Pam Muñoz Ryan is an American writer for children and young adults, particularly in the Multicultural genre.

Biography

Muñoz Ryan was born in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. She is half Mexican with Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman cultural influences. Muñoz Ryan has written over forty books for young people, including picture books, early readers, and middle grade and young adult novels. She has been the author recipient of the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for multicultural literature, and the Ludington Award for body of work. She is also the 2018 U.S. nominee for the International Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her novel ''

Esperanza Rising ''Esperanza Rising'' is a young adult historical fiction novel written by Mexican-American author Pam Muñoz Ryan and released by Scholastic Publishing on 27 March 2000. The novel focuses on Esperanza, the only daughter of wealthy Mexican paren ...

'' was commissioned as a play by the

Minneapolis Children's Theatre Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

and has been performed in venues around the US including the

Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the lan ...

in Chicago, and the

Cutler Majestic Theatre The Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College, in Boston, Massachusetts, is a 1903 Beaux Arts style theater, designed by the architect John Galen Howard. Originally built for theatre, it was one of three theaters commissioned in Boston by Eben ...

in Boston. Born Pamela Jeanne Banducci in

, on December 25, 1951, her last name was changed before she attended school to match the name of her parents, Hope Bell and the man she considered her real father, Donald Bell. As Pamela Bell, she attended McKinley Elementary and Longfellow Elementary. As a child, she did not fit in with the other children. Rather than being outside with friends, Muñoz Ryan was riding her bike to the library. She also briefly took music lessons in both piano and violin, but after her violin broke, she stopped taking lessons. Muñoz Ryan attended Washington Jr. High, Bakersfield High School, and Bakersfield Community College. She then attended

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

where she received a bachelor's degree. She married James Ryan in 1975. An early childhood teacher, he worked for the

Escondido, California Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census. Et ...

, school district for three years before they started their family. After her four children were born, she became the director of an early childhood program and went back to school to get her master's degree in Post-Secondary Education with the intention of teaching Children's Literature in college. When she finished her graduate program, she became interested in writing, and at the encouragement of her agent, Kendra Marcus, included her family name, Muñoz, to her signature, to reflect her Mexican heritage.

Selected bibliography

*''Riding Freedom'' (1998) *''Esperanza Rising'' (2000) *''Becoming Naomi León'' (2004) *''Paint the Wind'' (2007) *''The Dreamer'', illustrated by Peter Sís (2010) *''

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...

'' (2015) *''Mañanaland'' (2020)

Awards

''Echo'' *2016 Newbery Honor Books *2016

Américas Award The Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature is literary award presented annually that recognizes high quality "children’s and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States, and ...

*2016

Audie Award The Audie Awards (, rhymes with "gaudy"; abbreviated from ''audiobook''), or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They ...

*2015

Kirkus Prize The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine ''Kirkus Reviews''. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, ...

*2015 New York Historical Society Book Prize *2015 NAPPA Gold Award ''The Dreamer'', illustrated by

Peter Sís Peter Sís (born Petr Sís; May 11, 1949) is a Czech-born American illustrator and writer of children's books. As a cartoonist his editorial illustrations have appeared in ''Time'', ''Newsweek'', ''Esquire'', and ''The Atlantic Monthly''. For his ...

* 2011 Pen USA Award * 2011 Pura Belpré Medal * 2011 Américas Award * 2011

Nautilus Book Award The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in t ...

* 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor * 2010 NAPPA Gold Award * Carla Cohen Free Speech Award * Deutscher Jugendliteraturapreis-Germany-''Der Traumer'' ''Becoming Naomi León'' * 2006 Pura Belpré Honor Medal * 2005 ALA

Schneider Family Book Award The Schneider Family Book Award is an award given by the American Library Association (ALA) recognizing authors and illustrators for the excellence of portrayal of the disability experience in literature for youth. There is a category for children ...

* 2005 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Book Award * Américas Award Commended ''When Marian Sang,'' illustrated by

Brian Selznick Brian Selznick (born July 14, 1966) is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of ''The Invention of Hugo Cabret'' (2007), '' Wonderstruck'' (2011), ''The Marvels'' (2015) and ''Kaleidoscope'' (2021). He won the 2008 Caldecot ...

* 2004 Norman Sugarman Award for Distinguished Biography * 2003

Orbis Pictus Award The Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children recognizes books which demonstrate excellence in the "writing of nonfiction for children." It is awarded annually by the National Council of Teachers of English to one American book p ...

for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children * 2003 Flora Stieglitz Straus Award-Bank Street College ''Riding Freedom,'' illustrated by

* 2000 Arizona Grand Canyon Reader Award * 2000 Arkansas Simon Young Reader Honor * 1998 Parenting Magazine’s Reading Magic Award ''Esperanza Rising'' * 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist * 2001 Southern California Judy Lopez Award * 2001 Arizona Young Adult Book Award

References

External links

* * (Ryan, Pam Muñoz) {{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz Ryan, Pam 1951 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American women novelists American writers of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American novelists Kirkus Prize winners