Claudia Marquez grew up in Denver without access to Spanish-language books in her own school library, and she has spent her career trying to make sure the students she now serves never face that same gap. Marquez works as the librarian at Florida Pitt-Waller ECE-8 School near Green Valley Ranch, where she has made it her goal to put Spanish and other-language books directly into students' hands.
According to Denver7, Marquez says she loves engaging with children and connecting stories to their own pasts. Her school reflects the demand for that kind of material: Students at the school have selected Spanish-language picture books from their own library shelves, per the same account from Denver7.
A Trip to the World's Largest Spanish-Language Book Fair
Pete Fey, DPS's library services coordinator, has traveled to Mexico each of the past two years to source books at what Denver7 describes as the world's largest Spanish-language book fair, held in Guadalajara. Fey says the trip is necessary because specific titles his students need cannot be found online at the scale the district requires, and the fair is often the only place he can find them, the station reports. He has even been unable to purchase all the authentic Spanish translations of Pokémon manga that students want through local retailers.
The Guadalajara fair draws librarians from across the country for exactly this reason. Through the ALA-FIL Free Pass Program, the American Library Association grants roughly 120 U.S. librarians hotel, registration, and travel subsidies each year to attend, according to the American Library Association.
Serving a Growing Venezuelan Student Population
Much of what Fey brings back is aimed at a specific and rapidly growing group of DPS students: those who recently moved to Denver from Venezuela or who have family ties there. He has bought classic Venezuelan children's books during his trips, telling Denver7 that everyone deserves to see culturally relevant materials in their school library. Marquez echoes that sentiment, saying the same story can land differently for different students depending on their backgrounds, and those Venezuelan books resonate strongly with DPS students connected to the country.
The scale of that need is significant. During the 2023–24 school year, DPS enrolled 4,763 newly arrived migrant students, predominantly from Venezuela and other South American nations, according to Chalkbeat. That wave reversed years of declining enrollment districtwide, and 68% of those students were still enrolled as of September 30, 2024, per the same report. Because Colorado calculates school funding based on student counts taken on October 1, schools receiving migrant students were underfunded by nearly $14 million in 2023–24, CBS News reported at the time.
A District-Wide Push for Multilingual Materials
Districtwide, Denver Public Schools reports that 51.8% of the student body identifies as Hispanic or Latino. He followed that in March 2026 by launching the district-wide Kindergarten Poetry Project with Aurora Poet Laureate Asia Fox, the station reported separately.
These efforts sit alongside a broader equity push inside DPS. The district-commissioned La Raza Report, published in March 2024, found widespread equity gaps for Hispanic students and staff and made 35 recommendations, including creating a Latinx Student Success Team and expanding access to bilingual resources, according to Chalkbeat. For librarians like Marquez, who once went without Spanish books herself, and coordinators like Fey, who now cross an international border to stock DPS shelves, the trips to Guadalajara help stock DPS shelves, one book at a time.
