René Colato Laínez

As a child, Colato Laínez was inspired to write by his maternal granduncle, Jorge Buenaventura Lainez, a famous writer in El Salvador.{{Cite web|url=http://renecolatolainez.com/|title=Rene Colato Lainez|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=September 12, 2016}} Colato Laínez left his country at the age of 14 during the Salvadoran Civil War, settling in Los Angeles, California where he entered high school and became an active contributor to the school’s Spanish-language newspaper.

In 1993, Colato Laínez received a B.A. and teaching credentials from California State University, Northridge and became an elementary school teacher in Sun Valley, California.René Colato Laínez (1970-). (2011). In L. Kumar (Ed.), Something About the Author (Vol. 226, pp. 49-51). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com While in college, he wrote short stories. In 2005, he earned an M.F.A. from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. He started submitting his stories to publishers in 2001 and his first book, Waiting for Papá/Esperando a papá got published in 2004.{{Cite web|url=http://www.papertigers.org/interviews/archived_interviews/rcolato.html|title=Interview with author and illustrator, René Colato Laínez|last=Pereira|first=Aline|date=|website=papertigers.org|publisher=|access-date=September 12, 2016}} Along with his literary career, Colato Lainez continues to teach elementary school in Los Angeles.

Colato Laínez examines themes of immigration, family, names, and language in his works.

Waiting for Papá/Esperando a papá, which follows a child whose father cannot come to the United States because of immigration issues, honors similar situations that many of his students had experienced, and he says that when he does public readings of the book, "there is always more than one person crying."{{cite news|last1=Olivera|first1=Monica|title=Latino Children's Books that Celebrate Dads|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-children-s-books-celebrate-dads-n593666|accessdate=13 September 2016|work=NBC News|date=16 June 2016}} Teachers have used this book to teach primary school students about immigration issues and connect with students who are experiencing hardships like those of the book's protagonist.{{cite journal|last1=Allen|first1=Eliza|title=Connecting the immigrant experience through literature|journal=Phi Delta Kappan|date=2015|volume=97|issue=4|page=31|doi=10.1177/0031721715619915|s2cid=146300275}}{{cite book|last1=Osorio|first1=Sandra|title=Promoting critical literacy among emergent bilinguals: an exploration of their identities|date=2013|hdl=2142/45300|language=en}}

Immigration status also plays a role in Mamá the alien/Mamá la extraterrestre. In this book, a Latina girl suspects that her mother is an extraterrestrial, because of the dual meaning of the word alien.{{cite news|title=Mamá the alien/Mamá la extraterrestre|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rene-colato-lainez-20704/mama-alienmama-la-extraterrestre/|accessdate=10 November 2016|work=Kirkus reviews|date=1 May 2016|language=en-us}}

Family, tradition, and language are central to Playing Lotería, which describes the relationship of a boy and his grandmother, who teach each other English and Spanish. Teachers have incorporated Playing Lotería into curricula to introduce a culturally-specific fund of knowledge.{{cite journal|last1=Souto-Manning|first1=Mariana|title=Honoring and Building on the Rich Literacy Practices of Young Bilingual and Multilingual Learners|journal=The Reading Teacher|date=November 2016|volume=70|issue=3|pages=263–271|doi=10.1002/trtr.1518}} Family is also foregrounded in From North to South/Del norte al sur, as a boy travels with his father to visit his deported mother. Ghiso and Campano write that the book expresses a "message about the human dignity of families and their rights to be together."{{cite journal|last1=Ghiso|first1=María Paula|last2=Campano|first2=Gerald|title=Ideologies of Language and Identity in U.S.Children's Literature|journal=Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature|date=2013|volume=51|issue=3|pages=47–55|doi=10.1353/bkb.2013.0057|s2cid=144115542}}

Names are at the center of I Am René, the Boy/Soy René, el niño and René Has Two Last Names/René tiene dos apellidos. In René the Boy, the eponymous protagonist adjusts to having a classmate named Renee and learns more about his own name.{{cite news|title=I am René, the boy / Yo soy René, el niño|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rene-colato-lainez-20704/i-am-rene-the-boy/|accessdate=10 November 2016|work=Kirkus reviews|date=15 April 2005|language=en-us}}

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature considers his works representative of an emergent Central American children's literature.{{cite book|last1=Kanellos|first1=Nicolás|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature|date=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara|chapter=Central American Literature}}

• Waiting for Papá/Esperando a papá, illustrated by Anthony Accardo, Arte Público Press (Houston, TX) 2004.
• I Am René, the Boy/Soy René, el niño illustrated by Fabiola Graullera Ramírez, Arte Público (Houston, TX) 2005.
• Playing Lotería/El juego de la lotería illustrated by Jill Arena, Luna Rising (Flagstaff, AZ) 2005.
• René Has Two Last Names/René tiene dos apellidos illustrated by Fabiola Graullera Ramírez, Piñata Books (Houston, TX) 2009.
• From North to South/Del norte al sur illustrated by Joe Cepeda, Children's Book Press (San Francisco, CA) 2010.{{cite journal|last1=Ghiso|first1=María Paula|last2=Campano|first2=Gerald|title=Ideologies of Language and Identity in U.S.Children's Literature|journal=Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature|date=2013|volume=51|issue=3|pages=47–55|doi=10.1353/bkb.2013.0057|s2cid=144115542}}
• The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez illustrated by Tom Lintern, Tricycle Press (Berkeley, CA) 2010.
• My Shoes and I illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA) 2010.
• Señor Pancho Had a Rancho illustrated by Elwood Smith, Holiday House (New York, NY) 2013.
• ¡Juguemos al Fútbol y al Football! Illustrated by Lancman Ink, Alfaguara (Doral, FL) 2013.
• Vamonos/Let’s go! Illustrated by Joe Cepeda, Holiday House, (New York, NY) 2015.
• Mamá the alien/Mamá la extraterrestre illustrated by Laura Lacámara, Children's Book Press (San Francisco, CA) 2016.
• Telegrams to Heaven The Childhood of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero/Telegramas al cielo La infancia de Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero illustrated by Pixote Hunt, Luna's Press Books (San Francisco, CA) 2018.

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