SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://juanamartinezneal.com/
CITY: East Lyme
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: Peruvian
LAST VOLUME: SATA 376
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1975 in Lima, Peru; daughter of Victor Martínez Gómez and wife; married; children: two sons, one daughter.
EDUCATION:Graduated from art school.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Artist, illustrator, and writer. Operator of a graphic and web design business, ten years; guest faculty for Highlights Foundation retreat, 2019. Exhibitions: works included at “Rooted,” Brandywine Museum, 2023, and shown solo at “Our Place in the World: Children’s Illustrations,” Zimmerli Art Museum, 2023.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
AWARDS:International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor, 2014; Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration, 2018, for La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya; Caldecott Honor Book and Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award Honor, both 2019, both for Alma and How She Got Her Name; Robert F. Sibert Medal and American Indian Youth Literature Awards (AIYLA) Picture Book Honor, both 2020, both for Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard; Anna Dewdney Read Together Award Honor Book, 2021, for Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry; Coleen Salley Storytelling Award, 2024.
WRITINGS
Works have also been published in Spanish.
SIDELIGHTS
Juana Martinez-Neal is an award-winning illustrator and author of picture books who was born in Peru and now makes her home in America. She was born into a very artistic family. Her paternal grandfather was an oil painter with a fondness for depicting Peru’s native peoples, while he also painted traditional portraits for the well-to-do in his city. Her father, in turn, was a watercolor artist who also most enjoyed portraying individuals and scenes from indigenous communities, including in portraits of elders, mothers with children, and fishermen. Despite the family’s appreciation for creativity, Martinez-Neal’s childhood was largely devoid of picture books, which were not in wide circulation in Peru in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The book that most captured her imagination with its beautiful union of pictures and words, received on her seventh birthday, was French creator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, with its message of simplifying life and appreciating the act of living.
Following in her father and grandfather’s footsteps, Martinez-Neal studied painting in adolescence, with an eye toward a future career of the elite variety. An early flash of her true calling came when she was sixteen and her father’s graphic design studio received a commission for a toy company’s packaging. Her father told her what needed to be drawn and then let her imagination work on its own for half an hour. In a self-interview for her blog, she described him as both puzzled and pleased with her results, and she went on to contribute toy package designs for the next five years. By age twenty-one she was determined to attend art school, but after three years of artistic efforts, her final project led her professors to suggest that she was not, after all, a painter at heart. At age twenty-four, she opted to reset her life by moving to Los Angeles, and in the United States she started her own graphic design business.
Concerning her transition from amateur to professional artist, Martinez-Neal told a Watch. Connect. Read interviewer: “After I moved to the U.S., it took a while to discover children’s books. Finding my voice took some time, too. As I tried to become an ‘American,’ I lost the connection to my country and my roots. I lost who I was; and I stopped painting and writing. It took a while to realize that what I needed to do was paint the people who I know, the people who look like me, brown people.” After doing graphic and web design for a decade, she refocused her energy on promoting her talents as a picture-book illustrator. Starting in the early 2010s she was selected to illustrate several books, and her first self-illustrated work, Alma and How She Got Her Name, came out in 2018. As an illustrator, she has teamed up with a diverse array of writers, including Hispanic and Native American authors, and her self-illustrated books put Latinx youths front and center. After living in Arizona for a spell, Martinez-Neal moved with her family to eastern Connecticut.
In Alma and How She Got Her Name, young Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela is not entirely pleased with her name, which is too long to fit in the proper spaces. At this, her father regales her with the origins of her names, telling her about grandparents and great-grandparents and their memorable personalities. With one spiritual, one an activist, one a lover of books and flowers, and one with wanderlust, Alma finds the traits of each echoed in her father and herself. A Kirkus Reviews writer proclaimed that the illustrations in Alma and How She Got Her Name, prints using graphite and colored pencil, are “delightful, capturing the distinctive essences of Alma’s many namesakes.” Horn Book reviewer Megan Dowd Lambert similarly found that “the pictures end up stealing the show in their depiction of the sweet closeness between Alma and her father.” The Kirkus Reviews writer praised Martinez-Neal’s self-illustrated debut—which includes an author’s note about the origins of her own name—as a “celebration of identity, family and belonging.”
Martinez-Neal takes young readers to the heart of Peru with her second self-illustrated title, Zonia’s Rain Forest. Zonia is an Ashaninka girl, living with her people, Peru’s most populous indigenous group, in the Amazon rain forest. The book follows along on her day’s journey through the forest, where she meets, greets, and plays with a splendid array of creatures, including sloths, coatis, a jaguar, river dolphins, an anteater, and a boa constrictor. Her joy is cut short when she happens upon a devastating clear-cut expanse, which prompts her to run home and determine to take action. The back matter includes a translation of the story into the Ashaninka language and information about the rain forest and the animals depicted. A Kirkus Reviews writer enjoyed how “sweet illustrations done on handmade banana-bark paper depict a spunky and happy brown-skinned child.” The writer praised the “important environmental message”—which perhaps goes understated in the story—underlying Zonia’s Rain Forest.
[open new]Alma returns in Martinez-Neal’s self-illustrated, bilingual board-book series “Alma’s Words/Las palabras de Alma.” With English and Spanish text appearing side by side and color-coded throughout, Alma, Head to Toe/Alma, de pies a cabeza introduces young readers to all the commonly seen parts of a person’s body. The vocabulary expands as Alma talks about how she uses, for example, her hand to pet her bird Parajito, whose feathers feel as soft as a flower. Booklist reviewer Julia Smith delighted in Martinez-Neal’s “irresistible, softly textured illustrations” in this “effervescent reading experience and sweet celebration of self.” Praising the “cozy art and fluid line” in this title as well as Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia for School Library Journal, Shelley M. Diaz proclaimed that “warmth exudes from each spread, and the cuddle-worthy heroine is full of so much joy.” Diaz concluded that no matter what languages they speak, young readers will “embrace these books with much enthusiasm.”[suspend new]
Illustrating other authors’ works was how Martinez-Neal got her start, and collaborations with Susan Middleton Elya helped raised her profile. La Madre Goose: Nursery Rhymes for Los Niños is a collection of nursery rhymes enlivened, and made friendlier to young Hispanic readers, with Spanish vocabulary, such as “Maria Had a Little Oveja” and “Twinkle Twinkle Small Estrella.” Booklist reviewer Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez found that Martinez-Neal’s “softly textured illustrations combine acrylics and colored pencils to beautiful effect.” School Library Journal reviewer Sujei Lugo agreed that “the book’s forte is Martinez-Neal’s soft and delightful illustrations, which capture the sweetness and warmth of the tales.” With The Princesa and the Pea, a Spanish-inflected adaptation of the well-known tale—winning Martinez-Neal the Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration—a Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that the “darling, soft-edged mixed-media illustrations bring the brown-skinned characters to life.”
