>> Suzanne Schadl: Hello, it is
a special honor to welcome you
to this first virtual
Americas Award Ceremony.
My name is Suzanne Schadl.
It is my privilege to work with
a tremendous team of librarians
in the Hispanic Division
at the Library of Congress.
Together we work
to improve access
to diverse publications written
in Spanish, Portuguese, English,
and many indigenous languages.
As we reach the end of National
Hispanic Heritage Month,
we invite you to learn
more about our services
at www.LOC.gov/RR/Hispanic.
Right now from our homes to your
words it is a collective honor
to welcome you to the
Americas Award Ceremony.
I want to keep my comments brief
so you can enjoy hearing more
about and from the authors
and illustrators we honor
with this year's Americas Award.
But thanks are in order.
First, to our distinguished
authors and illustrators,
Tony Johnston, Maria
Elena Fontanot De Rhoads,
Mitali Perkins, Sara Palacios,
Isabel Quintero, Zeke Pena,
Aida Salazar, and
Rebecca Balcarcel.
Thank you for sharing
your stories with us.
Second, I'm grateful
to the Consortium
of Latin American Studies
Programs, better known as CLASP,
for recognizing the
importance of creative works
that engage young
people with stories about
and from Latin America,
the Caribbean,
and Latino communities
in the United States.
Children and young adult
books are tremendous gateways
to learning and understanding.
And it has been a
pleasure to collaborate
with Denise Woltering and
Colleen McCoy on this event
in the past and present, we
look forward to the future.
Finally, mille gracias to
Dani Thurber, Darian Rivera,
Danita Stenberg, and a number of
others working behind the scenes
at the Library of Congress
to make this ceremony
and recording possible.
It is always a good day
and night when people
from different places
with diverse experiences
and skills come together to
enjoy stories with one another.
Please enjoy the events and
accept my invitation to look
for connections between these
books and other resources
at the Library of Congress.
You can start from home
by visiting LOC.gov.
Without further ado, it
is my pleasure to turn
over the microphone
and the camera.
Thank you.
>> Denise Woltering
Vargas: Hello.
Hi, everyone, my name is
Denise Woltering Vargas
from Tulane University's Film
Center for Latin American Study.
And I'm joined here today with
my colleague, Colleen McCoy,
from Vanderbilt University's
Center for Latin American Study.
Together we coordinate the
Americas Award for children's
and young adult literature.
On behalf of the Consortium of
Latin American Studies Programs
or CLASP, we would
like to welcome you
to the first virtual
Americas Award ceremony.
Thank you to our partners in the
Hispanic Division of the Library
of Congress, with special
thanks to Suzanne Schadl
and Dani Thurber for making
this program possible today.
The support from the Library
of Congress over the history
of the award has provided us
with this unique opportunity
to celebrate diverse children's
and young adult literature
at the national level.
The Americas Award encourages
and commends authors,
illustrators, and publishers
who produce quality children's
and young adult books that
portray Latin America,
the Caribbean, or the Latinx
community of the United States.
And provides teachers
with recommendations
for classroom use.
The goal of this award
is to link the Americas
to reach beyond geographic
borders, focusing instead
on cultural heritages
within the hemisphere.
>> Colleen McCoy: The Americas
Award was founded in 1993
by Julie Kline, Associate
Director at the Center
for Latin American and Caribbean
Studies at the University
of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
The award is one of the most
important outreach projects
supported by CLASP.
CLASP is made up of a network
of universities nationwide
and holds the mission
of promoting all facets
of Latin American studies
throughout the world.
Up to two annual awards
are given in recognition
of US published works.
Books are judged for their
distinctive literary quality,
cultural contextualization,
exceptional integration of text,
illustration and design, and
potential for classroom use.
The review committee
can also choose
to recognize honor titles
and commended titles.
Again, thank you so
much for joining us
and now we hope you
enjoy hearing more
about the books recognized by
this year's Americas Award.
>> Congratulations to the 2020
Americas Award honor titles.
My Papi Has a Motorcycle
written by Isabel Quintero
and illustrated by Zeke Pena.
>> Zeke Pena: Greetings,
friends, my name is Zeke Pena,
I am the illustrator of
My Papi Has a Motorcycle
or Mi papi tiene una
moto written by author
and my good friend,
Isabel Quintero.
