P&P Live! Alda Dobbs, Pam Muñoz Ryan, & Karla A. Valenti w/David Bowles

A Latinx Hispanic Heritage Month Panel discussion with Alda Dobbs, Pam Muñoz Ryan, and Karla Arenas Valenti moderated by David Bowles. Click here to purchase books by our featured authors

In celebration of Latinx Hispanic Heritage Month we present a panel of Latinx children’s book authors who will discuss the use of Mexican history and folklore in their stories and the importance of diverse literature for young readers.

Alda Dobbs tells a fictionalized account of her grandmother’s perilous border crossing in the wake of the Mexican Revolution in Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna. Petra Luna must protect her family from dangerous Federales and the unforgiving desert as she dreams of a better life.

In Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Mañanaland a boy sets off to seek the truth his grandfather’s legend about a mythical gatekeeper who guides seekers into the future. His search uncovers truths about his missing mother and an underground network helping refugees flee to America.

In Lotería by Karla Arenas Valenti, Life and Death play a game of chance with the life of a young girl named Clara. While they deal the Mexican Lotería cards that will determine her fate, Clara searches for her lost cousin Esteban, eventually finding herself in the mythical Kingdom of Las Pozas. Are Life and Death in total control, or can Clara break free of their game and choose her own path?

Alda P. Dobbs was born in a small town in northern Mexico but moved to San Antonio, Texas as a child. Dobbs studied physics and worked as an engineer before pursuing her love of storytelling. She’s as passionate about connecting children to their past, their communities, different cultures and nature as she is about writing.

Pam Muñoz Ryan is the author of over forty books for young people—picture books, early readers, and middle grade and young adult novels. Her novels include Esperanza Rising, Riding Freedom, Becoming Naomi León, Paint the Wind, The Dreamer, and Echo. She is the recipient of the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, the Willa Cather Award, the Pura Belpré medal, the PEN USA award, the Newbery Medal, and many others.

Karla Arenas Valenti writes stories for and about kids, taking readers on journeys steeped in magical realism and philosophical questions. She is the creator of the My Super Science Heroes series. She currently resides in the Chicago area with her husband and three kids, two cats, and hundreds of books.

David Bowles is a Mexican-American author and translator from south Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. He has written several award-winning titles, most notably The Smoking Mirror and They Call Me Güero. In 2019, he co-founded the hashtag and activist movement #DignidadLiteraria, which has negotiated greater Latinx representation in publishing. His debut picture book, My Two Border Towns, has just been published.

Age 8 to 12

-----------------------------------------------------Be Sure To Click SUBSCRIBE---------------------------------------------------------------

Visit us online at

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on instagram

Like us on Facebook

Follow Us On TikTok

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter:

Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online.