2013 Pura Belpre Award for Illustration As the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a former slave, Martin de Porres was born into extreme poverty. Even so, his mother begged the church fathers to allow him into the priesthood. Instead, Martin was accepted as a servant boy. But soon, the young man was performing miracles. Rumors began to fly around the city of a strange mulatto boy with healing hands, who gave first to the people of the barrios . Martin continued to serve in the church, until he was finally received by the Dominican Order, no longer called the worthless son of a slave, but rather a saint and the rose in the desert. "With images of surpassing beauty and power and a text both simple and lyrical, Diaz and Schmidt tell the life of the first black saint of the Americas . . . A visual--and, it must be said, spiritual--delight."-- Kirkus   "Schmidt's telling, touching in its simplicity, is well matched with Diaz's exceptional artwork, which is bold and referential in equal parts."-- Booklist, starred review   "An artful and reverent portrait of a lesser-known figure."-- School Library Journal   "Diaz's visualization of this story is magnificent."-- Horn Book Gary D. Schmidt is the bestselling author of Orbiting Jupiter, The Labors of Hercules Beal ; Just Like That ; National Book Award finalist Okay for Now ; the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy ; the Newbery Honor Book The Wednesday Wars, and more. He is also contributor to and co-editor of the acclaimed short story collection A Little Bit Super, co-edited by Leah Henderson, and the co-author, along with Ron Koertge, of A Day at the Beach . He lives in rural Michigan. David Diaz has illustrated numerous award-winning books for children, including Smoky Night by Eve Bunting, for which he was awarded the Caldecott Medal; The Wanderer by Sharon Creech, which received a Newbery Honor; and Diego: Bigger Than Life by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, a Pura Belpré Honor Award winner. An illustrator and graphic designer for more than twenty-five years, he is also a painter and an accomplished ceramic artist. Mr. Diaz lives in Carlsbad, California. Martin De Porres: The Rose in the Desert (Hardcover)