Nana's Big Surprise / Nana, ¡Qué Sorpresa! - Paperback

by Amada Irma Perez (Author), Maya Gonzalez (Illustrator)

Bilingual English/Spanish. Amada and her brothers try to comfort their grandmother, Nana, who has come to stay with them in the US from Mexico after abuelo passes away.

Nana's move from Mexico should be a joyous occasion. But this summer Nana is coming to California because Tata, beloved husband and abuelo, has died. Amada and her five brothers hope to cheer her up with a surprise-a coop full of fluffy yellow chicks, just like the ones Nana raised with Tata in Mexico. But no matter how hard everyone tries to make Nana feel better, it seems like nothing can bring a smile to her face. That is, until one day the chicks reveal a surprise of their own.

Award-winning author Amada Irma Pérez gently explores universal themes of family, love, loss, and memory in this third collaboration with artist Maya Christina Gonzalez, whose bold and beautiful collage paintings leap from the page. Nana's Big Surprise offers comfort, feathers, and even laughter to readers of all ages.

Author Biography

Amada Irma Pérez is a third-grade teacher in Oxnard, California, and a leading advocate of programs encouraging multicultural understanding. Like many of her students, Amada Irma was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a young child. My Very Own Room is based on her own family story. She lives with her family in Ventura, California.

Maya Gonzalez is an award-winning children's book artist, author, activist and progressive educator. Their work addresses systemic inequity in relation to race/ethnicity, sexism, and cissexism using children's books as radical agents of change and healing, both personally and culturally. Gonzalez co-founded Reflection Press, a POC, queer and trans owned independent publishing house that uses holistic, nature-based, and anti-oppression frameworks in their books and materials for kids and grown-ups. They are also the creator of the Gender Wheel, a tool to express the dynamic, infinite and inclusive reality of gender, and provides lectures and workshops to educators, parents and caregivers. Visit them online at mayagonzalez.com.