Summer 2026      Volume 54, Number 3

Authors, Books, and Beyond: A Conversation with Jacqueline Alcántara
By Amina Chaudhri

Document: Column 

Introductory Paragraph:   To step into the pages of a book illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara is to immerse yourself in vibrant colors and details that will make you want to linger even while the text demands a page turn. The cows in The Field gaze coyly through curving eyelashes, the djembe player’s braids bounce to the rhythm in Jam, Too?, and Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s mother’s gentle face glows with love and light in Just Shine. Jacqueline’s path to becoming an illustrator was part chance, part perseverance, as she explains here. But no matter what she illustrates, she finds a kernel of truth to connect to and build on though her art. Read more about an artist Chicago can be proud to claim as ours on her website: https://jacquelinealcantara.com.

DOI:   https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.54.3.2026.78

Page Numbers:   78-86