Another honored title is Seminole writer Kevin Noble Maillard’s Fry Bread: A Native American Family Tradition. The book delves into the history, the community, and the actual cooking of fry bread and its importance as a part of Native culture. Horn Book reviewer Nicholl Denice Montgomery praised Martinez-Neal’s “warmhearted acrylic, colored-pencil, and graphite illustrations, on hand-textured paper.” Amina Chaudhri observed in Booklist that the illustrations “are meant to be relished, lingered over” in “this lovely, important book.”
Hayley Barrett’s Babymoon coins a term to describe the fantastically loving, honeymoon-like period following the birth of a baby. A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that “Martinez-Neal’s distinctive illustrations feature soft, hazy lines that convey a dreamlike quality.” Swashby and the Sea, by Beth Ferry, finds a cantankerous old sailor displeased to find new neighbors, a girl and her grandmother, intruding on his isolation. He has a change of heart when the girl needs rescuing. A Publishers Weekly writer found that “a strong sense of place emerges from the palette, redolent of sunlit sand and sea glass.” A Kirkus Reviews writer likewise declared that the artwork in Swashby and the Sea “breathes the life into this story; the muted beige, blue, and turquoise palette is perfect for a beach tale.”
[resume new]Martinez-Neal teamed up with television host and cookbook author Padma Lakshmi on Tomatoes for Neela, which celebrates the spread of Mesoamerica’s native tomatoes to cuisines around the world, including India’s. In School Library Journal, Jon Aldrich Solow enjoyed how the “lovely illustrations, created with acrylic and colored pencil on textured paper, … emphasize the sweetness of Neela’s interactions with her mother.” A Perfect Fit: How Lena “Lane” Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion, by Mara Rockliff, tells the story of a Lithuanian immigrant who overcame hardships to build a fashion brand catering to people of all shapes and sizes, such as with an innovative adjustable maternity dress. Catherine Callegari of School Library Journal declared that Martinez-Neal’s illustrations, “using mostly sepia tones with pops of color, … convey an old-fashioned era, but with clever details, plump humans, and delightful textiles and patterns that leave readers wanting more.”
Martinez-Neal joined longtime best friend Molly Idle to illustrate I Don’t Care, written by Julie Fogliano, about two friends who have a tiff but ultimately agree they need each other. The illustrators include a note explaining their collaboration and use of their favorite colors, teal and yellow, as linocut highlights against graphite linework. Booklist reviewer Lucinda Whitehurst affirmed that the pictures “seamlessly expand on Fogliano’s narrative” in what proves a “warm, loving celebration of how to be a friend, and a successful artistic experiment.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, June 1, 2016, Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez, review of La Madre Goose: Nursery Rhymes for Los Niños, p. 80; April 1, 2019, Becca Worthington, review of Babymoon, p. 73; September 1, 2019, Amina Chaudhri, review of Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, p. 111; February 15, 2022, Emily Graham, review of A Perfect Fit: How Lena “Lane” Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion, p. 47; September 1, 2022, Lucinda Whitehurst, review of I Don’t Care, p. 80; May 15, 2023, Julia Smith, review of Alma, Head to Toe/Alma, de pies a cabeza, p. 53.
Horn Book, May-June, 2018, Megan Dowd Lambert, review of Alma and How She Got Her Name, p. 111; November-December, 2019, Nicholl Denice Montgomery, review of Fry Bread, p. 71.
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2016, review of La Madre Goose; July 15, 2017, review of The Princesa and the Pea; February 15, 2018, review of Alma and How She Got Her Name; April 1, 2019, review of Babymoon; February 15, 2020, review of Swashby and the Sea; March 15, 2021, review of Zonia’s Rain Forest; June 15, 2021, review of Tomatoes for Neela.
Publishers Weekly, April 13, 2020, review of Swashby and the Sea, p. 59; September 26, 2022, review of I Don’t Care, p. 65.
School Library Journal, June, 2016, Sujei Lugo, review of La Madre Goose, p. 66; July, 2017, Lucia Acosta, review of La Princesa and the Pea, p. 59; September, 2021, Jon Aldrich Solow, review of Tomatoes for Neela, p. 77; May, 2022, Catherine Callegari, review of A Perfect Fit, p. 91; December, 2023, Shelley M. Diaz, review of Alma, Head to Toe/Alma, de pies a cabeza and Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia, p. 70.
ONLINE
Author Village, https://theauthorvillage.com/ (July 1, 2024), author profile.
Critter Lit, https://www.critterlit.com/ (February 16, 2023), Lindsay Ward, “Double Interview with Best Friends and Author/Illustrators Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal!”
Eastern Connecticut State University, https://www.easternct.edu/ (April 20, 2022), “Award-Winning Illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal Discusses Journey.”
Highlights Foundation, https://www.highlightsfoundation.org/ (August 9, 2019), “Faculty Interview: Juana Martinez-Neal.”
Juana Martinez-Neal website, https://juanamartinezneal.com/ (November 22, 2011), “A Mini-Interview with Me”; (July 1, 2024).
Los Angeles Public Library, https://www.lapl.org/ (September 13, 2020), Lupita Leyva, “L.A. Libros Fest: Interview With Juana Martinez-Neal.”
Mackin Community, https://www.mackincommunity.com/ (February 24, 2023), Lisa Bullard, “Juana Martinez-Neal: Falling in Love with Words.”
Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast, http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/ (April 10th, 2018), “Juana Martinez-Neal on Alma and How She Got Her Name.”
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, https://www.scbwi.org/ (August 6, 2021), author profile.
Watch. Connect. Read, http://mrschureads.blogspot.com/ (February 15, 2019), “Caldecott Honor Artist Juana Martinez-Neal.”
Zimmerli Art Museum, https://zimmerli.rutgers.edu/ (July 1, 2024), “Our Place in the World: Children’s Illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal.”
I’m Juana and I write and illustrate books for young readers.
Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick Press) was my debut picture book as an author-illustrator, and was awarded the 2019 Caldecott Honor. I am also the illustrator of La Princesa and the Pea (written by Susan M. Elya, Putnam/Penguin), winner of the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration, and Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (written by Kevin Noble Maillard, Roaring Brook Press), winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal.
