Bestseller Matt de la Peña to Visit With AISD Bilingual Second-Graders

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Matt de la Peña, author of Last Stop on Market Street, will be visiting with select Aldine ISD second-grade students at M.O. Campbell Educational Center on Monday, May 13, for the release of his latest book, The Perfect Place/El lugar perfecto.

The event, sponsored by the Multilingual Services Department in collaboration with the Aldine Media Services Department, will occur at the M.O. Campbell Educational Center at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Selected second-grade bilingual students will be able to listen to De la Peña and pick up a book for their personal library in the language of their choice — English or Spanish.

About the Author

Matt de la Peña is the Newbery Medal-winning author of Last Stop on Market Street/Ultima parada de la Calle Market. He also wrote several award-winning picture books, including Patchwork/Mosaico, Milo Imagines the World/Milo imagina el mundo, Carmela Full of Wishes/Los deseos de Carmela, Love/Amor, and A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis (La esperanza de una nación: la historia de la leyenda del boxeador Joe Louis).

He has also written several critically acclaimed young adult novels, including We Were Here/Aquí estuvimos, Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, I Will Save You/Yo te salvaré, Superman: Dawnbreaker, and The Living series. De la Peña teaches creative writing and visits schools and colleges throughout the country. You can visit him at mattdelapena.com or follow him on X and Instagram @mattdelapena.

Summary of The Perfect Place/El lugar perfecto

De la Peña’s latest work is a moving picture book about the perils of perfectionism. In The Perfect Place, Lucas goes to the perfect school in the neighborhood. But life at home is not so perfect. His dad’s old work truck stalls in front of the school. The electricity is out when he gets home, and he doesn’t even have time to show his mom his report (on which he received a perfect score) before she rushes off to her night job. That night, Lucas dreams of a strange light, which he follows down the fire escape, into the alleyway, clear out of his neighborhood, all the way to where the perfect people live. Everything there is more beautiful than he could have imagined. But is it possible things aren’t as perfect as they seem? This lyrical, richly illustrated picture book highlights the beauty to be found in even the humblest of homes and in a family that may not be materially rich but is rich in love.