I'm so excited about this story, which is equal parts a love letter to Colombia and an ode to the magic and the stories I grew up with. It's a sibling story but also a cautionary tale about the dangers we're doing to our earth through deforestation, hunting, and pollution. The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía pays homage to Colombia’s incredible biodiversity, and while it’s a fantasy adventure, both the real and imaginary worlds include many of Colombia’s fauna and flora, some which are vulnerable and endangered. You'll find capybaras (or chugüiros) giant armadillos, sloths, Noble Leafwing Butterflies, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, pink river dolphins, labios de mujer (Psychotria Elata), wax palms, hanging lobster claws, ceibas, and so many more.

You'll also find places that were directly inspired by many of Colombia's gorgeous and varied landscapes, like los llanos orientales, the Andes, the salt mines of Zipaquirá, Caño Cristales, the Amazon River, and so many others. 

​And of course, you'll be introduced to many of the legends that are whispered about through Colombia, including the madremonte. 

Without further ado, here’s the cover! 

Isn't it gorgeous?! Thank you, Dana, for creating this enchanting cover and to Debra Sfetsios-Conover for the beautiful jacket design!
 
Pre-order The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía today!
Add The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía to your Goodreads.

Alexandra Alessandri is the award-winning author of The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía, Isabel and Her Colores Go to School, and Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela!. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, she is also a former associate professor of English, a writer for Curriculum Associates, and a poet. Alexandra lives in Florida with her husband and son.
 

Today, we're thrilled to reveal the cover to Musa Laekan Zea Kemp's debut picture book, A Crown for Corina!  Scroll on to learn more about this gorgeous new picture book and find out how you can pre-order it!

Laekan Zea Kemp is a writer living in Austin, Texas. She’s also the creator and host of the Author Pep Talks podcast, as well as a contributor to the Las Musas podcast. She has three objectives when it comes to storytelling: to make people laugh, cry, and crave Mexican food. Her work celebrates Chicane grit, resilience, creativity, and joy while exploring themes of identity and mental health.

A big Las Musas book birthday shout-out to Newbery Honor and Pura Belpré Award-winning author, Margarita Engle, on the release of her latest middle-grade verse novel, Singing with Elephants!

Musa S.A. Rodriguez interviews Margarita Engle, but first, here are some highlights of this magical book, which Kirkus Reviews called, “Brilliant, joyful, and deeply moving,” in a starred review.

A powerful novel in verse about the friendship between a young girl and the poet Gabriela Mistral that leads to healing and hope for both of them.

S.A. Rodriguez: Congratulations on the release of your latest novel! You have accumulated many prestigious awards throughout your career, including the Newbery Honor for your book, The Surrender Tree. I’m sure Singing with Elephants will be received with equal acclaim. It’s simply beautiful! Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind this story?

Margarita Engle: Thank you! When I learned that Gabriela Mistral lived in Santa Barbara after World War II, I was fascinated. It was close to the time when my teenage mother arrived in California from Cuba in 1948. I began to imagine how a child might be influenced by Mistral’s devotion to poetry, education, peacemaking, and nature. Mistral was the first Latin American recipient of a Nobel Prize for Literature, and to this day she is still the only Latin American woman recipient. She was also a diplomat, and one of the founders of the United Nations and UNICEF. She was a peacemaker. She wrote poems and songs for children, and her children’s story The Elephant and His Secret is about peacemaking. I hope to help make young readers aware of her importance. She is an amazing role model for young poets.
 
S.A. Rodriguez: An amazing role model indeed! In the novel, Gabriela Mistral serves as a source of inspiration and a teacher to Oriol. Did she serve as a muse to you when you were a young girl, or is there another poet (or poets) who inspired you?

Margarita Engle: I wrote poetry when I was little, inspired by José Martí verses that my mother recited, but I didn’t have a mentor until graduate school, when Tomás Rivera taught me to write from the heart, without worrying about getting published or being popular. It’s a lesson that helps me feel free of self-criticism, the worst enemy of any poet. Like Mistral, Rivera was an amazing role model. His childhood was spent as a migrant farmworker, but he worked his way up to become the first Latinx Chancellor of a University of California campus. He told me that no matter how many academic honors he received, he still felt like a poet at heart.
 
S.A Rodriguez: “Write from the heart,” is great advice! There’s certainly a lot of heart in your story. I also noticed love and humane treatment of animals is an important thread throughout this novel. I found it interesting that in the Author’s Note, you mention your experience visiting a wildlife ranch near Santa Barbara, and even befriending an elephant. Can you tell us about this experience and how it helped shape the story?