I was born in the busy city of Lima, the capital of Peru. Now I live in the woods in Eastern Connecticut. Here I share a home with my husband, two sons, daughter, our two dogs, and the souls of our late cat, Kitty, and ginormous dog, Puppy.
For interviews and publicity requests, write to my publicist at Candlewick Press–publicity(at)candlewick.com. For events and library and school presentations, contact The Author Village. For children’s books projects, contact Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel of Full Circle Literary.
Nací y crecí en Lima, y soy bilingüe. No duden en escribirme en español.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
2024 Ambassador of the Center for Climate Literacy at the University of Minnesota
2024 Coleen Salley Storytelling Award
2023 Zimmerli Art Museum Solo Exhibition
2023 Brandywine Museum ``Rooted`` Exhibition
2023 Reading Rockets' 100 Children's Authors and Illustrators Everyone Should Know
2021 New York Times bestselling Illustrator
2021 Anna Dewdney Read Together Book Award Honor
2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal Award
2020 AIYLA Picture Book Honor
2020 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Recommended Title
2019 Caldecott Honor
2019 Ezra Jack Keats Award Writer Honor
2019 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Recommended Title
2019 Society of Illustrators Los Angeles - Illustration West 57 - Gold Award
2019 Society of Illustrators Los Angeles - Illustration West 57 - Silver Award
2018 Pura Belpré Medal Award for Illustration
2014 IBBY Honour List Illustration
2012 SCBWI LA Conference Portfolio Showcase - Grand Prize Winner
2011 SCBWI Illustrator Mentorship
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Juana Martinez-Neal
Juana Martinez-Neal in 2016
Juana Martinez-Neal in 2016
Born Lima, Peru
Occupation Children's author, illustrator
Nationality American, Peruvian
Genre Children's fantasy
Relatives Victor Martínez Gómez (father), Victor Martinez Malaga (grandfather)
Website
juanamartinezneal.com
Juana Martinez-Neal is a Peruvian American children's book author and illustrator. Her debut book as an author and illustrator, Alma and How She Got Her Name, was well reviewed and won a 2019 Caldecott Honor.
Biography
Juana Martinez-Neal grew up in Lima, Peru.[1] Growing up she hoped to be a painter, like her father and grandfather, as the profession of illustrator was not common in Peru.[2][3] She moved to the United States in her mid-20s.[1] After having children of her own she decided to become an author and illustrator of children's books.[2] She now lives in Connecticut, with her husband and three children.[4]
Bibliography
As Writer and Illustrator
Alma and How She Got Her Name, Candlewick Press, 2018 ISBN 978-0-7636-9355-8
Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre, Candlewick Press, 2018 ISBN 978-0-7636-9358-9
Zonia's Rainforest, Candlewick Press, 2021 ISBN 978-1-5362-0845-0 [5]
La selva de Zonia, Candlewick Press, 2021 ISBN 978-1-5362-1336-2 [6]
As Illustrator
La Madre Goose, written by Susan Middleton Elya, Putnam, 2016 ISBN 978-0-399-25157-3
La Princesa and the Pea, written by Susan Middleton Elya, Putnam, 2017 ISBN 978-0-399-25156-6
Babymoon, written by Hayley Barrett, Candlewick Press, 2019 ISBN 978-0-763-68852-3
Fry Bread, written by Kevin Noble Maillard, Roaring Brook Press, 2019 ISBN 978-1-626-72746-5
Swashby and the Sea, written by Beth Ferry, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020 ISBN 978-0-544-70737-5
Tomatoes for Neela, written by Padma Lakshmi, Viking Children's Books, 2021 ISBN 978-0-593-20270-8
A Perfect Fit, written by Mara Rockliff, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2022 ISBN 978-0-358-12543-3
I Don't Care, written by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal, Neal Porter Books-Holiday House, 2022 (Forthcoming) ISBN 978-0-8234-4345-1[7]
Awards and honors
2018 Pura Belpré Illustrator Winner – La Princesa and the Pea[8]
2019 Caldecott Honor – Alma and How She Got Her Name[9]
2019 Ezra Jack Keats Award Writer Honor – Alma and How She Got Her Name”[10]
2020 Sibert Medal – Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story[11]
Juana Martinez-Neal (she/her)
“My work is all about playing. Playing with materials, playing with ideas. And in the midst of playing, I found a life making books. It is my hope to pass that curiosity and playfulness to everyone I meet.”
Biography
Juana Martinez-Neal is the recipient of the 2020 Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story written by Kevin Noble Maillard, the 2019 Caldecott Honor for Alma and How She Got Her Name, and the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea written by Susan Middleton Elya. She is the New York Times-bestselling illustrator of Tomatoes for Neela written by Padma Lakshmi.
Juana is also the illustrator of and I Don’t Care (written by Julie Fogliano and co-illustrated with Molly Idle, Neal Porter Books), A Perfect Fit: How Lena “Lane” Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion (written by Mara Rockliff, Clarion), Babymoon, and Swashby and the Sea. Her second picture book as author and illustrator Zonia’s Rain Forest is also available in Spanish as La Selva de Zonia (Candlewick Press). Alma, From Head to Toe/Alma, de pies a cabeza and Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia, are two forthcoming bilingual board books.
Juana was born and raised in Lima, Peru. She is a daughter and granddaughter of artists now living in the woods in Connecticut.
Our Place in the World: Children’s Illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal
Award-winning children’s illustrator and author Juana Martinez-Neal creates books where children connect with their heritage and learn to be proud of their uniqueness, discovering their own place in the world. A multigenerational family bonds over traditions and recipes in Tomatoes for Neela (written by Padma Lakshmi, Viking Books for Young Readers, 2021). An Asháninka child shares the wonders, and peril, of her homeland in Zonia’s Rainforest / La selva de Zonia (Candlewick Press, 2021). A little girl learns about the family history behind her name in Alma and How She Got Her Name / Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (Candlewick Press, 2018). And the beloved character Alma returns in Martinez-Neal’s two newest publications, the bilingual board books, Alma, Head to Toe / Alma, de pies a cabeza (Candlewick Press, 2023) and Alma and Her Family / Alma y su familia (Candlewick Press, 2023). This exhibition features illustrations and preparatory works for these stories, showcasing Martinez-Neal’s extraordinary artistry and celebrating her remarkable ability to create immersive and engaging books for young audiences.
Our Place in the World features bilingual English/Spanish exhibition text.
