by Juana Martinez-Neal
About the Book
If you ask her, Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela has way too many names: six! How did such a small person wind up with such a large name? Alma turns to Daddy for an answer and learns of Sofia, the grandmother who loved books and flowers; Esperanza, the great-grandmother who longed to travel; José, the grandfather who was an artist; and other namesakes, too. As she hears the story of her name, Alma starts to think it might be a perfect fit after all — and realizes that she will one day have her own story to tell. In her author-illustrator debut, Juana Martinez-Neal opens a treasure box of discovery for children who may be curious about their own origin stories or names.
Type of text: Realistic fiction; narrative; picturebook
About the Creator
Juana Martinez-Neal (she/her/hers/ella) is an award-winning multiracial Latinx/Latine bilingual author and illustrator from South America. She is Latin American and Peruvian, as much as she is from the U.S. (Peruvian-American). She is fluent in both English and Spanish, is the daughter and granddaughter of artists, and loves birds.
Note: These descriptions include self-identifiers provided directly by the author, illustrator, and/or publisher via email; they also contain information made publicly available (e.g., through professional websites, interviews, etc)