Margarita Engle: When I was little, we visited a ranch where animals were trained for movies, but I didn’t become friends with an elephant until I was a young mother working for an irrigation water conservation project near San Diego. Carol painted pictures with her trunk, played soccer with human friends, and made me feel welcome in her enclosure. However, at that time, in the 1990s, mahouts still used metal hooks to discipline and even punish elephants. Today, zoos have abandoned that practice. People and elephants are separated by fences that allow them to interact without any need for cruelty.
 
S.A Rodriguez: Getting to know Carol sounds like an amazing experience. As a reader and an animal lover myself, I enjoyed learning such detailed information about the behavior of elephants. It seems they can mirror human emotions in their deep-rooted love for family. How did you go about learning so much about elephants?

Margarita Engle: I did a lot of research about elephants. Their loyalty and love for each other is a reminder that we are not the only intelligent and emotional creatures on Earth. We need to make room for other species in our ideas about heroes.
 
S.A Rodriguez: Yes, I agree. Animals can be heroes, too. Switching gears, I love how you integrate your Cuban roots and the lyrical dance on your pages between English and Spanish words. You write, “Let us mix our languages together like emotions that swirl and blend in a pot of paint...” I think this serves as an inspiration for all of us Latinx artists to proudly display our culture and language and put it front and center in our works. How have you seen Latinx representation evolving in the publishing industry throughout your career?

Margarita Engle: ¡Gracias! The transformation of Latinx representation in children’s literature has been astounding. Grassroots organizations like We Need Diverse Books, Las Musas, and #DiverseVerse are really making a difference. I’m profoundly grateful for the increased availability of Spanish and bilingual editions of books, as well as the wider variety of styles---including verse novels. However, if people don’t buy the Spanish editions, that aspect of publishing might be regarded as a failure. We need to encourage teachers, parents, and librarians to support this positive trend.
 
S.A Rodriguez: ¡Así es! Libros en español and bilingual editions are very important. Digging a little deeper, another thing I admired about your novel is how you portray the immigrant experience. I could relate to the sense of loss you describe when we must leave the place we consider “home” and how “echoes of the place where we used to live,” as you so eloquently put it, continue to shape our identity. Did you pull from a personal well to convey the raw and powerful emotions that jump off your pages?

Margarita Engle: My mother was extremely homesick when I was little. Even now, at the age of 91, she speaks of Cuba with longing, but she has not returned since 1960. Sometimes she says that’s because she doesn’t want to see it changed, and sometimes she admits that she stays away because she knows she can never take big enough gifts to help relatives as much as they need. I developed my own personal love of Cuba during childhood visits, but as soon as it became possible to visit again after travel restrictions loosened a bit, I started going back. I can’t take big enough gifts either, but I think it means a lot to relatives just knowing they haven’t been forgotten.
 
S.A Rodriguez: So many Latinos and immigrants go through this emotional turmoil when we migrate to America. No es fácil. What’s next for you? Are there any projects in the works that you can share with us?

Margarita Engle: My next two young adult verse novels are love stories with environmental themes, similar to Your Heart, My Sky, but in a more contemporary setting. The glorious Gabi D’Alessandro cover of Wings in the Wild will be revealed on June 10 by Simon and Schuster.
My next few picture books include a nonfiction book about a rescued sloth in Costa Rica (National Geographic Books), a story about the joy of water delivery day in a Cuban neighborhood without a regular supply (Atheneum), and a collection of poems about Cuban women artists (Reycraft Books).
 
S.A. Rodriguez: You’re quite busy! These sound like wonderful projects. Environmental themes are so important. Wrapping up, you’ve had such a successful career as a Latina creator—a pioneer as a children’s verse novelist—and have helped forge a path for all of us. Are there any lessons learned you can share with us?

​Margarita Engle: Thank you. I think young authors are often impatient, but rejections and delays are just part of the process. We can all benefit from perseverance. If you don’t get that first story published, think of it as practice, not a failure. No dancer, musician, or actor would perform on stage without rehearsing. It’s the same for writers. Unpublished work is valuable in its own way. We learn from the experience. We need to follow Tomás Rivera’s advice and write from the heart, without worrying about getting published or being popular. We write because we have something to say. We write no matter how long it takes to find the right agent, editor, and readers. One of those readers might turn out to be the next Musa.
 
S.A. Rodriguez: This is wonderful advice, and I agree that it takes a lot of perseverance to succeed. It’s been a pleasure learning more about Singing with Elephants and gaining valuable insights into your creative process. Thank you for sharing with us!

Buy Singing with Elephants today!