Organized by Nicole Simpson, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings
This project is supported by PNC Grow Up Great.
Nuestro lugar en el mundo: ilustraciones infantiles de Juana Martinez-Neal
Del 21 de septiembre de 2023 al 19 de febrero de 2024
Los libros de Juana Martinez-Neal, una galardonada autora e ilustradora de literatura infantil, tratan acerca de niños y niñas que conectan con su herencia y aprenden a enorgullecerse de su singularidad, para así descubrir su lugar propio en el mundo. Esta exposición incluye ilustraciones originales y bocetos increíbles de varios de sus libros más apreciados. En Alma and How She Got Her Name / Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (Candlewick Press, 2018), una pequeña niña conoce la historia familiar detrás de su nombre. Una niña asháninca comparte las maravillas —y los peligros— de su tierra natal en Zonia’s Rainforest / La selva de Zonia (Candlewick Press, 2021). Una familia multigeneracional se mantiene unida gracias a sus tradiciones y recetas en Tomatoes for Neela / Tomates para Neela (escrito por Padma Lakshmi, Viking Books for Young Readers, 2021). La exposición también incluye ilustraciones de dos de las publicaciones más recientes de Martinez-Neal: los libros bilingües de cartón Alma, Head to Toe / Alma, de pies a cabeza (Candlewick Press, 2023) y Alma and Her Family / Alma y su familia (Candlewick Press, 2023).
Organizada por Nicole Simpson, curadora adjunta de Grabados y Dibujos
Este proyecto cuenta con el generoso aporte de PNC Grow Up Great.
Juana Martinez-Neal is the recipient of the 2019 Caldecott Honor for Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick Press), her debut picture book as author-illustrator. She is also a New York Times bestselling illustrator recipient of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Story (Roaring Brook) and the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea (Putnam).
Juana was named to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor list in 2014, and was awarded the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize in 2012. She was born in Lima, the capital of Peru, and now lives in Connecticut, with her husband and three children.
Published on April 20, 2022
Award-winning illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal discusses journey
Juana Martinez-Neal
Juana Martinez-Neal
Eastern Connecticut State University hosted award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal on April 13. A Caldecott Honoree and Pura Belpré Awardee, Martinez-Neal gave a book talk on three of her works, shared her family history, and described her personal process of illustrating a book and making art matches the narrative. Martinez-Neal also read a few pages of her award-winning debut book that she also illustrated.
The event was sponsored by the Departments of Education and English, as well as the JEDI group--Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion. The event was coordinated by Education Professor Susannah Richards, as education and English students have read Martinez-Neal's books this semester.
Martinez-Neal began by showing attendees pictures of her younger self along with her family members. Born and raised in Lima, Peru, Martinez-Neal came from a family of artists. Her father and grandfather were both painters, but she decided to go in a different direction than painting. Throughout her teenage years Martinez-Neal spent a lot of time sketching and at the age of 16 her father asked her to make an illustration for him.
Shocked and impressed by her creation, Martinez-Neal’s father then tasked her with the responsibility of sketching designs for the toy company he operated. Martinez-Neal continued this for five years. She not only got the chance to participate in meetings with the company’s CEO, but also got firsthand experience in the professional world of illustration.
At the age of 21, Martinez-Neal decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and enroll in art school to learn painting with the hopes of becoming an art teacher. “At the end of my third year at the school I was reviewed by my professors and they told me that they liked my work, brush strokes, composition and colors, but they said I wasn’t a painter — I was an illustrator,” said Martinez-Neal.
“And they were absolutely right, I am an illustrator. The only problem was that in Peru you did not have a career as an illustrator. Illustration did not exist even though I had been doing illustration for the toy company, we didn’t have the words to call it illustration and make it a career.”
Martinez-Neal then moved to Los Angeles at 23 years of age and went through a culture shock. She was overwhelmed with trying to understand the new way of living and stopped painting and writing. She then met her future husband who helped to reignite her passion for art and Martinez-Neal started taking art classes at UCLA’s continuing education extension program.
Juana Martinez-NealMartinez-Neal faced many obstacles and setbacks along her journey to becoming an author-illustrator, but continued on her path and has won multiple awards. In 2020 she illustrated, "Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story," written by Kevin Noble Maillard, was the recipient of the Robert F. Sibert Medal award, which recognizes authors and illustrators of the most distinguished informational book published the previous year. Her most recent award was in 2021 by the New York Times for bestselling illustrator. So far in her career she has more than 17 awards and recognitions.
At the event the three books Martinez-Neal highlighted were “Alma and How She Got Her Name,” “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story” and “A Perfect Fit: How Lena 'Lane' Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion," written by Mara Rockliff.”
“Alma and How She Got Her Name” was the first book that Martinez-Neal authored and illustrated. It tells the story of a Peruvian girl named Alma who hates her name because it is six names too long. Martinez-Neal’s inspiration and artistic process behind this book came from her own family, which she used to highlight typography, pictures, identity, pride and love.
“I wanted the artwork to feel like readers were looking through an old school photo album with black, white and sepia pictures,” said Martinez-Neal. In the book Alma’s father tells her that those names are of significant members of the family, and Alma learns to love the name she was gifted with — “Every single relative was within her,” said Martinez-Neal.
The second book Martinez-Neal discussed was “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story,” which she illustrated. The book is about a modern Native American family that uses the traditional Native American recipe of fry bread to bring a family together. Martinez-Neal shared how she wanted to spotlight the Native American nations and tribes that exist in the United States and that they are listed on the end pages of the book.
The third and final book Martinez-Neal talked about was “A Perfect Fit: How Lena 'Lane' Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion,” which tells the story of a seamstress who took the challenge of creating a gown that went against the current fashion standards while working under the plus size clothing brand Lane Bryant. This book published on April 12, 2022, so it was the first time that Martinez-Neal was able to discuss the newly published book in front of a live audience.
Attendees were also treated to images from her forthcoming book, “I Don’t Care,” written by Julie Fogliano and co-illustrated with another Caldecott Honor illustrator and good friend, Molly Idle, to be published in October 2022.
“If we’re not doing something new, if we’re not doing something different and exciting, then why are we doing it?” said Martinez-Neal. “I felt like I was doing the same thing as a recipe — I was getting tired. I found my way on my own and realized I’m doing books for little, tiny babies, so I need to speak a different way and make the images a different way and that just gave me so much happiness.”
To learn more about Martinez-Neal and all her published books and illustrations visit juanamartinezneal.com.
