Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa was a major Mexican American/Chicana literary voice, scholar, and activist. Her first book for Children's Book Press, Friends from the Other Side/Amigos del otro lado, about a brave young girl's friendship with an immigrant boy and his mother, was praised by School Library Journal as an important book touching on a timely and sensitive issue. She passed away in 2004.

Consuelo Méndez is a painter and artist from Caracas, Venezuela, whose work is widely exhibited in Latin America. She spent a large part of her growing up years in South Texas before coming to San Francisco to study art. She returned to South Texas in order to do research for this book, which she illustrated in watercolors, graphite and colored pencils, and collage. She has illustrated several books for children.