My experiences are my own. My voice is mine. And so I went about this life of writing books that are very uniquely mine, that have a lot of Spanish, and culture, and family, and community.”
On What it Means to Be American
“I love being an American. I was born here and I enjoy the privileges of living in this country and the freedoms of living in this country. And because I love this country I can have a beef with it at times…like a family member, I can get really ticked off at this country, and I can get ticked off at people who run this country. And so what does it mean for me to be an American? It is my right to be angry when I want to be. It is my right to be happy when I want to be. It is my right to be in love and to show respect and to also be fed up. That is my right. That is what it is to be an American.”
On Americans and Immigrants
“[The climate] that we’re living in today exacerbates me, it embarrasses me. And I don’t look and say, ‘What are these Americans doing.’ I look and say, ‘What the heck are we doing?’ And it’s infuriating, but at the same time I am not in any way going to stop yelling and getting angry, and calling people out, and talking about my identity the way that I do, and speaking the languages that I speak. I’m not going to stop that. Do you know why? Because I am an American. We’re all immigrants. We all come from somewhere.”
Selected Works by Pablo Cartaya
Each Tiny Spark
Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
Tina Colina: Queen of the Cupcakes
PABLO
CARTAYA
Middle Grade Novelist
Pura Belpré Honored Author
Travels from: Miami, FL
The Last Beekeeper will sting readers from page one and leave them buzzing for more!” — Ryan Calejo, author of the Charlie Hernández series
Pablo Cartaya is an internationally acclaimed author, screenwriter, speaker, and educator. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, and on Oprah’s Booklist. Pablo has worked with Disney, Apple+, and Sesame Street on projects adapted from television series and movies. In 2021, he served as a judge for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature and has taught creative writing workshops and spoken at various universities and conferences throughout the world. He calls Miami home and Cuban-American his cultura. Novels include: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, Each Tiny Spark, and the upcoming climate dystopia The Last Beekeeper. He also contributed to the collection of essays Hope Wins published in 2022. Notable Awards and Honors include: 2020 Schneider Family Book Award Honor, 2019 ALSC Notable Book, 2018 American Library Association’s Pura Belpré Honor, 2018 Audie Award Finalist, and 2018 E.B. White Read Aloud Book Award Finalist.
Pablo Cartaya (he/him)
“I speak to young people around the country not so much to promote my books, but to connect with them. I want them to know that their voices matter. I use my books, my acting experience, and my multilingualism to make them laugh, dance, and think. Es mi gran honor I get to do this for a living.”
Biography
Pablo Cartaya is an award-winning author, screenwriter, speaker, and occasional actor. He is the Pura Belpré Honor Book Award winner for The Epic Fail for Arturo Zamora; an Audie Finalist for Audiobook of the Year in the Middle Grade Category (for which he narrated); An ALSC notable book of the year for Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish; and the 2020 Schneider Family Book Award Honor winner for his middle grade novel, Each Tiny Spark. He is currently lead faculty at Sierra Nevada University’s MFA program, and is working on future television and film adaptations, as well as a few more original stories. He lives in the hyphens between his Cuban and American identities and with his familia in Miami. Visit him at www.pablocartaya.com.
Novelist Pablo Cartaya Levels With Young Readers
BY MAHNAZ DAR • JULY 19, 2022
Share via Facebook
Share via Twitter
Share via Email
Novelist Pablo Cartaya Levels With Young Readers
Pablo Cartaya. Photo by Zoe Milenkovic
Pablo Cartaya calls himself a method writer—like a method actor plunging into a role, he immerses himself in the worlds he writes about. For his middle-grade dystopian novel, The Last Beekeeper (Harper/HarperCollins, July 12), he donned protective gear and visited bee farms in the Northeast and Southeast; he even got cellulitis following a wasp sting. “When I’m embedded into my world, my characters, I get really deep, and I want to know everything,” he says via a Zoom call from his home in Miami.
Understanding bees was central to his book, which is set in a world reeling from the effects of climate change, where honeybees are thought to be extinct—a terrifying prospect but one that doesn’t bother most inhabitants; propaganda has convinced many that bees are “killer insects.” However, 12-year-old Yolanda Cicerón and her older sister, Camila, discover a colony on their farm and, by reading a book and notes written by their now-dead Abuelita, realize that the bees are key to the survival of their community and to combating their authoritarian government.
Bees are misunderstood, says Cartaya. Though our instinct upon seeing a bee is often to panic, they are “vital to the environment.” He wanted to “explore the idea that these seemingly annoying pests are actually really quite good for us and for our world.”
Though The Last Beekeeper might seem like a departure from his earlier works of realistic fiction, in many ways it’s rooted in realism. Cartaya was spurred by events such as the storms that swept across Texas in February 2021, resulting in power and internet outages and shortages of food, water, and heat. Cartaya imagined a society devastated by hurricanes, earthquakes, and freezes—events that don’t “necessarily wipe out the entire Earth’s population. But [they wipe] out a large number of [people]. And then the groups that survive, they’re not communicating with anybody else outside of that particular region.” He asked himself what that community might look like.