Mariana Ríos: It’s my pleasure to welcome Eliza Kinkz to our Las Musas Blog in order to celebrate the book birthday of Goldie’s Guide to Grandchilding, a picture book written by Clint McElroy and illustrated by Eliza.  Before jumping into the interview, here’s a little bit about the book in Eliza’s words.

Little Goldie is an expert on grandchilding. She knows that grandparents are special creatures who thrive in a structured environment, need plenty of opportunities for imaginative play, love having dance parties, and will never turn down a cuddle. When it comes to the care and feeding of her beloved Grandpa, Goldie knows her stuff. And, as readers will discover, Grandpa knows a thing or two about grandchildren, too.​

Today, we're celebrating Musa Lourdes Heuer's Esme's Birthday Conga Line!  Scroll on for a conversation between her and Musa Terry Catasus Jennings. But first, a little bit about her book:

Esme lives with her grandparents on the uppermost floor of the topmost best building. It’s her birthday. Mimi and Pipo gave her a beautiful guitar. But they didn’t plan a birthday party.
 
No problem! Esme is great at problem solving. With the help of her cat, El Toro, and a LOT of help from her neighbors in the topmost best building, Esme gets the birthday party of her dreams.

Terry Catasús Jennings: Lourdes, Congratulations on your beautiful new chapter book, Esme’s Birthday Conga Line, which came out May 10th! I want to tell you that it was a delight to read. I laughed all the way through. Esme is so much fun! Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your book?

Lourdes Heuer: Terry, thanks so much for championing this book as you have. I love that you laughed all the way through. I hope that’s how kids respond, too! Esme’s Birthday Conga Line is a transitional or early chapter book. It has short chapters perfect for read-alouds or for a beginning reader to tackle on their own, with lots of white space and those gorgeous illustrations by Marissa Valdez. It’s perfect for fans of books like Dory Fantasmagory, Princess in Black, or Saadia Faruqi’s Yasmin books.
 
T.J. You know, I got the Yasmin vibe.  And you are so right. Esme, like Yasmin, is a perfect introduction to independent reading. I know that here I should start asking you about your journey, but I’m not going to do that. Because the minute you set eyes on Esme, what captivates you is her voice. That wonderful voice. In some ways, the voice reminds me of Ana Siquiera’s work. You both have wonderful characters who are very sure of themselves and have voices that stick with you. Tell us about that voice.
  
L.H. Well, that’s a very generous comparison! I love Ana’s Bella’s Recipe for Success; Bella’s relationship with her abuela is so special, and they make those delicious polvorones!
 
For me, voice is so tied to language, to the choices I make as a writer with language. So, for Esme I think a lot about syntax. For example, she often repeats a word or part of a word within the same sentence or within two to three sentences. Part of that is to support beginning readers. But it also adds to her personality: she demands to be heard, so she’ll say something twice if she needs to! Or she uses the phrase “I think,” at the start of sentences. She’s very determined!
 
T.J. Oh, yeah.  She is determined! And, in a way, the way you wrote it made me think of free verse.  I loved the refrain kind of things. Happy birthday, says Mimi. Happy birthday says Pipo. Meow says El Toro.

L.H. Yes, when I read it aloud, I want it to sound like poetry. I’m not a formalist—I don’t think a lot about meter, for instance. But I can hear when the rhythm is off, even if I can’t always explain why.
 
T.J. Okay. Now you can tell us about your journey to publication. What/who was your inspiration for the story? 
 
L.H. Esme started out as a picture book idea that eventually called out for more space. I’m a little obsessed with place, with where stories happen. For Esme, what I knew at the start was that I wanted to tell an apartment building story, an elevator story, and that I had an image in my mind of a conga line wrapping up around a staircase. It took off from there.
 
T.J. You know, in a work in progress I have a conga line through Abuela’s apartment building. It is such a fun image. Now tell me, what is Esme’s backstory? I sense that Esme moved in with Mimi and Pipo because something happened to her parents, but you don’t talk about that in the book.  Tell me more about that. Did you at any point have that in the book? What made you put it in/take it out?
 
L.H. I don’t talk about it in the book, and that was a conscious decision. I thought about young readers who would see themselves in a similar situation, not living with their parents, and I thought about this phrase that, if I’m remembering correctly, I heard for the first time in the Slate podcast Mom and Dad Are Fighting, which is “mining for pain.” I didn’t want those readers to feel compelled to explain why they too didn’t live with their parents. There was a period of time in my own life when I was 12 that I did not live with my parents, though I went to live with my older sister, not my grandparents. I think it’s safe to assume that, most times, if a child is not living with a parent, there’s some trauma there. But I don’t think kids owe us their pain narratives.
 
T.J. I totally get that. Let’s talk about the humor in your book.  I heard Jerry Spinelli once answer a question on how he made things funny. He said something like he puts characters in a situation that’s bound to be funny.  And that’s exactly what you did.  We don’t know how old Esme is, we know this is her first birthday since she moved in with Mimi and Pipo, but a youngster trying to pull off a full-fledged birthday party with cake, pinata, and music and to which she invites all her friends in the building by herself? You know that is bound to be funny. And you bring it!! You do it. What Esme does to get herself a birthday party is hilarious.
 
L.H. I love that framework! I think humor needs exaggeration and escalation. Her physical situation, life in an apartment building, builds that escalation in. The more she works her way floor by floor, the wilder things are going to get. By the time she reaches Manny in the basement, she’s wrapped everyone else above around her finger—and she’s left a mess in the elevator for Manny to deal with!
 
T.J. Oh, has she ever wrapped everyone around her pinky! She has no shame, she is not afraid to demand that people help her. I had an aunt like that, maybe two. Bossy. But in the sweetest sort of way. And people do whatever she wants.  I can see Esme growing up to be like my aunt Conchita for sure. She is a force of nature. What was your model for that? Are you Esme? Maybe she’s your sister. Where did you find her? Are you able to get anyone to do anything for you?  Where did the other characters come from?
 
L.H. No, I’m afraid I don’t have Esme’s charms! Honestly Terry? I’m more like Dominguita (from your wonderful series Definitely Dominguita), always with my nose in a book. But without a doubt there are some elements in the story that come from my childhood. Until I was 8, I lived in the “uppermost floor” of what was, to me, but not in actuality, “the topmost best building.” In fact, my father still lives there. And there were three sisters that lived in an apartment on the ground floor. And we had an old, infamous elevator that often was out of service because someone would forget to properly close a door—and a super, Manolo, who was adamant none of us kids should ride the elevator without supervision, and, like Dominguita, we lived on the sixth floor! Of course, we thought of Manolo as our nemesis!!
 
T.J. Yay! I’m so glad you know Dominguita! I see the fact that she and Pancho live in an apartment building as a part of their personalities. And now I see you had a model for Manny, the superintendent. I love him. He dislikes drippy ceilings, dirty hallways, and stinky things. He dislikes children and most of all children in elevators. But she drags him along with her and in the end, you see his smile.  That was probably the sweetest victory of all…
 
L.H. I have to thank my editor, Samantha Swenson, for that. I think my first go was maybe not necessarily mean but not exactly generous to Manny, either, and of course, her suggestion to take it easier on him made the ending so much better, so much sweeter!
 
T.J. Thank goodness for those editors that help us bring out the sweet. I have been the recipient of that and you are right, it makes all the difference in the world. One of the things that I love about this book is the community.  I actually have the same thing in  Dominguita.  I wonder if this is a Cuban thing.  How important community is to us.  The adults help the kids in these off the wall endeavors without blinking an eye. It’s like it’s the way it’s supposed to be.
 
L.H. Terry, I have no doubt it’s a Cuban thing, a Latinx thing! It’s this idea of no te preocupes—we’re going to make this work, even if we’re making do with little. When Dominguita needs a lance, her dad comes through with a closet pole. You need armor? El Señor Fuentes from the salvage yard is going to hook you up. It’s the same thing for Esme. Oh, we need to put together a party? Don’t worry. We’ve got you.
 
T.J. I could not get over Marissa Valdez’s illustrations.  Did she capture the way you thought that Esme should look?  It is so cute. I have to tell you that next to Esme, Manny the Superintendent of the building is my favorite. Tell me more about the illustrations—that last illustration sums up the book. How was it working with Marissa?
 
L.H. I wish I had a photo of Manolo from when I was a kid. I know he didn’t have a mustache, but when I saw the sketches for Manny, I just about fell over. I was 8 again, walking into the building lobby and seeing him mop the floor. Marissa is a rock star. I love how she’s blended our Cuban and Mexican backgrounds. I don’t know how to adequately explain how her illustrations bowled me over. I have so many favorite ones—Esme’s floor by floor list of who she’s going to invite, the signs around the elevator Esme shamelessly ignores, the first peek we get into the Mora apartment, Baby Leon, and El Toro. Did you spot him washing the dishes wearing a pair of gloves?? All the best parts of this book come from Marissa.
 
T.J. El Toro is in every spread, doing something hilarious. Helping. I love him! What do you hope readers take away from Esme’s story?
 
