Pam Muñoz Ryan. Excellent school-wide author study potential, as Muñoz Ryan has written picture books, early readers, and novels. Her novels span a range of genres, from historical to contemporary to fantasy. Her books have won multiple awards and honors. Muñoz Ryan was the 2024 Children’s Literature Legacy Award recipient.

“People frequently ask me, “What is your motivation to write?” The answer is simple. I want the reader to turn the page.

This year is the 25th anniversary of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s book Esperanza Rising. As part of the Latinx KidLit Book Festival, Dr. Tracey Flores interviewed Muñoz Ryan. 

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Novel.

“In 1930, Esperanza lives a privileged life on a ranch in Aguascalientes, Mexico. But when her father dies, the post-Revolutionary culture and politics force her to leave with her mother for California. Now they are indebted to the family who previously worked for them, for securing them work on a farm in the San Joaquin valley. Esperanza balks at her new situation, but eventually becomes as accustomed to it as she was in her previous home, and comes to realize that she is still relatively privileged to be on a year-round farm with a strong community. She sees migrant workers forced from their jobs by families arriving from the Dust Bowl, and camps of strikers—many of them US citizens—deported in the “voluntary repatriation” that sent at least 450,000 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans back to Mexico in the early 1930s. (Fiction. 9-15)” Source: Kirkus Reviews

Read aloud of Esperanza Rising

Mud is Cake by Pam Muñoz Ryan

In the opening illustration in this winsome tome, a mother reads to her two children as their stuffed animals look on and rain falls outside. Then, as a rainbow fills the sky, the siblings play in a mud puddle while their toy menagerie watches from the front stoop. On subsequent spreads, McPhail (Mole Music) transforms the toys into life-size animals that help the youngsters demonstrate how imagination can turn the ordinary into the fanciful—or the fantastical. As Ryan’s (Esperanza Rising) lilting, rhyming narrative chimes in, the artwork creates a subtle subplot: the children serve cake and tea to a bear king and an elephant queen, “Mud is cake/ if you pretend/ and don’t really take a bite./ And juice is tea/ with a fairy queen/ if you act it out just right.” …”You can be most anything/ in dreams, or wide-awake./ If you agree that juice is tea…/ if you believe/ that mud is cake.” The book’s gentle tone—and dream-inspiring potential—makes it a fine choice for lazy rainy days and bedtime. Ages 2-5. (Apr.) Source: Publishers’ Weekly

“Mud is Cake is certainly my ode to the value of dramatic play. And even though there are studies that indicate that dramatic play is a cognitive requisite to many other skills-educational skills down the road-we don’t always value it.”

Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Novel.

“First-person narrator Naomi León Outlaw and her bright, physically lopsided little brother Owen feel safe in the routines of life in Lemon Grove, California, with great-grandmother Gram. Naomi, a soft-voiced list-maker and word-collector, is also a gifted soap-carver—something inherited, it turns out, from the Mexican father from whom she and Owen were separated as small children. The unexpected arrival of Naomi’s long-absent mother throws everything off balance. The troubled young woman’s difficulties threaten to overturn the security Gram has worked to provide for Naomi and Owen. With friends’ help, Gram takes the children to Oaxaca City to find their father and gain his support in her custody appeal. Here they are immersed in a world of warmth and friendship, where Naomi’s longing to meet the father she dimly remembers intensifies. The annual December radish-carving festival gives Naomi’s creativity a chance to shine and makes the perfect setting for a reunion. (Fiction. 10-14)” Source: Kirkus Reviews

“When I first read about The Night of the Radishes, I knew I had to see it. In 1997, I went to Oaxaca City. I actually happened to be there on the 100th anniversary of the Night of the Radishes. The festival was so different from anything I’d ever experienced – so magical. As a writer, I became very intrigued and curious, and sometimes when you go someplace very different, your eye is much more acute than people who live there all the time.“

Listen to Echo, Pam Muñoz Ryan Newberry honor book, for free on Spotify.

Tony Baloney School Rules by Pam Muñoz Ryan

“Tony Baloney doesn’t have to worry about sibling problems today—it’s the first day of school. But will he be better able to behave there? Four chapters take children transitioning between early readers and longer books through Tony’s day, from getting ready and learning the teacher’s rules through the school day and back home again. As those familiar with Tony would suspect, the little penguin has some trouble with the rules (Tony Baloney, 2011). He calls out in class, pushes a friend too enthusiastically during a game of tag and excitedly runs to a seat at lunch. Finally, he interrupts his teacher’s group time for something not on the list of “B Emergencies” (bathroom, bandage, belly-upset). But the teacher and class quickly concur that “Bob is buried beneath the blocks!” is indeed a valid B Emergency, and they expand the list (quite humorously). While Tony doesn’t get to be Line Leader on the first day as his big sister did, he is crowned a Friendship Ambassador for helping the buried Bob…This is likely to soothe the fears of those similarly nervous about their ability to follow the school rules. (Early reader. 5-7)” Source: Kirkus Reviews

“Tony is like many children. He means well. But there are a lot of rules to follow and he gets frustrated. He often gets over excited about things and plunges forward without thinking. So when I say that trouble loves him, I mean that accidents happen in his life, he’s often legitimately frustrated, and his best laid plans often fall apart. I think many children can relate to that. Sometimes they learn, the first time. Sometimes they need many reminders. There’s resolution, though, in Tony Baloney’s life, and he does move forward, just not as seamlessly as others might.”
Check out the Reader Theater scripts for several of Muñoz Ryan‘s books on her website for a unique way for learners to experience her work.