A person with long dark hair and a warm smile is seated with arms crossed, wearing a colorful patterned top and a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. The background is a soft blend of blue and gray tones.

Reyna Grande

Reyna Grande was born in Guerrero, Mexico and is the author of the bestselling memoirs, The Distance Between Us, and A Dream Called Home, as well as the novels, Across a Hundred Mountains, Dancing with Butterflies, and A Ballad of Love and Glory, a novel set during the Mexican-American War. The Distance Between Us is also available as a young reader’s edition from Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Division, Aladdin. She is the co-editor of an anthology by and about undocumented Americans called Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival and New Beginnings. Her books have been adopted as the common read selection by schools, colleges, and cities across the country. Reyna has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. She was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards. She was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature, a Latino Spirit Award, and a Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers. The young reader’s version of The Distance Between Us received an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award.