By 2025, one in four children in the United States will be Hispanic, reports the Census Bureau. But in 2004, more than half of the Spanish-language and bilingual materials for these children are still imported from Latin America and Spain. In 2002, 34 million children's picture and coloring books were shipped to the United States from abroad, up almost 12% from 2001, according to Kiser & Associates, a Spanish-language market consultant in San Diego, CA. Now the U.S. publishing industry is trying to catch up to the international market and figure out how to effectively tap the buying power of the Latino market, estimated at $575 billion. The Latino children's book market is growing in all directions—from mass market translations of U.S. pop culture's best selling titles to original Spanish-language works. The question is, can the book industry transcend the simple and swift translations of best-selling English-language kids' classics and create a sensitive literature that truly reflects the Latino community? The experts we spoke to think they can.

Publishing houses have fulfilled the relatively new demand for Latino children's books by taking either a multicultural approach or a classical approach. In the multicultural books, the authors, illustrators, characters, and plots echo the realities of Latino communities. Independent publishing houses, such as the San Francisco–based Children's Book Press, responded to the multicultural–pro-bilingualism movement of the late 1960s. They seized the opportunity to make books in which children from every background could see themselves. They believed that teaching children in both their native and new languages would help them in their other studies. "We have made a commitment to keep the bilingual format alive," says Bob Langdon, director of sales marketing. "Our books are used in ESL classes, and they are great for people learning a new language."

On the other side of the coin, major publishing houses have simply been translating popular American titles into Spanish. Most of these books, such as Dr. Seus in español or Buenas noches, Luna (Goodnight, Moon), reflect a non-Hispanic culture. The high acculturation rate among Hispanics may be one of the reasons these books have been successful. According to Synovate Research's 2004 U.S. Hispanic Market Report, more than 60% of all Hispanic adults are at least partially acculturated. Using language as an indicator of the level of acculturation among children in Latino households, the report also noted that in major cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, at least 63% of Latinos speak only or mostly Spanish at home. This means that while Hispanic parents will take their children to watch Disney's The Lion King in English, they might also be inclined to purchase El rey león for home enjoyment as well.

Yolanda Bonitch, head of the children's Spanish selection committee at the New York Public Library, wishes publishers and editors would confer with her before publishing Latino-interest or Spanish-language books. "The amount of time editors have consulted with me or the library system is nonexistent," she says. Bonitch is committed to buying Spanish-language books because the children in her boroughs' libraries have been eagerly borrowing from the NYPL's Spanish-language book collection, which holds approximately 213,000 titles.

Throughout her 25 years as a librarian, Bonitch has consistently encouraged parents to help their children preserve the Spanish language. "A parent might be ashamed to allow their children to borrow books in Spanish. But I tell them the gift of a second language is not to be lost. Sometimes at school the children may see a book they want in English and then come to take it out in Spanish."

As a result of this interest, circulation of Spanish-language translations of classic English-language stories, especially in picture book format, increased. In 1999, the total amount the NYPL spent on foreign-language books at all levels was $830,404, with Spanish titles predominating.

But in 2004, after 9/11, when the NYPL experienced a 25% budget cut, the figure dropped to $791,386. Still, about 70% of the books Bonitch has purchased come from foreign-based publishers and were originally published in Spanish. Five years ago, about 90% of the Spanish-language books the NYPL bought came from abroad. "The problem is that some books come in paperback and many libraries don't want to purchase a softcover book," says Bonitch.

Whether they come from a U.S. or international publisher, Bonitch carefully scrutinizes each book she buys. If, for example, the book is translated from English, especially if it's a picture book, she checks the Spanish, searching for poor translations. For those who work with Bonitch, a big red flag goes up and prompts them to triple check the Spanish when they notice that the publisher has not named the translator on the title page, or, at the very least, on the copyright page. "We also closely check the illustrations," says Bonitch. "The illustrations and the text must complement each other." A specialist measures the quality of illustrations by how dynamic, colorful, and dramatic they are. Regardless of the style of the illustrations, the specialists look for images that represent Latino children honestly and realistically. Illustrations of children with blond hair and blue eyes, for example, may not elicit as sympathetic a vibration from children who have predominantly dark hair and dark eyes.