The world he envisioned is disturbingly similar to our own. While the characters have regrouped and rebuilt, access to resources is imbalanced. The residents of the city of Silo have a level of wealth and privilege that those in the Valley, like Yoly and Cami, can only dream of. Eager to escape her lot in life, Yoly accepts scholarship money so she can stay in school and become a neurolink surgeon (a prestigious job that involves implanting computer chips into human skulls). But too late she finds herself saddled with debt. To ensure his worldbuilding rang true, Cartaya spoke to Michael Pirson, an associate professor of management systems at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, whose work concerns global sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and human dignity violations. Cartaya came away with an understanding of how “people can come together in crisis and then splinter off into camps of oppressors and oppressed.” Cartaya adds, “Humans have a capacity for such good and such amazing things. And yet we terrorize ourselves; we terrorize each other. It’s incomprehensible to me.”
Still, hope pervades the novel as Yoly’s eyes open to the evils around her and she realizes she needs to take a stand. The tension between her and Cami—who has seen firsthand what happens to those who step out of line and is committed to keeping her sister safe—is especially compelling. “It’s our lives right now,” says Cartaya. “There seem to be 1,000 different fronts,” he says. “You're trying to be an advocate for all the ills and the wrongs in this world, and you just don't even know what front to fight on anymore.”
The bond between the sisters is powerful—no surprise given that family is a subject Cartaya frequently returns to in his work. “There are four things that I always put in all my books: the themes of family, community, culture, and abuelas.” His own abuela died of cancer when he was in fourth grade, yet he still feels her presence. “She’s with me in the choices I make, in the type of parent I am, in the type of company I keep,” he says. Similarly, Yoly and Cami still feel Abuelita through the knowledge she continues to impart. “It’s just an extension of how I feel about my own abuela,” he notes.
Cartaya’s characters always manage to surprise him. “I think it’s because I spend so much time trying to understand who the characters are. And so by the time I put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard or whatever, they’re fully formed.” Characters whom Cartaya deeply loves may have different perspectives than his, like Yoly’s best friend, Arelis, who is skeptical when Yoly tries to convince her they must fight back against those in power. “When things are bad, people’s true nature tends to come out. And it isn’t usually very pretty,” Arelis responds. Cartaya has a more hopeful outlook, but he stresses, “I respect her experiences. And I respect what she has gone through.” He adds, “I can’t embed my belief system in a character.”
He’s just as amazed by his readers as he is by his characters. “Their resilience, their sense of humor, and their unapologetic honesty [are]...inspiring,” he says. “I wish I was as brave as they were when I was their age.”
Though the topics Cartaya takes on—student debt, climate change, inequities—might sound overwhelming, even frightening, in a book aimed at middle graders, he refuses to give his readers anything less than the truth. “I have too much respect for that audience,” he says. “I hated being talked down to as a kid. And so I will never do that.” He also feels it’s his duty as an author. “The purpose of a writer is to reflect the world that they’re living in and to examine the questions that are relevant in our world, whether…our stories take place 125 years in the future, as with The Last Beekeeper, or the past, or anywhere.”
Cartaya always strives to be honest with readers. While many dystopian novels frame technology as something insidious, Cartaya took a more balanced approach; to do otherwise, he says, would be to ignore the important role technology and social media play in young people’s lives. Thus Yoly realizes that while the government uses technology for nefarious means, it can also be used for good. He likens her initial longings to leave the Valley for Silo to our relationships with Twitter or Instagram. “She’s [thinking], ‘I want to go there because that’s where the technology is. That’s where the good stuff is.’ We've all had that sort of thing, right? ‘I want to get more Twitter followers, I want to get more IG followers.’ ”
He recognizes, too, that young people juggle school, family, friends, and more, and though tweens have far more agency than younger children, they’re still beholden to the adults around them. He believes that kids need stories that reflect the complexities of their lives. “I love tackling stories that have multitudes because young people live in multitudes; they don't live in singularities,” he says.
Above all, Cartaya wants readers “to understand that I respect the multitudes of their experiences. I respect the experiences that are often flooded with darkness and also with hope. And with happiness….My task is to give that to them, honestly.”
Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.
