Críticas Magazine

Bruce Jensen

Boricua author Carmen Bernier-Grand wins big OLA award
May 20, 2008

The Children's Services Division of the Oregon Library Association has honored Puerto Rico-born Carmen Bernier-Grand with the 2008 Lampman Award, given each year to an "author, librarian, or educator who has made a significant contribution to the children of Oregon."

Bernier-Grand's many books for young readers deal with people and themes from her homeland as well as Mexican and Mexican-American figures. Her titles include last fall's Frida: ¡Viva la Vida! Long Live Life! (a 2008 Pura Belpré Honor Book; she has one about Diego Rivera coming out this year); Shake It, Morena! and Other Folklore from Puerto Rico; and César: ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! about Cesar Chavez;

She also has to her credit Juan Bobo: Four Folktales from Puerto Rico, along with a biogrophy of Puerto Rican statesman and intellectual Luis Muñoz Marín, and In the Shade of the Nispero Tree, a YA novel about racism and classism in Puerto Rico.

Bernier-Grand earned her MA at the University of Puerto Rico's Mayaguez campus and is currently part of the teaching faculty on another beautiful isla, at the Whidbey Island Writers' Association up in the San Juan Islands of of Washington.  That's the native state of your intrepid bloguero, who just got to thinking it's been too long since since he rode a bicycle the length and breadth of Whidbey.

Posted by Bruce Jensen on May 20, 2008 | Comments (0)