Manzano’s first young adult novel The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, published by Scholastic in 2012, was chosen as a Pura Belpre Honor Book. Her second book, A Box Full of Kittens, was published in 2007. She has written for the Peabody Award-winning children’s series, Little Bill, and her children’s book, No Dogs Allowed, published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing in 2004, was selected by the General Mills initiative Spoonfuls of Stories. Manzano has performed on the New York stage in The Vagina Monologues, The Exonerated, and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. She came back to New York from Carnegie Mellon University to star in the original production of the off-Broadway show Godspell. Manzano joined Sesame Street in 1971 and holds 15 Emmy Awards for her previous work as part of the Sesame Street writing staff. Manzano was raised in the South Bronx, where her involvement in the arts was inspired by teachers who encouraged her to audition for the High School of Performing Arts, where she began her career as an actress. Sonia Manzano is a first-generation Puerto Rican who has touched the lives of millions of parents and children as “Maria” on Sesame Street.