Finding the Kindling for Each Tiny Spark with Pablo Cartaya
by Marva Hinton
| Filed in Reviews+
2
Each Tiny Spark centers Emilia Torres, a sixth-grader at Merryville Middle School in the small suburb of Merryville, Georgia. She struggles to keep up with her schoolwork because things get jumbled up in her head. Her family life is also a bit bumpy. She feels caught in the middle when her mom and her abuela argue about the way she should look and behave. And her dad, who’s a Marine, hasn’t been quite right since he came home from his last deployment. As the two of them work to restore a classic car together, they’re able to reconnect. Emilia’s family drama plays out as Merryville is engulfed in a school redistricting controversy that pits her friends against each other. This marks award-winning author Cartaya's third novel. Like his other books, it features a protagonist that readers will root for, and doesn't shy away from tackling tough issues like discrimination and mental health challenges. SLJ recently caught up with Cartaya to discuss addressing difficult topics with kids, and why he calls this novel a heart song to his daughter.
Photo by Leah Wharton
This is your first middle grade novel written from a girl’s perspective. Why did you choose to have a female protagonist this time, and was it harder to find her voice as compared to the boys you wrote about in your first two novels?
Here’s a little insight into how I start a story. Typically, a scene emerges in my head and plays out without any interference other than me physically writing it down. My writer’s voice has no say in this process. It’s happened with all my novels and Each Tiny Spark was no different. The scene that emerged was a 12-year-old girl welding a piece of metal to a car door while her father looked on quietly. The dad’s arms were folded, and in that vision, I saw USMC (United States Marine Corps) tattooed across his bicep. Then the questions started pouring in. Who was this kid? Who was her dad? What the heck do I know about welding? The answer to all of those questions was: I had no idea! But such is the creative process, at least for me. Something subconsciously was telling me to write this story with a female protagonist while a father looked on without saying much. When I finished the manuscript, I realized that I was building a character modeled around my own 12-year-old daughter. It was my way of trying to understand, respect, and listen to who she is and how she sees the world. I added many layers to this story—social activism, military families, immigration policies, community history, school redistricting—but at its heart, this is a book about a father and a daughter finding their way back to each other by literally welding a car back together. My books are very personal, as are my characters. Arturo in The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora was a version of my kid-self trying to hold on to my grandmother who I lost much too young. Marcus in Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish is me having lost my Spanish as a little boy and feeling this strange imposter syndrome when it came to my cultural identity, only to claim it back when I felt empowered by my own voice and experience. Emilia was equally personal. After I finished this book, I realized that first vision of the girl welding a car as her dad looked on quietly was in fact, a love letter to my daughter.
At the time, my daughter was in sixth grade like Emilia, and I was in awe of how she navigated the changes in who she is, her interpersonal relationships, and her views of the world. My daughter has a way of thinking that is incredible. She sees about a million things at once and then goes about piecing them together and seeing how they fit for her own self-interest. It’s not her being selfish, it’s just her seeing where she stands in it all. I observe her with her friends and with her family and she has confidence but also moments of vulnerability that I find profound. Sometimes I just don’t know what to say to her and then she tells me, “I don’t want you to say anything, Papi. Just listen.” So, I have, and then I wrote a book with her voice so when I read it back now, it’s her voice I’m listening to.
Emilia’s Afro-Cuban mom traces her ancestry to the Yoruba people of Nigeria, and her grandmother, who is also Cuban, traces her family’s roots to Spain and Ireland. You’re from Cuba, but you’re not Afro-Cuban. Why did you want to write about a girl with this background? What steps did you take to make sure you got this part of the story right and was there any apprehension about whether this was a story you should be telling?
That’s a great question! In my own family, there are members who are Afro-Cuban who have been treated differently than my white family members. It’s so problematic. How do we contend with this disparity within our own families? This is what I was trying to get at with Emilia’s mom, Susanna (who has Afro-Cuban roots) and Emilia’s abuela (who claims Spanish and Irish ancestry). Emilia sees and loves them both, and wonders: What part does she get to claim? Even her friends weigh in on Emilia’s “whiteness.” Over the course of the novel, however, Emilia begins to understand the importance of not tolerating the erasure of her mother’s side of her identity. Emilia will continue to love her abuela, yes, but she will no longer be silent about her grandmother’s continual dismissal of her mother’s Afro-Cuban identity. Writing this aspect of the novel was important to me because it’s something I believe many in the Latinx community contend with. A cultural and racial identity that exists inside of us that is often rooted in a problematic history. In the process of writing this novel I set about going deeper into this complexity. I’ll always be grateful to Dr. Cristina Rhodes for providing dozens of academic papers and resources on Afro-Cuban and Latinx identity. These helped me dig even further into the far-reaching research of the subject. I’m also eternally grateful to my editor and publisher for challenging me to dig deeper than I even thought possible. I believe giving a scholar, or an expert in a particular field, access to your novel to provide useful feedback helps bring authenticity and sensitivity to your work.
Each Tiny Spark book cover
In Emilia’s town, there are some racial and ethnic tensions between the Latinx community and white people. The local school board is considering a controversial redistricting plan that has some of her friends choosing sides. While working on a school project, she learns how one neighborhood in her town came to be home to so many Latinx immigrants. She also learns about what she considers to be unfair immigration laws. Why did you want to tackle these issues for a young audience?
