The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA), an ALA affiliate.

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. As a children's librarian, storyteller and author, she enriched the lives of Puerto Rican children in the U.S.A. through her pioneering work of preserving and disseminating Puerto Rican folklore.

-The winner of the Pura Belpré Author Award is UNDER THE MESQUITE by Guadalupe Garcia McCall.

-Two Pura Belpré Author Honor Books were named: HURRICANE DANCERS: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle and MAXIMILIAN & THE MYSTERY OF THE GUARDIAN ANGEL: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller by Xavier Garza.

-The winner of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award is DIEGO RIVERA: His World and Ours written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.

-Two Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Books were named: THE CAZUELA THAT THE FARM MAIDEN STIRRED written by Samantha R. Vamos, illustrated by Rafael López; and MARISOL MCDONALD DOESN’T MATCH/MARISOL MCDONALD NO COMBINA written by Monica Brown, illustrated by Sara Palacios.