Book Fest

The book chosen to represent New Mexico at the 2009 National Book Festival is Juan the Bear and the Water of Life. The author is Juan Estevan Arellano, co-author Enrique Lamadrid, and illustrators Amy Cordova and Genaro Padilla.

The National Book Festival, held in Washington DC, is an annual Fall event sponsored by the Library of Congress and the National Center for the Book. The New Mexico State Library has been participating with a booth in the Pavilion of the States since the inception of the event in 2002. Each year, the organizers ask each state to choose a children’s or young adult book to represent at the booths. Juan the Bear seemed the ideal choice since it is a beautifully illustrated children’s book with bilingual text, the story represents important cultural values and history, and is published by the University of New Mexico Press. A special note: the author is the husband of Elena Arrellano, director of the P'oe Tsawa Community Library in Ohkay Owingeh, NM.