Isabel couldn't send
in a video right now
because she is taking care
of her brand-new baby boy,
which is really exciting news.
And she asked me
to read something
that she wrote for you all.
Buenos tardes, I apologize
for not submitting a video.
I am a new mother and
just getting the hang
of mothering and being a writer.
I'm actually writing this
on my phone while I
rock a sleepy baby.
So, I hope you all
will understand.
I'm so excited that My Papi Has
a Motorcycle received honorable
mention for the Americas Award.
When I wrote the book,
I wanted to honor one
of my favorite childhood
memories with my dad,
riding on the back
of his motorcycle
after he got home from work.
But almost 10 years
after writing the first
draft the book evolved
into honoring much
more than that.
Sometimes it takes a while for a
story to tell you what it wants.
In this case, it wanted to
honor the city I grew up in,
as well as the migrants who
helped put it on the map
with their labor in
the citrus groves.
And the black and brown men
like my father who've spent
their lives building the homes
and buildings, and the cities we
live in, the roads we drive on.
That is to say, those
who've built this country.
Those workers who are often
made invisible under the shadow
of the companies they work for
and the buildings they erect,
but without their hands
there'd be no buildings,
there'd be no country.
While the book is a love letter
to my father and the city I grew
up in, I also hope to show some
of the love for those who work
with their hands like my
father and the love we can have
for our home, whatever it
may be, wherever it maybe.
So, thank you for
honoring our book
because though the story
was mine, it wasn't finished
until Zeke illustrated it.
I want to thank Zeke
for embracing the story
and giving it love -- giving
it the love it deserved,
and making it more beautiful
than I could have imagined,
not just with the illustrations
but also the edits.
Thanks to my agent, Peter
Steinberg, for his hard work
in helping find a home for it.
To Kokila for being that home.
And to my editor, Namrata
Tripathi for believing in it
and helping me make it better.
And thank you to the Consortium
of Latin American
Studies Programs
for giving us this honor.
Also, thank you to all the
folks, especially the black
and brown folks,
the laborers working
with their hands making
this country great
who rarely get the
recognition or pay they deserve.
Lastly, may those that murdered
Breonna Taylor be arrested
and may our country
find its way.
So, I just want to second all
of the thank yous [phonetic]
that Isabel expressed.
I'm very grateful to all the
people who have, you know,
purchased our book, who have
checked it out of a library,
who have borrowed it from
friends, who are reading it
to their young ones, young
ones who are reading it
to their parents and
elders, and guardians.
We're just really grateful
that people have come along
on the ride with
Daisy, Ramona, and Papi
and had a good time reading
it in the same way that Isabel
and I had in making it.
I'm so grateful to Isabel
for giving me the honor
of being able to tell
this story visually
and collaborate with her on it.
I'm very grateful to her papi,
to her mami, to her brother
and her family for sharing
this part of their lives
and their history with me,
and with all of us right.
These stories are important and
they're important to document.
I'm thankful to our
family at Kokila.
Thankful to Peter Steinberg
who helped us find a
home for this book.
And I'm really grateful
to the Consortium
of Latin American
Studies Programs.
For all the people doing work
in libraries and in classrooms,
in collections, for
helping bring, you know,
these stories to light.
We're thankful for the
platform, we're thankful
for your time and your energy.
And I'm really grateful
for this honor.
I look forward to
seeing you all in person.
Peace and health to
you and your family.
Thank you.
>> The Moon Within
by Aida Salazar.
>> Aida Salazar: Hello, my name
is Aida Salazar, I am the author
of the Middle Grade first
novel, the Moon Within.
And I am here to say thank you.
Thank you so much
to the Consortium
of Latin American Studies
Programs who has given my book,
this one right here, an Americas
Award honorable mention.
I'm grateful because the
Moon Within has not been
without its controversies.
It has received pushback and
has been silently censored
by many gatekeepers.
And why? Because it's a
story about menstruation.
It's a story about being an ally
to your gender-expansive
friends.
It's a story told through
Afro-Boricua Chicana living
in Oakland, California.
And somehow that is dangerous,
somehow that is not in line
with the dominant
narrative that has told us
that menstruation is dirty,
to be feared, or ignored.
