>> Susan Schadl:.
Hello and welcome.
It's a special honor for
the Latin American Caribbean
and European Division at the
Library of Congress to partner
with a consortium of Latin
American Studies Program class
in this virtual celebration
of creative works
that engage young people with
stories about Latin America,
the Caribbean, and
Latinx communities
in the United States.
Children's and young adult
books are tremendous gateways
for learning and understanding.
And it has been a pleasure
to work with these authors,
our Latinx librarian,
Maria Daniela Dani Thurber,
Denise Woltering, and
Colleen McCoy while planning
this conversation.
My heartfelt thanks to all
authors and illustrators
who helped amplify voices
from across Latin American
and Latinx communities and
especially those with us today.
Aida Salazar, Yamile Saied
Méndez, Angela Burke Kunkel,
and Raul Gonzales the Third.
And to our facilitator,
Ruth Quiroa.
My name is Susan Schadl.
It is my privilege to oversee
a tremendous team of librarians
in the Latin American,
Caribbean,
and European Division.
As we reach the end of National
Hispanic Heritage Month,
I invite you to listen
to our 2021 National Hispanic
Heritage Month release
of La Biblioteca
Podcast Season Two
and 50 new streaming recordings
in the Palabora archive.
We are recording this National
Hispanic Heritage Month event
on Indigenous Peoples
Day from several states.
I'm in Maryland within
the DC metro area,
which also includes
parts of Virginia.
Our panel joins us from
Illinois, California,
Massachusetts, Vermont,
and Utah.
Our partners are participating
from Louisiana and Tennessee.
Together we want to
recognize indigenous presence
in our everyday lives and take a
moment to consider what it means
to acknowledge the
indigenous peoples
on whose ancestral homelands we
gather, as well as the diverse
and vibrant communities
who make their homes
in these locations
and others today.
We gather from the
traditional territories
of many people's including but
not limited to the Nocostan,
Anacostan, Piskatawe,
[inaudible], Nantego, Matapune,
[inaudible], Monakan,
[inaudible], Peoria,
[inaudible], Kikapo,
[inaudible], Olone, [inaudible],
Massachusetts, Abenaki,
Webanaki, Ute, [inaudible],
Choctaw, Omah [assumed
spellings], Tunica,
Cherokee, and Shawnee peoples.
Please enjoy this
conversation this evening
and accept my invitation to look
for connections between the past
and present, and
between communities,
books and your homes.
Without further ado, it
is my pleasure to turn
over the microphone
and the camera
to Denise Woltering
and Colleen McCoy.
Thank you all for joining us.
>> First, thank you so much
to Susan Schadl, Dani Thurber,
Liliana Lopez [assumed
spelling],
and the Hispanic Reading Room
at the Library of Congress.
The Américas Award
is so grateful
for its long-standing
partnership with the Library
of Congress and the
chance to work together
on programs just like this one.
The Américas Award was
founded in 1993 by Julie Klein
at the University of
Wisconsin Milwaukee,
and since then has recognized
hundreds of exemplary children's
and young adult books
that authentically
and engagingly portray Latin
America, the Caribbean,
and Latinx culture
in the United States.
Among other criteria,
review committee members
face specific emphasis
on the books potential
for classroom use,
making the Américas
Award a fantastic resource
for teachers and librarians.
The Américas Award is
sponsored by the consortium
of Latin American Studies
programs and is coordinated
by Tulane University's
Stone Center
for Latin American Studies and
Vanderbilt University's Center
for Latin American,
Caribbean, and Latinx studies.
>> I would like to
share a special thanks
to our 2021 committee
members for this year's awards
that they've recognized,
Pat Austin Christie Moraga,
Melinda [inaudible], Lou
Marzulli, and Dani Thurber.
Generous support for this
program is also provided
by Florida International
University, Stanford University,
the Ohio State University,
UNC Duke consortium
in Latin American and Caribbean
Studies, University of Florida,
University of New Mexico,
University of Texas at Austin,
University of Utah
and the University
of Wisconsin Milwaukee,
we encourage you
to visit the webpage
classprograms.org
/americasaward, which I'll drop
in the chat box in a moment.
Please visit our site to explore
related curricular resources
and to learn more
about the award itself.
Now it's my pleasure to
introduce our moderator,
our amazing moderator for
the evening, Dr. Ruth Quiroa,
former Américas Award committee
member and associate professor
of reading and language at
National Louis University,
also a former kindergarten and
bilingual second grade teacher.
She teaches masters level
courses in youth literature,
comprehension, teaching writing,
and preservice literacy methods
as well as doctoral
courses in comprehension,
and diverse youth literature.
Her research focuses on
picture books and the politics
of aesthetics and the
impact of BIPOC literature
on K 12 Teachers
instructional practices.
Other research areas
include trends and issues
of Latinx themed youth
literature published
in the United States,
international Spanish
language youth literature,
and wordless picture books.
I hand it over to you, Ruth.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Thank you.
Hello, and welcome
to the celebration.
This is a celebration
of children's
and young adult Latin
American and Latinx literature.
As I introduce our panel of
authors and illustrators,
I'll be starting with those
who created the primary
level books recognized
by the Américas Award, followed
by those of the secondary types.
So Angela Burke Kunkel,
can you wave?
There you go.
I like this on your website.
You're a librarian by day
and an author by night
and formally worked with
all kinds of readers
as an English language
arts teacher
in both Massachusetts
and New Mexico.
She now lives in Vermont with
her husband, two children,
two dogs, two guinea pigs,
and a bearded dragon.
Her 2021, Américas
Award winning title
for primary readers, the picture
book biography titled Digging
for Words: Jose
Alberto Gutierrez
and the Library He Built ,
illustrated by Paola Escobar
was her debut book for children,
which I didn't know
until I researched.
This book set in Bogota,
Colombia, and more specifically,
in the barrio of Nueva Gloria
tells the tale of two Jose's.
A man who is a garbage
collector, and picks up trash
in wealthy neighborhoods,
rescuing all the books,
and the other a young boy who
cannot wait until Saturday
because that is the day he
and the other children can
visit Senor Jose's home and look
at his books and borrow them
from the many towering stacks
of titles all that were
rescued from the trash.
Raúl The Third or Raul
Gonzales the third, I learned,
is the author and illustrator
of the Américas 2021 honor book
for primary readers Vamos!
Let's Go Eat .
He currently lives
in -- did you wave?
You have to wave.
He currently lives in Boston
although his work -- good --
although his work focuses
on contemporary Mexican
American experiences
and his own autobiographical
memories of growing
up in El Paso, Texas and
Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
For example, the mercado de --
let's see if I get it right,
[inaudible] in Vamos!
Let's Go to the
Market was modeled
on the market in Ciudad Juarez.
He knew this market really well.
He probably still does.
Because his mother and two
brothers went there often
with the rest of the
family to work with the --
with his family there.
He has said that when you are
working hard at the market,
you get really hungry by
afternoon which makes sense
because the second book Vamos!
Let's Go Eat is all about
eating really great Mexican food
and I'm excited to hear
about your research
process with that one.
Something interesting I learned
about Raul in my research is
that he first came across comic
style art when he found it
at the 7-11 store because his
father sent him there on Sundays
to get the Sunday paper.
And then when he was 15, he
started working at Bill's Coins,
Cards, Stamps and Comics
where there were more comics
and he started to become
interested in a greater variety
of art than just superheroes.
In fact, I found that you were
a bit obsessed with copying
and drawing comics
during all these years,
and I loved your Little
Writer series, so I'm excited
to hear you talk about
the Vamos series today.
And then for our secondary
books Aida Salazar,
who is -- go ahead and wave.
There you go.
