Since migrating to the US from Mexico in 1994, Yuyi Morales has created some of our most celebrated children’s books. She is a multiple winner of the Pura Belpré Medal, an honor bestowed by the American Library Association for Authors and Illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children. Other honors include the Americas Award, the Golden Kite Medal, the Christopher Award, the Jane Adams Award, and the Tomas Rivera Award.
As a Spanish-speaking immigrant and new mother, Yuyi struggled with English and with loneliness in a culture foreign to her. She took solace in public libraries, where she and her son practiced English by reading children’s books. In her library visits she found a renewed interest for stories, and Yuyi enrolled in evening writing classes to learn how to tell stories in English like the ones she now so much admired. She also bought her first set of paints and brushes, and studying the picture books she loved she began to paint.
Today, Yuyi’s little son has grown up and enrolled as an undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence College. She and her husband have returned to Mexico, where she continues creating beloved books for children.