A bilingual picture book offers up a celebration of a kitchen where mom has just pulled out the large stew pot to begin a fabulous vegetable soup and all the kids are invited to help.
Diane Gonzales Bertrand has written stories and poems since childhood, but never saw books that connected to her own Mexican-American heritage. Fifteen years ago she found Arte Publico Press, a Houston publisher who welcomed her familia-friendly adult novels like Sweet Fifteen, Lessons of the Game, and Close to the Heart. Then Diane wrote the children's novel Alicia's Treasure and two award-winning novels for middle school students Trino's Choice, and Trino's Time.
Diane's published picture books Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup/ Caldo, Caldo, Caldo, Family, Familia, The Last Doll, Uncle Chente's Picnic, and The Empanadas that Abuela Made have all earned "Best Bilingual Book" Latino Literary Awards. Her collection of bilingual short stories, Upside Down and Backwards, earned Honorable Mention in the Paterson Prize for Young Adults. Other titles include Ricardo's Race/La carerra de Ricardo, We are Cousins/Somos Primos, a bilingual novel, The Ruiz Street Kids, winner of a 2009 Skipping Stones Award and a brand new book, The Party for Papa Luis, recently listed as a finalist for the 2010 Tejas Star Book Award. A new novel for teens, The F Factor, is now published. Upcoming titles are Adelita and the Veggie Cousins and Sofia and the Purple Dress.
Her picture books with Raven Tree Press include the award winning, My Pal Victor/mi amigo Victor, and her forthcoming book, The Park Our Town Built.
Diane is Writer-in-Residence at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. She also loves to visit schools as an author and talk about her books, her family, and the importance of writing down our stories.