Who is the author of the
Américas 2021 Award book
for secondary readers titled
Land of the Cranes ,
has published many other
award-winning books
and short stories, all
of which explore topics
of identity and social justice?
Born in Mexico, Aida grew
up in Southeast Los Angeles
with her six other siblings.
She has an MFA in Writing
from the California
Institute of Arts.
And now lives in a
teal-colored house in Oakland
with her husband, who is a Latin
jazz musician, two artist teens
that she homeschooled
through elementary school.
Aida has also taught visual
arts, poetry, and fictions
to students of all ages
and is an arts activist,
producing festivals,
other events, protests,
artists residencies,
and conferences.
I'm excited to hear the
back story for Land
of Cranes today, a
story about a little girl
and her pregnant
mother who are caged
in a U.S. Immigration
detention facility.
And finally, Yamile Saied
Méndez, is the author
of Furia , a young adult novel
about a soccer star who happens
to be a teenage girl, who
happens to live in a family
where this is not
a thing girls do.
Although it is perfectly fine
for her superstar
[foreign word] brother.
Originally from Argentina,
Yamile came to the United States
to study something practical
at Brigham Young University
like international economics,
after which she worked
as a translator but just could
not escape her lifelong desire
and need to write.
An MFA at Vermont's
College's Writing for Children
and Young Adults program,
and she's been off
ever since writing.
One of Yamile's quotes
that really stood out to me
as I was researching all of you
today, and I'm going to end here
with this, and maybe
have it help frame our
conversation today.
Yamile, in one interview
you said,
"Writing is a revolutionary
act in itself,
especially for members of
marginalized communities
who have sometimes been
incorrectly labeled
"voiceless" through the years.
We have a voice,
and traditionally marginalized
authors have been writing
for a long time.
The stories they created paved
the way for me and authors
like me to tell our
stories today.
Not only stories of resistance
and oppression, but also of joy
and fulfillment, of
victory and love,
which are revolutionary
concepts too.
The mind can change when
exposed to different ideas
and worldviews and as an
author I recognize the power
and responsibility I have to
be as authentic as possible
in every word attributed to me."
And I think that's why a lot
of us are here today,
for that very reason.
Maybe we have -- maybe there's
teachers who have to be --
do it subversively,
there's others
who have the power
to bring in books.
And so now we get to move to
the part where you all get
to share your stories.
And I really liked, Yamile, you
know, you covered everything,
from the victory and the joy to
the resistance and oppression.
So my first question,
and I'll ask Yamile
to start our conversation,
is, why this story?
Why the story at
this time, Furia ?
In other words, why
is your book's theme,
protagonist plot and/or
their life important
to share with readers today?
Take it away.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Thank you, Ruth.
Thank you for this introduction.
And again, I am so
happy and honored
to be here sharing this space
with my esteemed colleagues,
whom I admire so much.
And I started writing Furia
a long time ago, before --
when I was the mom of four
young children, I wasn't 30 yet,
and I would just write during
nap times, and at bedtime,
a story that was
just in my heart.
Although Furia is not
my first published novel,
it was the first story that
I attempted to write even
when I didn't know
what I was doing.
They didn't teach
me how to write
in my economics in college.
But I've always been a
reader, and I had a goal.
I really -- when I started
writing this story for myself,
and because I was very homesick.
I hadn't been home in
Argentina for a long time.
And I remember going to writer's
workshops and one of the --
the one piece of advice that
I would hear over and over was
to write what was in my
heart, to be authentic.
And what I had in my heart
was soccer, which I love.
I [inaudible] obsessive
person when it comes to soccer
or football, howe we call it.
[Inaudible] a lot of very
famous players, like [inaudible]
and Haley Maria [assumed
spelling],
all players that are all --
have one thing in
common, they're all men.
But I grew up watching
women playing and I --
and I was a fan of the sport
ever since I was a little girl.
And Furia is not only
about soccer, it's the story
of Camila, who has this
passion, but it's also told
with the backdrop of [inaudible]
that started in Latin America
in 2014, which was after I
had started writing Furia .
But this topic of
violence against women
and equal rights was the
conversation already happening
when I was a child in Argentina.
And I -- it's kind of sad
that these topics of violence
and inequality continued
into my adulthood,
and even though I started
writing this story a long time
ago, they're still very
valid themes, and very --
we see them in the
news every day.
And although the story takes
place in Rosario, Argentina,
Argentina doesn't have a
monopoly on this issues,
these are problems that
we see all over the world.
And yes, even here in the U.S.
And so although the journey
to publication for
Furia took a long time,
the topics were very
valid and timely still.
And so it also happened that the
market was a little more ready
to have a story with -- I know
we will talk about titles later,
but with a title in Spanish,
with a brown Argentine girl
on the cover, it was more
open to these kind of stories
than it was 10 years ago
when I started this journey.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Angela?
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Thank you, Ruth.
I just want to echo what
Yamile said for welcoming us
and for this honor, and to
be in such amazing company.
In terms of this
story at this time,
you had such a great
introduction to Digging
for Words , but I have
worked as a school librarian
since 2011, and at the time that
I began working on this story
in early 2017, I was working
in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
at Truman Middle School,
which has a well-recognized
dual education program.
The school population
is, you know,98% Latinx
and 100% free and reduced lunch.
And so much of my role was
outreach to communities,
and getting families to,
you know, use the library
and access the services
that we offered.
And getting kids
excited about reading,
which I think is what
Jose did in his community
in a really beautiful way.
So one fact that just
captured my attention
when I first encountered his
story was that Bogota is a city
of 10 million people
with 19 up libraries.
And there wasn't one
in La Nueva Gloria
until he started his
library from discarded books.
So opening his doors to
children was just something
that I really connected with.
And the -- the importance of
the work that so many of us do
as educators or librarians
or authors is getting children
excited about reading and books,
and the way that he did that
really captured my attention.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Thank you.
And you, Aida?
>> Aida Salazar:.
So Land of the Cranes
came during a time
when the Trump Administration
was recently installed,
and they were going
after sanctuary cities
and states pretty aggressively.
I live in California,
in Northern California.
And there were people
really fearful.
There was a kind of
a sense of terror
that my community
was experiencing.
And when I say, "my community",
I'm talking about
the undocumented
and formerly undocumented
community.
I was born in Mexico and brought
over when I was nine months old.
And I lived undocumented
my whole childhood,
until I was about 13 years old.
So our community was
-- was under siege.
They were picking up people
off the street on their way
to take their children
to school.
At one point ICE alerted the
mayor of Oakland, where I live,
that they were going to be doing
a massive raid in the Bay area,
in the area, in the East Bay.
And she turned around
and alerted the community
and it was all over the
Spanish language media,
and everybody was
really terrorized.
And despite the mayor's
warnings, which were later,
you know -- she was later
attacked for those warnings.
And despite those warnings, they
rounded up about 300 people,
undocumented people during
that day -- on that one day.
And they took them from work,
vending off the street,
whatever.
And there was also something
else that -- that was --
was happening, people
were getting chased.
There was a couple, a husband
and wife who were on their way,
they were farmworkers in the
Central Valley, on their way
to work to pick the field
-- pick in the fields.
And they were chased.
They crashed and
died in that crash.
They left behind six U.S.
born children, orphans.
And so these were the kind
of stories that were kind
of whirring around, and --
and it was in that environment
and because of my
history that I --
I wrote Land of the Cranes .
I wrote it in part
because of that --
that kind of sense of fear that
our communities were enduring,
but also because the muse is
what it is, and I'm artist
and a writer, and I opened
myself up one more --
one day as I was
studying other work.