Written by Bobbi Brown
Juana Martinez-Neal: Falling in Love with Words
By Lisa Bullard
February 24, 2023
“What story would you like to tell?” asks Juana Martinez-Neal at the end of her author’s note for the picture book Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick, 2018)—the perfect question to ask readers of a book that muses on the ways we are shaped by the stories that came before us. The title was Martinez-Neal’s first book as both author and illustrator, and it earned her a Caldecott Honor to go alongside other noteworthy awards, including the Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea (Putnam/Penguin, 2017; written by Susan Middleton Elya) and the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (Roaring Brook, 2019; written by Kevin Noble Maillard). Martinez-Neal was born and raised in Peru in “a home of artists,” an experience that continues to shape her own story and the stories she creates for young readers.
Here, Martinez-Neal talks with Lisa Bullard about the open-ended possibilities of working outside the “rules” of illustrating for children, the importance of failing beautifully, and the power of being seen and represented.
A strong theme in Alma and How She Got Her Name is how we are each shaped by who and where we come from. That concept also plays a role in many of your other books, including recent titles such as Zonia’s Rain Forest (Candlewick, 2021), Tomatoes for Neela (written by Padma Lakshmi, Viking, 2021), and A Perfect Fit: How Lena “Lane” Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion (written by Mara Rockliff, Clarion, 2022). Can you talk a bit about that theme and how and why it continues to play out in your work?
It is impossible for me to separate personal life from work. My work is a reflection of who I am at that particular moment in my life. I choose my projects respecting that place and keeping it in mind. And yes, you are correct: A constant in my work is finding out our place in the world, the reason why we are here, and of course, learning who we are. My reasoning is that if we know who we are, we can understand our place in the world and behave as we should. Again, this is a personal understanding of our own selves that is a constant search in my personal life, which is why it is a constant in my work.
If we know who we are, we can understand our place in the world.”
How did growing up in Peru and moving to the U.S. as a young adult shape your creative work?
Being born and raised in Peru and moving to the U.S. in my early twenties defines who I am, and for that same reason, defines my work. Both countries are essential parts of me and unexpectedly show up in the details of my work—both words and images. My work is to understand which details to show more of in each book—a process that I am still learning about.
Left: Juana's dad, Victor Martínez Gómez Right: Juana's grandad, Victor Manuel Martínez Málaga
I’ve read that you didn’t grow up with picture books which seems amazing, given how your work as both a writer and an illustrator seems so perfectly suited to the genre. What drew you to this creative form?
I grew up in a home of artists. Paintings from my granddad and dad covered the walls. We were also booklovers. We kept books of all genres around the house. I kept my own personal library in my bedroom. Growing up, I may not have had picture books, but I had novels and I loved them.
My love for books was not new when I started making them. It just changed my position from reader to maker. Having three generations of artists behind me, it was just natural to be making art. Discovering picture books, thanks to my husband, was the transcendental pivot that marked my life and career.
Discovering picture books, thanks to my husband, was the transcendental pivot that marked my life and career.”
Do you think there was an advantage in being able to approach the creation of your own titles without nostalgia for the “picture books of your youth”?
As I did not grow up with picture books and did not go to art or illustration school in this country, I find myself facing a lot of holes in my children’s illustration history knowledge. Despite this, I feel these holes are an advantage that allows me to approach the books with a good ignorance that gives me no biases. Anything is possible because I do not keep the children’s illustration rules in mind.
Here are some of the words that floated up for me while I was absorbed in your engaging illustrations: textured, wholeness, joy, earthy, fluid, playful. Do any of those resonate with you? Are there other ideas that you consciously try to incorporate into your work?
Oh, those words most definitely resonate with me! When I work, I look for imperfections. They make the art feel fresh, handmade, perfectly flawed, and just plain beautiful. I’m not saying that my work encompasses all those characteristics, but I am certainly aiming for them.
Every time I sit down to paint, I look and wait for “happy accidents” that make the work feel effortless and beautiful. I also would love to make the viewer want to touch the art. I want my work to feel human, with all the imperfections and chaos that we carry. Do I think I achieve that? No, but I’m trying. I am on a mission to get there, failing beautifully, and having so much fun while I try.
I want my work to feel human, with all the imperfections and chaos that we carry.”
How do you achieve the wonderful sense of texture that’s so noticeable in even the “empty” spaces in your illustrations?
I hope that every area in the pieces is interesting to the eye. I get that with the surfaces where I lay materials. My “canvases” always have texture. I want the art to feel handmade.
As an illustrator who has worked with many different authors, you are certainly familiar with collaboration, but in the case of I Don’t Care (Neal Porter Books, 2022), that collaboration took a more unusual turn. For that picture book, you collaborated with another illustrator; you and Molly Idle together created the illustrations for Julie Fogliano’s story. How did that process work?
I Don’t Care was a dream project. Every step flowed easily because there was a constant effort to respect the other’s point of view and ideas. No idea was discarded. We embraced them and somehow incorporated them in the work. But I think we got to this because of the mutual respect we have for each other.
The most interesting part of making this book was discovering Molly’s book-making process. Until we worked on this book, I had never had a chance to see it so close and in detail. I have to say that having someone to bounce ideas off through every single step of the process was invigorating and energizing. I feel grateful that Molly, Neal, Jennifer and Julie considered me a good addition to the team.
You’ve also written Spanish editions of some of your books, such as La selva de Zonia (Candlewick, 2021) and Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (Candlewick, 2018). What kind of feedback have you heard from readers about these titles?
Spanish is my mother tongue and my first language. Getting a chance to share my books in this language was important. I am moved when I hear from adults who find my books. They feel seen and represented; such a powerful moment.
Teacher Guides
Alma and How She Got Her Name
Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre
Zonia’s Rain Forest
La selva de Zonia
What’s your best advice for young readers who want to be artists and/or writers?
Read. Read all the time, all that you can. I remember falling in love with words when I was young. I kept a notebook where I wrote sentences that I loved. One day, I was no longer writing other people’s words but my own. But it all started with reading. Read a lot! Same goes for drawing. Draw. Draw all the time, all you can.
I remember falling in love with words when I was young. I kept a notebook where I wrote sentences that I loved. One day, I was no longer writing other people’s words but my own.”
What would you like to tell your fans about your forthcoming books?
I am delighted to share that in September 2023, I have not one but TWO Alma board books releasing: Alma, Head to Toe / Alma, de pies a cabeza and Alma and Her Family / Alma y su familia. These are part of the “Alma’s Words / Las palabras de Alma” collection, published by Candlewick Press. Alma will get to share some moments with our youngest readers. The board books are bilingual (English and Spanish), and I look forward to hearing from readers.
