Child, you are awake!
You are alive!
You are a bright star,
Inside our hearts.
Told with a combination of powerful, spare language and sumptuous and complex imagery that is typical of Yuyi Morales’s work, this is the story of a fawn making her way through a border landscape teaming with flora and fauna native to the region. A gentle but empowering voice encourages her to face her fears when she comes across an obstacle in the form of an insurmountable barrier.
Yuyi Morales’ first book since her New York Times bestseller Dreamers is a book for very young children looking for their place in a world full of uncertainty. It is a book with resonance for all children, especially those whose safety is threatened due to the immigration crisis in the US.
Bright Star is also available in a Spanish language edition, Lucero.
¿Who is?
Yuyi Morales
Yuyi Morales was born in Xalapa, Mexico on November 7, 1968. The first years of Yuyi’s life were marked by both scarcity and creativity. Yuyi and her two sisters did not have the same clothes or receive the same presents as their schoolmates. Instead, their mother sewed Yuyi and her sisters’ clothes, bedsheets, curtains, and lampshades. When the family couldn’t afford the gifts the girls wanted for their birthdays, Yuyi’s mother would make everything from the cakes to the invitations to their dresses to their shoes. In a sense, her mother’s resourcefulness was Yuyi’s first introduction to art.
Other Books
Dreamers
We are resilience. We are hope. We are dreamers.
Viva Frida
A 2015 Caldecott Honor Book
A 2015 Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award
Niño Wrestles the World
Señoras y señores, put your hands together for the fantastic, spectacular, one of a kind . . .Niño!
My Blog
Projects
Poster of 2009 Pure Belpré Award-winning books and Señor Calavera
Yuyi contributed this illustration of her character, Señor Calavera, reading the various winners of the 2019 Pura Belpré's Medal and Honor awards for the ALA's 2009 conference.
“Who is Señor Calavera?”
In 2008, Yuyi made this video to give readers more information about Señor Calavera, the beloved and mysterious skeleton from Just a Minute and Just in Case.
Original artwork for LACTAID campaign
In 2006, Yuyi and award-winning illustrator, Kadir Nelson, were invited to contribute original artwork to a LACTAID campaign to promote milk consumption in children.
Interview in SCBWI’s newsletter, The Zephyr
In 2004, Yuyi was featured in The Zephyr, the newsletter for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and was asked about her education as an artist. Yuyi's answer is below, as is an illustration she made later inspired by the contents of the...
Golden Kite Award ceremony acceptance video
In 2008, Yuyi received the Golden Kite Award for picture book illustration for her book, Little Night. Below is a video Yuyi presented during her acceptance speech.
Yuyi’s 2004 Pura Belpre Medal and Honor acceptance speech
Pura Belpré' acceptance SpeechJuly 2004 Hace mucho, mucho tiempo…A long, long time ago Conejo, Rabbit, went to live on the moon. He went there for very good reasons. The most important of them being that Coyote was madly looking for him to eat him up. Oh, how much...
For inquiries, contact:
info@yuyimorales.com