And my pen just wrote the
word "deportation", and --
and like in the next hour,
hour and a half, I sat down
and wrote the first
30 pages of the story.
And it was as if this
child, this little spirit,
was there in the room
and was telling me
that she liked chocolate
milk and her --
that they were undocumented, and
that she had a papi and a mami.
And -- and Ms. Martinez
[assumed spelling], her teacher.
And so all of this kind
of came flooding out.
And within the -- by the end
of the week I had the
full synopsis written.
And I was just awash in tears
because the story was so tragic.
It was so -- it was not my
story, it was a collective story
from my community, but it
was something that needed
to be told for my community.
So it -- that was around
February of 2019, the book sold
on proposal, and 50 pages.
And -- and in June
of 2019 that's
when we saw the Zero Tolerance
Policy kind of displayed.
And all the world's eyes
turned their attention
to that moment --
to that tragedy.
And it was -- I only changed
a little bit of the story
in response to that, but more
than anything I was able to kind
of really take from the
incredible work of journalists
who were sharing
their stories --
more details about what it was
like to be inside detention.
So it was urgent.
It was urgent to tell.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. Right.
Very timely.
Thank you.
And now we'll turn to Raul.
Why your book?
Why now?
>> Raúl The Third:.
Well, honestly, I almost
feel like this kind
of book should've been around
for decades because my family,
on the border, and in Mexico,
and [inaudible] they've been
creating magic there for as far
as back I can remember, and as
far back as they can remember.
And as a little boy growing
up in both [inaudible]
and in El Paso, I was fascinated
by all things having to do
with cartoons and animation,
as well as the power
in pop culture symbology on
both sides, whether it was
in [inaudible] or
knock-off pinatas
that my Abuelita would make
to sell, whether it was E.T.
or whatever popular character,
my Abuelita would
make a pinata of it.
And so as an adult growing --
living most of my life
here in the Boston area,
I kept wondering why there
wasn't a cartoon universe
that was set in the magical
border town that I grew up in.
I had seen them in New
York, and California,
but never in El Paso
[inaudible].
So another thing is I grew --
living here in Boston I
was also an instructor.
I taught after school art
classes, museum classes.
And I would notice that kids
from incredibly rich cultures,
whenever we would begin a design
your own character exercise they
never created characters
that were a reflection
of their own stories,
their own histories,
or the way that they looked.
They always chose, you
know, the white superheroes,
and they began to
create white superheroes.
And so I realized that
I was very similar.
The characters that I created as
a kid were, like you mentioned,
Ruth, were simply copies
of preexisting characters.
And so in my 20s I started
to really create work
that was more a reflection
of myself
and my own personal
history and heritage.
And I -- with the !Vamos!
series I really just
wanted to create a world
that was a wonderful
introduction to all
of the cool things that
I have been inspired
by since I was a little kid.
And I will say that
creating each and every one
of these books is
not difficult for me
because the source material
is so incredibly rich
and fun, and exciting.
And the world of !Vamos!
is a -- not just a celebration,
but it's also a love letter
to the part of the
country that I grew up in.
And through it, and when I visit
schools, I was just in Midland,
Texas last week, I
want to show kids
that they should be incredibly
proud of where they're from
and the language that
their parents speak.
And also that there is value
in their personal stories,
and where they're from.
And so Little Lobo,
Kookie-Dookie [assumed
spelling],
Coco-Rocho [assumed spelling],
La Oink Oink, El Toro,
and everybody else
helps me show this.
Wait a second, was I
muted this whole time?
Darn it.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
I was, so I couldn't
come right back
in because I wasn't
sure when you were --
>> Raúl The Third:.
No, I could not have
done that again.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
You know -- and just the layers
of meaning in your images
and the cultural reference
you make for kids, you know,
who traveled [inaudible], you
know, with the [laughter] --
and just -- and the foods.
And it's just this rich,
joyous life that's been
there forever, like you said.
And yet there's this
wall that --
you know, this literal wall that
you cannot take away the life
that is borderless, so.
>> Raúl The Third:.
I'm really excited that my -- my
book, which comes out tomorrow.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Oh, we get to see it.
>> Raúl The Third:.
It's all about a celebration
in between two lands, !Vamos!
Let's Cross the Bridge .
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Oh, that's so exciting.
Yay. I'm going to have to
find it right away [laughter].
So now we want to know -- the
next thing that I'm curious
about is when you're
conceptualize --
all of you, when
you're conceptualizing
and drafting titles,
who do you envision?
Because I've read some titles
where I can see they're supposed
to be for children
who are Latino.
And my daughter, when she was
four, she's all grown up now,
I was reading her a
book with a little --
you know, a phrase in Spanish
and then there was a [inaudible]
and then there was a
translation in English.
And her four-year old
self was irate with me,
and she got off the couch and
she put her hands on her hips
and said, why did you do that?
And I said, do what?
And she said, tell
me what it means.
I said, I didn't do that, that's
the way the book was made.
And she just -- I can
still see this today
and it's 20 some years later.
She said, don't they know I
already know what that means?
And so I'm curious because,
you know, sometimes you have
to have a certain
audience, or your editor --
I don't know the
process for any of that.
But when you're conceptualizing,
who are your readers,
who are you talking
to when you're drawing
or when you're writing.
There's some books that
are so wonderful, as yours.
But I'm curious what goes on in
your head when you're thinking
about that reader or that viewer
of the visual narrative
out there.
So this time we will
start with Raul.
We'll go back to you
and start over again.
You get to keep going
[laughter].
>> Raúl The Third:.
Well, that is an
interesting question.
And obviously, you know, I
do have my readers in mind
when I am creating these books.
But simultaneously
I would say that one
of the more important
readers that I have in mind,
and this might be a little
selfish, but it's myself
as a little kid, and the kind of
books that I was searching for.
And I do remember specifically
going to a bookshelf or going
to a comic book stand hoping to
find this book about the area
that I was living in and hoping
to find it on the bookshelf.
And --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yes. Yeah.
>> Raúl The Third:.
-- that was kind of difficult.
And so this cartoon universe
that I have created is something
that I created as -- as --
not just to a younger version
of myself, but also as a gift
to young Latinx boys and girls
who are seeing themselves
in these drawings
and in these stories.
But also their parents who
are looking at these books
and understanding that these
books were made by someone
who is just like them.
And I also -- you know, and
one my deepest desires is,
as a kid there weren't
a lot of people like me
or my other amazing
colleagues onboard today,
that my parents could
look up to and say, well,
if they could do it,
then [inaudible] might
actually stand a chance
at becoming an artist.
And so becoming an artist was
never in their wheelhouse.
They never thought that I could
ever possibly make a living.
And so when I make
these books a !Vamos!
[foreign word] I do it so that
parents can also say, wow,
this guy's making
stories about what it's
like to be a Mexican
living on the [inaudible],
or maybe [foreign word] could
one day do the same exact thing.
So those are all little
items on my wish list.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
That's neat.
That's neat.
Touched my heart.
Thank you.
And Angela, what about you?
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
I think with Digging for Words
with this particular book,
it was my students
in Albuquerque.
And you know, loving that job
and knowing that for a lot
of them the school library was
their main point of access for,
you know, getting those stories,
where either they saw themselves
represented in certain books,
or if they just wanted, you
know, a complete escape,
to experience, you know, when
they dove into those pages.
So video footage
of Jose's library,
a lot of it is really wonderful
because it shows, you know,
children going into his library
and looking through the stacks
of books and pulling out
things they're excited about.
And I think for anybody who
works with children in that way,
like you know that moment where
that child finds that book
that they want to take
home and they want to read.
And so I think that connection
between seeing footage
of children in Bogota, in
his library, and then --
and doing that as a career,
I just -- I wanted --
I had that same excitement
reflected
in seeing students
find that book.
And so I had those
students in mind in terms
of like showing what that
space means to people
and the possibilities
that are there.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
What about you, Aida?
>> Aida Salazar:.
So the title for Land
of the Cranes is a direct
translation of the word Aztlan.
And Aztlan means
land of the cranes,
but it's also the mythological
homeland of the Aztecs
and the Machika [assumed
spelling] people.
And it's a myth that said
that the Aztecs descended
from a place in the southwestern
United States called Aztlan,
land of the cranes.
And that they were
to travel South
until they saw an eagle
devouring a [inaudible]
on a cactus, where they
found their great city
of [foreign word].
The myth says that one day the
people would return to Aztlan
to live among the cranes.
So it's a metaphor,
you know, it's --
the whole myth is very
argued by historians
and linguists and activists.
But it -- it, to me, was
such a perfect metaphor
to talk about migration.
To talk about what it is when
we cage people for trying to do,
as all migratory animals and
creatures on this planet do,
which is looking for safety,
look out for their wellbeing,
for shelter, for
food, for safety.
So it just -- it really
made it so that I could talk
about this very difficult
and very tragic
and barbaric thing happening in
the world, the criminalization
of people who migrate, and the
caging of people who migrate
in a way that was beautiful
and understandable to children.
And, you know, the
Latin American --
I'm sorry, the Puerto Rican
poet, Piri Thomas, said,
"Every child is born a poet."
And when I write in
poetry for readers --
all readers, mostly Latinx
children, I write and --
I'm kind of writing to that
sensibility about that them,
that they are poets and
they understand the world
in these very strange
and beautiful ways,
and they express themselves in
language that's very creative
and very fresh and
new, and inventive.
And so I'm kind of trying to
appeal to that sensibility
about them and allow
them to make --
allow them to understand really
difficult concepts, and --
real world concepts in
a way that is not going
to turn them off, but really
kind of allow them to get it.
So it's the power
of metaphor, right?
So [inaudible] definitely that's
what's at the center of it.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Poetry, too.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you.
Yamile?
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Well, like -- I'm
going to echo my --
their words, because at first
my target audience was the child
that I was a long time ago.
I grew up in Argentina, so like
a lot of Latina authors who grew
up in the -- were born or
grew up in the United States,
I did see myself in the art
produced by my country people.
Argentina has a very rich
tradition of literature,
children's literature
especially.
And I grew up reading the
words of [foreign word] authors
who are not even translated
into English, sadly,
but they're well-known
all over Latin America,
and who have made their mark
on every little nursery
aged child knows the songs
of [foreign word], so I
was very inspired by them.
But although I did
see my culture,
I also didn't see a part
of my identity in the books
that I read because sometimes
the stories that I was exposed
to showed a type of society that
was very different from mine.
I grew up in a very humble home.
And the media that we get
from Argentina sometimes
is the white European part
of the population.
So I wanted to show in
Furia what rich heritage my
country has.
Like Camila, my character,
I come from a multicultural,
multiracial family
with branches and roots
from all over the world.
My name is Arabic said
with a Spanish accent.
I have a great-grandmother
who was from Yugoslavia,
and she immigrated to Argentina
with an Italian passport.
So I wanted to show that it's
not as we see it sometimes
on TV, on the media that we get.
And then my [inaudible] evolved
to want to show my children
that I -- I mentioned
that they were very little
when I started writing, and
one of them didn't even exist
by then, my little one.
And so I wanted to show not
only the hard parts of growing
up in [inaudible] Argentina,
but also the beauty of it.
And I understood that it was
a very fine line to walk,
I didn't want to paint the
place that I love so much
in rose-colored -- you know,
show it through rose-colored
glasses,
but show the reality
of what it was.
And I was conscious all the
time that I was telling a story
in a language that
is not the language
that in which I grew up.
And so I had to write
in English and trying
to give the impression
that everybody
in my story was speaking
Spanish.
So when I heard the news
that Furia was going
to be translated into
Spanish, that was perhaps one
of the greatest moments of life,
even more than when I found
that it was finally
going to be published,
because my one target
audience, which is a girl
from a [inaudible],
would be able
to read the book in Spanish.
So I believe that
through different parts
of the process the
target audience
in my mind kept changing, but
the main thing is not only
for girls to read Furia
and have an understanding
of what it's like to want to
do something that is forbidden
by society or your family,
but also wanted to show men
and boys what it's like
to be a girl growing up --
a Latina girl growing
up in this world.
And I've been very heartened
and touched and moved
by the messages that I've
received from the readers.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Have you gone back and
seen if your book is
on the shelves [inaudible]
or some
of the other bookstores yet?
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
I have not been in Argentina --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
I would like to see
it up there on the --
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
I know [inaudible] my most
favorite places in the world.
But I did go to Argentina
for the last time in December
of 2019, when I was working
[inaudible] of Furia .
And so my book was due for
final edits about a week
after I came back home,
and so I poured all
of the fresh experiences that
I had into that last polish.
And hopefully, hopefully
soon I'll get
to go back and see it there.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I hope it takes
place [inaudible]
that sometimes creeps
across many --
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes. Yes. No, and [inaudible] I
was saying that sometimes a lot
of the literature -- I mean,
Argentina has a rich tradition
of literature, but when I
go and look at the shelves,
I see a lot of translated
works from the United States,
which is awesome,
but [inaudible]
of course the super
bestsellers and then the work
that gets produced, it's kind
of like a copy of those stories
that come from the U.S. instead
of being original stories
that show what it's like
to grow up in Argentina.
And so I know there --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes. I know there are authors
who are doing the
work, but it's hard.
It's hard to --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
-- share the stories.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yes. Well, thank you.
So I'd like to hear more
about your research process
as you were writing or
illustrating this title.
And so Aida, since you've
just been sharing, can you --
or Aida, can you share
for us first your --
you said it came to you.
So did you have to do any
sort of other type of research
when you were writing?
Youve already described
your process a little bit.
>> Aida Salazar:.
Mm-hmm. Well, yeah.
Absolutely.
I mean, I wrote -- I used --
I mentioned earlier that
I used the information
that was gathered
by the journalists.
I spoke to immigration
attorneys,
to immigration journalists.
And there a few immigration
journalists who --
who are very conscientious
of not creating trauma porn
as they call it, you
know, and showing the --
the migrant experience is
just one of victimhood.
And so I only used their working
because they had this
consciousness about making sure
that people were shown
with dignity and agency.
So -- but I didn't
interview any children myself
because the trauma
was so severe.
And I'm not a trained therapist,
and I didn't feel qualified,
and I didn't feel, you know,
right interviewing children
to retraumatize or
to talk to them
about their experiences,
so I didn't.
But I didn't have to go very far
to learn what it was like to be
in detention from my own family,
because I have family members
who have been deported.
I have family members
who crossed the border
and were never heard from again.
I -- you know, I know what
it's like to cross the border
as somebody who's undocumented.
And not -- not telling the
truth about what my status us.
So the fear and the living in
the shadows and that whole part
of being [inaudible]
was lived in many ways.
But being inside a
detention center, no.
And I would say, also, like so
inside the detention [inaudible]
they get sick, and my mom
was dying at the time.
She was dying -- battling
cancer, and so all of that kind
of loss and longing for
mother and knowing that --
that, you know, there was going
to be a separation was really --
was an emotional kind of like --
it was an emotional truth that
I was speaking to in the book.
So research from
the heart and --
and a little bit on the outside.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. Right.
Let's tell truth, right?
Yeah. Tell truth.
Thank you.
Raul, I saw that you did
some art in restaurants?
