Being raised in Mexico and then coming to the USA he later  missed the culture and was interested in how issues for Mexican people effected those on both sides of the border. In an interview with Lantz Arroyo for Radix Media, Tonatiuh recalls how he found his stylist voice. While volunteering at a worker’s center called NMASS (National Mobilization Against Sweat Shops), he met and became friends with someone who brought him into the world of 'Mixtec'; an indigenous group from the south of Mexico and there is a large Mixtec community in New York City. He researched into Mixtec and found reproductions of ancient Mixtec codex and was drawn in by the geometry, flatness, and repetition of color. "I decided that for my thesis I would make a modern day codex of my friends journey. I’ve been drawing in that style since". Seeing a lack of diversity in children's books as well, Tonatiuh has made it a mission to create books where Latinx children can see themselves and their culture reflected. It is his hopes that others can connect with the books to help see that we are all more alike then different regardless of factors beyond control. 

He was also awarded the Pura Belpré Medal for his illustration works in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 as well as for his author work in 2020.  

For the second text, I would play a digital read-aloud of Dear Primo that includes music to bring feeling into the story imbedded into it. 

What pedagogical strategies would you implement to support students as they read and made meaning of the picture book?
After the activity above, I would display the vocabulary words immigration, culture, desegregation, and inclusion. Seeing as a class we discussed these with our own family identities, I would create a new page for us to put information we learn about our characters. 
During the reading, I would use Jones’s Framework of deconstruction, reconstruction, and social action (Clarke & Whitney, 2009). Deconstructing the issues of power, perspective, and positioning of the characters in the text by having a character sheet that we add to as a class with the dynamics that unfold. These people in power would be the white people, authority figures not letting the Mendez family in their white school, the legal authorities. Using reconstruction, I would have the students keep a journal to write down their thoughts about what is happening to the Mendez family and how they feel the story will continue to unfold with desegregation. The chart created for our characters would be added to after significant events in the book.
To end the reading I would have student's watch a Question & Answer video Duncan Tonatiuh did.

What other print texts might you pair with this picture book in teaching it?
I would pair Dreamers by Yuyi Morales and The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad, S.K. Ali (Contributor), Hatem Aly (Illustrator). Dreamers is an inspiring tale of a Mexican immigrant mother moving to the Unites States in 1994, who learned English by reading in public libraries, and telling her story of how and why she came to the United States. The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family tells the tale of two sisters who wear a hijab of beautiful blue fabric to their first day of school. But not everyone sees hijab as beautiful, and in the face of hurtful, confusing words, the main character Faizah finds new ways to be strong.
Both books are written by immigrants to the USA and bring in the issues of social justice, stereotypes, prejudices, and culture. Reading these books students can add to our large cultural compare and contrast chart for our class and the books.