L.H. Of course, the importance of community that we just spoke of. How people step in and up when you need them most. The sense of making do with few things but a lot of love. JOY! Laughter!!
 
T.J. Tell us what else is in the horizon for you.
 
L.H. There are more chapter books featuring communities in my horizon, though I can’t share much more about that for now, and I’m wrapping up edits on a series of board books Zara González Hoang and I are making together, as well as a middle grade translation project.
 
My debut picture book, On this Airplane, with illustrations by Pura Belpré Honoree Sara Palacios, also published by Tundra Books, comes out later this year in October.
 
And guess what? The second Esme! book will be out this time next year, and I can’t wait for it!
 
T.J. I will put that on my TBR list! Can’t wait either. Congratulations, Lourdes. I can’t wait to hear and read. And Zara! You guys will rock it together. This has been so much fun.  I look forward to working with you again.

​Purchase Esme's Birthday Conga Line today!

We're wishing a huge happy book birthday to Camille Gomera-Tavarez and her debut collection of short stories, High Spirits. 

Today, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo interviews Camille about her debut which Kirkus Reviews calls, “a labor of love with a dedication of family.”

A Publishers Weekly starred review says High Spirits is, “full of vivid and poetic imagery, settings worthy of drinking in, and thematic material ripe for contemplation about identity, intergenerational memory, and patriarchy and toxic masculinity . . . ”
​
High Spirits is a collection of eleven interconnected short stories from the Dominican diaspora. It is centered on one extended family – the Beléns – across multiple generations.

e.E. Charlton-Trujillo: Camille, I am so excited to be in conversation with you. You've written a collection of rich and vivid short stories that span from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic's fictional town of Hidalpa -- Santo Domingo, Paterson and San Juan. How are you feeling about High Spirits finally coming into the world?
 
Camille Gomera-Tavarez.: First, thank you so much for taking the time to read it, E.! I admire you so much, so thank you! 
 
And, well, I am feeling very anxious about the book launching as it is pretty much the first thing I’ve ever published at all. When I was starting senior year of college and writing the first threads of High Spirits, I couldn’t have imagined I would ever call myself a published author. When I started, I was still working through mixed emotions about my grandmother passing, and by the time I got the book deal my grandfather had recently passed. So, I feel really lucky to have been given the chance to properly finish this project and give it the love it deserved, especially in their honor. I hope that the people that I want to read it – young Afro-Latinx people and Dominican-Americans – will find their way to my stories.

e.E.: Between what is real and what is magical, you explore the intersections of intergenerational loss, love, identity, class, masculinity, femininity, family and more. Can you talk about the choice to intertwine these topics and characters in the eleven short stories?
 
CGT: As I worked through the stories, my methodology was to take a memory from my own life or a story from my family’s life, write it out plainly, and find a central theme that I could then tie back to masculinity and identity in some way. And then I would just layer it beneath this established family and characters I’d created. 
 
At first, I was just writing a couple stories in the same universe, and then after reading Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine and seeing a family history told in short stories, I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to do and exactly the kind of thing I wanted to read. And at the time I was taking a class on Latin American literature and learning the history of magical realism in the Americas, which also greatly influenced me as I was writing. 
 
e.E.: Why was it important for you to move between what is real and what is magical in this collection?
 
CGT: I love books with just a touch of magic. I think the first book I read like that was Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and I was just mind blown in high school. I feel like there’s this resurgence of similar touches of magic with TV shows like Atlanta, Rami, and Reservation Dogs. I love getting a little lost and not knowing exactly what is going on and having to figure it out.
 
I really found a piece of myself when I learned about Lo Real Maravilloso and its place in the canon of literature. It felt really powerful to free myself from the rules of western structures of storytelling. I really hate rules and grammar and stuff. And, if you want to get philosophical, what even is reality? Isn’t everything made up? So why can’t a boy be possessed by a demon that pulls him through time? Why can’t that exist alongside reality? If you visit the Caribbean and other places, stories like that are commonplace and taken as truth. Those family stories are what inspired me to write the book. 

e.E.: Barbaro's barbershop culture (and political banter) set a perfect backdrop for ten-year-old Yoanson's first (and unwanted) haircut. Barber Tony and Yoanson's older brother Jose see haircuts and manhood differently. Why is this important for young readers to see?
 
CGT: I wrote that story after a talk with my brother. Initially, I wanted to write something about my experience at Dominican hair salons, where I went at least once a week to get my hair blown out and straightened. And it was often a demeaning experience. But then, we were talking about a time when my father had punished my brother by making him shave his head to the scalp. Then, I was looking through YouTube and I found a similar recent video of a Dominican father taking his 10-year-old son with big curly hair to get a haircut and the boy was not happy about it. So, I was like “Ok, this is a thing.” I wondered why men do this and why this is an issue, especially for young Black boys trying to find joy in the world. I feel like hair is such a personal thing. 
 
There is this hardness, especially with Black and Immigrant parents, that I feel doesn’t have to be there when preparing your child for the world. And a lot of times people are forced to be accomplices in these aggressions that are going on around them because they don’t know how to speak up or stop it from happening. So, I wanted to present someone like Tony as an example of how someone might be able to use the privileges they do have to step in when they see something wrong.

e.E.: Skipping Stones’ unrequited, same sex love story was palpable. My heart was breaking for Ana while also understanding Zahaira's reluctance. Why was this story important to include in the collection?
 
CGT: I felt like I needed to write a love story or just something that wasn’t as heavy as the other stories. So, I figured it may as well be a queer love story (straight ones are so boring). I feel like I had a similar relationship with the first girl I met when I came to America who was also my neighbor and my best friend. I wanted to show a story where there is an absence of men, with these two girls, but the impact of toxic masculinity still manages to creep in, as it often does in queer relationships. So, this is how it turned out. I’m glad you liked it! I feel like it was one of the more fun stories to write, even though, yeah lol, Ana was going through a tough time.
 
e.E.: Life After The Storm transitions the reader from what is real to what is magical, and submerges the reader as Jorge embodies the lives of women from his family over time. Would you share the choice of water, birth, storms and having a man experience womanhood?
 
CGT: For most of the magic throughout the book, I am pulling from Afro-Caribbean traditions and spirituality which is greatly influenced by West African Yoruba culture. So, water and rebirth play a large role in Yoruba religions. I, myself, am a Pisces and a water baby. My mother went into labor with me while she was in a tub. It can be a life-giving and rejuvenating thing but also be scary and cause destruction. Especially with hurricane season every year. 
 
I pulled from several dreams I had, as well – I like to write my dreams down. I had a really impactful dream once where I was just going through my past lives, and I was my grandmother and then my father and then my mother until I got to where I was at that exact moment in bed. I woke up crying from that dream because it shook me so much, but I was also just grateful to be the product of so many choices that came before me. It shifted my perspective.
 
Jorge is in this moment of trying to figure out his identity in a country that seems like it doesn’t want him there. I was thinking about how genealogy is often traced from the mother through matrilineal ancestry and how past trauma is passed through DNA. So, it seemed natural that he would become all the women who had made choices that led to his being in the United States. I also wanted to find a way to mess around with gendered pronouns a bit, especially going back to the theme of toxic masculinity and patriarchy and challenging notions of gender binaries.
 
e.E.: I want to thank you so much for sharing all of this. I cannot wait for this collection to reach young readers. In the meantime, are you working on something new?
 
CGT: I don’t know how much I can say, but yes I’m currently working on my next novel which will hopefully come out Fall 2023 and it’s definitely going to be much lighter and less serious. Whereas High Spirits takes on masculinity, I feel this next one is focused more on femininity and sisterhood. And of course, magic. 
 
e.E.: I can’t wait for your new work! Can you share where people can find you online?
CGT: You can find me on Instagram and Twitter @cgomeratavarez and on my website at www.cgtdesign.net
 
Buy High Spirits today!

M. García Peña: Mayra! So excited to chat. I remember way back when we had the Musas retreat that you read us an excerpt from this book! Could you start us off with the spark for this book? 

Mayra Cuevas: Marie and I have been friends and critique partners since 2012—we actually met at the Moonlight and Magnolias writers conference in Atlanta. You have to love that title!

In 2018 we decided to collaborate on a co-authored young adult novel that explored how school dress codes unfairly target girls, students of color and historically marginalized communities. By writing characters from two points of view—one from a traditional Puerto Rican family, and another from a liberal white upbringing—we hoped to open a dialogue on issues of feminism, intersectionality, white privilege and allyship.

MGP: I have to confess that I love the idea of co-writing books and have been working on a few myself. What's the secret to working with a co-author?

MC: Before we became co-authors, Marie and I had been critique partners for six years. We exchanged our writing every week and gave each other feedback and encouragement. Very early on we developed a relationship based on trust, kindness and mutual respect, which laid the foundation to collaborate on a book.

Creating art together requires a mindset of grace, openness and flexibility. We have established a process of listening to each other’s ideas without shutting anything down, while remaining open to possibilities and also knowing when to change course if that idea is not working. 

When Marie and I are brainstorming/writing/editing in the same space, we feed off each other’s creative energy. This process requires a lot of trust and respect. We engage with an appreciation for our individual insights, experience, backgrounds and talent. We also know when to push and when to give each other space. The work is stronger because of what each of us brings to the table.   

