Rudolfo A. Anaya is a pioneering, prolific and renowned Chicano author. His novel, Bless Me Última, is a magical story of a young boy’s coming of age in 1940s New Mexico.  Set against a background of historic events like the explosion of the first atom bomb at White Sands, New Mexico, the novel plumbs personal, family and societal dynamics as it tells a story that is at once culturally specific and universally meaningful.  The novel was recognized by the National Education Association in 2008 as the required reading for anyone in the United States.