Sarai Around the World

The students are sick and tired of Spaghetti-and-Meatball Mondays in the cafeteria. The administration says they can help create a new menu, so students throughout the school make booths with their family’s specialties for Around-the-World Day. It’s a head-to-head battle between Sarai’s Peruvian chicken and Valeria’s tamales. Who will win the big cook-off and get their grandparents’ recipes on the cafeteria menu?

Eleven-year-old Sarai Gonzalez became an overnight sensation after appearing in Bomba Estero’s, “Soy Yo,” a music video about embracing yourself and loving your flaws. The video garnered over 30 million views and The New York Times called Sarai a Latina icon. Sarai and the Meaning of Awesome is the first book in her new chapter book series inspired by her life. Sarai lives in New Jersey with her family.



Monica Brown is the award-winning author of super-awesome books for children, including The Lola Levine chapter book series, Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/no combina, Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, and Waiting for the Biblioburro. She is Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, specializing in Latinx and African American Literature. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with her husband and her dogs, Lola and Finn. Visit her at www.monicabrown.net.