I believe we too frequently hand young people a saccharine view of the world when in fact, they are often experiencing real-life issues more extremely than adults. They become collateral damage in adult policy-making and I think it’s important to give them a voice; at least, that’s what I try to do in my novels. I’ve gone around the country speaking to middle schoolers and they are so incredibly smart and aware of the world. Their humor and (sometimes brutal) honesty make them my favorite people. A middle schooler will see through you, so my job is to be honest with them about what they’re facing on a daily basis. I do that through humor, through activism, and through the agency of the young people at the center of my stories.
Emilia also has to contend with inattentive-type attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which is a form of ADHD. We see the struggles this causes her in school and occasionally in her interpersonal relationships. In your author’s note, you mention that your daughter has ADHD and you provide resources for your readers to learn about neurodiversity. What do you hope your young readers will get out of this aspect of Emilia’s story?
Emilia has some focus challenges and some executive function deficiencies with things she’s not interested in. As I mentioned, I wrote this story with my daughter in mind. It’s my hope that a neurodiverse reader like my daughter picks up the book and feels connected to it without feeling like it’s only about her neurodiversity. This isn’t an origin story about Emilia and her family discovering she has ADHD. It exists at the onset of the story and we see how Emilia navigates her world and her neurodiversity in unique ways. My daughter doesn’t go around discussing her neurodiversity, but she is learning how to use her particular exceptionalities to her advantage. When she is interested in something, there is hardly a detail she’ll miss. I wanted to celebrate neurodiverse thinkers like my own kid.
Your novel touches on another mental health condition, post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Emilia’s dad, Antonio, is a Marine who’s home after a long deployment and he’s experiencing it. We see how PTSD affects him and the whole family as they try to figure out how best to help. Did you ever worry that you were putting too much on this young character’s plate?
Honestly, I don’t really worry about putting too much on a young character’s plate. Emilia’s life exists in multitudes; her experiences and challenges guide who she is and who she is becoming. As I mentioned, I write realistic contemporary fiction. I write these novels with the central themes of community, family, and culture. They are ever-present in my work because that is the foundation of who I am, not only as a writer but as a human. These are the central values of my own life and have been since I was the age of my protagonists. I believe giving young readers the opportunity to see themselves in stories is as important as any endeavor one can hope to achieve. To that end, my goal is to respect the complexity and diversity of challenges young people face on a daily basis and to give them an access point to explore those challenges in my novels. Themes pertaining to social activism, cultural identity, and complex familial relationships are flush in my novels as they are in real life.
What are you working on now?
I’ve got another middle grade novel I’m writing for my amazing publisher Kokila Books that I can’t tell you about yet, and a few other surprises here and there. Stay tuned!
Guest Post: Pablo Cartaya – Finding Inspiration in Representation
September 27, 2018
This post was written by Pablo Cartaya, author of Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish.
I loved books and movies and TV shows as a kid. The problem I had was that so many shows had characters that looked nothing like me. It wasn’t until I went to the premier of the “Super Mario Bros” movie that I realized I could become an artist of some kind. I know, I know, you’re saying, “Super Mario Bros”??? Are you kidding me??? I get it, you were expecting something more profound to serve as an inspiration to my career as a writer but my twelve-year-old self would have it no other way.
You see, I saw John Leguizamo playing Luigi and got to meet him after the movie. We talked for a brief moment. But in that conversation we code-switched between English and Spanish and we laughed and he told me that whatever I decide to do in my life, to do it fully. I suddenly felt seen. Those sorts of encounters with people that look and sound like you can be transformative. They will also be challenged. To be a person claiming two cultures, as I do in Cuban and American is to be constantly tested about who you are.
I went on to pursue acting and had some success but I was often typecast into one role or another. I was encouraged to change my name, to hide away parts of my identity in order to work more. I’d like to think that I would have been brave and staked my identity unapologetically, to demand a greater share of roles that I was perfectly capable of taking on. But it would not be so. And it would almost break me.
As much as I’d like to say I made a choice to not allow someone to place me in a cultural box, the reality is, we are more often than not Tuesday morning quarterbacks ruminating on what we should have said.
This is why I turned to books and why writing the types of books I now write is so important to me. Because they give me the voice I wished I had my whole life. The characters in my books speak up. They stand up for injustices and eventually claim every part of themselves. I struggled with that internally my whole life and it came to a head when a casting director told me to my face that I wasn’t enough of what I claimed to be. The young people in my book are the voice I wanted to have when I felt I was on the outside looking in of my own identity.
It’s been difficult at times, which is why kids are connecting to the stories I write. I’ve spoken to them around the country and they get it. They get that I understand them.
I am the child of two cultures. The hyphen. The in-between that has no discernible accent in either language. That can blend and move between cultures. I’ve seen those kids. They just want to be left to claim themselves as individuals, which is all I ever wanted. To be defined by the things I do in this world and not by someone’s perception of what we should be.
