libros con alma

mornings with my girl. 💕

my logo quietly made its debut about a month ago and I want to properly thank sophia almeida @s.a.dude for helping me bring these visuals to life. 💐 this logo, both literally and figuratively, captures the corazón and soul of this project. 🫀📚 the sparkly ojito es un símbolo de la magia de leer. it’s a portal to imagination, creativity, diversity and the vast universe(s) that our libros invite us into. gracias, sophia, por el amor que has dedicado a este proyecto. mi corazoncito está feliz.

Feeling so grateful to contribute as an artist to beautiful community projects like this one 📚✨ Books on wheels, painted with love 💓 bringing cultura, stories and soul to the people! Shoutout to @librosconalma for making magic happen 🛻💖 follow her to find where the next Troquita stop will be!

🎉celebrating 5 years of libros con alma this month! I KNOW! WTH! libros con alma started as a shy little IG account where I documented bookstores/libraries that fueled my own dream of opening a bookstore one day. inspired by the @thefreeblackwomenslibrary_la , i decided to take a step toward that dream by sharing free books in SELA. in 2021, i had my first baby pop-up @cruzitasdeliandcafe with about 20 books from my own library. wahhh i was so nervous! “will anybody come?” (i still ask myself that question to this day!)🥹 i’m so grateful to cruzita’s (where it all started!) for their trust and love over the years! big thanks always to @cpcacreativecorps (my ca creative corps fellowship was a gamechanger!), and @thinkingbinc (no turning back when I started the binktank bookstore incubator program). these programs gave me las alas 🪽to finally launch our bookmobile, la troquita! and, of course, thank you to my AMAZING, AMAZING family — i really don’t know what I did in my past life to deserve you. 💗 📚my only wish then, now, and probably forever, is for folks in my community to be able to see themselves in the stories they read and feel less alone in their experiences. i love sela with all my heart and i will try my best, always. thank you, familia, for joining me on this wild ride. let’s see where this journey takes us next! 😌💞 <3 alma

Some of our mixtapes from this week’s amiguis @librosconalma book club meet! Should we share a master playlist with everyone’s song picks?! 👀💭💜📖 The theme was songs you listen to when the world feels a little too heavy 🎧🎶 inspired by a quote from the book we’re reading, Un día contaré esta historia, by @amanditita that says, “las canciones fueron mis educadores, mis refugios, mis ángeles.” ✨ We’re meeting again next Tuesday @artspacehp for libro chat with the author! 💜📖💭 What’s a song you would add to your playlist? ✍🏼

💿 Book Club with CD mixtapes!? 📔🎶 Very 90’s of us 🙂‍↕️✨ We kicked off our first amiguis @librosconalma book club meeting last night with a cd mixtape swap! 💞 “Un día contaré esta historia” has moments that touch on how music can be a refuge and a place to find comfort when we need it the most ❤️‍🩹 (the author, Amanda Lalena Escalante (Amandititita) @amanditita , is also a really cool singer and songwriter!) 🎶 We gathered our stickers and sharpies and put together our own favorite songs that help us heal and exchanged them with our book club friends 🫶🏼✨💓 what is your relationship with music when you experience sadness or grief? What’s a song lyric that has stuck with you the most? What’s the first song you would add to your “self-love” playlist?…🤔💭💿 Thank you @confianzacoffee for hanging with us ☕️ See y’all next week at @artspacehp for our “libro chat” 💬📖💜

la troquita has a song! the most beautiful improvised canción in the world! (in my humble opinion. 😌) thank you @ecarrerar ! gracias to @marco4bg for having us at aire de mis pulmones last night! @clayqueeries , thanks for our beautiful stage!

new level unlocked for la troquita! 😭😍 thank you @ecarrerar our being our first guest! and look at how beautiful our BG (bell gardens) looked last night!

✨“las canciones fueron mis educadores, mis refugios, mis ángeles.” - from *un día contaré esta historia* by @amanditita ✨ amiguis, i loved working on my playlist for our upcoming bookclub mixtape swap with @tequieromosh !💿😌 our theme is el amor propio ❤️ what’s a song that belongs on your self-love mixtape?