Like the many non-Spanish speaking librarians across the country, Bonitch goes to the place where she knows she can count on getting her readers' needs met—her distributor. "We articulate our needs to the distributors and go month after month to tell them what we need the most." And what libraries are significantly lacking are biographies of American historical figures in Spanish. "These Spanish-speaking kids' homework depends on this," says Bonitch.

On this point, there is good news for Bonitch and NYPL. After listening and then reacting to the needs of U.S. librarians and schools since 2001, Rosen Publishing Group's, Buenas Letras began to translate the biographies of such sports stars as Mia Hamm, Wayne Gretzky, and Derek Jeter. In 2004, Rosen published biographies of American historical figures, such as Alexander Hamilton, in bilingual format. Most of the books are 32 pages long and intended for grade school readers.

Picture books for kids account for half of the sales of Linda Goodman's Bilingual Publications, a distributor based in New York. According to Goodman, picture books are either translations of English-language classics or original fiction in Spanish published in the United States. The latter is much harder to find. "When I started my business it was almost impossible to find good original publishing for children that reflected the worlds and cultures from which our kids come," says Goodman. The few she can find remain popular among her clients because their artwork and stories show children in their native cultures. Children can also read such books to themselves, and they are easier for parents to read aloud to their children. Bilingual picture books, an area that is growing steadily, currently comprises 10% of Goodman's sales.

All experts in the field agree that the illustrations must engage and the images must propel the reader forward and carry the story, and the writing must be fluid, not stilted. If the books are published abroad, the binding is also considered when weighing the overall quality of the book. "It's possible that the books are sewn together with an insufficient number of stitches, or that they might be stapled," says Goodman. "Whereas a good book would have 32 stitches and an extra cloth to keep it together." An imported book is always more expensive than a similar book published in the United States, due to shipping costs, which add $10 to $15. When selecting a picture book, Goodman checks that the typeface is large and dark and in sharp contrast with the light-colored background, and that there is enough space between each line. But she will make an exception for those that have busy text if the illustrations are engaging enough.

Juan Girón, president of Girón Books, a Spanish-language book distributor and bookstore in Chicago, sells books for mass-market appeal. Some of the services Girón Books provides include repackaging, binding, and labeling the books it imports from Latin America and, increasingly, from Spain. Girón then distributes the books to chain stores like Target or Wal-Mart. Though children's books represent only 7% of its sales, Girón sees a steady turnover for educational books that have easily identifiable characters from the U.S. mainstream, priced within the $2.95 to $6.95 range. "We find that books beyond the $19.95 price level or that have too much text are difficult to sell," says Girón. "Anything that's Walt Disney is popular for us." Girón's customers also gravitate toward Dora the Explorer, the Latina cartoon figure with a book series that sprinkles Spanish into the text.

Rosemary Brosnan, executive editor of the children's division of Rayo, Harper Collins's Latino imprint, believes that a diverse group of customers, such as Anglos who want to learn Spanish, is buying Latino children's books in different formats. In addition to coordinating Rayo's children's list in Spanish, Brosnan is ensuring that Latino children's authors are also published in English. "I have seen the need for publishing these voices for many years," says Brosnan. "I was excited about the 2000 census numbers on the Latino population because I thought the books were going to go out there in droves." Many of the major publishing firms in the United States also began paying attention to the opportunities that lay before them with Latino readers, but the industry has been unable to introduce new Latino children's authors to the general public, aside from specialized groups. "We saw steady sales but not an explosion. The books moved slowly," says Brosnan. She declined to give any sales figures but acceded that sales varied greatly from book to book.

The economic diversity within the Latino population can also leave publishers scratching their heads on how to target Latino parents. Low incomes can be an issue. While 21.4% of Hispanics live below the poverty level, only 26% of full-timers earn at least $35,000 a year, according to the Census Bureau. Rayo, however, has taken extra measures to ensure their books land in the laps of Latino children. They are actively searching for unknown Latino authors or new works that advance Latino culture. "I have traveled far and wide and spoken at conferences. I've written letters to reach out to authors. I've put notices in various periodicals for writers. I've contacted people who run programs at universities," says Brosnan. And still, the manuscripts from Latino authors have not poured in; Brosnan says she has received only 40 this year.

In the meantime, Brosnan is having an impact on the quality of Rayo's published work by, among other things, hiring native Spanish speakers who also have a superior command of English as translators, copy editors, and proofreaders. "When publishers first started printing Spanish-language books or translations, a lot of mistakes were made," she says. "Everything has to be right."