The phrase “you pass” feels like a dagger in my veins every time somebody says that to me. I write to give voice to that rage. Which is what Mr. Leguizamo may have been wishing for my twelve-year-old self. To do it fully.
The Last Beekeeper. By Pablo Cartaya. July 2022.304p. Harper, $16.99 (9780063006553). Gr. 4-8.
Award-winning author Cartaya has written a thrilling sf story set in a world almost destroyed by the effects of climate change. Yolanda Ciceron always planned on leaving behind the family finca and working at Silos, the most technologically advanced city. When the farm cannot produce ripe strawberries to sell and her sister can no longer afford to pay for Yolanda's tuition, Mayor Blackburn offers to help--but with the mayor, everything comes at a price. Soon after, Yolanda reads through her grandmother's journal and discovers what is now the last-known beehive. These pollinating insects may be the key to freeing her from the grasp of Mayor Blackburn and uncovering the dark truth about Silos and the disappearance of her family. The Last Beekeeper raises powerful questions about a possible future if efforts of environmental preservation fail. A middle-grade dystopian story with well-written female characters and interesting world building, this appealing title teaches readers that one person can make all the difference in creating positive change. --Michelle Ortega
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Ortega, Michelle. "The Last Beekeeper." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 19-20, 1 June 2022, p. 84. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A708840752/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=78821654. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Cartaya, Pablo THE LAST BEEKEEPER Harper/HarperCollins (Children's None) $16.99 7, 12 ISBN: 978-0-06-300655-3
In a dystopian future ravaged by climate change, a 12-year-old tech genius must save her community from an evil government.
Raised on her family's strawberry farm in the Valley, Yolanda Cicer�n, who has Cuban roots, aspires to become a neurolink surgeon, install computer chips in human skulls, and live in Silo, the most developed city around. But Camila, Yoly's older sister and her guardian since their parents' exile, can't afford the tuition. After Yoly secretly accepts a scholarship from Silo's Mayor Blackburn to fund her studies--against Cami's explicit wishes--she realizes the scholarship's terms require her to go on Retreat, a life-threatening mission in territory plagued by extreme weather disasters. Terrified, Cami finally shares secret family history that explains her mistrust of the mayor. Yoly belatedly understands that the System that purportedly keeps everyone safe from nature is actually oppressive and is spying on them. Looking for a way to pay off the scholarship and avoid the Retreat, Yoly and Cami discover a honeybee colony on their farm and recognize that the bees can pollinate fields and thereby reduce people's dependence on Silo. But questioning and innovation are dangerous under an authoritarian regime, and when people dear to Yoly are taken away, she must fight to save them and bring down the whole corrupt System. Readers will root for Yoly, who is as kind and brave as she is smart, in this page-turning story that deals with all-too-relevant themes.
An insightful, action-packed, and thought-provoking adventure. (Fiction. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Cartaya, Pablo: THE LAST BEEKEEPER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A701896724/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=aad96c64. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Cartaya, Pablo. Each Tiny Spark. Kokila, August, 2019. 336p. $16.99. 978-0451479723
4Q * 2P * M
Emilia lives with her mom and grandma (abuela) in a small town near Atlanta, Georgia. As soon as her dad returns from deployment, Emillia's mother leaves town to attend a conference. Emilia is nervous about being around her dad, because he was gone for so long and he acts so differently than she remembers. Also, Emilia's abuela won't get off her back, telling her to act more like a "lady" and to prepare her for her quinceanera. To make matters worse, Emilia, who struggles with ADHD, must complete a complex school assignment about creating a tourism guide for her hometown. The project leads Emilia to discover disturbing information about the treatment of immigrants in her state and community.
Although Emilia is challenged by several important issues throughout the story, she juggles everything with grace and dignity. The complex relationship between Emilia and her family is a positive one and is made more real when Spanish is interwoven into the text. Emilia's friend Gus is also a great addition to the story, because he helps to keep her grounded, even when her mind is spinning. Not only is Emilia a role model, but readers should also be able to relate to her, too. Teachers can use this book to inspire students to research their own communities and the contributions immigrants have made to them. --Allison Richmond
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Richmond, Allison. "Cartaya, Pablo. Each Tiny Spark." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 42, no. 3, Aug. 2019, pp. 60+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A601763325/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=85d94b27. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Cartaya, Pablo EACH TINY SPARK Kokila (Children's Fiction) $16.99 8, 6 ISBN: 978-0-451-47972-3
A nuanced novel about a neurodiverse preteen's political and social awakening by a Pura Belpre Honor-winning author.
