Jennifer Torres is the award-winning author of Stef Soto, Taco Queen, Vega’s Piece of the Sky, the Catalina Incognito series, and other books for young readers. She writes stories about home, friendship, and unexpected courage inspired by her Mexican-American heritage. Jennifer started her career as a newspaper reporter, and even though she writes fiction now, she hopes her stories still have some truth in them. She lives with her family in Southern California

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I was 17 years old the first time a story of mine was published in a newspaper.

The story was about making tamales with my family— but it was also about love and tradition and growing up.

I think that’s when I started to understand how precious and powerful stories can be. Since then, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to listen to—and tell—many more of them.

Before becoming an author, I worked as a reporter for The Record newspaper in Stockton, California. I covered education, immigration and other topics related to children and families. I still love local news.

My first picture book,  Finding the Music/En Pos de la Música, was published in 2015 by Children’s Book Press, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, and my debut middle grade novel, Stef Soto, Taco Queen was published in 2017 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. I’m proud that Stef has been translated into Korean, Spanish (HarperCollins Español), and Japanese, and has been named to many state reading lists.

Since then, I’ve written the middle grade novels The Fresh New Face of Griselda, Flor and Miranda Steal the Show, The Do-Over and its sequel The Win Over, and the very fun, very villainous Bad Princesses series, which is perfect for anyone who’s felt like they don’t quite belong. My most recent middle grade novel, Vega’s Piece of the Sky (inspired by my family’s history), is about hidden treasure and what we’re really searching for when we look for it.

I’m also proud of the charming (and magical!) chapter book series, Catalina Incognito, and Lola Out Loud, a picture book, inspired by Dolores Huerta, that celebrates community and the courage it takes to speak up.

Up next is Alight, a nonfiction picture book about the inspiring resilience of urban parrots. I cannot wait to share it.

In addition to degrees in journalism, I hold a doctorate in education. My husband, David Siders, and I have two daughters, Alice and Soledad, and we live in Southern California not far from where I grew up.

I am represented by Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.