MGP: Do you work on each other’s chapters, particularly when your characters are involved? 

MC: Okay so this takes us into the mechanics of collaborating, which many people are curious about. Here is a step by step: 

• First, we will have an initial conversation about “the idea,” asking questions like:
  • Is this a “whole book” idea? Can it support an entire novel? 
  • Are we passionate/excited enough about this topic to spend 3-4 years on this project? Because that is the time authors normally spend on a given book from idea to release year. 
  • Are there two naturally contradicting points of view to support each of our characters and maximize tension?

We use this worksheet from Lisa Cron’s Story Genius to get us going.

• After we have settled on the big idea, we each work on our character development based on that same worksheet and do some initial research. We also make notes on plot and scenes in preparation for our plotting retreat. 
• Next, we will go away for a long weekend to outline and plot the entire book. These two plotting forms have been helpful: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody and Larry Brooks’ Story Engineering method. We also eat a lot, go on random clear-your-head walks and waste a lot of notecards with ideas that get trashed.
• Now we start writing! We create a deadlines calendar to complete the first draft. I will write a chapter, then pass the manuscript to Marie. She will read my chapter, make notes, comments and suggest edits on that chapter, then write her own. When she is done, she passes the manuscript back to me and I do the same. If we are writing in the same space, we usually write simultaneously because we can practically read each other’s minds—this is not a joke.
• Once we have a finished first draft we both go through it carefully, again editing, commenting and making lots of suggestions. This is where you have to let go and trust. We work on each other’s chapters equally so there is one cohesive voice throughout. We will also work on our characters' dialogue and body language in each other’s chapters to make sure they remain authentic.
• Once we are happy with the manuscript, we will send it to our agents or our editor for their feedback. When we receive the feedback, we have a meeting to go over the editorial letter, split the work and decide how we are going to approach edits in terms of our calendars and the work itself. And so it goes for the following rounds of edits.             

MGP: There’s a lot of love for Puerto Rico in this book (we’re both Boricuas, so that’s not surprising), but was there anything that was difficult to write? This story takes place very soon after Hurricane Maria hit the island and I remember reading your mention of the Arecibo Observatory and getting this pang because of its current state. 

Can you talk a bit about that pressure to write about something that’s still so very raw to many of us? 

MC: Hurricane María was a turning point for the history of Puerto Rico, and it left a deep trauma for both the residents of the Island and the diaspora.

Like so many other Puerto Ricans living in the States, I spent the months after the hurricane agonizing about my inability to reach my family and figuring out how to get involved in aid efforts. It took over a month to get any news from home. Blessedly, everyone was alive and doing ok considering the circumstances.  
 
I poured those emotions into the relationship between Malena and her dad, who is still on the Island, while Malena and her mom have relocated to Florida. Like Malena, I was struggling with how to go on with my life in Atlanta when so many of my compatriotas were suffering. I organized a supplies drive in my town of Norcross but I soon learned that the truckloads of materials would be probably stuck in a warehouse for weeks if not months. Getting aid to the Island was a slow and complicated process, which I also mention in the book. 

I hope in some small way, the book brings attention to both the plight and enormous resilience of Puerto Ricans and the immense pride we all feel for our homeland.       

MGP: I can tell there was a lot of care and research that went into the dress code plot line which of course feeds into the conversation of consent and bodily autonomy. 

Can you talk a bit about that research and also how you approached Malena’s journey and relationship to her body through this? 

MC: One of the best parts of writing this book is that I got exposed to books like Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde, and the writings of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie including We Should All Be Feminists. I also read multiple academic books on the history of women in Puerto Rico, which helped enlighten the conversation of our bodies as a part of our ancestral history and heritage, as part of the land in which we are born into, which Malena later expresses in her poem towards the end of the book. 

At the beginning of the novel, Malena struggles with a sense that her body has become public domain. Many young people can identify with this feeling, since on a daily basis they experience a barrage of body image messages from social media. A recent Wall Street Journal investigation found that 32% “of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” Continued exposure to TikTok can result in the development of tics and neurological disorders, body harm and eating disorders. 

It is clear that we have to fundamentally shift how we are relating to our bodies in ways that are affirming and empowering. We have to look closely at the stories that shape our reality—the stories we tell ourselves. Instead of looking outward, we need to look inside to find our own stories of strength, confidence and love. 

MGP: Thank you so much, Mayra. Can you let us know where you’ll be virtually and in-person talking about Does My Body Offend You? If someone wants to get a signed copy, what indie should they check out? 

