news & events

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events

April 20, 2024. Denver. Colorado Teen Literature Conference. I’ll be on the local authors panel and leading a creative writing workshop. Registration required through their website.

May 11, 2024, Saturday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. The Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore. I’ll be doing an event for STAND AS TALL AS THE TREES, complete with rain forest animal charades and a craft activity! This will take place on the porch and beautiful gardens of the bookshop. Open to all! Free registration through website. (5928 Falls Road, Baltimore, MD, 21209)

Friday, June 7, 2024, Old Firehouse Books, Fort Collins. Book release party for VIRCH!

Stay tuned for more book release events for VIRCH in Colorado in Summer, 2024!

news

Honored that Stand as Tall as the Trees is a 2024 Blueberry Award Honor Book! This award celebrates books that focus on nature and activism and protecting our planet.

So thrilled that Stand as Tall as the Trees was selected as a 2024 NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book!

I was honored to be featured in this interview with Voyage Denver. Read about obstacles in my writing journey and how I’ve dealt with them. Also, read about my upcoming book, VIRCH!

A big honor for Con la cabeza en alto! It’s a * A CBC Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year in Spanish, 2024, STARRED *Uno de los Mejores Libros Infantiles en Español del Año 2024, CBC Bank Street College of Education

You can see the brand new book club guide to VIRCH here!

You can read an interview with Laura about VIRCH here!

Stand as Tall as the Trees is a Cybil’s Award Nominee!

Con la cabeza en alto is a Best Book for Kids in Spanish from New York Public Library! (Full list here).

The Queen of Water is featured on Remarkable Girls and Women: Native Voices! Full list here.

The Hip Latina has featured The Queen of Water (a YA true-story collaboration with my Ecuadorian Quichua friend Maria Virginia Farinango) as a recommended book (co)-authored by an Indigenous Latin American to read for Native American Heritage Month! Full list here.

Publishers Weekly calls Stand as Tall as the Trees “heartfelt and personal” in this lovely review.

So thrilled that Stand as Tall as the Trees is featured on a list of Rain Forest Books for Kids, with reviews by Pragmatic Mom. Read the article here.

We’re grateful that Stand as Tall as the Trees is featured in Imagination Soup’s fantastic list of new non-fiction children’s books! Full article here.

Stand as Tall as the Trees is featured on a list of biographies of inspiring Latino/a/x luminaries. Full article here.

Stand as Tall as the Trees is recommended in a list of awesome books for fourth-graders. Full article here.

I’m honored that Star in the Forest is included in Imagination Soup’s excellent list of recommended children’s books about immigration! Read the article here.

Read my article about my favorite children’s picture books set in South America here.

Here’s an in-depth activity guide for Stand as Tall as the Trees!

Stand as Tall as the Trees received a starred review from Kirkus!!! Read it here!

I was honored to be part of a conversation about the rain forest and Stand as Tall as the Trees on the show It’s a Woman’s World. Watch the video here.

Stand as Tall as the Trees was included in a fantastic list of children’s books for Earth Day 2023! See the full list here.

I recently joined the faculty in the MFA in Nature Writing program at Western Colorado University! I’m so excited to be serving as a thesis advisor for students focused on writing young adult and middle grade novels.

Publishers Weekly included Stand as Tall as the Trees, with co-authored with Patricia Gualinga, in a feature about upcoming books by Indigenous authors. Full list here.

I’m honored to be featured in Canvas Rebel Magazine! You can read my interview here. I talk about the challenges on my writing journey, lessons unlearned, and what’s most rewarding about my career.

I’m over the moon to announce that the brilliant Kim Lionetti of Bookends Literary will be representing my books for adults!!! Stay tuned and read this interview if you’re curious to know more. :-)

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