“Born to Play Béisbol: The Magical Career of Fernando Valenzuela” by Kathleen Contreras ’76, Ph.D. ’00, won the Gold Star award at the recent Latino Book Awards for Most Inspirational Children’s Book and Best Sports Book.

“It is the first children’s book on the L.A. Dodger legend,” Contreras said, “and is popular not only with children — especially Latino children — but with multi-generational families who have distinct memory of the phenom from the 1980s.”

Young readers meet Fernando, a teenage pitcher from Mexico, and follow his trajectory to stardom, creating a fan frenzy known as Fernandomania.

View the book trailer here:

Contreras is the author of five bilingual childrens’ books. She taught at California State University Channel Islands, UCLA and in bilingual elementary classrooms. In addition to her B.A., Contreras earned bilingual teaching credential at UCLA, before receiving a master’s degree in bilingual education from UCSB. Returning to UCLA, she earned her Ph.D. in urban school and teacher education. She dedicates her career to her “semillas” (seeds), bilingual teachers growing, blooming, flourishing and teaching in public schools.