Quiara Alegría Hudes

"Quiara Alegría Hudes era la niña de ojos penetrantes que permanecía resguardada en las escaleras de la casa de su abuela en el norte de Filadelfia mientras observaba a su familia bailar en su estrecha cocina. Le maravillaban sus tías, tíos y primos, pero vivía aterrada por los secretos de la familia y las historias ocultas del barrio--todo esto mientras intentaba encontrar su propia voz entre el mar de lenguajes que la rodeaban, tanto...

The scent of a cafecito caliente hangs in the air just outside the 181st Street subway stop. The likeable, magnetic bodega owner Usnavi saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes for, imagines, and sings about a better life.

Vivo, a one-of-a-kind kinkajou, spends his days playing music with his beloved owner Andrés. But when tragedy strikes, it's up to Vivo to deliver a message that Andreš never could: a love letter to his old partner, the famous Marta Sandoval, in the form of a song. Yet in order to get to Marta, who lives a world apart, Vivo will need the help of Gabi, an energetic tween who bounces to the beat of her own offbeat drum, to fulfill his owner's wishes....

At the dawn of the Arab Spring in an ancient Jordinian town, an Iraq War veteran struggles to overcome the traumas of combat by taking on an entirely new and unexpected career: an action-film hero. At the same time, halfway around the world in a cozy North Philadelphia kitchen, his cousin takes on a heroic new role of her own: as the heart and soul of her crumbling community, providing hot meals and an open door for the needy.

Through years of drinking together at Daphne's dive bar in North Philly, a kind of family has grown out of the eclectic regulars. Daphne tends bar and joins the meandering chats about art and politics, while her adopted daughter finds herself growing up and growing apart from her pragmatic mother.