Name Pam Ryan Role Writer | Nationality Mexican, American | |
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Awards Jane Addams Chldren\'s Book Awards for Book for Older Children, Pura Belpre Award for Writing Nominations Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children\'s Book Award Books Esperanza Rising, Becoming Naomi Leon, Riding freedom, The Dreamer, Paint the wind Similar People Brian Selznick, Peter Sis, Christopher Paul Curtis, Sharon Creech, Kate DiCamillo |
Meet the author pam mu oz ryan
Pam Muñoz Ryan is an American writer for children and young adults. Born in California, she is half Mexican with Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman cultural influences.
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She has written over forty books for young people, including picture books, early readers, and middle grade and young adult novels. She has been the author recipient of the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the Ludington Award for body of work. Her novel Esperanza Rising was commissioned as a play by the Minneapolis Children's Theatre and has been performed in venues around the US including the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.

Pam mu oz ryan
Life

Born Pamela Jeanne Banducci in Bakersfield, California, on December 25, 1951, her last name was changed before she attended school to match the name of her parents, Hope Bell and the man she considered her real father, Donald Bell. As Pamela Bell, she attended McKinley Elementary, Longfellow Elementary, Washington Jr. High, Bakersfield High School, and Bakersfield Community College. She then attended San Diego State University where she received a bachelor's degree. She married James Ryan in 1975. An early childhood teacher, she worked for the Escondido, California, school district for three years before starting her family. After her four children were born, she became the director of an early childhood program and went back to school to get her master's degree in Post-Secondary Education with the intention of teaching Children's Literature in college. When she finished her graduate program, she became interested in writing, and at the encouragement of her agent, Kendra Marcus, included her family name, Muñoz, to her signature, to reflect her Mexican heritage. She loved writing, and to this day forward she is still doing it, and being good at it.
Awards
Echo

The Dreamer, illustrated by Peter Sís

Becoming Naomi León
When Marian Sang, illustrated by Brian Selznick

Riding Freedom, illustrated by Brian Selznick