What are the best ways for readers to connect with you or to follow you on social media?
Readers can find me on Instagram as @juanamartinezn. They can meet me in-person at events or email me from my website: juanamartinezneal.com/contact/.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for the opportunity and for reading!
DOUBLE Interview with Best Friends and Author/Illustrators Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal!
February 16, 2023Authors + Illustrators, Interviews, Vet InterviewsLindsay Ward1 Comment
Happy Thursday Critters! Today we have a DOUBLE interview with real life besties Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal! I’ve been a long time fan of their individual books— they are STUNNING and you should check them out immediately here and here if you haven’t already. I’m so excited to have them BOTH with us today to talk about their road to publication, creative process, and their newest book, I DON’T CARE, written by Julie Fogliano, published with Neal Porter Books this past November, which Molly and Juana illustrated together.
So without further ado, please welcome Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal!
Idle-Molly_Headshot_Photo by Molly Idle.jpgJuana Martinez-Neal_Photo by Jade Beall.jpeg
Where do you live?
As we are two, we’ll answer in a world-class-ping-pong game style!
Juana: I live in small coastal town in Southeastern Connecticut. Before moving here in February of 2021, I always lived in the city. I love small town living!
Molly: I can see why you do! Your small town is completely and utterly charming! It aaaaalmost makes me want to move there too… but right now the weather here in Arizona is perfect. 70 degrees in February. Ask me again in July :)
How many years have you been in publishing?
J: Let me see… I decided to start making children’s books in October of 2005. That does not mean I was published, but that I was determined to be. So, what? Seventeen and a half years here and counting. Moll?
M: Almost the same! I left animation with the idea that I’d like to start writing and illustrating in 2003. So… 20 years now?! Eek!
How did you first get published?
J: My work was first published by educational and small publishers. It is not until July of 2016 that I was published by one of the “Big-Five” (four now?) here in the United States. It was “La Madre Goose: A Nursery Rhymes for los Niños”, written by Susan Middleton Elya, published by Putnam/Penguin Random House.
M: We’re on the same page again! After years of juggling small illustration jobs, and caring for small people as a new mom, Penguin Random House gave me my first big break too! Viking Children’s Books published Tea Rex, in 2013.
Do you write/illustrate full-time?
J & M: Yes, we do!
What inspires you to create picture books?
M: I love creating and exploring the relationships between characters. In the process I not only get to know and better understand them, I get to know and better understand myself too.
J: And I make books about finding our own selves, our identities, our places in the world, the reason why we are in this world. That’s a constant personal search and what drives me to make new work.
What is your favorite thing about being an author/illustrator?
M: Ooooo, there are so many that it’s hard to pick a favorite! One of the things I love most is the feeling when something ineffable falls into place. Like when I’m sketching and sketching, trying to capture the essence of a character and then, suddenly, find them—“There you are! It’s you!”
J: I agree with Molly. That’s an amazing moment! I love being able to create the worlds that we want to see exist.
What do you find difficult working as an author/illustrator?
M: Deadlines. They’re my Achilles heel!
J: We are best friends for a reason! My biggest challenge is that we create our own schedules. It can be a trap when you are so easily distracted.
What do you do to shake the rust off or get new ideas?
M: For rust, I recommend WD40 — it really helps get things moving. For ideas, I recommend work. I used to worry all the time that I’d run out of new ideas. But then I noticed that as soon as I wrapped up one story another idea would present itself! Finishing one seems to get things moving for another. Work is the WD40 of my mind!
J: As I was saying, I can get distracted and bored easily which is the reason why I’m a mixed media artist. If I use different ways of making the art, I have to be present while I’m solving this new puzzle. A new puzzle I just made for myself.
Anything you are habitual about when it comes to creativity?
J: Same answer as above but with a contradictory twist, I need routine. Having my quiet walks outside, listening to my favorite music, making art in a room where natural light floods the space are all a-must.
M: Same. I love new puzzles, but I love to them with a fresh cuppa coffee in my favorite mug, next to my pencils organized by color, with my work mix playing, next to the sunny window… no wonder we’re besties!
Can you share a positive experience you’ve had in the Kid Lit community?
J: I have to say meeting Molly Idle. Have you met her? She’s pretty amazing!
M: Jinx! I was going to say meeting YOU!!!
Recommended reading?
Lightning-Ping-pong-round!
M: A Polar Bear In the Snow, by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris
J: What is Love?, by Mac Barnett and Carson Ellis
M: Kafka and the Doll, by Larissa Theule and Rebecca Green (I’m so glad you introduced me to this one, Juana!)
J: I love that book! Give it a second read and then read I Talk Like A River, by Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith.
What has been the highlight of your career thus far?
M: I mean, we could say winning Caldecotts…that feels like bragging. But it was incredible to have our books honored!
J: They were a huge recognition for our work. Hooray for awards!
M: And Hooray for teachers, and librarians, and Readers!
J: Yes!!!
Can you tell us about your newest book?
J & M: Our newest book is “I Don’t Care”, written by Julie Fogliano and published by Neal Porter Books. We co-illustratred the book, a process that was both scary and fantastic at the same time. We have been critique partners for years but not until this story that we had worked on a book together!
Juana’s Favorite Interior Illustration from I DON’T CARE, written by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal, published by Neal Porter Books
Molly’s Favorite Interior Illustration from I DON’T CARE, written by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal, published by Neal Porter Books
What’s up next for you?
J & M: We’re making more books together, and we’re each making board books too!
J: Alma’s Words, two new bilingual board books, are releasing September 5, 2023: Alma and Her Family and Alma, Head to Toe, with two more books coming in 2024.
M: And I have Flora and Friends ABCs, publishing October 10, 2023, with an entire flock of new bird buddies, and Flora and Friends Colors flying off shelves in 2024!
Anything else you’d like to share with aspiring authors and illustrators?
J: Making children’s books requires drive, determination, and a thick skin. It is a matter of when, not if , it will happen. Your time will come!
M: Agreed! That’s one of the nicest things about the publishing industry. There’s no limit on how many stories can be told. If you make good work- there’s a place for it. There’s always room for one more!
And last, but not least, who is your favorite children’s book character?
J: If I have to pick just one, it is The Little Prince from El Principito (The Little Prince).
M: One?! I’ll pick two: Toot and Puddle. Two best friends who are very different and very similar at the same time. Remind you of anybody?
