When Beauty, a proud Boricua of Taíno and African descent, sees how people who look like her are treated badly, she forgets what makes her special until everyone bands together to remind her of her beautiful heritage. 25,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)

Beauty, who is of Taino Indian, African, and Boricua heritage, was taught to be strong and proud, but hatred toward people who look like her bruises her heart until her community opens her eyes to the truth. - (Baker & Taylor)

Beauty Woke is a powerful story of pride and community, told with bold lyricism and the heart of a fairy tale, and readers looking for a next-generation Sleeping Beauty will fall in love with the vivid art and lyrical text.

Beauty is a Puerto Rican girl loved and admired by her family and community. At first, she's awake to their beauty, and her own—a proud Boricua of Taíno and African descent.

But as she grows older, she sees how people who look like her are treated badly, and she forgets what makes her special. So her community bands together to help remind her of her beautiful heritage!

NoNieqa Ramos is an educator who wrote The Disturbed Girl's Dictionary, a 2018 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens, a 2019 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection, and a 2019 In the Margins Award Top Ten pick. Her debut picture book, Your Mama, earned a starred review from School Library Journal. She is a proud member of Las Musas, the Soaring 20s, and PB Debut Troupe 21. She lives in Virginia with her family.  www.nonieqaramos.com, Twitter: @nonieqaramos  Instagram: @nonieqa.ramos

Paola Escobar is a Colombian graphic designer and illustrator. Her portfolio is incredibly versatile and she has worked for a variety of publishers worldwide as well as across a broad range of printed and digital magazines. She currently works as a freelance illustrator and lives very happily in Bogota with her husband and dog, Flora. 
Instagram: @paoesco8ar Twitter: @paolaesco8ar - (Houghton)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* This ode to Puerto Rican culture and Black pride opens as Beauty's parents prepare for her birth. More than anything, they want their daughter to be safe and loved, so once she is born, they surround her with family and their rich culture. They teach her to become bilingual in English and Spanish and they participate in the Puerto Rican Day parade while Beauty is still too little to march. As Beauty grows older, the self-confidence she was raised to feel takes a hit as she becomes aware of the hate and racism in the world around her. Quickly, her family and neighbors rally, surrounding the girl with positivity, love, and stories of her Taíno and African heritage. They remind her that "Spanish is magic . . . / Black is beauty-ful. / Black is a power." Through these experiences, Beauty's pride and confidence in being a Boricua are restored with even greater understanding; the girl is woke. Escobar, who illustrated Anika Aldamuy Denise's acclaimed Planting Stories (2019), uses influences from graffiti and mural art in this book's illustrations, a perfect nod to the story's urban landscape. Her use of color taps into the story's emotions, and the Puerto Rican flag is woven through much of the artwork. An authentic and affirming celebration of culture, community, and self-acceptance. Grades K-3. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Baby Beauty's arrival into the world begins in the womb, First there is one heart, / then two. With a metered, lyrical cadence, Ramos's text centers on the collective, enumerating how the kinship family -- from la doctora, to the espiritista, to the community at the Puerto Rican Day Parade -- envelops Beauty and her immediate family in love. As she grows up, this kinship family transmits to Beauty an understanding of her Taino, African, and Boricua ancestral ties, a deep cultural knowledge that ignites resistance, / imagination, / hope in Beauty. This knowledge ultimately supports her when she encounters racist language aimed at people that looked like family. Confused and hurt, Beauty runs through her neighborhood to process the emotions of her heart brusin' / black and blue. Escobar's digital illustrations include neighborhood murals that incorporate Taino symbols with faces of children and elders as well as Black and Brown raised fists of resistance. The concluding subsequent spreads in luminous colorful palettes show Beauty's return home, where a healing ceremony empowers her to see the beauty of her heritage. Copyright 2023 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

What is beauty? Who is Beauty? A puzzled young Boricua wants to know. Is it true what the media says? Are her people "DANGEROUS / DIRTY / LAZY"? What about the blood of her African ancestors that runs through her veins and that Abuela describes as "onyx"? Doesn't the pride of her Taíno heritage mean anything? Beauty sees her people marching proudly in parades. She hears Abuela teaching her the truth of her identity, but the reality of the outside world weighs her down, and she runs. Embarrassed, she doubts her worth and wonders why she can't be like everyone else, even rejecting her gold hoops and her durags adorned with the Puerto Rican flag: "¡QUÉ EMBARAZOSO!" Her family knows that Beauty is lost and that her "eyes were open, / but she was sleepwalkin'." Her Mami rallies the family for an emergency schooling session. Under the powerful hands of la bisabuela, vecinos, and familia, "Beauty was WOKE." Ramos' poetic ode to identity and validation winds itself through evocative imagery in both English and Spanish, connecting the strength of community with self-acceptance. From one-word stanzas echoing with a mother's heartbeat to flowing anthems of pride, each page exudes energy and passion. Escobar's powerful panorama of diversity is a blazing exclamation point to Beauty's triumphant journey. This bold manifesto of cultural awareness reaches out to awaken the sleepwalkers among us. (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus 2021 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.