Rafael Lopez – illustratör

Joy is the warm tingly feeling of the sun tickling your toes in the morning. It's the giggly, squiggly feeling when you are doing something silly. Even when you wake to the rain and your joy is washed away, it's waiting at the bottom of the puddle.This is the story of two friends: the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Once two lonely boys on opposite sides of the world, they grew up to discover the joy in everyday life and spread their joy with the people around them.Their message for every child is that joy is never far away. Even in hard times, joy never truly disappears. And when we share our joy with others, it grows inside us.This picture book adaptation of the international bestseller, The Book of Joy, is full of the humour, friendship, and deep affection between two spiritual leaders. In challenging times, it is a timely reminder that joy is all around us, if only we know where to look.Vibrantly illustrated by award-winning Rafael López, this is the perfect book to reassure and inspire young readers everywhere.

Joy is the warm tingly feeling of the sun tickling your toes in the morning.It's the giggly, squiggly feeling when you are doing something silly.Even when you wake to the rain and your joy is washed away, it's waiting at the bottom of the puddle.This is the story of two friends: the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Once two lonely boys on opposite sides of the world, they grew up to discover the joy in everyday life and spread their joy with the people around them.Their message for every child is that joy is never far away. Even in hard times, joy never truly disappears. And when we share our joy with others, it grows inside us.This picture book adaptation of the international bestseller, The Book of Joy, is full of the humour, friendship, and deep affection between two spiritual leaders. In challenging times, it is a timely reminder that joy is all around us, if only we know where to look.Vibrantly illustrated by award-winning Rafael López, this is the perfect book to reassure and inspire young readers everywhere.

This poetic and tender story celebrates the parent-and-child bond in its many forms. As a parent dreams of the future, the imagined forms the parent and child take mirror the milestones of an always-changing but unbreakable relationship. From early dependence on the parent for nourishment and basic needs, to parent as home base for a child in later life, these metaphors offer gentle assurance of love across a lifetime.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.

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.

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 readers 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.

In this exuberant picture book about transformation through art, Mira lives in a gray urban community until a muralist arrives and, along with his paints and brushes, brings color, joy, and hope to the neighborhood.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!"Simply superb.” (Kirkus)Tomás Rivera Book Award * ALA Notable Children's Book * Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books of the Year * Huffington Post Best Picture Books of the Year * Kirkus Best of the Year * School Library Journal Top 10 LatinX of the Year

Bold, graphic portraits and beautiful poems present famous and lesser-known Latinos from varied backgrounds who have faced life's challenges in creative ways.

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."

When a young boy’s grandmother walks on, he wonders where she’s gone.Did she go to the market to buy ripe melons? Or maybe she’s in the garden, watering her herbs?It feels like she’s somewhere far away, so the boy finds news ways to share stories about his day, hoping she can hear him.Even her house feels like it’s waiting for her return. Then as the boy approaches the kitchen, the scent and memories of her cooking assure him that no matter where she is, her love will always be close by.Because when someone walks on, they stay with us. They grow in our hearts and guide us as we walk in their footsteps.Award-winning author of Fry Bread, Kevin Noble Maillard, breathes life in this intimate picture book about the love that lasts even after a loved one has walked on, with illustrations from renowned, best-selling artist, Rafael López.

One rainy day, a bored brother and sister listen to their wise 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." And before they know it, their imagination takes them on a beautiful adventure through ancestry, strength and resilience. They dream, they believe and eventually . . . they fly. A poignant tale about the power of imagination, from the award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson.

There will be times when you walk into a roomand no one there is quite like you . . .It might be how you look or the way you talk, where you're from; maybe it's what you eat or what your hair is like. Feeling like an outsider can be scary at first, but the day you begin to share your stories might just be the day others find the courage to share theirs too.A lyrical story about celebrating differences, from award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson.