“Charlton-Trujillo offers a hard-hitting third novel that swings between incredibly painful low moments and hard-won victories.”-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Mexican American author, filmmaker and youth literacy activist e.E. Charlton-Trujillo (they, them) has written several award-winning books for teens and children, most notably the Fat Angie series, an ALA Stonewall Award Winner, and Prizefighter en Mi Casa, a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Winner. e.E. has been described as “a force of nature” by Kirkus Reviews. Their first picture book, Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules, co-authored with NYT Bestseller Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by award-winning illustrator Joe Cepeda, releases June 2022. e.E. is the Executive Director of the nonprofit Never Counted Out that supports access to books and creative  mentorship for at-risk youth and is co-host of the Instagram Live series Off The Cuff. Trujillo is a proud member of the Las Musas collective.

e.E.’s activism with youth is featured in the documentary At-Risk Summer which inspired e. to co-found the non-profit Never Counted Out. Much of e.E.’s time off the page is dedicated to speaking or facilitating workshops with youth. It’s part of their Your Story Is A Revolution campaign focused on inspiring young people to be heard through storytelling.

Lupe Lopez: ¡Reglas de una estrella de rock!

Candlewick |
Children’s

When a sassy drummer starts kindergarten, the rules of school cramp her style. What’s a young rock star to do?

Con sus relucientes gafas de sol, su lonchera clásica y sus lápices tamborileros, Lupe Lopez llega el primer día a kínder lista para el rock.

“¡Soy famosa!” anuncia Lupe mientras tamborilea sobre cualquier cosa—pupitres, sillas y mesas—, mientras más ruidoso, mejor. En la escuela hay muchas reglas, pero las estrellas de rock no obedecen las reglas, así que Lupe tampoco. Antes de que acabe el día, la maestra le ha quitado todas sus preciadas pertenencias, que le serán devueltas después de clase. ¡Lo peor es que nadie se ha inscrito en su club
de admiradores! ¿Qué puede hacer una estrella de rock?

When Lupe Lopez struts through the doors of Hector P. Garcia Elementary in sunglasses with two taped-up No. 2 pencils—drumsticks, of course—poking from her pocket, her confidence is off the charts. All day, Lupe drums on desks, tables, and chairs while Ms. Quintanilla spouts rules. Lupe has her own rules: 1) Don’t listen to anyone. 2) Make lots of noise. ¡Rataplán! 3) Have fans, not friends. But with her new teacher less than starstruck, and fans hard to come by, Lupe wonders if having friends is such a bad idea after all. Can it be that true star power means knowing when to share the spotlight? With its spirited illustrations and a simple text threaded through with Spanish words, this picture book is proof positive that being a strong girl with a song in her heart doesn’t have to mean pushing others away.

Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules!

Candlewick |
Children’s

When a sassy drummer starts kindergarten, the rules of school cramp her style. What’s a young rock star to do?

When Lupe Lopez struts through the doors of Hector P. Garcia Elementary in sunglasses with two taped-up Number 2 pencils—drumsticks, of course—poking from her pocket, her confidence is off the charts. All day, Lupe drums on desks, tables, and chairs while Ms. Quintanilla reminds her of school rules. Lupe has her own rules: 1) Don’t listen to anyone. 2) Make lots of noise. ¡Rataplán! 3) Have fans, not friends. But with her new teacher less than starstruck, and fans hard to come by, Lupe wonders if having friends is such a bad idea after all. Can it be that true star power means knowing when to share the spotlight? With its spirited illustrations and a simple text threaded through with Spanish words, this picture book is proof positive that being a strong girl moving to her own beat doesn’t have to mean pushing others away.

Fat Angie: Homecoming

Candlewick |
Middle Grade/Young Adult

With unexpected internet fame, two people vying for her heart, an all-girl band, and coming to terms with her parents’ failures, Angie comes home to herself in a rewarding finale.

After hitting the road with her friends last summer and taking the stage to sing her heart out in Columbus, Angie finally feels like she’s figuring things out. And her next move? Finally asking Jamboree Memphis Jordan to be her girlfriend. Angie’s got her speech ready on a set of flash cards, but her plans are complicated when her first love, KC Romance, comes cruising back into town. And when a video of Angie’s Columbus performance goes viral, everything gets even more confusing. Kids at school are treating her with respect, she’s being recognized in public, and her couldn’t-be-bothered mother is . . . well, bothered is an understatement.

When she learns of an online music competition, Angie decides to start a band. With the help of her brother, Jamboree, and her town’s resident washed-up rock star, Angie puts together a group and gets busy writing songs, because the competition deadline is only two weeks away. Between sorting out her feelings for Jamboree and KC, dealing with her newfound fame, and dodging an increasingly violent and volatile mother, singing seems like the only thing that Angie’s really good at. Can her band of girl rockers actually win? More importantly, can Angie get it together before she loses all sense of herself yet again?

Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution

Candlewick |
Middle Grade/Young Adult

More trouble at school and at home — and the discovery of a missive from her late soldier sister — send Angie and a long-ago friend on an RV road trip across Ohio.

Sophomore year has just begun, and Angie is miserable. Her girlfriend, KC, has moved away; her good friend, Jake, is keeping his distance; and the resident bully has ramped up an increasingly vicious and targeted campaign to humiliate her. An over-the-top statue dedication planned for her sister, who died in Iraq, is almost too much to bear, and it doesn’t help that her mother has placed a symbolic empty urn on their mantel. At the ceremony, a soldier hands Angie a final letter from her sister, including a list of places she wanted the two of them to visit when she got home from the war. With her mother threatening to send Angie to a “treatment center” and the situation at school becoming violent, Angie enlists the help of her estranged childhood friend, Jamboree. Along with a few other outsiders, they pack into an RV and head across the state on the road trip Angie’s sister did not live to take. It might be just what Angie needs to find a way to let her sister go, and find herself in the process.

Fat Angie

Candlewick |
Young Adult

Angie is broken—by her can’t-be-bothered mother, by her high-school tormenters, and by being the only one who thinks her varsity-athlete-turned-war-hero sister is still alive. Having failed to kill herself—in front of a gym full of kids—Angie’s back at high school just trying to make it through each day. That is, until the arrival of KC Romance, a girl who knows too well that the package doesn’t always match what’s inside. With an offbeat sensibility and mean girls to rival a horror classic, this darkly comic anti-romantic romance will appeal to anyone who likes entertaining and meaningful fiction.

Feels Like Home

Laurel Leaf |
Young Adult

Growing up in a dead-end South Texas town, Mickey had two things she could count on: her big brother, Danny—the football hero everyone loved—and a beat-up copy of The Outsiders. But after the accident—after Danny abandoned her to a town full of rumors and a drunken father—all Mickey had left was a smoky memory, her anger, and the resolution to get out of town for good.But Danny is back—and he’s not the golden boy who left six years ago. He’s altogether a different person, and the life Mickey has worked so hard to rebuild seems to be falling apart. Danny’s anger is something Mickey just can’t forgive, and his best friend’s mysterious death six years ago keeps coming back to haunt the edges of her mind. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t remember what happened that night—and she’s starting to realize that remembering is the only way she can move on. She’ll have to face the brother who broke her heart, and that beat-up book that will never again feel like home.

Prizefighter en Mi Casa

Yearling |
Middle Grade/Young Adult

Twelve-year-old Chula Sanchez isn’t thin, isn’t beautiful, and because she’s Mexican, isn’t popular in her south Texas town. And now that a car accident has left her father paralyzed and her plagued with seizures, she is poor. But Chula’s father is determined to pull his family out of debt. He sends for El Jefe—the most revered prizefighter in Mexico. Chula’s father hopes that with steel-pipe arms and fists like pit bulls, El Jefe will win the local illegal boxing matches and bring home much-needed money. But El Jefe—a man who many see as a monster—only brings confusion to a home that is already filled with problems. And now Chula must decide for herself whether good and bad can reside in one person and whether you can have strength in your heart when your fists have none.

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Coming Soon!

At Risk Summer (Full Movie)

e.E’s News and Events

e.E’s Films

e.E’s Media Kit Link

Las Musas Link

e.E’s TikTok

Off The Cuff

600 Books of Hope

Honors, Awards & Recognition

ALA Stonewall Book Award Winner
Bronze Award International Latino Book Awards Winner
Bronze Award FORWARD Indies Winner
Delacorte Dell Yearling Award Winner
Westchester Book Award Winner
Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Winner
FORWARD Indies Finalist
Lambda Literary Award Finalist
Writer’s League of Texas Finalist
Selected for Choose to Read Ohio
ALA Rainbow List
EBSCO Core Collection List
National Council for the Social Studies Notable Book List
New York Public Library List for the Teenager List

Media Kit

By clicking the link below your will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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