{"id":70141,"date":"2025-07-17T14:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/70141\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T14:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:49:10","slug":"juliet-menendez-on-reinvention-and-revolution-through-childrens-books-the-2025-stars-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/70141\/","title":{"rendered":"Juliet Men\u00e9ndez On Reinvention and Revolution Through Children\u2019s Books | The 2025 Stars Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The author\/illustrator’s work shines a light on Latinx icons who\u00a0haven’t always appeared in our history books. Here we\u00a0celebrate Men\u00e9nedez’s illustrations in\u00a0the Spanish and English editions of the excellent poetry collection Hopeful Heroes by Margarita Engle.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Luis de Le\u00f3n D\u00edaz\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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In speaking about the first subject in Margarita Engle\u2019s Hopeful Heroes: More Poems About Amazing Latinos<\/a> (Macmillan\/Godwin), female tribal chieftain Anacanoa of the Ta\u00edno people, illustrator Juliet Men\u00e9ndez praised the beautiful ways Latinx cultures have preserved their own histories. \u201cDuring the time of colonial occupation, they were burning down much of our culture and history. [The arts] became this way of maintaining that history, literally alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work (and its translation<\/a>) is a companion to Engle’s\u00a0Bravo!<\/a> (2017) illustrated by Rafael L\u00f3pez. Each volume profiles Latinx people who have contributed to history, such as Sor Juana In\u00e9s de la Cruz, Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar, and Pel\u00e9. The poems also highlight folks who aren\u2019t traditionally put on pedestals but are just as resilient and worthy of recognition. Says Men\u00e9ndez, \u201cWe have this idea of \u2018heroes\u2019 as one person who made a huge change, but we often don\u2019t tell the stories of regular people, like nurses, who make sure that the revolution can happen. There are more humble ways to show up and be part of the changes you want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her own Latinitas<\/a> (2021) heralded 40 influential Latinas in a collective biography. The the idea grew out of her work as a bilingual and art teacher in New York City schools where she would make up stories for her first graders and illustrate them.<\/p>\n

Men\u00e9ndez divides her time among Guatemala City, New York City, and Paris, and her art style has been influenced by her studies there. She counts art by Guatemalan Cubist Carlos M\u00e9rida and Italian graphic designer Fortunato Depero as inspirations and has always been drawn to poster art and lithography. These styles and influences combine and emerge as Men\u00e9ndez\u2019s hand-drawn watercolor illustrations. Whether working on images for her own text or those written by others, she throws herself into the research, looking for a personal connection. \u201cEvery project is unique, and even though it\u2019s still my style, I find myself reinventing myself each time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research is a big part of her process, she says, calling herself a big nerd. Her other interests bleed into her work. \u201cI do love playing piano. I\u2019m really into the blues and jazz,\u201d she says. \u201cI find that rhythm makes its way into my books.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s working on her first solo picture book, slated for 2026. It\u2019s a personal story based on her own life and the influences that led her to becoming an artist. It also reflects her struggles with perfectionism at a young age. \u201cThe most surprising thing I\u2019ve learned while creating works for children is that you might change the context, but the feelings that kids struggle with are often the same feelings adults struggle with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get Print. Get Digital. Get Both!<\/p>\n

Libraries are always evolving. Stay ahead.
\n Log In.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The author\/illustrator’s work shines a light on Latinx icons who\u00a0haven’t always appeared in our history books. Here we\u00a0celebrate…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":70142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[49346,49347,1022,14327,171,49351,14325,49349,14324,49354,49353,14326,3716,49350,37601,14328,14329,14323,49352,4810,49348,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-70141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-authors-illustrators","9":"tag-best-of","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-collection-development","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-illustrator","14":"tag-jlg","15":"tag-juliet-menendez","16":"tag-junior-library-guild","17":"tag-latinitas","18":"tag-latinx","19":"tag-librarian","20":"tag-library","21":"tag-margarita-engle","22":"tag-poetry","23":"tag-reading-categories","24":"tag-reading-levels","25":"tag-school-library-journal","26":"tag-starred-book","27":"tag-stars","28":"tag-stars-so-far","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114869133328224288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}