Press Kit

Here you will find bios, hi-resolution author photos, book covers and descriptions of books.

NAME PRONUNCIATION

Audio name pronunciation here.

BIOGRAPHY

BIO 50-WORD

Rafael López is a New York Times bestselling, award winning illustrator and artist born and raised in Mexico City to architect parents. His illustrations bring diverse characters to children’s books and he is driven to produce and promote books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people.

BIO 100-WORD

Rafael López is a New York Times bestselling, award winning illustrator, born and raised in Mexico City. His illustrations bring diverse characters to children’s books and he is driven to produce books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people. He is the recipient of 3 Pura Belpré medals, the Schneider Family Book Award, Jane Addams Book Award, Tomas Rivera Book Award and is the illustrator of 3 New York Times bestsellers. López is a founder of the Urban Art Trail movement in San Diego’s East Village creating a series of large-scale murals bringing the community together.

BIO 150-WORD

Rafael López is a New York Times bestselling, award winning illustrator and artist who was born and raised in Mexico City to architect parents. His illustrations bring diverse characters to children’s books and he is driven to produce and promote books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people. He is the recipient of 3 Pura Belpré medals, the Schneider Family Book Award, Jane Addams Book Award, Tomas Rivera Book Award and is the illustrator of 3 New York Times bestsellers. He was the first guest artist of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in 2022. López is a founder of the Urban Art Trail movement in San Diego’s East Village creating a series of large-scale murals that brought the community together. Rafael lives and works in an industrial loft in downtown San Diego and at his home/studio in the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

BOOK COVERS AND INFORMATION

The Little Book of Joy.

Nobel Peace Prize winners His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu share their own childhood struggles to show young listeners how they can thrive and find joy even during the most challenging times in this adaptation of the international bestseller The Book of Joy.

If you just focus on the thing that is making you sad, then the sadness is all you see. But if you look around, you will see that joy is everywhere. In their only collaboration for children, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu use their childhood stories to show young people how to find joy even in hard times and why sharing joy with others makes it grow. The two spiritual masters tell a simple story of how every child has joy inside them, even when it sometimes hides, and how we can find it, keep it close, and grow it by sharing it with the world.

Sprung from the friendship, humor, and deep affection between these holy men, the book is a perfectly timed and important gift from two revered spiritual leaders to children. It is a reminder that joy is abundant—no matter what challenges we face—and has the power to transform the world around us even in the darkest of times.

The Year We Learned to Fly.

Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López’s highly anticipated companion to their #1 New YorkTimes bestseller The Day You Begin illuminates the power in each of us to face challenges with confidence.

On a dreary, stuck-inside kind of day, a brother and sister heed their grandmother’s advice: “Use those beautiful and brilliant minds of yours. Lift your arms, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and believe in a thing. Somebody somewhere at some point was just as bored you are now.” And before they know it, their imaginations lift them up and out of their boredom. Then, on a day full of quarrels, it’s time for a trip outside their minds again, and they are able to leave their anger behind. This precious skill, their grandmother tells them, harkens back to the days long before they were born, when their ancestors showed the world the strength and resilience of their beautiful and brilliant minds. Jacqueline Woodson’s lyrical text and Rafael Lopez’s dazzling art celebrate the extraordinary ability to lift ourselves up and imagine a better world.

★ New York Times Bestseller.
★ Kirkus Prize Finalist

I'll Meet You in Your Dreams.

A heartwarming text honoring the ever-evolving relationship of a parent and child across time, with visually striking art by bestselling and award-winning artist Rafael López. Each evening when the sun has set, as nighttime casts a starry net, I’ll hitch a ride on moonbeams, and meet you in your dreams. This poetic and tender story celebrates the parent-and-child bond in its many forms and offers gentle assurance of love across a lifetime. Two parents’ dreams of the future with their children—from early dependence for nourishment and basic needs, to the parent as home base for a child in later life—mirror an always-changing but unbreakable relationship. Written in lyrical rhyme and accompanied by breathtaking art by the incomparable Rafael López, I’ll Meet You in Your Dreams affirms that parental love is a constant force, transcending boundaries of space and time.

★ Amazon Editor’s Pick: Best Books Ages 3-5

Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You.

A Number-One New York Times Best Seller!

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and award-winning artist Rafael Lopez create a kind and caring book about the differences that make each of us unique.

Feeling different, especially as a kid, can be tough. But in the same way that different types of plants and flowers make a garden more beautiful and enjoyable, different types of people make our world more vibrant and wonderful.

In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges – and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages listeners to do the same: When we come across someone who is different from us but we’re not sure why, all we have to do is Just Ask.

★ New York Times #1 Bestseller.
★ 2020 Schneider Medal. American Library Association.

Dancing Hands. How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln.

As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own songs and performing in grand cathedrals. Then a revolution in Venezuela forced her family to flee to the United States. Teresa felt lonely in this unfamiliar place, where few of the people she met spoke Spanish. Worst of all, there was fighting in her new home, too – the Civil War.

Still, Teresa kept playing, and soon she grew famous as the talented Piano Girl who could play anything from a folk song to a sonata – so famous, in fact, that President Abraham Lincoln wanted her to play at the White House! Yet with the country torn apart by war, could Teresa’s music bring comfort to those who needed it most?