>> Raúl The Third:.
Yes, that is correct.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Is that part of your research
process every time, or is --
>> Raúl The Third:.
Well, no, but -- but, you know,
I am a self-taught artist,
and so a lot of the ways
that I make [inaudible]
into the art world and in
the publishing world happened
in maybe not a way
that a trained artist
or author might make it.
And so I started out here in
the Boston area just trying
to figure out a way
to make a living.
And one thing that I did, and my
dad was a door-to-door salesman,
and so I picked up a
lot of tips from him.
And obviously he would
tell me to knock on doors,
and so I remember being
that I was Mexican,
I would go to Mexican
restaurants in the south end
of Boston and then Somerville,
and Cambridge, Brookline.
And I would look at their
menu and I would say, hey,
I can draw a much
better menu for you.
And so there's about five or
six restaurants in the area --
in the Boston area that not
just showcase my menu designs,
but also later went to
designing the entire visual look
of a restaurant.
So if you come to Boston, you'll
go to the Pink [inaudible] bars
and to this day I
can still go in --
now, you know, I can still
go in and get free food.
So it's pretty fantastic.
And so for research for !Vamos!
is interesting.
And I love doing the
research because the !Vamos!
books are, at least the
first three, have been taken
from very close personal
experiences.
So the first book, !Vamos!
Let's Go to the Market ,
is basically a story about me
and my brothers visiting
[foreign word].
And we went to the [foreign
word] because my mom
and her family moved
from [foreign word]
and they helped found
the [foreign word].
They, you know, had
booths and everyone
in the family sold
something different.
And so the first
book is all about all
of the different [foreign
word] that my family sells.
Everything from [foreign
word] to [foreign word],
all sorts of fun stuff.
Pinata, [foreign word],
all sorts of, you know,
things that I knew would be
just very visually captivating.
And for some research, since
I had been away for 20 years,
I had my prima, and my
entire family's still there,
send me tons of pictures
of all of the merchandise
that they were still selling,
and believe it or not,
it's pretty much the same
stuff, except that pinatas,
instead of E.T., the
extraterrestrial,
it's SpongeBob or, you
know, stuff like that.
And as for !Vamos!
Let's Go Eat , it's as simple
as just going back home and,
one, eating my mom's amazing
cooking, as well as going
to the [foreign word] and
visiting the basement,
and going to the [foreign
word] and you name it,
that was a really fun
part of the research.
And, of course, delving
in just a little deeper
to understand how a food truck
works, because there's a lot
of food trucks in this book, and
also ingredients that are used
in preparation of
these delicious plates.
But simultaneously
there's one booth that --
one food maker that I really
love and it's based on a trip
that I made to Los Angeles, and
I -- my friend, Mario Ybarra,
from Los Angeles is --
he's an amazing artist
and has a great art center
called Slanguage in L.A.,
and he took me on what he
called the ghetto tour of L.A.,
and then he took me
-- he's like, dude,
you got to try these, and
I'd never had them before.
But it was an amazing -- it was
a Korean taco, and it was made
by Chef Roy Joy [assumed
spelling] I believe his name
was, [foreign word].
But what I loved about it and
why I included it in this book,
along with [foreign word],
because I'd never had those
either, because those are
from El Salvador, was how just
naturally we all influence
each other.
And we all bring
something the to the table.
And through that we create
something very beautiful
and in this case quite tasty.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Good. Thank you.
Let's see, who is
next on my list?
Oh, I lost my space,
I was [inaudible].
Yamile, I think [inaudible]
you, what is your process
to write or illustrate?
I know you talked about
writing during naptimes.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes. Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
So [inaudible] children might
be [inaudible] naptimes,
has that changed or are they
still in naptimes [laughter]?
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
No. No. My youngest is
nine-years old, so no.
The school time is my
sacred writing time.
I cannot do the late shifts
anymore with teenagers
that have to get up so early.
But like I research for
this book for my whole life.
I remember being
a very young child
and making the conscious
decision of learning the rules
of football and soccer
because I knew even --
I couldn't have been
older than 10 years old,
I knew that if I
didn't like it was going
to be miserable all my
life because everything
in my family revolved
around football and soccer.
And so I -- I'm obsessive,
like I said, about the sport.
I've learned about the history
of it, with the magic and --
of the internet now I can read
archived articles from the women
who played the first World
Cup in Mexico in 1971,
the [foreign word] who were
the pioneers of the sport.
And the people of their
generation made it possible
for the U.S. national team today
to have all these championships
and Olympic medals.
And I read a book
that it was so --
I mean, it's amazing
how synchronicity works,
because as I was doing my
revisions of Furia I came
across a book called Futbolera:
A History of Women and Sports
in Latin America by Brenda
Elsey and Joshua Nadel.
And it talks about
how the sport evolved
in Latin America,
and what it means.
And I learned how women -- how
it was illegal even 50 years ago
for women to play soccer
in Brazil and Argentina.
And they would go to jail,
and they were only relegated
to playing in the circus dressed
as men, or like I did go in a --
only with my family
or my friends.
So also part of my research
was playing soccer myself.
I never got to play in a
team, but every time I go back
to Argentina I get together with
my high school friends that went
to the same school all
my life, and these girls,
these women now, middle-aged
women, and we get together --
we got together every time
I've been back to play.
And of course the body can't do
what it could do 20 years ago,
but we still have fun together.
And I follow the sport,
and I follow the --
now something that is amazing
to me growing up I didn't know
about this, [foreign word], I
learned their names later on.
But now the names of the
women who are the faces
of women's soccer are
pretty much household names,
everybody knows about Alex
Morgan, and Meg Rapinoe,
and even players
from other countries,
and that was not something
that was common knowledge
when I was growing up.
So it always makes me
excited for the future to know
that things have changed so
much in these last few years,
and I'm excited to see
what the future will be
like for the next generations.
And so the research was fun.
It was sometimes heartbreaking
when I had to go and look
into the names of the girls
and women who disappear.
And -- but it was
also rewarding to know
that they're not forgotten.
That even, not only my
book, that people still know
about this girl, someone
who had disappeared
and have marked [inaudible]
society.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. Right.
Right. During that
difficult time.
Just to mention, Meg
Rapinoe has an autobiography
out this year for --
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
-- [inaudible].
So --
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Have you seen it?
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Good [laughter].
And Angela, what
are your thoughts?
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Yeah. Well, I also need
to mention that Roy Choi,
who makes the Korean tacos,
has a picture book biography,
I think it's called
Street Food Remix .
Yeah. That's --
>> Raúl The Third:.
And that's [inaudible]
graffiti artist named Man One
[assumed spelling].
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Yes. Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. Is that with the Readers
to Eaters publishing
company, I think?
Yeah. Yeah.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
I don't remember the
publishing company.
But yeah, picture book
biographies, you know,
it's a [inaudible] where
you want to make sure
that you're honoring the person
and telling their story
accurately, and also dealing
with some limitations in
terms of research sometimes.
So I first encountered
Jose's story
through like a three-minute
video on social media,
which cannot give you
a complete picture
of someone's life
or their project.
And that video was
produced by AJ+,
which is the social
media arm of Al Jazeera.
So thankfully that
helped me track back
to a [inaudible]
article in Al Jazeera
by a journalist named Simitri
Daniel [assumed spelling],
who was [inaudible] fellow in
Columbia doing journalistic work
in Columbia and covered
Jose and his library
in a very detailed article.
And from there it was really
important to me to research
in both English and Spanish,
and to go to the earliest
articles [inaudible] major
newspaper in Bogota and
read the earliest coverage
of why he started it and
what it meant to people
in his community, and to
him to have that space.
