Baez, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Baez is an artist. Her work was on exhibit in the Harlem Fine Art Show Virtual Art Exhibition and is now part of the art collection at Bay Path University. She has been the curator of the Broward College Annual Hispanic Heritage Group Art Exhibits for the past 16 years, and illustrated Lesléa Newman’s bilingual children’s book Alicia and the Hurricane: A Story of Puerto Rico/Alicia Y El Huracán: Un cuento de Puerto Rico (Children’s Book Press). After snuggling into bed each night, Alicia listens to the big voices of the tiny coquí frogs that live all around Puerto Rico and sing her to sleep. Ko-kee, ko-kee, ko-kee, ko-kee. Then a terrible hurricane hits Puerto Rico, and Alicia and her family take refuge in a shelter. At bedtime, Alicia hears grown-ups snoring, babies crying, wind howling, and rain pounding. She cannot hear the song of the coquí. Are the little tree frogs safe? And will Alicia and her family find at home after the storm is over? Alicia and the Hurricane is a tender look at the resilience of people and native creatures whose lives have been disrupted by a natural disaster.