And instead it provides a
narrative that is uplifting,
that is beautiful,
that is empowering,
and loving, in the end loving.
And it clashes with that
dominant, negative narrative,
but not only does it clash,
I think it pushes back,
and it pushes back with love.
I wrote it as an act of love for
my daughter who was blossoming
and beginning to ask questions
about what her body
was experiencing.
And when I took her
to the library to try
and find something in fiction,
we couldn't find any
stories about menstruation.
The only one of course
that we were able
to find was Judy Bloom's
Are You There God?
It's Me, Margaret.
But that book was written
in 1971, 50 years ago.
And so, I wrote the Moon
Within for her not knowing
that this would be
the first time
that the Latinx community
would see itself represented
with the topic of menstruation.
And not knowing that
this was the first time
that we were going to
see a gender-fluid child
in middle grade fiction as well.
So, you know, sometimes
when you create
with love you don't know the
ramifications or the ripples
that that creation will have.
And I'm so grateful that even
though it's received some
pushback, it has
received this honor.
And I'm so grateful
to have received it.
Thank you so much.
>> The Other Half of Happy
by Rebecca Balcarcel.
>> Rebecca Balcarcel:
Ola, everyone.
I'm Rebecca Balcarcel and
I'm incredibly pleased
to have The Other
Half of Happy selected
to be honorably mentioned
for the 2020 Americas Award.
When I set out to
write this book,
I wanted to chronicle
what it was like to grow
up bicultural in
the United States.
But I also wanted
to write a tribute,
a tribute to the cultural
richness of Guatemala,
and even in Spanish literature.
Quijana's dad for example
will quote Ortega y Gasset,
the philosopher, and also
Cervantes, the novelist,
and even Gustavo Adolfo
Becquer, the poet.
Quijana is actually
named after Don Quixote
and her family is hanging
paintings of Lake Atitlan
at the very beginning
of the book.
Now in real life, my father
does quote Spanish poetry
and my mother always made
sure to display paintings
and weavings, and pottery
of Guatemalan artists.
And so, it was only right that
when the box of books arrived
from Chronicle, the final copies
of The Other Half of Happy,
it was only right that I took
that box to my parents' house
and we opened it together.
I have to say there were a
couple of tears in the room.
And a tribute to Guatemala
was definitely part
of what everyone felt as
we pulled the books out.
So, thank you.
Thank you, committee, for
your continuous reading
over this year.
And your willingness to
serve students and teachers,
librarians, everyone who will
be pointed toward these books
because of this award
and your effort.
And let's never forget
that this bookwork
that we all do is nothing
less than soul saving,
reader by reader we're
touching people's hearts.
And through that
touching the world.
So, thank you again, muchisimas
gracias, from my heart
to yours, much thanks.
>> And now congratulations to
the 2020 Americas Award winners.
Between Us and Abuela
written by Mitali Perkins
and illustrated by
Sara Palacios.
>> Mitali Perkins: Thank you so
much for this Americas Award.
When we first arrived
in California
as immigrants decades ago, there
was no fence between San Diego
and Mexico, there
was some barbed wire.
But Mrs. Pat Nixon, the
first lady at the time,
asked her Secret
Service agents to cut it
as she established Friendship
Park as a place for people
from both countries to
meet, greet, and eat.
Fast forward to now with
xenophobia on the rise,
for 25 years Mexicans
and Americans have met
in Friendship Park to celebrate
a traditional festival,
La Posada Sin Fronteras.
People on both sides of the
border sing responsively
across the wall in a
joint worship service
to celebrate Las Posadas.
Each year this event
becomes more difficult.
Last December, Friendship Park
on the San Diego side
was completely closed.
So, we celebrated in the
park far from our brothers
and sisters in Tijuana.
I used antithesis in Between Us
and Abuela juxtaposing
two incongruous things
to invite a reader's eyes and
hearts to see differently.
First, a festival about
finding room at the inn
for a holy child collides
with a high wall built
to keep visitors out.
What will happen?
As Maria closes her eyes
to listen to Abuela sing
from the other side of the wall,
for a moment the
fences are invisible.
Second, art created by
the powerless collides
with the inflexible
legalism of the state.
What will happen?