Domingo, 3 de mayo, 7:00-9:30 p.m. en el Ford Park Aquatics Center - 7950 Scout Ave, Bell Gardens *Este evento se llevará a cabo en inglés y español. **Este es un evento al aire libre. Por favor, considere traer una manta de pícnic y cojines para su comodidad, así como ropa de abrigo para cuando bajen las temperaturas y repelente de insectos. [ Enlace de confirmación de asistencia: tinyurl.com/airedebg ] ᗩIᖇE ᗪE ᗰIs ᑭᑌᒪᗰOᑎEs es una noche de cine, poesía y música en la lucha por un aire limpio 🍃 Tendremos música, libros de Libros con Alma, poesía de Atención Plena / Vida Sana, la proyección de una película (detalles a continuación) y una conversación con East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Breath Work (proyección de la película) es una ópera experimental de 40 minutos que explora la respiración como forma de resistencia. En parte documental y en parte ritual performativo, fue creada por un grupo de 13 miembros de la comunidad local, con edades entre los 11 y los 65 años, en Long Beach, CA. Esta zona alberga una masiva producción petrolera, así como uno de los puertos más grandes del mundo, por donde ingresa al país, vía marítima, el 25% de las mercancías importadas a los EE. UU. En la película, la infraestructura portuaria, las terminales ferroviarias, las autopistas y las refinerías de petróleo sirven de impactante telón de fondo para escenas de solidaridad y duelo, entrelazando historias personales de enfermedades respiratorias y racismo ambiental con actos colectivos de desafío. -----ENGLISH----- Sunday, May 3, 7:00-9:30pm at Ford Park Aquatic Center - 7950 Scout Ave, Bell Gardens *this event will be held in english & spanish **This is an outdoor event. Please consider bringing a picnic blanket, and pillows for comfort, along with warm layers for cooling temperatures and bug spray. [ RSVP link: tinyurl.com/airedebg ] ᗩIᖇE ᗪE ᗰIs ᑭᑌᒪᗰOᑎEs is a night of film, poetry & music in the fight for clean air 🍃 We’ll have music, books from Libros con Alma, poetry from Atencion Plena / Vida Sana, a film screening "Breath Work" by Nina Sarnelle and conversation East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Full details: tinyurl.com/airedebg

👋hi fam, la troquita will be at the opening reception for alma querida @southgatemuseum tmrw (sat) 4/18 from 1-4pm! please join me in celebrating the talented local artists featured in the exhibition as well as the incredible behind-the-scenes magic of the cultural workers (jennifer, elizabeth & blanca) who make art programs like these happen. it will be a beautiful day and i feel so fortunate to share it with my community.🌹❤️

📚¡Amiguis! Join @librosconalma and @tequieromosh for our book club featuring *Un día contaré esta historia* by Amanda Lalena Escalante (Amandititita!). It’s a full circle moment for us! We started the ¡AMIGUIS! book club series in 2024 featuring Amandititita’s book *Trece latas de atún.* Our goal was to create a space where we could practice our Spanish/Spanglish, learn about anarcumbia and autofiction, write our feelings, and simply be in community together. It was beautiful! When Amandititita’s memoir came out in July 2025, we knew we had to read it together. Amiguis, this book will break your heart. But in its grief, hurt, and pain, it also reminds us that we can gently hold our pasts and still move forward. It’s a tender story—an invitation to look within for forgiveness, compassion, and love, and a reminder that in telling our stories, we are all capable of healing. <3 We hope you can join us. 😍 We’re offering 20 FREE copies of the book! Distribution will be based on the order of RSVPs and attendance confirmation. 🔗RSVP link in bio Mixtape Swap: Canciones para el amor propio 📅Tues May 12 6:30-8:30PM Libro chat with author Amanda Lalena Escalante 🤍 📅 Tues May 19 6:30-8:30PM Seguimos la Platica - Closing Discussion 📅 Tues May 26 6:30-8:30PM 📍@artspacehp 3382 E. Florence Ave. HP 90355 🎨 Flyer design by @tequieromosh 🌹Thank you to @eastsideartsinitiative , @artspacehp and @chicxsrockerxssela for your support!