To countdown the release of my debut middle grade novel,
Stella Díaz Has Something to Say, I am going to post every Tuesday about
Stella. The post is either news related to the book or even better yet inspiration for the book.
For the first post, I thought I'd give a shout out the wonderful people who wrote blurbs for the book. Their endorsement means the world to me.
Margarita Engle
I met Margarita back in Fresno at
Petunia's Place on Small Business Day back in 2013. Her writing is so lovely and I just adore her most recent book,
All The Way to Havana, illustrated by Mike Curato. Here's what she kindly wrote,
"Stella Díaz Has Something to Say is delightfully rich, both humorous and sensitive at the same time. This is the story of a curious girl who longs to fit in, but also feels the need to be herself, learning how to speak up in two languages.” —Margarita Engle, Young People's Poet Laureate
I've had the pleasure of collaborating on 6 books with the fabulous author Monica Brown for the
Lola Levine Series. She's an inspiration. Here is what she wrote,
“Stella Díaz is a delight! Young readers will love the story of this shy, sweet, and very creative girl finding her voice.” —Monica Brown, author of the Lola Levine series
While I have not met Danielle in person yet, I'm a big fan of her work. She has a tremendous website about picture books called
This Picture Book Life and now is an author in her own right. She made her debut this year with
Zinnia and The Bees. Danielle wrote,
“Shy yet spunky Stella speaks to feeling different, to conquering fears in order to make a new friend, and to learning that, like the starfish who shares her name—Estrella—she is stronger than she thinks.” —Danielle Davis, author of Zinnia and the Bees
I met Minh back at ALA in 2016. He is skilled uno player not to mention a talented author. His book
Let Me Finish! illustrated by my good friend
Isabel Roxas is probably one of my favorite recently published picture books. Minh wrote,
"An inspiring tale of self-discovery. Stella Diaz speaks for anyone who has struggled to juggle different sides of their identity. Which is, of course, all of us.” —Minh Le, author of Let Me Finish!
I've tried to include links to everyone so you can discover more about them (although I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you). Only 6 more weeks till Stella makes her debut! If you'd like to preorder the book, click
here.
