FOCAL AWARD PRESENTATION 2023: Celebrating EFREN DIVIDED by Ernesto Cisneros

Author Ernesto Cisneros being interviewed by Dewi Ochoa at LAPL

On Saturday, November 18th, friends, family, and members of FOCAL (Friends of Children and Libraries) gathered at the Mark Taper Auditorium of the LAPL Central Library for the annual FOCAL Award presentation, this year to Ernesto Cisneros for his heart-stopping and multi-award winning book about an immigrant family, Efren Divided. 

In the tradition of the award, he was presented with a puppet of the main character of the book. A second identical puppet will go on display in the children's room of the library, joining puppets from previous years. The puppets were created by Jesse Kingsley and Moira MacDonald.  

Jesse Kingsley and Puppet of Efren

The program was introduced by Marilyn Robertson, FOCAL President, followed by a warm welcome from Valerie Lynne Shaw, President of the Board of Library Commissioners. The introduction to the book was by Basya Samuels, Chair of the Award Committee. After a short speech by Ernesto Cisneros about how he came to write the book, essay contest winners--Ted Won, 4th Grade Melrose Elementary, Cruz Cortez, 6th Grade, Sutter MS, and Haily Kim, 7th Grade, Burroughs MS--read their excellent essays to the audience. They wrote about how they responded to the book, a favorite part or character, and why they would like to meet the author. The program ended with a Q & A session with Ernesto Cisneros led by Dewi Ochoa, Chair of Social Media for FOCAL. Then we all enjoyed churros, chocolate chip cookies and other treats.

I have been a member of FOCAL for many years. After three years of the FOCAL Award presentations online because of the pandemic, it was good to be back again in person.

In order to be awarded the FOCAL book award, the book must be of the highest literary and artistic quality, and must have California content. I know how hard it is to choose a winner–I served on the committee for four years. This year’s choice is excellent and a fitting book to celebrate.