In case you missed the ALA Youth Media Awards, here’s my big news: Out of Darkness received a Printz Honor!

I was already over the moon after having a New York Times Sunday book review of Out of Darkness and seeing it on the (short!) Best Books of 2015 list from School Library Journal and the Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction of 2015 list.  And Out of Darkness has spots in two important Texas Library Association lists as a TAYSHAS Top 10 pick and as part of the Spirit of Texas reading program.

But this… this… it’s just another level of wonderful. What I’m most excited about is the prospect that the Printz Honor may help Out of Darkness enter conversations beyond the Latin@ kid lit community and its allies. I want this, and other stories from the margins of history and of mainstream US culture, to weigh on the hearts of readers of all backgrounds.

I’m also thrilled for the wins and honors of Latin@ writers and illustrators, especially the wonderful Matt de la Peña, Margarita Engle, and Meg Medina. Latin@s in Kid Lit has a post that hollers felicidades in all the right directions. So proud.