About

I’m Juana and I write and illustrate books for young readers.

Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick Press) was my debut picture book as an author-illustrator, and was awarded the 2019 Caldecott Honor. I am also the illustrator of La Princesa and the Pea (written by Susan M. Elya, Putnam/Penguin), winner of the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration, and Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (written by Kevin Noble Maillard, Roaring Brook Press), winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal.

I was born in the busy city of Lima, the capital of Peru. Now I live in the woods in Eastern Connecticut. Here I share a home with my husband, two sons, daughter, our tiny dog, and the souls of our late cat, Kitty, and ginormous dog, Puppy.

For interviews and publicity requests, write to my publicist at Candlewick Press–publicity(at)candlewick.com. For events and library and school presentations, contact The Author Village. For children’s books projects, contact Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel of Full Circle Literary.

Nací y crecí en Lima, y soy bilingüe. No duden en escribirme en español.