My Very Own Room / Mi Propio Cuartito

Bilingual English/Spanish. Five brothers, two parents, and a house full of visiting relatives make a young Mexican American girl feel crowded.

Five little brothers, two parents, and a house full of visiting relatives make a young Mexican American girl feel crowded. She loves her family, but how can she get a little space of her own? This delightful memoir of a California childhood, by Amada Irma Pérez, sparkles with exuberance and wit.

Renowned painter Maya Christina Gonzalez brings the captivating scenes to life with bold colors and whimsical details. My Very Own Room gently teaches a valuable lesson about the strength of family and the importance of dreams.

Amada Irma Pérez is a third-grade teacher in Oxnard, California, and a leading advocate of programs encouraging multicultural understanding. Like many of her students, Amada Irma was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a young child. My Very Own Room is based on her own family story. She lives with her family in Ventura, California.

Maya Gonzalez is an award-winning children's book artist, author, activist and progressive educator. Their work addresses systemic inequity in relation to race/ethnicity, sexism, and cissexism using children's books as radical agents of change and healing, both personally and culturally. Gonzalez co-founded Reflection Press, a POC, queer and trans owned independent publishing house that uses holistic, nature-based, and anti-oppression frameworks in their books and materials for kids and grown-ups. They are also the creator of the Gender Wheel, a tool to express the dynamic, infinite and inclusive reality of gender, and provides lectures and workshops to educators, parents and caregivers. Visit them online at mayagonzalez.com.