Books with author Eric Velasquez

What do you do when an octopus captures Grandma? Put on your superhero cape and rescue her! Two stories in one from award-winning Afro-Latino artist Eric Velasquez.The octopus Grandma's cooking has grown to titanic proportions. "¡Tenga  cuidado! " Ramsy shouts. "Be careful!"But it's too late. The octopus traps grandma!Ramsey uses both art and intellect to free her.Then the story takes a surprising twist. And it can be read two ways. Open the fold-out pages to find Ramsy telling a story to his family. Keep the pages folded, and Ramsy's octopus adventure is real.This story is based upon incidents in the author's childhood, and celebrates creativity, heroism, family, grandmothers, grandsons, Puerto Rican food, Hispanic culture and more.

This prequel to Eric Velasquez's biographical picture book "Grandma's Records "is the story of a Christmas holiday that young Eric spends with his grandmother. After they prepare their traditional Puerto Rican Christmas celebration, Eric and Grandma visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a school project, where he sees a painting by Diego Velasquez and realizes for the first time that he could be an artist when he grows up. Grandma witnesses his fascination, and presents Eric with the perfect Christmas gift--a set of paints--to use in his first steps toward becoming an artist. A heart-warming story of self-discovery, "Grandma's Gift" is a celebration of the special bond between a grandparent and grandchild.