Mexican American children's books and bilingual coloring

The best Mexican American children's books feel like a real neighborhood: a papi's motorcycle, a mercado full of vendors, a little brother who thinks he is a luchador. Below are picture books sorted by age, each verified in a library catalog, every one connected to the Pura Belpré Award, and several available in Spanish. After the list there is a simple way to make a bilingual Spanish English coloring book at home, which is often better than anything you can buy.

How we picked: the Pura Belpré list

The American Library Association has given the Pura Belpré Award since 1996 to Latino/Latina writers and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience. Every author or illustrator below appears on the full list of Belpré winners and honor books, for this book or another.

We also skipped books we already recommend elsewhere. For abuela and abuelo stories like Mango, Abuela, and Me and Los Meros Meros Remateros, see books about abuela and abuelo. For Funny Bones and Just a Minute, see Día de los Muertos coloring pages. For Too Many Tamales, see Las Posadas and tamales with kids.

For toddlers and preschoolers (ages 2 to 5)

Green Is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, illustrated by John Parra. A little girl discovers all the colors in her Hispanic American neighborhood. Parra's illustrations earned a Belpré honor. This is the book to read right before a coloring session.

Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales. Lucha libre champion Niño defeats every monster, until his little sisters wake up from their naps. It won the Belpré Medal for illustration. Big, loud and funny. Expect to be asked for a mask afterwards.

My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero, illustrated by Zeke Peña. Daisy Ramona rides around her neighborhood with her papi and sees a community that is rapidly changing around her. A 2020 Belpré honor book for illustration, also published in Spanish as Mi papi tiene una moto. Ages 3 to 7.

¡Vamos! Let's Go to the Market by Raúl the Third (Raúl Gonzalez). Little Lobo, a Mexican American boy, and his dog Bernabe deliver supplies to vendors at a busy border town market. A 2020 Belpré honor book for illustration. The pages are busy with vendors and things to find, so a toddler can spend a long time pointing.

For ages 5 to 8

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales. A picture-book autobiography of the author's own immigration story: in 1994 she left Xalapa, Mexico, for the United States with her young son. It won the 2019 Belpré Medal for illustration, and it is published in Spanish as Soñadores. A good book for any family with an immigration story of its own.

Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown, illustrated by John Parra. Frida's life from her childhood to her rise as one of the world's most influential painters, told through the animals she kept. A Belpré honor book for illustration. Afterwards, ask your child to paint a self-portrait with their own favorite animal.

Separate Is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh. Years before Brown v. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez, an eight-year-old girl of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, was at the center of Mendez v. Westminster, a 1946 California school desegregation case. A Belpré honor book for illustration, also in Spanish as Separados no somos iguales. Best for 6 and up.

Quick guide by age

Age	Start with	Why
2 to 3	Green Is a Chile Pepper	Colors, rhymes, Spanish words
3 to 5	Niño Wrestles the World, ¡Vamos! Let's Go to the Market, My Papi Has a Motorcycle	Funny, busy, full of neighborhood
5 to 8	Dreamers, Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, Separate Is Never Equal	Real people and real history

Every book above is in the Seattle Public Library catalog, so your own library can very likely get it, and three of them have Spanish editions. If your kids hear Spanish from grandparents and English at school, try reading the same book twice: once in each language, on two different nights. Swap in your family's own words as you go, whether that is mami, mamá, apá or a nickname nobody outside the family understands.

Make a bilingual Spanish English coloring book at home

Store-bought bilingual coloring books often use words your family never says. A homemade one fixes that in an evening.

1. Pick 10 to 12 words your family really uses. Not "manzana" because a workbook said so, but the words your kids hear: abuela, tortilla, perro, moto, mercado, chanclas, whatever is true in your house.
2. One word per page. Draw a big, simple outline of each: a tortilla is a circle, a moto is two wheels and a seat. Kids care far more about the word than the drawing.
3. Label every page in both languages. Spanish on top, English below, or the other way round.
4. Make a picture-card page. Borrow the shape of the cards in a lotería set: a grid of boxes, each with a picture and a name. Your kids will color them and then want to play.
5. Staple and give a copy to the grandparents. Ask Abuela to read the Spanish side on a video call.

Our guide to bilingual coloring books has more on choosing words and mixing languages, and the heritage coloring books guide covers making a whole family book.

Our own Mexican American storybooks

We are making Mexican American coloring storybooks too: a Sunday at Abuela's, a boy getting ready for his big grito with a mariachi, and a story about the paletero's bell. They are written and reviewed but not on sale yet. Today, Colorkin can make a coloring storybook from your own family photos, drafted with AI illustration tools and finished by a person who checks every page for likeness.

For more Latino family reading and holidays, browse our family and heritage guides, including Día de Reyes for kids.

Questions parents ask