Aaron Feit, the Spanish book buyer for Borders Group, mainly purchases his titles either directly from U.S.–based publishers or major distributors. Since Feit's customers hail from various countries in Latin America and from Spain, he makes sure he buys Spanish-language books that hold the broadest appeal. "Most of the interest is for concept or picture books," he says, "or anything that doesn't require too much Spanish to understand."

Feit runs into more difficulty when selling intermediate-level Spanish-language books, such as the series of books about Ramona Quimby. But there's an exception, notes Feit: Harry Potter in Spanish, and Feit believes there's eventually going to be growth in the intermediate Spanish reader market. Those that sell the best at Borders are brand driven and commercial. A book like a Clifford in español, for example, has selling power because it's recognized nationally. A parent will be tempted to buy the book along with the plush red doggy doll.

Isabel Schon, director of the Barahona Center in San Marcos, CA, and an expert in children's Spanish literature, trumpets high-quality books in Spanish for children and adolescents whenever she finds them. But she readily points out that the large publishing houses have yet to find writers, translators, editors, proofreaders, and typesetters who know the Spanish language in its proper form.

"Take the Ciclos de la Vida series (Life Cyles series by Angela Royston, Heinemann Library), which talks about el pollo ("the chicken")," she says. "Instead of saying simply 'No crecen pollitos' it reads 'No están creciendo pollitos' and that is poor syntax. Spanish speakers would cringe because it is difficult to understand the concept and much more confusing for a Spanish learner—this will confuse the children."

When choosing the books, Borders's Feit admits that the conversations he has had at book fairs and conferences have influenced him. And though he acknowledges the importance of relevant Latino books, he cannot dictate to customers what to buy. "We have 440 stores and La Llorona (Cinco Puntos Press) sells pretty well in our Southwest stores," he says, but other stores have little interest in Spanish-language books. "A large publisher will take a book back if it doesn't sell well. But with the smaller houses, it's helpful to be careful where we place it."

Still, though only a handful of U.S. publishers are commissioning original works of children's literature in Spanish, larger publishing houses with market muscle, such as Scholastic and HarperCollins, may be pointing the way toward a new trend. Rayo recently released the first title in Isabel Allende's young adult trilogy, City of the Beasts, in Spanish and English simultaneously. Another example is Scholastic's Lectorum imprint, dedicated to publishing original works in Spanish. Its upcoming spring 2005 book, Azúcar, about Cuban salsa legend Celia Cruz, is written in Spanish rhyme by the Colombian children's illustrator and author Ivar Da Coll (Críticas, July/August 2003). There is no definite date for the release of an English edition as of yet.

The market is also seeing more and more Latino and Chicano children's authors actively getting their English and bilingual works out there. With the Latino market's expansion, these Latino-pride-themed books usually written in English first, are getting translated into Spanish as well by U.S. houses. Internationally recognized Spanish-language children's writers, such as the Cuban born Alma Flor Ada, have helped pave the way for this birth of Latino illustrators and writers from the United States. Many of these talents can be spotted on ALA's Pura Belpré Prize winner roster (see the prize's history of winners in Críticas, May/June 2004). Authors such as California-born Gary Soto and Texas-born authors Carmen Lomas Garza and Pat Mora are also part of the building wave of Latino writers committed to multicultural materials for children in dual languages. "It's an incredible moment when children can see themselves in a book and say 'oh this book is about me," says Mora. The children are curious and we want to encourage that and we want other children to know about Latino children in this country too." (See sidebar for some popular Latino authors to add to your collections).

Though 39% of Hispanic adults over 18 years old have not completed high school, and a mere 13% have completed college, the demand for quality books in Spanish with Latino themes persists. "Acculturation drives all sorts of behavioral changes, including reading," says Maki Winkelmann, a Mexico City–based linguist and educator. "The geographical expansion of Hispanics across the United States suggests that they are following the money." In other words, social mobility is on the rise. She also noted that Anglos are increasingly learning Spanish, augmented by public school bilingual programs sprouting across the country. And when it comes to literature, sophisticated readers want the real thing.

"A majority of Latino children are caught between two cultures, without heroes, models, or stories to reflect their realities," says Winkelmann. "And the long-term effects of the absence of this literature are dismaying."