One border patrol officer
after considering
Juan's picture relents
to allow a vital
exception to the rule
of nothing passing
across the fence.
Would this happen in real life?
Maybe, maybe not.
I do know that art, especially
art created by the oppressed,
has a mysterious power
to change societies.
Give me the songs of a
nation and it doesn't matter
who writes its laws
said Damon of Athens.
The best poetry, the best
paintings are written
from the margins of power.
My favorite response
to this book is hearing
that someone got choked
up while reading it.
No tears for the writer,
no tears for the reader.
Robert Frost wrote, when it
comes to this adopted country
that I love, rescinding
hospitality
for the tempest tossed
foreigner,
tears are the only
right response.
Thank you again for this award,
it means the world to me.
>> Beast Rider by Tony Johnston
and Maria Elena Fontanot
de Rhoads.
>> Tony Johnston:
Hello, I am Tony Johnston
in smoky California and I would
like to tell you a little
bit about Beast Rider.
In our book, Manuel is
12, rides atop a deadly,
dangerous freight train,
La Bestia, heading north
in search of his brother.
This is a story about
family, Manuel's blood family
and another kind of family.
Unknown to each other but woven
together by circumstances,
these people help
him along his way.
There is Gabriel, Signor
Santos, meaning saints,
Serafina of the Golden Soup,
the train lady, Mr. James Ito,
[inaudible] El Alarcon
[assumed spelling].
Maria Elena and I created this
book to illuminate the plight
of people, old people, young,
fathers, mothers with babies,
children alone, who
have no choice
but to make this terrible
trip seeking their loved ones,
for safety, or just
something better.
We hope to show their
desperation,
as well as their
determination to succeed.
Maria Elena and I created this
book for just that reason.
We also wanted to speak about
how people view each other.
Many have misconceptions and
misgivings about foreigners
or about those who seem
different than themselves.
In Beast Rider, Mr. James
Ito represents such a person.
Taketora James Tanaka.
James Tanaka, the name I knew
him by, was a Japanese-American
and member of the US 442nd
infantry called the Purple Heart
Battalion for their bravery and
in memory of their many gone.
My recollection is that
because of World War II
and because they were different,
James and his family were sent
to an internment camp.
Still he fought for his
country and won high honors.
Later, James became
our gardener.
I can still see him
in his khakis,
a hero standing quietly
among with the roses.
With other geography
and other details,
Beast Rider could be a story
from anywhere in the world,
about all those who for
whatever reason are taken
from their families
in their homelands.
We hope that our characters
inspire empathy for them
because of their
hardships and courage.
And that they reflect beneath
the patina of their culture
and experience, not how
different people are
from one another, but
how much they are alike.
With exuberance Maria Elena
and I thank our agent,
Susan Cohen of Writers House.
Our editor Howard Reeves,
our publisher Abrams,
the Writers Group
called the Lunch Bunch,
the Library of Congress,
our host in absentia,
and the Americas Award
organization for this honor.
Mille gracias, a
thousand thanks.
>> Special thanks to the 2020
Americas Award Review Committee.
And thank you to each of our
sponsors from the Consortium
of Latin American
Studies Programs.
For a complete list
of recognized titles
and other online resources,
visit
claspprograms.orgamericasaward.
>> Dani Thurber: Thank
you so much for joining us
and we hope you enjoyed this
year's virtual pre-recorded
Americas Award Ceremony.
Many thanks to the authors and
illustrators recognized today
for gifting us with their work
and their heartfelt
messages during this program.
My name is Dani Thurber and
as a reference librarian,
I invite you to visit the
library's electronic resources
during this time of online
engagement and virtual learning,
particularly our
research guides found
in guides.loc.gov/Hispanic.
Librarians are here
to assist you,
acts as the library's
collections
and has covered Caribbean,
Iberian,
Latin American, and
Latinx treasures.
Lastly, a final thank you to our
partners in CLASP, Colleen McCoy
and Denise Woltering Vargas
who coordinate the
Americas Award each year.
As well as our library's
events team, Darien Rivera,
Danita Stenberg,
and Lilliana Lopez
who are working
behind-the-scenes
to bring this program to you.
We look forward to seeing you
at the next year's
Americas Award Ceremony.
Take care and be safe.