And thankfully for you two,
which is an amazing resource
in terms of finding, you know,
video footage of news interviews
and things like that,
and watching, you know,
every interview he gave
with local news sources.
And then I'm really, really
grateful to Dr. Kristina Lyons,
who's a Latin American studies
and anthropology professor,
who does a lot of work
in Columbia communities
because she was able
to connect Jose and I
so that he could read a draft
of the story before I started
querying agents and sending it
out so that, you know, he
could see how the story was
being conveyed.
And then I had to make the
decision in terms of --
of feeling that, you know,
the audience was children
and those children
in his library were
such an important part
of the story to create
that second invented
character, the child Jose
in the book is not, you know,
one specific character
that's true life,
it's more a combination
of, you know, of any child
who could enter his library.
But that character needed
to be there in order
to make the story
accessible to children,
I guess is what I would say.
So making those kind of craft
decisions while doing a research
was kind of a balancing act.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. But what [inaudible]
for kids that they can look at
and say, oh, two perspectives
going on here, you know,
whether in a visual
narrative, like Raul does,
or in a written narrative,
so that's really neat.
Thank you.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Yeah. You're welcome.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah. So my next
question is, and I'm going
to switch it a little bit, the
original that you received was,
what part of the story,
if any, was most difficult
to write and/or illustrate
and why?
And if you feel like you
might've already touched
on that, you might
want to change it
to what was most fun as well.
Because, you know, even though
it's an emotional topic,
there's something about, you
know, getting it out there and,
I don't know, besides seeing it
in print [laughter], you know,
that's always the fun part.
But the laborious part, what
might've been fun for you
or what was difficult?
And so I'll start with Yamile.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes. The most difficult part
of writing Furia was
the ending for me.
Like the climax, when Camila
decides to go to the march
because the sister of one
of the girls from the team,
the little sister went
missing and then she was found,
and so she joins this march.
And it was very emotional for me
to get myself into that moment
because I had been to these
marches, and I know sometimes
when we see the news,
they're just one more person
that goes missing, but this
person meant something --
meant the world for a family.
And all the feelings
that just bubble
to the surface [inaudible].
I wanted to do it justice and
also not do it in a way that was
like [inaudible] pain porn .
I wanted to create consciousness
that this is not a spectacle.
But the most joyful parts of
the book for me were the parts
when she gets to play.
And she gets to do
what she loves,
like her coach says,
with no expectations.
And she just does what she
does best because she loves it.
And she has her community,
and she feels invincible.
And also the parts with the love
interest, Diego, because I felt
like -- like you read
in the little excerpt
in your introduction, that joy
and love can be revolutionary
concepts
in our community sometimes.
And Camila, who grows up in
a very harsh environment,
for her to find somebody
who really loves her
and respects her and supports
her dreams, that's a treasure
that she found -- that she was
lucky enough to find in life.
So I had a lot of fun
writing the love story
and writing about the soccer.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Did you dream you were
playing soccer at night ever?
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes. All the time.
All the time.
I --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
You [inaudible] in it.
Yeah.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
I bet. I bet.
That's really fun.
Thank you so much.
And Angela, what about you?
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
I'm going to say that
the most fun piece
and the most challenging
piece are the same piece.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Okay.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Yeah. But it was -- I think
the fun was in the process.
So when Digging for Words
was acquired and Ann Kelley,
my editor at Random House, and
I were going through revisions,
one of the things that she
requested is, you know,
can you show a little bit more
about books that were meaningful
for Jose and that experience.
And at first I was not
really sure how to do
that without it sounding like
a book report, or, you know,
the novels that were most
meaningful for him were pretty,
you know, adult works
of heavy literature.
So Ann [inaudible]
One Hundred Years
of Solitude and it
was really difficult
to wrap my head around at first.
And then I realized,
because I'm an author,
I'm not author/illustrator
like Raul, that you need room
for your illustrator, and
you just show the experience
of reading, but you don't need
to tell every single thing
about those books that
were meaningful to him.
So Paola did such a beautiful
job of, you know, taking one
or two details in a sentence
and for One Hundred Years
of Solitude she has Gabriel
Garcia Marquez [assumed
spelling] yellow
butterflies all over the page,
which is something I
never would've imagined,
because she's the visual
thinker, and the artist.
Or, you know, showing the scenes
from [inaudible] surrounding
Jose as he's leaning
against a garbage can with
a stack of books, reading,
and the cover in her
illustration is the real cover
of the very first book he found.
So the -- findings those
details from my research
and sharing them
and weaving them in,
the collaborative process
with an illustrator is just
so much fun once you
realize how to get there.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
And the illustrations in
that book are magnificent.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
She did an incredible job.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
I was sorry she couldn't
be here today.
So yeah. Thank you for
sharing a little bit about her.
I was going to ask you
that at the beginning,
if you knew anything, to share
that part too, so
thank you so much.
And let's see.
And Raul, you haven't
shared yet.
Would you share with us?
>> Raúl The Third:.
Well it's funny because
since !Vamos!
Let's Go Eat , I have written
and illustrated five books
and just illustrated two more,
so that's a total of seven
since then, so it's kind of hard
to like remember exactly
[laughter] what I was going
through at the time.
But I will say that I mainly
have fun more than I --
you know, than I struggle with
a creation of these books.
But one thing that I
loved about !Vamos!
Let's Go Eat that was
different than !Vamos!
Let's Go to the Market is
that when I started
working on !Vamos!
Let's Go eat I knew that
the series had expanded
from just two books
all the way up to 10.
And so that meant that I
could have a great time really
exploring the personalities of
some of the characters and bring
out characters that I wanted
to make the flagship
characters in the series.
And also put a spotlight on
characters that were going
to be spinning off
into their own titles
as the world of !Vamos!
expanded. And so it was a lot
of fun to just kind of think
about the entirety of
the world of !Vamos!
as I worked on this
one particular volume.
So yeah, it was fun.
And, you know, it's
always -- it always --
it is obviously always
challenging because, you know,
any drawing, a spread could
take anywhere from 24 hours
to 40 hours to complete.
And so it does take
a lot of focus.
But it's something that
I've been training to do
since I was a little
kid, so it's fun.
I really enjoy it.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah, it's like creating --
you know, fantasy writers have
to create the back
story, and the lighting,
and where everything comes from,
and to think about you were able
to create this, I
mean, whole world --
>> Raúl The Third:.
Yeah.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
-- of -- that's real
and yet not.
That's --
>> Raúl The Third:.
Yeah. And I -- and
also during the making
of book number two I also
found out that we were going
to be adapting it into
a television series,
and so it added an extra
layer of -- of development.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. Because then you have
to [inaudible] that's
a different --
that's sort of a 3D
thing [laughter],
kind of blows my mind a little
bit to think about today.
But that's exciting.
So you're creating --
>> Raúl The Third:.
Yeah.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
-- within a [inaudible]
sort of 3D I guess?
>> Raúl The Third:.
Yeah.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah. Oh, that's neat.
Congratulations,
that's exciting.
That's very exciting.
And what about you?
>> Aida Salazar:.
Wow. Well, it's a
difficult story.
It was a -- so difficult
to write.
As I mentioned earlier, I
cried through a lot of it.
It was what kind of helped
me regulate my emotions
as I was drafting it.
My husband would
walk into the room,
and he'd see me just
like just bawling.
And he'd say, what?
What happened?
I'm like, [foreign word], it's,
you know, this is what happening
at this moment for her.
And because my mom was sick,
the moment when her mother
is having preterm labor
and is taken away,
that moment was really,
really difficult to write.
And the moments when, you know,
her best friend inside the
detention center confides in her
that she's been molested,
that was also a very
difficult passage to write.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
I can imagine because the best
friend was relating something
that [inaudible] might not have
even completely understood.
