Beauty Woke

by NoNieqa Ramos, Paola Escobar (Illustrator)

Overview

Beauty Woke is a powerful story of pride and community, told with bold lyricism and the heart of a fairy tale, and readers looking for a next-generation Sleeping Beauty will fall in love with the vivid art and lyrical text.

Beauty is a Puerto Rican girl loved and admired by her family and community. At first, she's awake to their beauty, and her own—a proud Boricua of Taíno and African descent.

But as she grows older, she sees how people who look like her are treated badly, and she forgets what makes her special. So her community bands together to help remind her of her beautiful heritage!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358008415
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/15/2022
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	633,155
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

NoNieqa Ramos is an educator who wrote The Disturbed Girl's Dictionary, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection and an In the Margins Award Top Ten pick. Her debut picture book, Your Mama, earned three starred reviews. She is a proud member of Las Musas, the Soaring 20s, and PB Debut Troupe 21. She lives in Virginia with her family.

www.nonieqaramos.com
Twitter: @nonieqaramos
Instagram: @nonieqa.ramos

Paola Escobar is a Colombian graphic designer and illustrator. Her portfolio is incredibly versatile and she has worked for a variety of publishers worldwide including SM Spain, Planeta, Norma, Fleurus.
In the UK her clients include Oxford University Press, Penguin Random House, Walker, Scholastic UK, Laurence King, Little Brown Book Group, HarperCollins and Chicken House. Over the coming years she also has a variety of projects coming out with US publishers Little Bee Books, Versify,  Zonderkidz, HarperCollins US, Schwartz and Wade and Simon & Schuster.
In addition to publishing, she has worked across a broad range of printed and digital magazines. She currently works as a freelance illustrator and lives very happily in Bogota with her husband and dog Flora. 
Instagram: @paoesco8ar
Twitter: @paolaesco8ar

Read an Excerpt

★ "Ramos’ poetic ode to identity and validation winds itself through evocative imagery in both English and Spanish, connecting the strength of community with self-acceptance. From one-word stanzas echoing with a mother’s heartbeat to flowing anthems of pride, each page exudes energy and passion. Escobar’s powerful panorama of diversity is a blazing exclamation point to Beauty’s triumphant journey. This bold manifesto of cultural awareness reaches out to awaken the sleepwalkers among us." —Kirkus, STARRED review 

Editorial Reviews

"An authentic and affirming celebration of culture, community, and self-acceptance." — Booklist (starred review)

"Ramos' poetic ode to identity and validation winds itself through evocative imagery in both English and Spanish.... Each page exudes energy and passion. Escobar's powerful panorama of diversity is a blazing exclamation point to Beauty's triumphant journey. This bold manifesto of cultural awareness reaches out to awaken the sleepwalkers among us." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Ramos (Your Mama) continues to celebrate the strength and beauty of women and girls in a modern tale reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty.... Escobar’s vivid, detailed illustrations are a feast for the eyes.... A tale for fans of fractured fairy tales and the trickster tales of Yuyi Morales. A recommended purchase.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

"An authentic and affirming celebration of culture, community, and self-acceptance."

Booklist (starred review)

03/25/2022

K-Gr 2—Ramos (Your Mama) continues to celebrate the strength and beauty of women and girls in a modern tale reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty. Surrounded by love even before she is born, Beauty is raised on a steady dose of family and pride in her Puerto Rican heritage and community. When Beauty hears racist comments on television directed at people who look like her and her family, she questions her sense of identity and self-worth, which are eventually restored by those she loves and who love her. Escobar's vivid, detailed illustrations are a feast for the eyes. The text is a lyrical mix of English and Spanish, blended beautifully; this is not a text that rhymes, but it is solidly rhythmic and engaging. It's ideal for read-alouds, and may resonate even more for parents than with their young children. VERDICT Invite readers to listen in on a tale for fans of fractured fairy tales and the trickster tales of Yuyi Morales. A recommended purchase for libraries serving young children.—Monisha Blair

School Library Journal

★ 2021-11-16
What is beauty? Who is Beauty? A puzzled young Boricua wants to know.

Is it true what the media says? Are her people “DANGEROUS / DIRTY / LAZY”? What about the blood of her African ancestors that runs through her veins and that Abuela describes as “onyx”? Doesn’t the pride of her Taíno heritage mean anything? Beauty sees her people marching proudly in parades. She hears Abuela teaching her the truth of her identity, but the reality of the outside world weighs her down, and she runs. Embarrassed, she doubts her worth and wonders why she can’t be like everyone else, even rejecting her gold hoops and her durags adorned with the Puerto Rican flag: “¡QUÉ EMBARAZOSO!” Her family knows that Beauty is lost and that her “eyes were open, / but she was sleepwalkin’.” Her Mami rallies the family for an emergency schooling session. Under the powerful hands of la bisabuela, vecinos, and familia, “Beauty was WOKE.” Ramos’ poetic ode to identity and validation winds itself through evocative imagery in both English and Spanish, connecting the strength of community with self-acceptance. From one-word stanzas echoing with a mother’s heartbeat to flowing anthems of pride, each page exudes energy and passion. Escobar’s powerful panorama of diversity is a blazing exclamation point to Beauty’s triumphant journey.

This bold manifesto of cultural awareness reaches out to awaken the sleepwalkers among us. (Picture book. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews