René, the Boy with Two Last Names, Picks Up Skipping Stones Honor!

René Has Two Last Names / René tiene dos apellidos (Piñata Books, 2009) by René Colato Laínez is the recipient of a 2010 Skipping Stones Honor Award for Multicultural & International Awareness Books.  The Skipping Stones Awards encourage understanding of the world's diverse cultures, nature, and ecological richness. They promote cooperation, nonviolence, respect for differing viewpoints, and close relationships in human societies.

René Has Two Last Names / René tiene dos apellidos is an engaging bilingual picture book for children about a boy’s clever efforts to help his classmates understand the Hispanic tradition of having two last names.  School Library Journal says that “Colato Laínez introduces readers to a significant Hispanic cultural tradition and the sentiments of many immigrants.”

RENÉ COLATO LAÍNEZ came to the United States from El Salvador as a teen, and he writes about his experiences in bilingual children’s books such as Waiting for Papá / Esperando a Papá (Piñata Books, 2004); I Am René, the Boy / Soy René, el niño (Piñata Books, 2005); and René Has Two Last Names / René tiene dos apellidos (Piñata Books, 2009). He is also the author of Playing Lotería / El juego de la lotería (Luna Rising, 2005), My Shoes and I (Boyds Mills Press, 2010), The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez (Tricycle Press, 2010), and the forthcoming From North to South / Del norte al sur (Children’s Book Press, September 2010). René is a graduate of the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults and a bilingual elementary teacher at Fernangeles Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District.