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Virtual Book Tours

The TeachingBooks Virtual Book Tour is your opportunity to learn from and build personal connections with extraordinary book creators and their brand-new titles. Included in all Virtual Book Tour posts are original interviews with authors and illustrators, lesson plans, an activity designed for young people, and much more!

NoNieqa Ramos: Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good

in Virtual Book Tours

In this post, we feature acclaimed author NoNieqa Ramos, whose previous titles include Beauty Woke, which was named a Bank Street Best Book, among other honors. You can hear them speak about their new picture book, Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good, and try their “invitation to imagine” activity. You’ll also find other resources to explore. Thanks for joining us, and let us know what you think in the comments below!

NoNieqa Ramos and the cover of Best Believe.

Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good

  • Written by NoNieqa Ramos and illustrated by Nicole Medina
  • Published by Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group
  • Release date: February 6, 2024

Meet the Tres Hermanas: Evelina Antonetty, Lillian López, and Elba Cabrera. They moved from Puerto Rico to New York City as children and grew up to become leaders in their Bronx community. Evelina, an activist for social causes, founded United Bronx Parents. Lillian became a librarian and administrator who fought for Spanish and bilingual books and Spanish-speaking library staff. Elba worked closely with Evelina and became an ambassador and advocate for the arts. Rhythmic verse by NoNieqa Ramos and vibrant illustrations by Nicole Medina provide a stirring look at three dynamic changemakers and community builders.

An interior spread from Best Believe showing a girl in old-fashioned dress climbing aboard a steamship and carrying a suitcase while her mother and younger sisters wave.
An interior spread from Best Belive showing four vignettes along with blocks of poetic text. In the first inset image, a girl in a skirt stands on stairs that are cracking; in the second, the grown girl appears with a determined expression, arms crossed; in the third and fourth inset images, the grown girl receives support and help from a woman and a man in conversations.

Explore Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good

Listen to NoNieqa Ramos talking with TeachingBooks about creating Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.

Invitation to Imagine

TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator on our Virtual Book Tour to share a writing prompt, a drawing exercise, or just an interesting question to spark curiosity and creativity. Enjoy the following activity contributed by NoNieqa Ramos.

Imagination Activity with NoNieqa Ramos

First, grab a piece of paper. Divide it in half. On the left side make a list of struggles. These struggles can happen at school, at home, or anywhere.

Here is an example:

A chart which shoes one column on the left-hand side marked "Struggles." Underneath it are written 5 items, such as, "I struggle to get along with my brother" and "I have a hard time concentrating when I read."

Then, on the right side, write a “Best Believe” statement. These are statements about how you will overcome your struggle.

The same chart as above, this time filled in also on the right-hand side., under a column called, "Best Believe." So, for example, "I struggle to get along with my brother" is paired with, "I will spend 15 minues a day doing something we both enjoy, like playing basketball."

Sometimes, I take my list to a mirror. I will say my struggle aloud and follow it with my “Best Believe” statement. Finally, I will color in a row on my chart after I follow through and do a “Best Believe” statement.

Finish This Sentence . . . with NoNieqa Ramos

As part of our Virtual Book Tour, TeachingBooks asks authors and illustrators to complete short sentence prompts. Enjoy NoNieqa Ramos’s response.

“A surprising thing that helps me work is…”

Moving helps me work! If I am stuck, taking a quick stroll or doing a simple activity like watering plants clears my head. Moving helps my ideas to flow.

“You may not know that I can…”

You may not know that I am a wildlife rehabilitator in training! I help care for injured bats so we can release them back into the wild!

Thank you!

To wrap up this Virtual Book Tour, we thank NoNieqa Ramos and Elba Cabrera, one of the sisters featured in Best Believe, for signing books for all of us.

The title page of Best Believe signed by the author, NoNieqa Ramos.
An interior page from Best Believe signed by Elba Cabrera, one of the three sisters featured in the book, with the message, "Enjoy our history."
NoNieqa Ramos and Elba Cabrera

NoNieqa Ramos and Elba Cabrera

More Connections to NoNieqa Ramos and Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good

Explore all of the titles featured in the TeachingBooks Virtual Book Tour: one link with author interviews, lesson plans, activities, and more!

All text and images are courtesy of NoNieqa Ramos, Nicole Medina, Elba Cabrera, and Lerner Publishing Group and may not be used without expressed written consent.

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