One in an occasional set of interviews with the reviewers who provide critical insights about new books from our client publishers.
Frances Díaz Evans is a Latina bilingual educator, author, and founder of Discovering Español, an online platform and blog supporting parents, caregivers, and educators worldwide in raising bilingual children. A native Spanish speaker with an M.Ed. in Spanish Education, she brings over 14 years of experience in bilingual education and multicultural content creation, along with lived experience raising her own child bilingually.
Frances is a passionate advocate for bilingualism, multiculturalism, and representation in children’s literature. For years, she has supported multicultural, Spanish, and bilingual children’s books through her website, Discovering Español, sharing hundreds of reviews to help families and educators find quality stories supporting and uplifting diverse voices in Spanish children’s literature.
She also teaches private virtual one-on-one Spanish classes, working with students ranging from beginners to heritage speakers; serves as Project Manager for Read Your World; and is a self-published bilingual children’s book author.
How did you get started reviewing titles?
14 years ago, when my son was 4 years old I started blogging about “discovering the world through his eyes,” and that also included discovering books. We’d visit the library often and check out picture books that he wanted to read, and of course, Spanish or bilingual books, too. He loved Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and the bilingual edition of the “Maisy” series by Lucy Cousins. I’d create an activity to complement the book, write a short review and post it to my blog.
During that time, Leanna Guillén Mora from All Done Monkey and Multicultural Kid blogs reached out to me. She introduced me to the Multicultural Kid blogs where I met Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Multicultural Children’s Book Day which is now Read Your World.
I started reviewing books more intentionally when I joined Read Your World’s book matching program to review multicultural and diverse books, and I’ve been doing it consistently year after year since. After years advocating for and reviewing books I was invited to become a co-host for their annual event, and today I am the organization’s project manager. I continue to advocate for diverse books, still review, and the best part is that I work with both Leanna and Mia! Talk about a full circle moment, right?
What is your favorite genre to review?
Picture books, especially if they are Spanish or bilingual titles.
Who is your ideal audience for your reviews/writing?
Multicultural and bilingual parents, caregivers, and educators across the globe.
Tell us a bit about the process from reading a book, to deciding to review/write about it.
My blog is no longer about “discovering the world through my son’s eyes” but about “discovering español.” It is a bilingual blog and resource hub that helps families and educators raise bilingual children while celebrating cultural identity through Spanish language and heritage. I choose books with that audience in mind.
How do the children in your life influence your choices?
My son is now a young adult so the children who influence my choices these days are actually my students. As a private Spanish teacher, I look at titles and wonder if they’re something my students would enjoy reading, and they get super excited when I read the books out loud. For example, one of the most recent books I reviewed (provided by your reviewing program, thank you!) was No hay gatos en este libro by Viviane Schwarz, and it made for a laugh-out-loud storytime we truly enjoyed.
If your perfect book existed, what would it include?
Great question! If my perfect book existed, it would start the way both of mine did: with a story I could actually use in a lesson, not just read aloud.
As someone who teaches Spanish, I’m always looking for books that are dual-language or Spanish-only, not just translations, and with a character who reminds bilingual and heritage-language kids that their two languages and two worlds are something to celebrate.
Writing Coco, la cotorra puertorriqueña taught me how to turn scientific research on how parrots communicate into a story that celebrates our differences, our dialects, our ways of speaking, and our bilingualism, all while keeping Puerto Rico at the heart of it. ¡Mis superpoderes bilingües! / My Bilingual Superpowers! taught me how to take something abstract, what it feels like to hold two languages, and make it concrete enough for a five-year-old to feel proud of.
My perfect book would need both of those things to be true at once: Spanish and English carefully woven into the story itself, and a story specific enough to a real place and real experience that kids reading can identify with it.
What is your favorite holiday or tradition and why?
Christmas in Puerto Rico! It kicks off the day after Thanksgiving and stretches all the way to mid-January, wrapping up with a multi-day street festival that officially closes out the season. It is the most festive and cheerful time of the year, and I go back home every year during the holiday season for this very same reason.
Do you have a favorite library or bookstore memory to share?
My favorite library memories, by far, are walking in with my preschooler and watching the pure joy light up in his little eyes.
What other book reviewers influence your reading choices?
Back in the day it was the mom bloggers with book listicles and Pinterest pages that influenced my reading choices. Nowadays, it’s the bookstagrammers on social media, and I’m always keeping an eye out for a new title I haven’t heard of yet.
