Rafael López

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About Rafael López

The illustrations created by Rafael López bring diverse characters to children's books and he works to produce and promote books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people.

Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You, written by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor focuses on differently abled kids working together to create a garden. The book is a #1 New York Times Children's Picture Books Bestseller and won the American Library Association's 2020 Schneider Family Book Award. His 2018 picture book release, The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson was also a New York Times #1 Children's Picture Books Bestseller and the recipient of the 2019 Jane Addams Children's Book Award.

Rafael López has received three Pura Belpré Award medals from the American Library Association for Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln (2020) Drum Dream Girl (2016) and Book Fiesta! (2010). In addition he secured three Pura Belpré honors and recent books include a collaboration on Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song to honor the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street.

His illustrations for Bravo! Poems about Amazing Hispanics were honored with the 2017 Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators New York Original Art Exhibition.

The book Maybe Something Beautiful based on his own work reclaiming neighborhoods with community murals secured the 2017 Tomás Rivera Book Award. Additional children's books have received three Pura Belpré honors and two Américas Book Awards for illustration.

In 2012 he was asked by the Library of Congress to create the National Book Festival Poster featuring best-selling authors, poets and illustrators on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

He has created seven stamps for the United States Postal Service.

To learn more visit rafaellopez.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_L%C3%B3pez_(illustrator_and_artist)
http://www.rafaellopez-books.com/
http://www.rafaellopez.com/blog/

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Books By Rafael López

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The Day You Begin Aug 28, 2018

by Jacqueline Woodson , Rafael López

( 2,492 )

$10.99

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Featured in its own episode in the Netflix original show Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices!

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone.

There will be times when you walk into a room
and no one there is quite like you.

There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.

Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.

(This book is also available in Spanish, as El Día En Que Descubres Quién Eres!)

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover

Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You Sep 3, 2019

by Sonia Sotomayor , Rafael López

( 1,423 )

$10.99

A #1 New York Times bestseller!

Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award!

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and award-winning artist Rafael Lopez create a kind and caring book about the differences that make each of us unique.

Feeling different, especially as a kid, can be tough. But in the same way that different types of plants and flowers make a garden more beautiful and enjoyable, different types of people make our world more vibrant and wonderful.

In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges--and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages readers to do the same: When we come across someone who is different from us but we're not sure why, all we have to do is Just Ask.

Praise for Just Ask:

* "Addressing topics too often ignored, this picture book presents information in a direct and wonderfully child-friendly way." --Booklist, *STARRED REVIEW*

"An affirmative, delightfully diverse overview of disabilities." --Kirkus Reviews

"A hopeful and sunny exploration of the many things that make us unique [with] dynamic and vibrant illustrations [that] emphasize each character’s unique abilities. . . . A thoughtful and empathetic story of inclusion." --SLJ

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover

My Name is Celia/Me llamo Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz/la vida de Celia Cruz (Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Winner) Oct 30, 2004

by Monica Brown , Rafael López

( 78 )

$12.62

This bilingual book allows young readers to enter Celia Cruz's life as she becomes a well-known singer in her homeland of Cuba, then moves to New York City and Miami where she and others create a new type of music called salsa. School Library Journal has named My Name is Celia “[a]n exuberant picture-book biography . . . a brilliant introduction to a significant woman and her music.”

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln Aug 27, 2019

by Margarita Engle , Rafael López

( 106 )

$10.99

Winner of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book

In soaring words and stunning illustrations, Margarita Engle and Rafael López tell the story of Teresa Carreño, a child prodigy who played piano for Abraham Lincoln.

As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own songs and performing in grand cathedrals. Then a revolution in Venezuela forced her family to flee to the United States. Teresa felt lonely in this unfamiliar place, where few of the people she met spoke Spanish. Worst of all, there was fighting in her new home, too—the Civil War.

Still, Teresa kept playing, and soon she grew famous as the talented Piano Girl who could play anything from a folk song to a sonata. So famous, in fact, that President Abraham Lincoln wanted her to play at the White House! Yet with the country torn apart by war, could Teresa’s music bring comfort to those who needed it most?

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Audio CD

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music Mar 31, 2015

by Margarita Engle , Rafael López

( 153 )

$9.99

Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule—until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her dream-bright music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream.
Inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba's traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girl tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Audio CD

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices Sep 4, 2018

by Wade Hudson , Cheryl Willis Hudson

( 118 )

$8.99

Fifty of the foremost diverse children's authors and illustrators--including Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kwame Alexander--share answers to the question, "In this divisive world, what shall we tell our children?" in this beautiful, full-color keepsake collection, published in partnership with Just Us Books.

What do we tell our children when the world seems bleak, and prejudice and racism run rampant? With 96 lavishly designed pages of original art and prose, fifty diverse creators lend voice to young activists.

Featuring poems, letters, personal essays, art, and other works from such industry leaders as Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming), Jason Reynolds (All American Boys), Kwame Alexander (The Crossover), Andrea Pippins (I Love My Hair), Sharon Draper (Out of My Mind), Rita Williams-Garcia (One Crazy Summer), Ellen Oh (cofounder of We Need Diverse Books), and artists Ekua Holmes, Rafael Lopez, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, and more, this anthology empowers the nation's youth to listen, learn, and build a better tomorrow.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018!
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018!

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback

Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood Apr 12, 2016

by F. Isabel Campoy , Theresa Howell , Rafael López

( 254 )

$9.99

What good can a splash of color do in a community of gray? As Mira and her neighbors discover, more than you might ever imagine! Based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, Maybe Something Beautiful reveals how art can inspire transformation—and how even the smallest artists can accomplish something big. Pick up a paintbrush and join the celebration!

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Audio CD

Bravo!: Poems About Amazing Hispanics Mar 14, 2017

by Margarita Engle , Rafael López

( 27 )

$9.99

Musician, botanist, baseball player, pilot—the Latinos featured in this collection, Bravo!, come from many different countries and from many different backgrounds. Celebrate their accomplishments and their contributions to a collective history and a community that continues to evolve and thrive today!

Biographical poems include: Aida de Acosta, Arnold Rojas, Baruj Benacerraf, César Chávez, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, Félix Varela, George Meléndez, José Martí, Juan de Miralles, Juana Briones, Julia de Burgos, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Paulina Pedroso, Pura Belpré, Roberto Clemente, Tito Puente, Ynes Mexia, Tomás Rivera

Other Formats: Hardcover

Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song Oct 22, 2019

by Joe Raposo , Various

( 36 )

$10.99

Superstar illustrators celebrate the iconic Sesame Street theme song with stunning original art in this one-of-a-kind picture book!

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Sesame Street, beloved picture-book artists have each created an artwork interpreting a different line from "Sunny Day," the iconic Sesame Street theme song. The range of their pieces demonstrates that Sesame Street can truly be found anywhere. The award-winning and bestselling roster of illustrators includes Christian Robinson, Tom Lichtenheld, Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Leo Espinosa, and Dan Santat, among others. The result is a stunning tribute to Sesame Street and to the generations of children who have loved the show. Anyone who opens this beautiful book will be inspired to imagine their own perfect sunny day.

For half a century, Sesame Street has helped kids grow smarter, stronger, and kinder through its messages about inclusiveness, kindness, and, of course, literacy and numeracy.

Other Formats: Hardcover

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