Angela Dominguez

{{Multiple issues|{{NPOV language|date=December 2023}}{{Primary sources|date=December 2023}}}}

{{Short description|American children's book author and illustrator}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Angela Dominguez

| image = Angela domingues 5213100.jpg

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| caption = Angela Dominguez at a book reading in 2022

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| birth_date = 1982

| birth_place = Mexico City, Mexico

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| occupation = Artist, illustrator

| language = English, Spanish

| nationality = American

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| website = {{URL|https://www.angeladominguezbooks.com}}

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Angela Dominguez (b. 1982) is an American children’s book author and illustrator. Her books use a diverse mix of Hispanic and Latino characters. She is author of the Stella Díaz series and worked with Sonia Sotomayor on the book Just Help! How to Build a Better World in 2016.{{Cite web |title=Angela Dominguez |url=https://librarycatalog.countyofcolusaca.gov/Author/Home?author=%22Dominguez,%20Angela%22 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Colusa County Free Library |language=en}}

Early life and education

Angela Dominguez was born in Mexico City in 1982. She moved to North Texas in 1984, and was raised there during her childhood.{{Cite web |last=Knoner |first=Abigail |date=September 17, 2020 |title=Little Read Event: Angela Dominguez at Herrick District Library |url=https://blogs.hope.edu/thebigread/uncategorized/little-read-event-angela-dominguez-at-herrick-district-library/}} Angela's American English teachers Discouraged her from speaking Spanish, rather than learn two languages at the same time.{{Cite news |last=Salah |first=Christiana |date=2019-03-08 |title=Angela Dominguez and Diverse Children’s Literature: A Faculty Feature by Dr. Regan Postma-Montaño - English Department |url=https://blogs.hope.edu/english/uncategorized/angela-dominguez-and-diverse-childrens-literature-a-faculty-feature-by-dr-regan-postma-montano/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240606032139/https://blogs.hope.edu/english/uncategorized/angela-dominguez-and-diverse-childrens-literature-a-faculty-feature-by-dr-regan-postma-montano/ |archive-date=2024-06-06 |access-date=2025-03-13 |work=English Department |language=en-US}} Speaking only English, Dominguez struggled to communicate with her only Spanish-speaking family.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_dominguez_fixing_the_future_diversity_shouldn_t_need_its_own_shelf |title=Fixing the Future: Diversity Shouldn't Need Its Own Shelf |date=2017-12-08 |last=Dominguez |first=Angela |language=en |access-date=2025-03-12 |via=www.ted.com}} She early on learned to utilize writing and drawing as an effective form of communication. This inspired her passion to draw as a child. She later took Spanish classes as an adult and is now Bilingual.

Dominguez attended Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) on a scholarship and graduated with a BFA in illustration.{{Cite web |last=Murphy {{!}} |first=Patricia J. |title=Q & A with Angela Dominguez |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/85181-q-a-with-angela-dominguez.html |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=PublishersWeekly.com |language=en}} She then gained an MFA in illustration at the Academy of Art University. She began teaching children’s book illustration there two years later.{{Cite web |title=Meet the illustrators - iREAD: Reading Programs |url=https://www.ireadprogram.org/illustrations/9/find-your-voice/meet-the-illustrators |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=www.ireadprogram.org}}

Career

In her time at SCAD, she wrote Maria Had a Little Llama, her own cultural take on the folk story Mary Had a Little Lamb which received the Pura Belpré Award in 2014.{{Cite web |last=Gribble |first=Julie |date=2016-01-27 |title=StoryMakers {{!}} Angela Dominguez |url=https://www.kidlit.tv/2016/01/storymakers-angela-dominguez/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=KidLit TV |language=en-US}} Dominguez aims to represent under-represented Latinx cultures in American children’s books through her fictional novels and illustrations.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_dominguez_fixing_the_future_diversity_shouldn_t_need_its_own_shelf |title=Fixing the Future: Diversity Shouldn't Need Its Own Shelf |date=2017-12-08 |last=Dominguez |first=Angela |language=en |access-date=2025-03-12 |via=www.ted.com}} Writing Mary Had a Little Llama sparked Dominguez’s career in writing and illustrating children’s books. She has continued to illustrate and write children’s books, such as the Stella Diaz Series.

She has worked with authors such as Marsha Diane Arnold and Sonia Sotomayor to represent Latino/Hispanic characters and their overall culture with the intent of diversity and inclusivity in American children's books. Their book titled Just Help! How to build a Better World is a New York Times Bestseller.{{Cite web |title=Angela Dominguez |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0040209/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}

Dominguez is currently a professor at the Academy of Art University.{{Cite web |last=Knoner |first=Abigail |date=September 17, 2020 |title=Little Read Event: Angela Dominguez at Herrick District Library |url=https://blogs.hope.edu/thebigread/uncategorized/little-read-event-angela-dominguez-at-herrick-district-library/}} She is a member of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and PEN America.{{cite web |url=https://www.scbwi.org/members/angela-dominguez |title=Angela Dominguez |author= |website=scbwi.org |access-date=2024-01-05}}

Awards and honours

Maria had a Little Llama won the 2014 Pura Belpré Illustration Honor

Marta Big and Small was a 2016 School Library Journal Top Latinx Book, a 2017 CCBC Choices and a 2017-2018 Read on, Wisconsin! selection{{Cite web |title=Marta! Big & Small |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626722439/martabigsmall/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Macmillan Publishers |language=en-US}}

Mango, Abuela and Me won the 2016 Pura Belpré Author Honor Book, the 2016 Pura Belpré Illustration Honor Book, and a Notable Children's Book in 2016.{{Cite web |last=Shelf |first=ALSC Book & Media Awards |title=ALSC Book & Media Awards Shelf |url=https://alsc-awards-shelf.org/directory/results?q=angela+dominguez |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=alsc-awards-shelf.org}}

Stella Díaz Has Something To Say was a New York Public Library pick for Best Books for Kids 2018,{{cite web |url=https://www.nypl.org/books-more/recommendations/best-books/kids?year=2018 |title=Best Books for Kids 2018 |author= |website=nypl.org |access-date=2024-01-05}} a Chicago Public Library Best Fiction for Younger Readers of 2018,{{cite web |url=https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/200049033_chipublib_kids/1306584707_best_fiction_for_younger_readers_of_2018?_gl=1%2A1wmmhwp%2A_ga%2ANDgzMjk1MjQ3LjE3MDQ2MDk5NDE.%2A_ga_G99DMMNG39%2AMTcwNDYwOTk0MC4xLjEuMTcwNDYwOTk1Ny4wLjAuMA..%2A_ga_92RPWHE421%2AMTcwNDYwOTk0MC4xLjAuMTcwNDYwOTk0MC4wLjAuMA..&page=2 |title=Best Fiction for Younger Readers of 2018 |author= |website=chipublib.bibliocommons.com |access-date=2024-01-05}} a Sid Fleischman Award winner{{cite web |url=https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb/ncbpastlists/ncb_2019 |title=Just Help! How to Build a Better World |author= |website=loc.gov |date=27 December 2019 |access-date=2024-01-05}} and an American Library Association Notable book for 2019.{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0040209/ |title=2019 Notable Children's Books |author= |website=loc.gov |access-date=2024-01-05}}{{Cite web |title=Angela Dominguez |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0040209/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}

Sing, Don't Cry was Virginia Reader’s Choice 2019-2020{{Cite web |title=Preview - 2019-2020 Book Selections |url=https://vslaconference.org/preview-20192020-book-selections |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=VSLA |language=en-US}}

Angela Dominguez

Early life and education

Career

Awards and honours

References

Further reading