Sundust - by Zeke Peña (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A look at the author's hometown of El Paso, where the sun reigns over the vast desert and shapes all that it touches"--

Book Synopsis

CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK - In his striking author-illustrator debut, the award-winning illustrator of My Papi Has a Motorcycle offers an immersive and fantastical desert adventure, where the sun reigns over the vast landscape and shapes all that it touches.

"A hypnotic joy." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Where the rock wall ends, the desert beyond begins.

Following a blazing trail of sundust, two curious siblings hop the wall into a place that's endless and free. Here, prickly old nopal trees beg to be climbed, empty turtle shells invite a closer look, enormous rocks model how to sit still and listen, and a colibrí offers an unexpected ride. In the desert, where life revolves around the Sun, brother and sister explore, imagine, and wonder, What if Sun's power was inside me? until their mom's whistle calls them back home again.

With spare, lyrical text, Pura Belpré Honor and Ezra Jack Keats Honor recipient Zeke Peña has created a fantastical tale that suspends moments in time with his radiant art and celebrates the bonds between the sun, the desert, and its people.

Review Quotes

Praise for Sundust by Zeke Peña:

A 2026 Randolph Caldecott Honor Book
The Society of Illustrators Original Art Show selection
A 2026 Tomás Rivera Book Award (younger readers category)
An ALSC 2026 Notable Children's Book (All Ages category)
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2025
An NPR 'Books We Love 2025' selection
A Kirkus Best Picture Book of 2025
A Children's Book Review 40 of the Best Picture Books of 2025
A Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature (CSMCL) Best Books of 2025
A 2025 The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB) Blue Ribbon Award

★ "...stunning...Author-illustrator Peña breathes life into the desert setting...Kids who find magic in everything around them will appreciate this lovely reassurance that they are even more connected to the world than they think."
--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

★ "In a wide-ranging solo debut, Peña (My Papi Has a Motorcycle) imagines two Latinx-cued children exploring a sweeping desertscape.... Speech bubbles add levity to energy-charged prose through this surreal exploration of the way the natural world endures and transforms."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "A hypnotic joy."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Spectacular...This book connects the magic of imagination, nature, and childhood beautifully."
--School Library Journal, starred review

"Pena offers a depiction of place and wonder that transcends borders and national identity...poignant and timely."
--Horn Book

"The mix of traditional illustration methods, graphite pencil, colored pencil, and gouache gives a fresh, contemporary feel... Hand-lettered words for emphasis and occasional speech bubbles add fun graphic-novel elements."
--Booklist Online

About the Author

Zeke Peña is a Xicano storyteller and professional doodler from El Paso, TX, the Sun City. Sundust, which received a Caldecott Honor, is his author-illustrator debut and is a love poem to desert culture and people. Zeke received the Ezra Jack Keats and the Pura Belpré Illustration Honors for My Papi Has a Motorcycle and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for his illustrations in Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide. He also illustrated the New York Times bestseller Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel. He is currently drawing more books in his tiny studio in NW Arkansas.