The Américas Award: Honoring Latino/a Children’s and Young Adult Literature of the Americas (Children and Youth in Popular Culture)

First awarded in 1993, the Américas Award is given in recognition of books that authentically and engagingly portray Latino/as in Latin America, the Caribbean or the United States. By combining both and linking the Americas, the award reaches beyond geographic borders, as well as multicultural-international boundaries, focusing instead upon cultural heritages within the hemisphere. The Award is unique in that selects Latino/a youth literature for classroom use and in that it focuses on the entire Western Hemisphere. Scholars from the fields of literature, education, lbrary science, and theater engage with Latino/a Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) in this ecollection of essays about the Américas Award, the Award-winning and honored books, and the contexts in which the books are used. This collection offers essays on the history of the award, close readings of Award-winning and honored books situated in the classroom, and discussions of how best to use the books in the classroom, library and theater. The Américas Award: Latino/a youth literature for the K-12 classroom / Laretta Henderson Why does Latino/a youth literature matter? : how children and young adults learn about race / Erin Winkler Envisioning tomorrow : the musings of Julie Kline on the history and future of the Américas Award / Ruth Quiroa Educating for global competence through the Américas Award / Denise Woltering Vargas The Américas Award, cultural competence, and the politics of publishing / Jamie Naidoo Book awards, social responsibility and cultural contextualization / Laretta Henderson The Américas Award books in early childhood education : reconceptualizing the conversation about diversity with pre-service teachers / Leanne Evans Cultural and social justice issues in the Américas Award winning poetry anthologies / Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Borders, home, spirituality, and language : sociopolitical themes in Latino/a children's literature 1990-2015 / Patricia Enciso and Carmen L. Medina Border crossing : immigration in the Américas Award winning books / Ruth McKoy Lowery The Américas Award on screen : promoting critical engagement with literature via multimodal composition / Candance M. Doerr-Stevens The Américas Award on stage : a call for more Latino youth theater / Roxanne Schroeder-Arce Translation and transformation : the status of Américas Award books translation in East Asia / Wooseob Jeong Public library service to Latino/a communities / Colleen E. Marsh. This edited volume performs a critical analysis of the Americas Award, issues related to the content of the award-winning and honored books, and the contexts in which the books are used. It includes chapters by key scholars in the areas of youth literature in English, English Education, Library and Information Science, and Ethnic Studies. This edited volume performs a critical analysis of the Américas Award, issues related to the content of the award-winning and honored books, and the contexts in which the books are used. It includes chapters by key scholars in the areas of youth literature in English, English Education, Library and Information Science, and Ethnic Studies