Sixth grader Emilia Rosa Torres sometimes has a hard time keeping up with schoolwork and concentrating on one thing at a time, but her software-developer mother and superinvolved abuelita help her keep on task. Days before her father's return to their Atlanta suburb from his most recent deployment, her mother goes on a business trip, leaving the middle schooler to juggle his mood swings, her friend troubles, and her looming assignments all on her own. When a social studies project opens her eyes to injustices past and present, Emilia begins to find her voice and use it to make an impact on her community. Writing with sensitivity and respectful complexity, Cartaya tackles weighty issues, such as immigration, PTSD, and microaggressions, through the lens of a budding tinkerer and activist who has ADHD. The members of this Cuban American family don't all practice the same religion, with Emilia's Catholic grandmother faithfully attending Mass multiple times a week and the protagonist's mother celebrating her culture's Yoruba roots with Santeria. Conversations on race and gender crop up through the narrative as Emilia's grandmother likes to emphasize her family's European heritage--Emilia can pass as white, with her fair complexion, light eyes and auburn hair. All of these larger issues are effortlessly woven in with skill and humor, as is the Spanish her family easily mixes with English.
A pitch-perfect middle-grade novel that insightfully explores timely topics with authenticity and warmth. (author's note) (Fiction. 9-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Cartaya, Pablo: EACH TINY SPARK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585227082/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=322d491a. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish
by Pablo Cartaya
Intermediate, Middle School Viking 252 pp. g 8/18 978-1-101-99726-0 $16.99
Fourteen-year-old "gentle giant" Marcus Vega is devoted to his mom and younger brother, Charlie, who has Down syndrome. One of the ways he "helps out" is earning extra cash by charging schoolmates protection money to keep them safe from the real bullies. But when one of those bullies calls Charlie "retarded," Marcus uses his immense strength to put the bully in his place. The fallout from Marcus's violent act leads to his suspension from school and a family crisis. Marcus's mother decides the family needs a week in Puerto Rico, where Marcus was born and where his absentee father's relatives still live, to figure things out. Spending time with his extended family and traveling across the Puerto Rican countryside (pre-2017's devastating hurricanes, per an introductory author's note) open the young man's eyes to his heritage. As his cultural bonds tighten, Marcus gains a new understanding of his mother's struggles and his own important roles as both son and older brother. Cartaya's follow-up to his 2018 Pura Belpre Honor Book The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora (rev. 7/17) shines in its small moments examining Puerto Rico's unique locales through the eyes of the Vegas. A middle-grade/middle-school travelogue and heartfelt intergenerational story with wide appeal.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Carpenter, Eric. "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 94, no. 5, Sept.-Oct. 2018, pp. 77+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A552263138/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3354e802. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Cartaya, Pablo MARCUS VEGA DOESN'T SPEAK SPANISH Viking (Children's Fiction) $16.99 8, 21 ISBN: 978-1-101-99726-0
In searching for his absentee father, a biracial boy gets closer to his Puerto Rican roots.
Though Marcus Vega was born in Puerto Rico, the 14-year-old hasn't been back since he was 2. Marcus lives outside of Philadelphia with his mom, a white woman, and his little brother, Charlie, who has Down syndrome. Marcus towers over the other kids, and he uses his size to his advantage, walking kids to and from school and stashing their phones in his locker (out of the principal's reach) for cash. After a school bully calls Charlie "the one word that sends [him] into a blind rage," Marcus punches him in the mouth and is suspended. Marcus' mom decides that the three of them should go on a trip to regroup, which is how they find themselves in Puerto Rico looking for the dad Marcus hasn't seen in 10 years, a search that takes them and readers all over the island. Immigrant and first-generation readers will relate to Marcus' feelings of not belonging in Puerto Rico. Marcus' eagerness to reconnect with the father who abandoned him is believably naive and allows him to overlook his relatives' criticisms of his dad, but both they and Cartaya allow him the space to come to his own conclusions. Marcus' Puerto Rican relatives are lively and loving; their English conversations with Marcus include non-italicized Spanish words and phrases that provide cultural texture.
A compelling read about the meaning of family, identity, and culture, set in pre-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Cartaya, Pablo: MARCUS VEGA DOESN'T SPEAK SPANISH." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A546323012/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=323cc450. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Cartaya, Pablo. Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish. Viking/Penguin Random House, August 2018. 272p. $16.99. 978-1-10199726-0.
4Q * 4P * M * J
His lack of Spanish is not Marcus Vega's real problem, nor will it be the reader's, although there are many Spanish terms in the book. Marcus's newly-met Puerto Rican relatives graciously translate for fourteen-year-old Marcus and his twelve-year-old brother Charlie, who has Down's Syndrome. Marcus's focus is on his family's need for the father who abandoned them a decade earlier. Another concern is his size--six feet tall, 180 pounds in the eighth grade. He is known as the Montgomery Middle School Monster. Marcus deftly turns that liability into financial profit, protecting students from a school bully for a fee. When the bully calls Charlie "a retard," however, Marcus slugs him and gets suspended. To regroup, Marcus's mother scores tickets to Puerto Rico for spring break. Marcus plans to re-enlist his absent father there, although everyone who knows Marcus Vega, Senior, knows how that story will end.