HUGE THANK YOU to Molly and Juana for stopping by CritterLit today! It was truly an honor!
MOLLY IDLE is the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Honor–winning book Flora and the Flamingo. She is also the creator of Tea Rex, the mermaid tales Pearl and Coral, and Witch Hazel. Molly lives with her fabulous family in Tempe, Arizona—where she can most often be found with a cup of espresso in one hand and a pencil in the other, scribbling away on her next book.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about Molly or her work visit IdleIllustration.com or follow her on social media:
@mollyidle on Instagram
@mollyidle on Twitter
JUANA MARTINEZ-NEAL is the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Honor–winning book Alma and How She Got Her Name. She also illustrated New York Times bestselling picture book Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi; Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, which won a Robert F. Sibert Medal; and La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya, for which she won a Pura Belpré Illustrator Award. Juana Martinez-Neal lives in Connecticut with her family.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about Juana or her work, visit juanamartinezneal.com or follow her on social media:
@juanamartinezn on Instagram
@juanamartinez on Twitter
Lakshmi, Padma TOMATOES FOR NEELA Viking (Children's None) $17.99 8, 31 ISBN: 978-0-593-20270-8
Neela loves cooking with her mother in their big, warm kitchen, where her grandmother’s portrait hangs on the wall.
On Saturday, Neela and Amma go to the green market to buy the vegetable Neela loves cooking best: tomatoes! Together, Neela and Amma make a sauce using a recipe passed down from Paati. As they cook, Neela and her mother dance to the music Amma’s bangles make when she chops vegetables and grates carrots. Amma tells Neela about how tomatoes came from Mesoamerica, where they were cultivated by the ancient Aztecs, and how Europeans initially feared they were poisonous. Now, Amma says, they’re used in cooking all over the world—including India, where Paati’s recipe comes from. As they finish the sauce and can it for the winter, Amma tells Neela about the tomato harvest and about the benefits of eating and cooking vegetables and fruits while they are in season. As they finish preserving the sauce, Neela saves a jar for Paati, who will visit in the winter. Martinez-Neal’s warmly textured, beautifully detailed illustrations are the perfect celebration of intergenerational love. Similarly, the gentle text has some lovely emotional moments. However, Lakshmi includes so much information in the narrative that it meanders, which may cause readers to lose hold of its core. Recipes for sauce and chutney, additional tomato facts, a note about farm workers, and a personal note close the book.
A digressive plot gets in the way of this celebration of female relationships. (Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Lakshmi, Padma: TOMATOES FOR NEELA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A667041717/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3e7d8212. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
LAKSHMI, Padma. Tomatoes for Neela. illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal. 40p. Viking. Aug. 2021. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780593202708.
K-Gr 3--Cookbook author and television host Lakshmi celebrates tire connection a child feels with her mother and grandmother through the process of making tomato sauce. Neela's paati lives in India, but her presence is felt, from her portrait on the wall, to her collection of recipes that will one day be Neela's, to the taste of the sauce itself. At the green market and back home in the kitchen, Neela's mother teaches her about the different kinds of tomatoes, the best time of year to buy them, and how tomatoes traveled from the New World to Europe. With all of the sauce canned, Neela saves one jar at the very back of the cupboard for her paati's. winter visit. There isn't much of a story arc here, but the intergenerational warmth and pleasure in cooking together are palpable. The lovely illustrations, created with acrylic and colored pencil on textured paper, are delicately ornamented with salmon-pink flowers and soft, blue-green leaves that emphasize the sweetness of Neela's interactions with her mother. Back matter includes two recipes, fun tomato facts, and a note that honors farmworkers. VERDICT Part informational, part family story, this attractive book will speak to young kitchen helpers and those with loved ones in far-off places.--Jon Aldrich Solow, formerly Fairfax County P.S.,VA
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Solow, Jon Aldrich. "LAKSHMI, Padma. Tomatoes for Neela." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 9, Sept. 2021, p. 77. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A673471236/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f3bb25be. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
ROCKLIFF, Mara. A Perfect Fit: How Lena "Lane" Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion. illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal. 32p. Clarion. Apr. 2022. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780358125433.
Gr 1-4--Leaving the facts of Bryant's life--her birth in 1879, for example--to the back matter, Rockliff dwells instead on the theme of a "perfect fit" to underscore Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin's early life in Lithuania that was filled with love, but was not easy. At 16, Lane Bryant joined her sister in New York City to escape poverty and antisemitism in Europe. Sewing from dawn till dusk in the garment district allowed her to work with "Lace! Ribbons! Silk! [and] sewing machines!" She soon met and then lost her husband, David Bryant, becoming a widow with an infant and a pair of diamond earrings. Undaunted, she used the earrings to buy a sewing machine and got to work making clients fabulous gowns without benefit of patterns or tape measures. After successfully inventing an expandable maternity dress at a client's request, Bryant's business took off. While getting a bank loan to fund her expansion, she was so nervous during the signing process that she mixed up the letters in her first name, which is how her business came to be known as "Lane Bryant." She went on to transform the clothing industry by designing clothes for all body shapes and sizes. Tbe accessible and engaging text is brought to life by the delightful illustrations. Using mostly sepia tones with pops of color, they convey an old-fashioned era, but with clever details, plump humans, and delightful textiles and patterns that leave readers wanting more. Back matter includes selected sources and an author's note that fills in the details of Bryant's life and business. VERDICT This biography deftly covers the highlights of Bryant's life in an enjoyable and accessible manner, a one-of-a-kind origin story of a retail success whose foundations were based on helping others feel great.--Catherine Callegari
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 | SP Spanish
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Callegari, Catherine. "ROCKLIFF, Mara. A Perfect Fit: How Lena 'Lane' Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion." School Library Journal, vol. 68, no. 5, May 2022, p. 91. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A702476154/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a3f5206e. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
A Perfect Fit: How Lena "Lane" Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion.
By Mara RocklifF. Illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal.
Apr. 2022. 32p. Clarion, $17.99 (9780358125433). K-Gr. 2.
