Durango, Julia 1967-

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Durango, Julia 1967-

Personal

Born March 15, 1967, in Las Vegas, NV; married Santiago Durango (an attorney); children: Kyle, Ryan. Education: University of Illinois, B.A., M.A.

Addresses

Home—Ottawa, IL. Agent—Barry Goldblatt, PMB 266, 320 7th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Children's book author. Reddick Library, Ottawa, IL, teen coordinator.

Member

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (Illinois chapter).

Awards, Honors

Nick Jr. magazine Best Book designation, and American Library Association Notable Book for Younger Readers designation, both with Linda Sue Park, both 2005, both for Yum! Yuck!

Writings

Peter Claver, Patron Saint of Slaves, illustrated by Rebecca García-Franco, Paulist Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Dream Hop, illustrated by Jared Lee, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2005.

(With Linda Sue Park) Yum! Yuck!: A Foldout Book of People Sounds, illustrated by Sue Rama, Charles-bridge Publishing (Watertown, MA), 2005.

Cha-Cha Chimps, illustrated by Eleanor Taylor, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2006.

(Adaptor) Angels Watching over Me, illustrated by Elisa Kleven, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Pest Fest, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Sidelights

Julia Durango has focused her career around books, both as a writer and as teen coordinator for her local library. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Durango spent time traveling around Latin America, working with impoverished families and homeless children. Drawing on her interest in Latin-American history, she made her publishing debut in 2002 with Peter Claver, Patron Saint of Slaves. The book takes readers back to the seventeenth century and introduces a young Jesuit who, while traveling from his native Spain to Colombia, encountered the horrors of slavery first hand. Father Claver made a vow to be the "slave of slaves forever" and kept true to this vow for the rest of his life by caring for and aiding enslaved peoples.

In addition to her biographical work, Durango has created several lighthearted children's books that expand understanding. Yum! Yuck!: A Foldout Book of People Sounds, coauthored with Linda Sue Park, features interactive illustrations and introduces children to the way humans of different cultures verbally express emotions. Praised as an introduction to the earth's kaleidoscopic array of languages—including Danish, Farsi, and Korean—the book was dubbed "entertaining" by a Kirkus Reviews critic. Watercolor illustrations by Sue Rama depict children from around the world engaging in scenarios relevant to each emotion being discussed, while English translations hidden under page flaps make the book an effective learning tool. "This original offering is a delightful addition to the canon of multicultural picture books and a fun read-aloud guessing game," commented Rachel G. Payne in a review for School Library Journal.

Durango continues her lighthearted approach in both Cha-Cha Chimps and Dream Hop. With its focus on a young boy trying to deal with a common childhood di-

lemma, Dream Hop "suggests a novel coping mechanism for dealing with bad dreams," according to School Library Journal critic Rosalyn Pierini. In Cha-Cha Chimps Durango integrates a counting lesson into her story about ten young chimpanzees who dance the night away at the forest home of Mamba Jamba, until "a clever surprise ending … keeps them toe-tappin’ happy," as Julie Cummins commented in Booklist. "Durango's dancing rhyme is infectious," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor, while Susan E. Murray wrote in School Library Journal that the chimps’ "cha-cha-cha chant" joins with Eleanor Taylor's "upbeat" illustrations to make Cha-Cha Chimps "a good storytime addition."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Dream Hop, p. 53; January 1, 2006, Julie Cummins, review of Cha-Cha Chimps, p. 110.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2005, review of Yum! Yuck!: A Foldout Book of People Sounds, p. 688; September 15, 2005, review of Dream Hop, p. 1025; December 15, 2005, review of Cha-Cha Chimps, p. 1321.

Publishers Weekly, February 6, 2006, review of Cha-Cha Chimps, p. 68.

School Library Journal, August, 2005, Rachel G. Payne, review of Yum! Yuck!, p. 104; October, 2005, Rosalyn Pierini, review of Dream Hop, p. 112; February, 2006, Susan E. Murray, review of Cha-Cha Chimps, p. 96.