Morales, Yuyi << ZHOO zhee >> (1968-…), is a Mexican-born children’s author and illustrator. Her illustrations have been praised for their vigor, their sense of texture, and their glowing colors.
Morales has won the Pura Belpré Award six times for her illustrations. She wrote, as well as illustrated, the 2004 winner, Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (2003); the 2009 winner, Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book (2008); the 2014 winner, Niño Wrestles the World (2013); the 2015 winner, Viva Frida (2014); and the 2019 winner, Dreamers (2018). She won the 2008 award for her illustrations for Los Gatos Black on Halloween (2006), written by Marisa Montes. The Belpré Award is given annually to a Latino or Latina author and to a Latino or Latina illustrator “whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.” The award is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association (ALA) , and by REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking.
Morales was born on Nov. 7, 1968, in Xalapa, Mexico, and lived in the United States from 1994 to 2013. She is a self-taught artist. Morales illustrated her first children’s book published in the United States, the Spanish-language Todas las Buenas Manos, written by F. Isabel Campoy, in 2001. Her first English-language project was creating the illustrations for Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez (2003), written by Kathleen Krull.
Morales has also illustrated Sand Sister (2004), written by Amanda White; My Abuelita (2009), written by Tony Johnston; Floating on Mama’s Song (2010), written by Laura Lacámara; Georgia in Hawaii: When Georgia O’Keeffe Painted What She Pleased (2012), written by Amy Novesky; and Thunder Boy Jr. (2016), written by Sherman Alexie. Morales wrote and illustrated Little Night (2007) and Rudas: Niño’s Horrendous Hermanitas (2016), a sequel to Niño Wrestles the World.
