Blue Skies for Lupe - Tapa dura

Blue Skies for Lupe is an inspiring children’s book based on the real-life story of Lupe, a girl who left her native Mexico for California when she was only a baby, tucked in her mother’s shawl. Author and illustrator Linda Kurtz Kingsley’s beautiful watercolors illustrate her story and capture the colorful landscapes and people in Lupe’s life. “When I was born,” Lupe says, “I wasn’t perfect. My spine stuck out, my head was too big, and my body was too small.” Doctors told her mother Mami that she would never walk because she has spina bifida. In search of better care for baby Lupe and filled with hope, Mami takes her across the Mexican dessert into California, where they begin a new life. Mami finds work as farm laborer, and while in the fields, she always sings Cielito Lindo to Lupe. In Spanish it means beautiful little sky, just like the blue skies of California and Mexico. As the years pass, Lupe is ready for school, where she’s given her first wheelchair and assigned an aide, who helps her understand her lessons in English. Lupe has moments of self-doubt, but it’s her mother’s constant, quiet refrain, “Just you wait. You’ll do fine,” that motivates her.Encouraged by her mother, friends, and teachers, supported by accommodations in school, and respected for her Mexican heritage, Lupe blossoms. Blue Skies for Lupe is full of optimism and life lessons about compassion, hard work, and the value of a supportive and welcoming community for those who face tough obstacles. The book concludes with an update on Lupe’s accomplishments and future plans, and a short glossary of Spanish-language vocabulary featured in the story.

Linda Kurtz Kingsley, retired art educator, ASL interpreter, and Hearing Impaired/Resource Specialist, writes and illustrates books about children with special needs: Teaching Art to the Deaf (Gordon Press), Signs of Jays, and Bringing Up Sophie (Jason & Nordic).