★ 2020 Pura Belpré Medal. American Library Association.

We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands.

Award-winning illustrator Rafael López breathes new life to the famous spiritual with a bilingual adaptation of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” that celebrates the life of every young person in the world. The rhythmic verse and repetitive emphasis on “we” and “our” advocate for inclusive communities and promote unity and friendship all around the world.”We’ve got you and you got me in our hands.We have the whole world in our hands.

The Day You Begin.

Featured in its own episode in the Netflix original show Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices and a Number-One New York Times Best Seller!

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone. There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it’s how you look or talk, or where you’re from; maybe it’s what you eat, or something just as random. It’s not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.

Jacqueline Woodson’s lyrical text and Rafael López’s dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.

★ New York Times #1 Bestseller.
★ 2017 Jane Addams Book Award.

Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics!

Musician, botanist, baseball player, pilot―the Latinos featured in Bravo!, by author Margarita Engle and illustrator Rafael López, come from many different countries and from many different backgrounds.

Celebrate their accomplishments and their contributions to a collective history and a community that continues to evolve and thrive today!

Biographical poems include: Aida de Acosta, Arnold Rojas, Baruj Benacerraf, César Chávez, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, Félix Varela, George Meléndez, José Martí, Juan de Miralles, Juana Briones, Julia de Burgos, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Paulina Pedroso, Pura Belpré, Roberto Clemente, Tito Puente, Ynes Mexia, Tomás Rivera.

★ 2017 Society of Illustrators Silver Medal.

Maybe Something Beautiful.

What good can a splash of color do in a community of gray? As Mira and her neighbors discover, more than you might ever imagine! Based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, Maybe Something Beautiful reveals how art can inspire transformation – and how even the smallest artists can accomplish something big. Pick up a paintbrush and join the celebration!

★ 2018 Read for the Record
★ ALA Notable Book
★ 2017 Tomas Rivera Book Award
★ 2016 Best Book of the Year Kirkus

Drum Dream Girl.

Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule—until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her dream-bright music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream.

Inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba’s traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girl tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere.

★ 2016 Pura Belpré Medal. American Library Association
★ 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal. American Library Association
★ The Amelia Bloomer Book List

Tito Puente Mambo King.

From musical prodigy on the streets of Harlem to five-time Grammy Award winner, Tito’s life was full of rhythm, with drums and claves, saxophones and tambourines all part of the fun. From musical prodigy on the streets of Harlem to five-time Grammy Award winner, Tito’s life was full of rhythm, with drums and claves, saxophones and tambourines all part of the fun.

★ 2014 Pura Belpré Honor. American Library Association

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred.

This is the story of how the farm maiden and all the farm animals worked together to make the rice pudding that they serve at the fiesta. With the familiarity of “The House That Jack Built,” this story bubbles and builds just like the ingredients of the arroz con leche that everyone enjoys. Cleverly incorporating Spanish words, adding a new one in place of the English word from the previous page, this book makes learning the language easy and fun.

Rafael Lopez covers each page with vibrant, exuberant color, celebrating tradition and community. Back matter includes a glossary of Spanish words and a recipe for arroz con leche—perfect for everyone to make together and enjoy at story time.

★ 2012 Pura Belpré Honor. American Library Association

Book Fiesta!

This beautiful Pura Belpré Award–winning picture book is a bilingual ride through the joyous history of Children’s Day/El día de los niños.

Children’s Day/Book Day; El día de los niños/El día de los libros is observed each year on April 30. Founder Pat Mora’s jubilant celebration of this day features imaginative text and lively illustrations by award-winning illustrator Rafael López that will turn this bilingual fiesta into a hit for story time! Toon! Toon!

The book includes a letter from the author and suggestions for celebrating Children’s Day /El día de los niños, making the book perfect for gifting, family celebrations, and classroom sharing.

★ 2010 Pura Belpré Medal. American Library Association

Our California

Re-illustrated and re-designed, OUR CALIFORNIA (previously CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME!) is a lively tour of award-winning author Pam Muñoz Ryan’s home state. Spirited poems celebrate California’s major cities and regions. Backmatter includes state symbols and additional information about each place.

Bold paintings by illustrator Rafael López capture the spirit of the land.

Yum!¡Mmmm!¡Qué Rico!

Smear nutty butter, then jelly. Gooey party, my sandwich and me.

Peanuts, blueberries, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and more here is a luscious collection of haiku celebrating foods native to the Americas. Brimming with imagination and fun, these poems capture the tasty essence of foods that have delighted, united, and enriched our lives for centuries. Exuberant illustrations bring to life the delicious spirit of the haiku, making Yum! Mmmm! Que rico! an eye-popping, mouth-watering treat. Open it and dig in!”

★ 2008 Americas Award

My Name is Celia

This bilingual book allows young readers to enter Celia Cruz’s life as she becomes a well-known singer in her homeland of Cuba, then moves to New York City and Miami where she and others create a new type of music called salsa. School Library Journal has named My Name is Celia

“[a]n exuberant picture-book biography . . . a brilliant introduction to a significant woman and her music.”

★ 2014 Americas Award
★ 2006 Pura Belpré Honor. American Library Association