René Colato Laínez at CABE: California Association of Bilingual Education

Award

I am so excited to receive a Campoy-Ada Honor Award for my book Telegrams to Heaven: The Childhood of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero/ Telegramas al cielo: La infancia de monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero in the Biographies for Children category. 

To find the list of all the ganadores visit https://labloga.blogspot.com/2019/01/ganadores-del-premio-campoy-ada.html

The Premio Campoy-Ada Awards Ceremony 



Date: Friday, March 22, 2019 

Time: 10:30 am 


Location: Long Beach Convention Center, Ballroom A

A reception will follow from noon to 2:00pm. 



Book Signings 

Thursday, March 21 

10:30 a.m. 

Lectorum Publications, Inc.

Booth(s): 213, 312

I will be signing copies of my latest bilingual book My Shoes and I: Crossing Three Borders/ Mis zapatos y yo: Cruzando tres fronteras.

Thursday, March 21 

12:00 p.m. 

Arte Público Press

Booth(s): 516

Mamá the Alien / Mamá la extraterrestre

Join author René Colato Laínez and illustrator Laura Lacámara who will be signing copies of their award-winning picture book about immigration, Mamá the Alien/ Mamá la extraterrestre, published by Lee & Low Books. 

When Mamá’s purse falls on the floor, Sofia gets a peek at Mamá’s old Resident Alien card and comes to the conclusion that Mamá might be an alien from outer space. Sofia heads to the library to learn more about aliens. Some are small and some are tall. Some have four fingers on each hand and some have large, round eyes. Their skin can be gray or blue or green. But Mamá looks like a human mother! Could she really be an alien?

Filled with imagination and humor, this book is a sweet and timely celebration of family, no matter where that family comes from.

Friday, March 22 

9:30 – 10:15 a.m. 

Exhibit Hall Booth #219    

Workshops 

Workshop Title: De niño inmigrante a escritor

Date:3/22/2019

Time: 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM

Location/Room: Hyatt Regency Long Beach - Regency D

Workshop Title: La biblioteca de los sueños

Date: 3/22/2019

Time: 3:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Location/Room: Hyatt Regency Long Beach - Regency D

MAMÁ THE ALIEN/MAMÁ LA EXTRATERRESTRE BLOG TOUR

To celebrate the release of Mamá the Alien/Mamá la extraterrestre, author René Colato Laínez will be stopping by the following blogs from August 15th to the 24th! Follow along as René Colato Laínez discusses his writing process, his thoughts on diversity in kidlit, and the recent debate over the term “illegal alien.”

Below is the schedule of the Mamá the Alien/Mamá la extraterrestre Blog Tour:

August 15: The Latina Book Club

August 17: Mommy Maestra

August 19: Latinaish

August 22: Pragmatic Mom

August 23: Reading Authors

August 24: The Logonauts

And in case you missed it, here’s René Colato Laínez’s post about his experience being called an “illegal alien” when he was young.

To find out more about René Colato Laínez and Mamá the Alien/Mamá la extraterrestre, check out his blog and follow him on Twitter. And if you are a blogger interested in being included on this or future blog tours, please reach out to us at publicity [at] leeandlow [dot] com.

Author René Colato Laínez and Illustrator Laura Lacámara

Mamá the Alien/ Mamá la extraterrestre

Written by René Colato Laínez

Illustrated by Laura Lacámara

I am so happy that my new bilingual book Mamá the Alien/ Mamá la extraterrestre is available now. Last week, I received my author's copies. It is always great to see, feel and hug a book for the first time.

 The box is here!

Fantastic! My new book!

Mamá the Alien/ Mamá la extraterrestre 

When Mamá’s purse falls on the floor, Sofia gets a peek at Mamá’s old Resident Alien card and comes to the conclusion that Mamá might be an alien from outer space.

Sofía heads to the library to do some research. She finds out that aliens can be small, or tall. Some have four fingers on each hand, and some have big round eyes. Their skin can be gray or blue or green. But she and Mamá look like human people. Could Mamá really be an alien from another planet? 

Filled with imagination and humor, Mamá the Alien/Mamá la extraterrestre is a sweet and timely immigration story, and a tender celebration of family, no matter which country (or planet) you come from. 

Reviews

A delightful, original, clever, purposeful, multicultural alien tale.- Kirkus Reviews

… an exceptional story about immigration with a new twist. – Booklist

Book Trailers

Thank you, Fabiola and Ms. Hernández

René Colato Laínez has written more than a dozen award-winning books for young readers. A native of El Salvador, his goal is to write stories in which children of color are portrayed positively, with hopes and dreams for the future. This story was inspired by the many children of immigrants who have experienced the same misunderstanding as Sofía. When not writing or presenting at conferences or workshops, Colato Laínez teaches in a bilingual elementary school. He lives in Arleta, California, and you can find him online at renecolatolainez.com. 

Laura Lacámara is the creator of several award-winning children’s books; and she is a popular presenter at schools, festivals, and conferences. Born in Cuba, Lacámara was delighted to illustrate this story because it is clever as well as meaningful, especially since she was the same age as Sofía in the story when her own mamá became a United States citizen. Lacámara also had fun creating her own versions of aliens! She lives in Venice, California, with her husband and their daughter. Visit her online at lauralacamara.com.