About the Book

The Dreamer

Neftali finds beauty and wonder everywhere: in the oily colors of mud puddles; a lost glove, sailing on the wind; the music of birds and language. He loves to collect treasures, daydream, and write--pastimes his authoritarian father thinks are for fools. Against all odds, Neftali prevails against his father's cruelty and his own crippling shyness to become one of the most widely read poets in the world, Pablo Neruda. This moving story about the birth of an artist is also a celebration of childhood, imagination, & the strength of the creative spirit. Sure to inspire young writers & artists.

(Published by Scholastic, Inc.)

About the Author

Pam Muñoz Ryan, has written over twenty-five books for young people including the novel, Esperanza Rising, winner of the Pura Belpre Medal, the Jane Addams Peace Award, an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults, and the Americas Award Honor Book. Her novel, Riding Freedom has garnered many awards including the national Willa Cather Award, and the California Young Reader Medal. Her picture books for the very young and picture books for older readers, include the award-winning Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride and When Marian Sang, the recipient of the ALA Sibert Honor and NCTE's Orbis Pictus Award. She received her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees at San Diego State University. She now lives in north San Diego County with her husband and four children.

Pam Muñoz Ryan was born and raised in California's San Joaquin Valley.  She is the oldest of three sisters and the oldest of twenty-three cousins on her mother's side.  She grew up with many of her aunts and uncles and grandparents nearby and considers herself truly American because her cultural background is an ethnic smorgasbord.  She is Spanish, Mexican, Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman.

During many long, hot valley summers, she spent most of her time riding her bike to the library.  It became her favorite hang out because her family didn't have a swimming pool and the library was air-conditioned!  That's how she got hooked on reading and books.  After college, she knew that she wanted to work in a profession that had something to do with books, and she thought that would be teaching.  She became a teacher, an administrator and then, at the encouragement of a friend who thought she could write, began her first book.  That's when she finally knew what she really wanted to do.

About the Guest Interviewer

Liana Lopez is the producer and co-host of Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers  Having Their Say on 90.1 FM and www.KPFT.org (Pacifica-Houston Radio.) The weekly broadcast highlights authors, playwrights, composers, activists and artists, keeping the Latino literary renaissance alive and thriving in the fourth largest media market in the country. Nuestra Palabra is also the non-profit responsible for bringing the Edward James Olmos Latino Book and Family Festival to Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center and making it the largest Latino Book festival in Texas. She is a freelance writer and photographer for the Houston Press (Village Voice Media) and 29-95.com (Houston Chronicle). She is also a contributer to local and national news affiliates as well as to Aztec Muse, Nuestra Palabra's new quarterly magazine (www.AztecMuse.com). She is also the recipient of a Houston Arts Alliance Emerging Artist grant from the city for a multimedia/photography project based on her travels through post-revolutionary Nicaragua. This year, she curated and exhibited her work, and the work of nine others, in Houston Vanguard: Documenting Contemporary Social Justice Movements as part of biannual Fotofest 2010. As the Houston Las Comadres book club coordinator, she is excited to take part as the interviewer for June's selected author.