391
Lane Bryant is still a recognizable name in fashion, but few may realize that the company's history spans over a century--or that Lane Bryant was an actual person. Lena "Lane" Bryant learned to sew at a young age, eventually immigrating to New York to join her sister in working at a garment factory. Bryant marveled at the material and machinery, soaking up knowledge and eventually purchasing a sewing machine of her own. Her list of clients increased, but one customer had a special request: Could Bryant make her a fashionable gown capable of growing with her pregnant belly? Bryant met the challenge with ease, attracting a swath of new customers. As the successful enterprise grew to include ready-to-wear fashion, Bryant saw a chance to innovate again, altering basic patterns to incorporate a much wider variety of body shapes. She quickly became a pioneer in plus-size fashion, and her extraordinary legacy lives on in the company even decades after her passing. Rockliffs marvelous story highlights a refreshingly unfamiliar face, and the text is bursting with action and cheer. The soft illustrations, rendered in subtle shades but dazzling detail, are replete with gorgeous, textured nods to art nouveau stylings and golden Klimt paintings. An elegant ode to a delightfully different kind of designer who wanted fine fashion accessible to all, not just a privileged few.--Emily Graham
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Graham, Emily. "A Perfect Fit: How Lena 'Lane' Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 12, 15 Feb. 2022, p. 47. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A695925819/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1327a759. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
I Don't Care
Julie Fogliano, illus. by Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal. Holiday House/Porter, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8234-4345-1
Accompanying fervent text by Fogliano (My Best Friend) that tumbles forth in a burst of confessions, friends Idle (Witch Hazel) and Martinez-Neal (A Perfect Fit) team up to create a visual story about friendship. "I really don't care what you think of my hair/ or my eyes or my toes or my nose," begin rhyming lines, running through an ample list of attributes that the book seems to portray as superficialities. With soft graphite strokes and linocut highlights in teal and yellow, the illustrators draw two young children, portrayed with skin the color of the paper, who each sport blunt-cut hair and sturdy boots. They're leaning against the same tree, arms crossed, looking studiously away from each other. With every line, though, their hard feelings thaw, and they're soon playing together on the page, as the litany turns from "don't"s to "do"s and each speaker voices what's at stake in their friendship: "I really do care/ that you always play fair/ and you don't change the rules/ when I'm winning." While not every reader will be comfortable with a friend who offers sidelong critiques ("I really don't care if your lunches smell weird"), the alternating speakers' loyalty ("and I care that we're friends/ and I care that we're true"), and images of shared experience following conflict, add warmth to this testament to faithful companionship. Ages 3-6. Agents: (for Fogliano and Idle) Steven Malk, Writers House; (for MartinezNeal) Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel, Full Circle Literary. (Nov.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"I Don't Care." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 40, 26 Sept. 2022, p. 65. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A721347765/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e30b4e77. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
I Don't Care. By Julie Fogliano. Illus. by Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal. Oct. 2022.40p. Holiday/Neal Porter, $18.99 (9780823443451). K-Gr. 2.
What matters most to best friends? It's not your nose or clothes; it's not your hair, your house, or what you eat for lunch. Using a lighthearted tone, two friends reject the outward indicators that many people use to judge others. Do you like polka dots or floral prints? Do you dance funny? When you paint a cow, does it look like a bunny? Best friends do not care. They do care about playing fair, about wishing and singing, about feeling sad, worried, or mad. Best friends like to play together, catch frogs carefully, or have a picnic. Fogliano's sprightly, rhythmic text sets a fun tone for exploring what really matters in friendship. While effective picture books grow from the combining of words and images, this book takes the collaboration a step further by drawing on the talents of real-life best friends and Caldecott honorees Idle and Martinez-Neal. In humorous notes, the two describe their artistic process and shared design of each page of the book. Using their favorite colors, teal and yellow, with graphite, the linocut illustrations seamlessly expand on Fogliano's narrative. The result is a warm, loving celebration of how to be a friend, and a successful artistic experiment. --Lucinda Whitehurst
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Whitehurst, Lucinda. "I Don't Care." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 1, 1 Sept. 2022, pp. 80+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A718452349/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7a59ed6d. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
MARTINEZ-NEAL, Juana. Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia. ISBN 9780763693626.
--. Alma, Head to Toe/Alma, de pies a cabeza. ISBN 9781536228878.
ea vol: illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal. 24p. (Almas Words/Las palabras de Alma). Candlewick. Sept. 2023. Board. $8.99. BL
Toddler-PreS--The lovable title character of Caldecott Honor Book Alma and How She Got Her Name stars in her own concept board book series. With the same cozy art and fluid line, Martinez-Neal revisits Alma and her sweet family to introduce concepts in English and Spanish. In Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia, the little girl presents her family, from her father to her pet bird, and shares how she likes to demonstrate her love for each of them. "I kiss my daddy./ Le doy un beso a mi papi. I squeeze my mommy./ Apachurro a mi mami." In Alma, Head to Toe/Alma, de pies a cabeza, the toddler celebrates the parts of her body in both languages. She also explains how she uses them to explore her world. "Here are my arms, hands, and fingers./ Aqui estan mis brazos, manos y dedos. Pajarito, you are as soft as a flower./Pajarito, eres tan suave como una flor," she says as she caresses her pet bird. The glimpses of her plump body as she moves are dancelike and free. The English text appears first with black font; the Spanish text is blue. The mostly pink-white-black palette will attract little hands. Warmth exudes from each spread, and the cuddle-worthy heroine is full of so much joy. Readers will embrace these books with much enthusiasm, regardless of the language they understand. VERDICT Every collection needs more Alma. These titles are a must-purchase.--Shelley M. Diaz
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Diaz, Shelley M. "MARTINEZ-NEAL, Juana. Alma and Her Family/Alma y su familia." School Library Journal, vol. 69, no. 12, Dec. 2023, p. 70. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A779118615/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ed9a2d33. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
Alma, Head to Toe: Alma, de pies a cabeza. By Juana Martinez-Neal. Illus. by the author. Sept. 2023.24p. Candlewick, $8.99 (9781536228878). PreS-K.
Adorable Alma, first seen in Alma and How She Got Her Name (2018), makes her debut in the world of board books with this entry in the new bilingual series, Almas Words / Las Palabras de Alma. Smiling in red-striped pants and a heart top, the girl stands with her arms and legs outstretched and every visible bit of her labeled. Readers then get to see those body parts in action as simple sentences identify them ("Here are my arms, hand, and fingers. / Aqui estan mis brasos, manos y dedos.") and show Alma using them, such as when she pets her bird companion, Parajito, who is "soft as a flower / suave como una flor." Martinez-Neal's irresistible, softly textured illustrations are scaled large and rest against white, double-page spreads, sharing space with color-coded text: black for English, red for Spanish. An effervescent reading experience and sweet celebration of self.--Julia Smith
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Smith, Julia. "Alma, Head to Toe: Alma, de pies a cabeza." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 18, 15 May 2023, p. 53. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A751443219/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=18af005a. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.