Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia

Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Honor - American Library Association (ALA)

Bilingual English/Spanish. In this Pura Belpré Honor-winning book, Carmen Lomas Garza tells the story of her childhood growing up in Kingsville, TX.

Family Pictures is the story of Carmen Lomas Garza's girlhood in Kingsville, Texas: celebrating birthdays, making tamales, picking cactus, and confiding to her sister her dreams of becoming an artist. These day-to-day experiences are told through fifteen paintings and stories, each focusing on a different aspect of Carmen's traditional Mexican American culture growing up.

The paintings and stories reflect the author's strong sense of family and community and demonstrate how her mother's love and hard work helped Carmen achieve her dream. For the hundreds of thousands of Mexican Americans, Carmen Lomas Garza offers a book that reflects their lives and cultural traditions. For others, this beautiful work will offer insights into a fascinating life and a rich community.

Sandra Cisneros provided the introduction and Pat Mora the afterword for this touchstone of Latino children's literature.

This book is bilingual (English and Spanish).

Carmen Lomas Garza is one of the most prominent Mexican American painters working today. Born and raised in Texas, she now lives in San Francisco, California. Her paintings have traveled all over the United States and Mexico in numerous exhibitions. Visit her website at carmenlomasgarza.com.

Pat Mora is the celebrated Latina author of forty award-winning children's poetry and prose picture books. A lifelong literacy advocate, she founded Children's Day, Book Day (El día de los niños, el día de los libros) to celebrate children and motivate them to become readers with daily support from families, teachers, and librarians and annual festivities on April 30. Mora lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Visit her online at patmora.com.