The Storyteller
Author and illustrator Yuyi Morales’s work is inspired by her two countries: Mexico and the United States.
Text and illustrations copyright © 2025 by Yuyi Morales. Used with permission from Holiday House Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.© Photo by Gustavo Barrios, courtesy of Holiday House Publishing, Inc.; Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Little Rebels (left) is the latest book from author and illustrator Yuyi Morales (right).
Yuyi Morales was lonely when she first arrived in the United States from Mexico. But the public library didn’t just welcome her. It also inspired a whole new career as a storyteller. Today, Morales spins words and colorful pictures into stories from her two countries: Mexico and the United States.
Born in Xalapa, Mexico, Morales grew up loving both art and swimming. In college, she trained to be a physical education teacher and later became a swimming coach. Then, in 1994, Morales moved to the United States with her American husband to be closer to his family. It was difficult to be in a new country where she didn’t know many people or speak the language. Hoping to entertain her young son and improve her English, Morales began visiting the children’s section of her local public library. The lively stories and colorful illustrations she found in children’s books reminded her of the stories her grandmother and aunts had told her. They made her want to become a storyteller herself.
Morales is now the author and illustrator of several books in English and Spanish, including Bright Star, Dreamers, and Niño Wrestles the World. She has also illustrated books written by other authors. Morales’s artwork graces the pages of My Abuelita and Ladder to the Moon, among many other books. Morales has won many awards for her colorful illustrations. These include the Caldecott Honor (given to the year’s best American picture books) and the Pula Belpré Award (for outstanding work by a writer and illustrator who is Latino or Latina, meaning they or their family came from Mexico, Central America, or South America).
Text and illustrations copyright © 2025 by Yuyi Morales. Used with permission from Holiday House Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
Two pages from the Yuyi Morales book Little Rebels, which was published in September 2025.
In Morales’s latest book, Little Rebels, three children help one another when they face difficult problems. Together, they show that love, caring, and community can be powerful forces.
Today, Morales lives and works in her beloved home country of Mexico. She says she never imagined becoming a writer and artist when she was a kid. It was a dream she discovered later, after she realized how powerful stories can be. When you tell someone’s story, you give them a voice, Morales says.
“I feel that, in putting myself [and my stories] out there, I can open the doors for the stories of those who need more attention,” she said in a conversation for Publishers Weekly.