>> Aida Salazar:.
Mm-hmm.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
And that to do that and the way
you did it, I mean, literary,
it was beautiful, the reality
of it wasn't, you know.
I'm sorry to interrupt,
I just --
>> Aida Salazar:.
Yeah.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah.
>> Aida Salazar:.
Yeah, that was a very --
I had to be really careful
about how that was delivered.
And because I think
as children's book
authors we have this kind
of unspoken Hippocratic
Oath to do no harm.
And while it's important to
point to the wound and the truth
of that wound, it's also
important to take care
of our readers and to make sure
that we're telling the truth
without triggering or
creating further harm.
So that was I think one
of the most difficult.
And then one of the kind
of most healing moments was
when [inaudible], the little
girl receives a package
of drawings and poems from
her father, picture poems
from her father, and a letter.
And every time I read
that letter, even now,
I start to cry, and I'm
not crying because --
I mean, it's painful, and
it was painful to write,
but I cry because
it was a moment
of healing for my character.
And it kind of really gets
to the heart of so many --
why so many parents risk that --
take that risk to
come to a new country
with their small children,
and it explains the
fight for freedom.
And the struggle for freedom.
And so that was like
very joyful.
But I'll end by saying that the
most wonderful poem to write
in the entire book was this
poem called [foreign word].
And Betita is waking
up in East L.A.,
her bedroom is a converted
laundry room, and her dad's put
up Christmas lights in there.
And, you know, it's
like a little duplex.
And she gets up and her
mom's making breakfast,
and the [inaudible] are coming,
the music's coming
in from outside.
The neighborhood is
popping car wash rituals,
all sorts of things are
happening in the neighborhood
and her parents start
dancing [inaudible].
And she gets pulled
into the dance,
and she's putting her face
on her momma's [foreign
word], and they're dancing.
And it's just in the kitchen,
which was one of like --
of something that I remember
experiencing as a child,
dancing between my parents
while they danced [inaudible].
So very joyful and very,
very satisfying to write.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Thank you.
That was beautiful.
We have a few questions in the
chat, so I do want to mention --
or in the Q&A, to
our participants,
in a few minutes here we will be
taking some of your questions,
and so do put them in the chat
so we can have our
panelists speak directly
to what you're also interested
in that isn't being covered,
or you'd like to
know more about.
Going back to the questions,
could you describe --
I know Raul, that
you're writing --
you know, many of you the books
might be autobiographical,
but is there a specific
character in your book,
may not be the primary
character,
but one that resonates
most for you?
And why might that be?
And we'll start with -- some
of you had fewer characters
than others, but we'll
start there, and if you kind
of want to, you know, spiral off
onto another topic
you're interested in,
feel free to do so.
We'll start there with Angela.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Yeah. I don't think
mine will be very long
because I think I've kind
of already touched on it.
But I think what really
resonated [inaudible] book
access that goal of
getting books to children.
And I'm going to say that
I resonated a little bit
with both the real
Jose and invented Jose
and just loving stories
and wanting
to share them with other people.
But --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
That's a librarian, of course.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Yeah. That's --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Librarian --
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
I think that's --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
-- [inaudible] the
passion, the --
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
-- [inaudible] young
adult librarians,
where would we be
without people?
In my own life I had a librarian
that meant a great deal, so yes.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
I think a lot of us do.
Yeah.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
Definitely.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
I [inaudible].
Thank you.
And what about you, Aida?
>> Aida Salazar:.
Can you repeat the question?
I --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Sure.
>> Aida Salazar:.
-- read the Q&A and
I wasn't sure
if it was addressing
one of these.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yeah. Which of the characters
resonated most with you?
>> Aida Salazar:.
Okay. Okay.
Yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Either now -- because
sometimes you're writing a child
but really you night be
somebody else in the --
you know, does any of them
resonate with you the most?
>> Aida Salazar:.
Yeah. Well, I think I'm a
little bit of everybody.
Betita is a poet,
so I'm definitely,
you know, resonate with that.
Her mother is a teacher,
and as you mentioned,
I homeschooled my children,
and through the arts,
I used the arts integration
as a way to teach them.
The father is a dreamer
and believes in [inaudible]
and that's pretty much --
not pretty much, but it is --
that resonates with me.
And there is this character,
Yellow Hair [assumed spelling],
who is Latina, but she dyes
her hair orange or yellow,
and she kind of betrays -- she's
a guard, she's a prison guards,
and she betrays the community.
And that I think is also
me in some ways, you know,
as I check my privileges,
being able to be an educated --
being able to be documented, not
always being the most allegiance
with my community, you
know, for whatever reason,
not because I don't want to,
but because my privileges
that [inaudible] me
from my community.
So I'm a little bit of
everything in that book.
Yeah.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
That's neat.
That's really neat.
And what about you, Yamile?
I'm saying your name
wrong, I know I am.
Yamile.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yamile. Yamile.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Oh, I am saying it okay, then.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
You're saying it
[inaudible] in there, yes.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
I got it [laughter].
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Very much like I said, I'm
a little bit of everybody.
Of course I love soccer, I
share that passion with Camila.
But I grew up in very
different circumstances,
although I set the book in a
real neighborhood of housing --
of government housing [foreign
word] it's the same place
where I grew up.
But our families were
very, very different.
I also did not ever date a
professional soccer player,
but in every other way,
her passion for learning
and for wanting to break the
cycle in which many of the women
of her family had been
trapped in for generations.
But it's very true, and
that was all [inaudible]
from true emotions and
feelings that I had.
But also I want to believe
that I would've been somebody
in Camila's team with a
little -- like Aida also said,
a little more privileges.
I did have a very supportive
mother, who always believed
in my dreams, and even
allowed me to go to school
in the United States by
myself when I was 19.
My daughter is 19, I would not
let her go to another country
in which she knows nobody, but
I'm grateful that my mom let me,
and she really [inaudible] me.
But if there is one person
in which I drew the most
to create Camila was my mom.
She -- she was not a soccer
player, but she loved soccer.
And like Camila, she
taught at an orphanage.
And she was very
revolutionary in her thoughts.
She kept her maiden
name all her life.
And even though she married
when she was very, very young.
And so I feel like there's
a little bit of everybody
that I planted in
all the characters.
Perhaps the one that I feel
like I resonate the most is
the little girls at the end
of the book that go and cheer
for their team at the stadium
and they [inaudible] --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Yes. Yes.
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
I've been there.
I'm not ashamed to be a fan girl
when I see my favorite players.
And if I ever saw my greatest
idols I think I would faint
even [laughter].
I'm not ashamed to say that.
So I think I resonate a lot
with them just to see your --
these idols in real life
is a wonderful experience.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Okay. That's great.
Thank you.
And Raul, what about you?
You have a lot of
characters in your book.
>> Raúl The Third:.
Yeah, I do.
I have a lot of characters.
You know what I love about
making these books is
like how some of these
characters like remind me
of people that I've
known in the past.
So for instance, there's this
character who keeps showing
up in each and every
one of the books,
and his name is Papetro
[assumed spelling].
And he's like this guy who walks
around with a staff and hanging
from the staff are puppets.
And when I was a little
kid growing up we would go
to the [foreign word]
and I would sit
at my Abuelita's [foreign word]
and this little old man would
hobble by and he would come in
and he would wear layers
of clothing [foreign word],
he had a hat, he had
[foreign word] on.
And he would come in with
his staff and hanging
from the staff were
all sorts of puppets.
And I remember he would try --
he would sell his puppets
outside of the [foreign word],
but then at the end of the
day, when he had leftovers,
he would come into my Abuelita's
[foreign word] and try
to sell her his remainders.
