Warrior Girl - Hardcover

by Carmen Tafolla (Author)

An insightful novel in verse about the joys and struggles of a Chicana girl who is a warrior for her name, her history, and her right to choose what she celebrates in life.

Celina and her family are bilingual and follow both Mexican and American traditions. Celina revels in her Mexican heritage, but once she starts school it feels like the world wants her to erase that part of her identity. Fortunately, she's got an army of family and three fabulous new friends behind her to fight the ignorance. But it's her Gramma who's her biggest inspiration, encouraging Celina to build a shield of joy around herself. Because when you're celebrating, when you find a reason to sing or dance or paint or play or laugh or write, they haven't taken everything away from you. Of course, it's not possible to stay in celebration mode when things get dire--like when her dad's deported and a pandemic hits--but if there is anything Celina's sure of, it's that she'll always live up to her last name: Guerrera--woman warrior--and that she will use her voice and writing talents to make the world a more beautiful place where all cultures are celebrated.

Author Biography

Dr. Carmen Tafolla (CarmenTafolla.net) is the 2015 State Poet Laureate of Texas, the first City Poet Laureate of San Antonio, and the former president of the Texas Institute of Letters. An award-winning poet and children's author, storyteller, performance artist, motivational speaker, scholar, and professor, she is the author of more than forty books and Professor Emeritus of Transformative Children's Literature at UT San Antonio. A native San Antonian, she has performed her one-woman show in ten countries and throughout the U.S. Her many distinctions include the prestigious Américas Award, seven International Latino Book Awards, three Tomás Rivera Book Awards, two ALA Notable Books, the Art of Peace Award, and the Charlotte Zolotow Award. Her middle-grade novel Warrior Girl received the Tomás Rivera Award and was a finalist for the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and this fall Penguin Random House will release her new picture book, Night of the Three Kings.