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The 2007 Award

The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

 

 

Nominated by:

  • San José Public Library, San José, USA
  • San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, USA

 

Publisher of Nominated Edition
Little, Brown & Company
ISBN 0316745464

 

 

the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors
ABOUT THE BOOK
From one of America's most beloved authors, a tale of miracles and passion.
Teresita is not an ordinary girl. Born of an illiterate, poor Indian mother, she knows little about her past or her future. She has no idea that her father is Don Tomas Urrea, the wild and rich owner of a vast ranch in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. She has no idea that Huila, the elderly healer who takes Teresita under her wing, knows secrets about her destiny. And she has no idea that soon all of Mexico will rise in revolution, crying out her name.
When Teresita is but a teenager, learning from Huila the way plants can cure the sick and prayer can move the earth, she discovers an even greater gift: she has the power to heal. Her touch, like warm honey, melts pain and suffering. But such a gift can be a burden, too. Before long, the Urrea ranch is crowded with pilgrims and with agents of a Mexican government wary of anything that might threaten its power.
A spectacular novel as grand as a western sunset, The Hummingbird's Daughter is the story of a girl coming to terms with her destiny, with the miraculous, and with the power of faith. It is the tale of a father discovering what true love is and a daughter recognizing that sometimes true love requires true sacrifice. Full of cowboys and outlaws, Indian warriors and cantina beauties, silly men who drink too much and desert women who in their dreams travel to the seashore, The Hummingbird's Daughter is Luis Urrea's majestic masterpiece, the story of one girl's life and the swollen heart of all Mexico.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Luis Alberto Urrea was born in Tijuana, Jewel of the Border, The Great Walled City of the Barbarian Chicimeca Empire. My father Alberto was from Rosario, Sinaloa.
Luis Alberto Urrea is the author of Across the Wire, winner of the Christopher Award, and By the Lake of Sleeping Children. He is the recipient of an American Book Award, a Western States Book Award, and a Colorado Book Award, and he has been inducted into the Latino Literary Hall of Fame. His poetry has been included in The Best American Poetry, and his most recent book, Six Kinds of Sky, won the 2003 ForeWord Magazine award for best book of the year. He and his family live outside Chicago.


 

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