​Join us in celebrating The Moonlit Vine book birthday! We sat down with Musa Elizabeth Santiago to learn all about the inspiration behind this book. 

But first, a little bit about this novel:

Despite her name, Taína Perez doesn't know anything about her Taíno heritage, nor has she ever tried to learn. After all, how would ancient Puerto Rican history help with everything going on? But life takes a wild turn when her abuela tells her she is a direct descendant of Anacaona, the beloved Taíno leader, warrior, and poet, who was murdered by the Spanish in 1503. Abuela also gives her an amulet and a zemi and says that it's time for her to step into her power like the women who came before her. But is that even possible? People like her hardly make it out of their circumstances, and the problems in her home and community are way bigger than Taína can manage. Or are they?
 
A modern tale with interstitial historical chapters, The Moonlit Vine brings readers a powerful story of the collective struggle, hope, and liberation of Puerto Rican and Taíno peoples.

Join us in celebrating RUBI RAMOS's RECIPE FOR SUCCESS book birthday! We sat down with Musa Jessica Parra to learn all about the inspiration behind her book.

But first, a little bit about this novel:

Graduation is only a few months away, and Rubi Ramos’s “recipe for success” to get into prestigious Alma University is already off track.When Alma waitlists Rubi’s application, Rubi will need to be distraction-free to make the grade and keep her parents―who have wanted this for her for years―from finding out. Which means falling for her cute surfer-slash-math tutor, Ryan, definitely won’t work. And neither will breaking her mother’s ban on baking―her parents didn’t leave Cuba so she could bake just like them.But some recipes are begging to be tampered with. When the First Annual Bake Off comes to town, Rubi’s passion for baking goes from subtle simmer to full boil. Add to the mix her crush on Ryan may be turning into a full-fledged relationship and Rubi’s life is suddenly so different from what it was. She’s not sure if she has what it takes to win the Bake Off, or where the relationship with Ryan is going, but there’s only one way to find out―even if it means going against her parents’ priorities. Now Rubi must differentiate between the responsibility of unfulfilled dreams she holds and finding the path she’s meant for.

What 3 words would you use to describe your book?
Joyful, Yummy, Love.
 
Because the story does deal with meatier issues such as diaspora, classism, and honoring familial legacy, it was very important for me to keep joy at the center of Rubi’s journey. As daughter of immigrant parents, I know how difficult it is to navigate life between the hyphens. I also know how honoring the sacrifices our parents made for us can sometimes come at the cost of our own dreams. So I was very intentional of always centering joy in exploring how a teen could find a way to combine duty and passion instead of choosing one over the other.  
            
Again, being a diaspora kid, I’ve never been to Cuba. Cuban cuisine has been the main way for me to connect with that part of my heritage. I don’t know when—or if—I’ll ever get to visit the island, but I can access part of it through food. Writing the food scenes, I often pictured baking with family members I’ve never met, or remembered cooking with my dad as a teen. I tried to pour the feeling of longing, love, and hope into each of those scenes. So far the reception on the baking has been great, and the book will feature several of Rubi’s recipes! 
 
While so much of Rubi’s story is about expressing and sharing parts of your history and honoring legacies through food. And it’s also about love. First love, the love of friends, and the love for family (no matter how complicated it is). 

Join us in celebrating The Weight of Everything's book birthday! We sat down with Musa Marcia Argueta Mickelson to learn all about the inspiration behind this book. 

But first, a little bit about this novel.

It’s been six months since Sarah’s mom died. Three months since her dad fell apart. Sarah has left her fine arts boarding school to take care of her dad and her little brother. She has no time for art, unless she’s cranking out a piece to sell online for some grocery money. And she definitely doesn’t have the time or the emotional energy to find out if her sweet, handsome classmate, David Garza, could be more than a friend. But then a school art project prompts Sarah to delve into her mom’s Mexican and Guatemalan roots. As she learns more about this side of her heritage, Sarah starts to understand her mom better―and starts to face her own grief.

Join us in celebrating Ander & Santi Were Here's book birthday! We sat down with Musa Jonny Garza Villa to learn all about the inspiration behind this book. 

But first, a little bit about this much buzzed about novel.

Ander & Santi Were Here is a story of love—communal, familial, platonic, and romantic—of art and culture and food, and of home as not only place but of people. It follows Ander, a non-binary muralist taking a gap year before moving to Chicago to attend art school, who falls for Santi, the newest waiter at their family’s taquería, and a romance made complicated when ICE visits the restaurant and Santi is a potential target.

We’re thrilled to reveal the cover for Benita and the Night Creatures and Benita y las criaturas nocturnas, written by Mariana Llanos and illustrated by Cocoretto. This children’s picture book (pubbing on Sept. 5, 2023 from Barefoot Books) is a humorous, bedtime story featuring not-so-scary monsters from Peruvian folklore.

A little bit about the book:
From the award-winning author of Run, Little Chaski! and ¡Corre, Pequeño Chaski!, Benita and the Night Creatures is about a young girl named Benita who loves to read in bed but keeps getting interrupted by a whistling Tunche, a scary Supay and other spooky creatures from Peruvian lore. To the creatures’ disbelief, Benita is so absorbed by her book that she’s not the least bit scared of them. This humorous celebration of bedtime reading puts a global twist on taking the “scary” out of monsters.

Mariana Llanos is a Peruvian-born writer of children’s literature. In 2017, she was selected as the Best Latino Artist by the Hispanic Arts Council of Oklahoma, where she resides. Her first picture book for Barefoot Books, Run, Little Chaski!, was chosen for the 2022 Oklahoma Book Award and was a 2022 Library of Congress Great Reads Selection. Its Spanish edition, ¡Corre, Pequeño Chaski!, was a 2022 Alma Flor Ada Award​​ Winner and Premio Campoy-Ada Honorable Mention. ​


Social media links:

• Instagram: @marianawritestheworld
• Twitter: @MarianaLlanos
• Website: https://www.marianallanos.com

Cocoretto is a Peruvian-born couple and team, Ivan and Natalia. They are illustrators, authors and designers with backgrounds in fine arts, graphic design and photography. With their strong graphic sense and bright, saturated colors, they like to build compelling and relatable environments for their work. They feel grateful to have the chance to make children around the world giggle and smile with their many books and translations. Ivan and Natalia live and work in the noisy city of Lima, Peru.

Barefoot Books is an award-winning, independent, women-owned and run, children’s book publisher based in Concord, MA. Founded by two mothers in England in 1992, they create visually captivating books that celebrate global awareness and diversity, spark curiosity and capture imaginations. After three decades of working with talented writers, storytellers, illustrators and musicians from all over the globe, Barefoot’s unwavering commitment to opening children’s hearts, minds and worlds feels more important than ever.

Barefoot Books: @BarefootBooks on all platforms (including TikTok!)

Preorder Benita and the Night Creatures via the links below:

• Bookshop.org
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble

​Add Benita and the Night Creatures to your Want-to-Read List on GoodReads!