Readers will appreciate Marcus's care for Charlie and the loving horseplay between the two siblings. The plot presents perhaps one too many obstacles in Marcus's search for his father, given the outcome of their meeting. The compelling quest, however, allows a vivid panorama of the island: its food, its music, its scenery--and the warmth of the relatives Marcus never knew existed. Cartaya is realistic about the islands problems, but readers who know Puerto Rico mostly from news reports of catastrophic hurricanes will gain a richer sense of its vibrant reality, and perhaps a Spanish term or two. --Katherine Noone.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Noone, Katherine. "Cartaya, Pablo. Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 41, no. 3, Aug. 2018, pp. 55+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A551167807/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=52a23fff. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
by Pablo Cartaya
Middle School Viking 248 pp.
5/17 978-1-101-99723-9 $16.99
Thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora is part of a large, Miami-based extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins led by matriarch Abuela. As a young woman, she emigrated from Cuba with her husband (now deceased) and founded La Cocina de la Isla, the family restaurant, which is not only a famous establishment in the Miami food scene but also a mainstay of the neighborhood. Now in failing health, Abuela has passed the management of the restaurant to Arturo's mother. Arturo is looking forward to his first job in the family business, but he's nonplussed when he finds out that it's washing dishes. He'd rather spend the summer hanging out with his best friends, Bren and Mop; flirting with his first crush, Carmen, and learning the poetry of Jose Marti to impress her; or reading the letters left for him by his late abuelo. But when scheming real-estate developer Wilfrido Pipo proposes to build a mixed-use high-rise development that would close La Cocina, the entire Zamora family mobilizes to win the neighborhood's support, and Arturo and Carmen are right in the thick of things. Arturo narrates his story with liberal doses of Spanish, untranslated and non-italicized, adding a welcome and authentic texture to Cartaya's debut novel about a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, dealing with friends and girls (and possibly a girlfriend!), his place in his family, and his family's place in his community. More, please. JONATHAN HUNT
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Hunt, Jonathan. "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 93, no. 4, July-Aug. 2017, p. 129. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500260358/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fa29623f. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Cartaya, Pablo THE EPIC FAIL OF ARTURO ZAMORA Viking (Children's Fiction) $16.99 5, 16 ISBN: 978-1-101-99723-9
"When you decide you're going to tell a girl you like her, you need galactic-level courage."Summer's bringing its share of changes for 13-year-old Arturo Zamora. Hanging out with friends, working part-time at his family's restaurant, La Cocina de la Isla, and joining in Sunday family dinners guarantees some fun times at the start of the hot season. But when a sleazy land developer named Wilfrido Pipo arrives in town to build an upscale high-rise right where La Cocina stands, derailing the Zamoras' plans to expand the family business, Arturo sees that his Miami neighborhood's in trouble. The money-grubbing intruder woos neighbors and old friends with gifts and a flashy festival. Now, Arturo's family and friends must fight back to stop Pipo, and these friends include Carmen, a spirited visiting Spaniard who stirs confusing, wonderful feelings within Arturo. "Lo mas importante, mi Arturito, es el amor y la fe," says Abuela. Concerned about his ailing grandmother, Arturo struggles to help save the restaurant she built, finding inspiration in two unlikely sources: a box full of letters from his long-departed grandfather and the revolutionary poetry of Jose Marti. Will Arturo discover the love and faith resting inside him? In this inspiring middle-grade debut, Cartaya presents a delightful portrayal of boyhood, skillfully navigating Arturo through the awkwardness, funniness, and messiness that often accompany young love. And in the author's depiction of the Zamoras--a mostly Cuban-American family full of distinct, lovable characters--the book also testifies to the importance of community. Irresistibly exquisite. (author's note, recipes) (Fiction. 10-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Cartaya, Pablo: THE EPIC FAIL OF ARTURO ZAMORA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A485105066/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=40459193. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes.
By Pablo Cartaya and Martin Howard. Illus. by Kirsten Richards.
2010. 48p. Random, $16.99 (9780375858918). Gr. 1-3.
