When author Ruben Soto realized that there wasn’t a fairy tale written featuring a Latina princess, he decided to write one himself.

I wrote LA PRINCESA MARIA/PRINCESS MARIA as a tribute to my Hispanic heritage,” said the author. “Celebrating quinceañeras is unique to our culture, and I felt there needed to be a Hispanic princess representing the beauty of our young women.” Another motivating reason is the author’s desire to be a pioneer in creating and writing books with Latino themes.

LA PRINCESA MARIA/PRINCESS MARIA (Trafford Publishing, November 2006) is bilingual (in Spanish and English) and is the story of a beautiful young woman named Maria who dreams about marrying a prince and becoming a princess. She meets a bullfighter named Antonio, who also happens to be a prince, but she does not know this. However, Lady Rosa is also in love with Antonio and she will do anything to prevent Maria from marrying him.

Doesn’t the plot sound like a novela for children? I haven’t read that book itself so maybe I should reserve judgement, which tends to be harsh, until I do read it. The need to books for Latino children by Latino authors is great, no doubt. As a mami, it has been something I have struggled with. But as a mami to a daughter, I wonder if the best we can do is rehash the stereotypical images of our young women as being of a certain physical type (that being “pretty”) whose goal is to marry up in society?

Check it out for yourselves….

Via / Hispanic PR Wire