Young bilingual author wins another International Latino Book Award
“Dr. Pren y el Ataque de los Gérmenes,” written by Máximo César Castellanos from Georgetown, was chosen as the Gold Medal Winner in the category Charlie Ericksen Best Book Written by a Youth for the 2022 International Latino Book Awards.
In reviewing and awarding the Gold Medal, the ILBA Judges remarked, “Characters were very memorable, an enjoyable adventure.”
Máximo attended the International Latino Book Awards Ceremony held Aug. 19 at Los Angeles City College.
The International Latino Book Awards celebrate books in English, Spanish and Portuguese, covering all types of book categories including children, youth, adult, nonfiction, fiction, poetry and translation. Finalists for 108 categories of the 2022 ILBA Awards are from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and 19 other countries.
The International Latino Book Awards is the largest Latino cultural awards program in the U.S. The awards are produced by Empowering Latino Futures, a nonprofit organization co-founded in 1997 by Edward James Olmos and Kirk Whisler. The diversity and quality of the finalists for the 24th Annual International Latino Book Awards is a reflection of the increase in demand for books written by and about Latinos.
Máximo César Castellanos was born in Delaware and learned Spanish as his first language. Once he learned to read and write, he began to write chapter books. Máximo has now written, illustrated, translated and published eight books in Spanish and eight books in English. “Dr. Pren y el Ataque de los Gérmenes” was published when Máximo was 12 years old.
The Spanish edition of “Dr. Pren y el Ataque de los Gérmenes” and the English edition of “Dr. Pren and the Attack of the Germs” are available on Amazon.com. To visit Máximo’s author page, go to amazon.com/author/maximocesarcastellanos.