At the Gingersnap Academy for Rising Cupcakes, it's time for the Cream of the Crop Cupcake contest. All the cupcake children are sporting elaborate toppings, including Candyce Cremiere, frosted in spicy buttercream, and berry-topped Billy Barry Blue. Tina Cocolina, though, can't find her perfect topping. But just when all seems hopeless, inspiration happily arrives, bringing an unexpected, sweet surprise. Though the characters are called "cupcakes," only the ever-present, hat-like cupcakes crowning their heads--all diverse and fancifully illustrated--convey the concept. In the dense but sympathetic narrative, the authors touch on hot-button, mean-girl issues in scenes of Tina feeling left out and discouraged. But whimsy is really the driving force here, a tone that's extended in the cheerful, candy-colored illustrations featuring swirly, whimsical details and patterns, reminiscent of Mary Engelbreit's work. This is an entertaining title with a supportive, encouraging message that taps into the current cupcake renaissance, and many kids will want to move on to the appended cupcake and frosting recipes.--Shelle Rosenfeld
Rosenfeld, Shelle
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Rosenfeld, Shelle. "Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes." Booklist, vol. 107, no. 7, 1 Dec. 2010, p. 66. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A243798217/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d6890c72. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
CARTAYA, Pablo. The Last Beekeeper. 304p. HarperCollins. Jul. 2022. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9780063006553.
Gr 4-6--Cartaya's newest novel gives readers a dynamic, plot-driven story with heart. Set in the future after climate disasters and constant virtual connectivity have altered the way of life, the plot centers Yoly Ciceron, who wants to go to school to become a surgeon--not a farmer in the Valley like her exiled parents. After accepting a scholarship from the powerful Silo without reading the fine print, Yoly soon realizes that all of the connectivity is just another way for a few affluent people to control impoverished families like hers and keep them in debt. After discovering their abuela's writings about the fabled bees and their importance in pollination, Yoly and her older sister Cami go on a mission to revitalize their family farm, clear their debts, and save the Valley from the Silo. Readers will find Yoly authentic and endearing even when she makes rash decisions. The depiction of Latinx culture intertwined with the culture of the Valley and the Silo bring necessary texture to the plot. The relationships Yoly builds and her realizations about the beauty of connecting with people in-person happens naturally. While some of the motivation of the villains falls a little flat at the end, the purpose of the hero remains, and ultimately sparks conversation about our own climate crisis. An action-packed adventure that reflects our own mistakes and predicts our fears for the future. Similar titles include Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember and Rodman Philbrick's The Last Book in the Universe. VERDICT Highly recommended for middle school readers who enjoy dystopian adventures and science. --Hilary Tufo
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Tufo, Hilary. "CARTAYA, Pablo. The Last Beekeeper." School Library Journal, vol. 68, no. 8, Aug. 2022, pp. 85+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711673813/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d8a9924f. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
CARTAYA, Pablo. Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish. 272p. Viking. Aug. 2018. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781101997260.
Gr 4-7--This middle grade story, set in Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico, pulls together important themes of family, identity, bilingualism, friends, and bullying. Marcus Vega navigates his six-foot-tall, 180-pound frame through middle school while also caring for his younger sibling, Charlie, who has Down Syndrome. Because of his large size, some of his peers consider him to be a monster, or even a bully. When a real bully uses the "R" word in reference to Charlie, Marcus punches him in the jaw. This begins a series of events in which he is expelled from school before spring break, causing his mother to take the boys to Puerto Rico where they are introduced to their father's extended family for the first time. Marcus decides to locate his long-absent father and over the course of five days, readers travel the island with him as he is introduced to its rich flora and fauna, foods, community life, music, and friendliness. Marcus eventually comes to terms with his life challenges, including his own identity. VERDICT An excellent choice for upper elementary and middle grade libraries given its multiple, age-appropriate themes and the window it provides to life in a Puerto Rico before Hurricane Maria.--Ruth Quiroa, National Louis University, Lisle, IL
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Quiroa, Ruth. "CARTAYA, Pablo. Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish." School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 6, June 2018, p. 74. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A540902902/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9a8bbea8. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
CARTAYA, Pablo & Martin Howard. Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes. illus. by Kirsten Richards. unpaged. CIP. Randora. 2010. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-37585891-8; PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-375-95891-5. LC 2008034175.
PreS-Gr 1--Tina wants nothing more than to win the Cream of the Top Cupcake contest, but she hasn't found the picture-perfect topping yet. Her parents assure her that she can compete next year but Tina will hear none of it. In fact, she is so blinded by her need to win that she refuses to play the cupcake-in-waiting role as helper. After being teased by a classmate, she finds inspiration and runs out to create the topping that looks just right on her. Tina arrives at the contest moments before the winner is to be announced and the judge is so dazzled by her beauty that he immediately crowns her Queen. The characters are drawn as people with cupcakes on their heads, tinted in an eye-pleasing, though sickeningly sweet palette of pastels. A few recipes by Howard, an award-winning pastry chef, are included, but kids who want to re-create the characters will be disappointed by the lack of matching topping recipes. Overall this one looks about as appealing as the plethora of pink mass-market books targeting girls, and it reads about the same.--Heather Acerro, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN
Acerro, Heather
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Acerro, Heather. "Cartaya, Pablo & Martin Howard. Tina Cocolina: Queen of the Cupcakes." School Library Journal, vol. 56, no. 11, Nov. 2010, p. 66. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A241413036/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=17327f5f. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.