And he always held a
handkerchief to his mouth,
and he would ask -- you
know, he'd start to negotiate
with my Abuelita, and
they'd go back and forth.
And when he would
remove the handkerchief,
he had this gigantic piece of
skin missing from his cheek,
so you could see all
of his back teeth.
And I remember once upon a
time when I was an adult here
in Boston, he was one of the
first characters that I drew.
And so I drew him with his --
with his cane and his puppets,
and the way he dressed,
and the piece
of skin missing from his cheek.
And I sent it to my mom,
and I was like, oh, yeah,
[speaking in foreign language].
And my mom was like, oh,
my God, I haven't thought
about him for decades.
And she's all, let me ask
you [foreign word] and --
my grandma and grandpa
had passed away.
Let me ask them if
they remember.
And immediately everybody
recognized who he was,
and nobody had thought of
him for 20 or 30 years,
and so they couldn't
remember his name.
And unfortunately, this was
before anyone had a phone,
there were no pictures
that existed of him.
So suddenly it was like he
was born again in these books.
And it made me really think
that I like to make artwork
for perhaps people who have
never considered themselves --
never considered that they could
possibly ever be characters
in a fictional work of art, or
seen themselves in works of art.
So I'm not sure if I
answered the question,
those are the types
of characters that I
like to create our -- they
are cartoons characters,
but they are also people
who really helped define
and shape my imagination
as an artist today.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Thank you.
I'm going to move into
the question and answers
from those viewing today.
And the first one is -- it says,
a couple of panelists mentioned
trauma porn or pain porn,
and this implicit victimization
associated with people
in the stories, and
the question is,
how in a predominantly white
world conservative area,
what sort of language
and message could be used
to best serve a younger
population
without regular exposure
to difference?
So possibly -- I'm assuming
maybe that the use of the word
"porn", not that we
would use that probably
with children, you know?
I see your -- but how
could this be expressed
in a way maybe kids
could understand?
And just who wants to share.
>> Aida Salazar:.
Well, I'd like to speak to that.
You know, the writing of --
or the revision of Land
of the Cranes was written
with an eye to do that.
So this is written
nine-year-old's
to understand a very difficult
and complex situation.
And so I wrote it with this
consciousness to show --
give this main character
agency so that she knew
that through poetry and
visual arts she could voice
and not be a victim,
but an agent of change.
And so -- so when you read
the story in white spaces,
predominantly white spaces,
I would lean into that.
I would lean into the
example that Betita shows us,
that she is not just a victim,
but an agent of change herself.
And that if she, in
her most difficult
and darkest hour can find a way
through the arts to lift herself
up and rise -- and raise her
voice, then they can too.
So that was my attempt.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. Right.
That makes sense.
Does anyone else have a thought?
>> Yamile Saied Méndez:.
Yeah. Sometimes I think we look
too much into the differences.
But the experiences that
children from communities,
you know, the Latino
community, Black community,
Native American, they're
children, they're just children.
And if we just look for
the similarities instead
of [inaudible], instead of
reading to find offense.
I've heard people say, oh, if we
share these books with children
from rural, you know,
conservative communities,
if we [inaudible] a whole other,
you know, topic of conversation
in that phrase alone,
then Caucasian children
will feel bad.
But what if we just read with --
with an intention
to grow compassion
and grow bridges instead
of walls to divide us.
There's also a misconception
that we don't exist
in these rural communities,
and we do.
We're here.
I live in a very
rural community,
and we are participants
of this community,
and we're as much
members of this society
as everybody else that's here.
And so I think we just need to
perhaps change our point of view
to be really inclusive
instead of, you know,
looking for these divisions.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. I agree.
Anyone else?
And I guess I would also
add on that the books,
even they can be windows.
And where you can also
see yourself in the child,
maybe the child is a poet,
you're a poet, you know?
And to kind of allow
you to enter a world
where the child is a child like
you, and has feelings like you,
and to better understand that
author and the relationship.
Because you are an
other to someone else.
So yeah, you know, I agree.
Let's see.
Someone entered late, but
they're really interested in --
It's a really long question.
The questions -- it's
sort of a vague question
about the relationship between
the writing and the illustrating
as the two exist
together in the book.
So some of you have books with
smaller illustrations or none,
and some of you, you know,
the illustrations have a visual
narrative that expands on.
And so she just wants to
know a bit more about how
that relationship works
or how it comes about.
>> Angela Burke Kunkel:.
I can speak to that a little
bit as someone who write
but doesn't illustrate,
and Digging
for Words is a picture book.
I think it's important to
leave space for the artwork,
which tells, you know,
half the story if not more,
because that's what
children are looking
at as we're sharing
those books with them.
And I think it's
incredibly important that --
Paola Escobar is
Columbian and is from --
lives in Bogota and
brought that --
all of those wonderful
details in her illustrations
to really reflect [inaudible].
And I think you write with the
story in mind, and I think many
of us picture the story
in our head, but you give
up that control to
honor the illustrator
and their vision
and their talent.
And so I would say, if you're
at the early phases of writing,
it's okay not to worry
about it and just
to tell the story
the best you can.
Because my favorite
parts of Digging
for Words are the
collaborative pieces
that I couldn't have predicted
what they would've turned
out like.
So --
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Raul, I know you've
illustrated for others
in the Lowriders series,
do you have anything
to say along those lines?
>> Raúl The Third:.
Well, it is a -- it is
a collaborative process.
I've been really fortunate
in that a lot of the works
that I have created with
collaborators, Cathy Camper
and -- specifically Cathy
Camper and Jason Reynolds,
these were projects that we
created outside of the system.
And so I was a big part of
conceptualizing the visual look
for both of these series.
And so in a sense as an
illustrator for, you know,
these graphic novels, I almost
feel like I am a director
in that I am directing
performances
from the characters,
based on the dialogue
that the storyteller
has given me.
And then when it comes
to the collaboration
within a picture
book, what I love --
I worked with Matthew Ringler
recently on Strollercoaster ,
is -- the spareness of the text
and how it really left it open
to mine and my collaborator,
Elaine Bay's imagination to fill
in the blanks with,
you know, what we ended
up putting on the page.
And like Angela as just
saying, it's probably best not
to worry too much about what
the final image is going to be
because when you get to the
point of creating the book,
either an editor or the author
themselves has chosen the
illustrator because they want
to work with them as opposed
to look over their shoulder as
they create the work of art.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right.
>> Raúl The Third:.
Which I don't want.
>> Ruth E. Quiroa:.
Right. No.
No [laughter].
I see that we're
sitting right at 6:30 --
or my time is 6:32 [laughter].
It's 7:32 on the East Coast,
and we're supposed to be ending,
and we have -- yes, it's
time to go to bed for some
of you, it's quite late.
I appreciate the time
you've taken today.
And not only that, but
the giving of your hearts,
and your joy, and
your deep research,
and napping with your children
[laughter] while you write,
and we do look forward to
many more of these books.
There was a question that I
think I'll sort of end with,
how do preserve the interest in
children for their rich culture
when it seems to
have so many forces
in the opposite directions?
And I would say that
you all keep publishing.
Getting it on those bookshelves,
both in Argentina and here,
so that we're seeing these books
front and center, everywhere.
They're the first things that
come on the ads, you know,
not just because I'm into it.
But keep at it, even when
it's hard and painful,
I just encourage you to
keep at it, because it's
such an inspiration to
me, to my colleagues,
and more than anything,
to the librarians,
to the teachers,
and to the children.
Thank you all for your
wonderful discussions,
and to everyone here, and
for this wonderful panel.
Very well done.
[ Music ]