MC: Mercifully, we are BACK with in-person events! And I am sooooo excited to connect with readers and educators everywhere. 
Marie and I will have a super fun, picnic book release event on Saturday, April 9 at 5pm ET at Thrasher Park in Historic downtown Norcross. 

Everyone can pre-order a signed copy of our book via Little Shop of Stories. I will also be attending the LA Festival of Books and YALLWest in April. And of course, the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival in October. For more details for to my website: MayraCuevas.com 

Purchase Does My Body Offend You? today!

Even when she’s turning roja, Stella Díaz is so full of heart, a character you can’t help but cheer for as she finds her voice and realizes she is más valiente than she realized. Today, Las Musas Madrina Jennifer Torres is thrilled to interview author-illustrator and Las Musas Madrina Angela Dominguez about the latest book in the Stella Díaz series, Stella Díaz to the Rescue. 

Jennifer Torres: When this latest chapter in Stella’s journey opens, her mom is preparing to take the naturalization test, one of the last steps toward the family becoming United States citizens. And, at the heart of the story seems to be an exploration of what it means to be a good citizen. What do you hope readers take away as Stella grapples with this big question?
 
Angela Dominguez: That is such a great question. On one hand, I would hope it would encourage kids to think about their communities and how they can help. Whether it’s caring for the environment or simply sharing with others. It’s easy to get caught in our own problems and forget that there are other people in the world, especially in these past two years where we have spent more time alone. 
 
At the same time, it’s also a conflict for Stella because she takes the idea of being a good citizen to the extreme. She tries to solve other people’s problems who really aren’t looking for help. I hope the book provides an opportunity for kids and adults to have conversations about ableism. Stella makes mistakes so hopefully we don’t make as many. 
 
Jennifer: In all of the Stella Díaz books, and this one especially, I love that the illustrations give us an extra glimpse into Stella’s world and her perspective. How do you decide what to illustrate in each chapter?
 
Angela: I always like an excuse to draw sea creatures. Not only are they fun to look at, some of the ones I mention in the books are not as common so it’s helpful to have illustrations of them. The rest of the drawings are typically big moments where Stella meets someone new or has a strong emotion. Although it is exciting to draw historic figures and imaginary moments, too, like a zombie eating take-out or Stella running to the rescue. 
 
Jennifer: Maybe because I was a shy kid, I’m drawn to stories about quiet courage and bravery that doesn’t look the way we typically expect it to. That’s a big part of why I love Stella so much! Can you share a bit about how you’ve approached showing Stella’s growing confidence and sense of her own voice from book to book?
 
Angela: I was very much a shy kid, and I’m still an introvert. I spent half of my childhood roja like Stella. In some ways, Stella’s growing confidence has mirrored my own as an author. Seeing readers respond and relate to Stella, encourages me to keep writing. However, Stella has become her own person too beyond my own experiences. I’ve been inspired by young, motivated women like Greta Thunberg and AOC who are determined to solve big problems. I believe Stella might grow up to be like them one day.
 
Jennifer: The relationship between Stella and Nick is one of my favorite parts of this series. In this book we see them grow together, but also in their own individual directions. Where do you draw inspiration for the sibling relationship and especially its changes over time?
 
Angela: Like Stella, my parents divorced when I was young, so I grew up mostly with my mom and brother. Mi hermano became a surrogate father to me in many ways and I still look to him for fatherly advice. That said, Nick is sort of an idealized version of him. Nick steps in like a dad would or my brother would. However, he’s still a teenager and forming his own identity. In the books, Nick offers advice, support, and the occasional eye roll. He just fights less with Stella than my own brother did. (Don’t tell him that.)
 
Jennifer: Stella and her and her art club classmates have a special new project: portraits of school staff and faculty members, inspired by pieces at The Art Institute. Do you create many portraits or self-portraits? Do you have any advice for young artists on how to begin a portrait?
 
Angela: I love portraits. I used to draw many of them growing up and even more at art school. In fact, when I was trying to improve my skills in college, I decided to complete a 100-portrait project in my sketchbook.
 
For aspiring artists who want to try their hands at portraits, I recommend the blind-contour exercise that Stella does in her art club. It is a great way to have fun and practice your observation skills. To start, you either use a mirror or have someone sit for you, while you draw. Next, draw slowly what you observe without looking at the paper. Take the time to notice all the details. It’s freeing and you’ll be surprised how great it can look. On top of that, try different art mediums. Sometimes it takes a while to find the one you love.
 
 
Jennifer: Stella’s shaky Spanish has her worried that she’s not Mexican “enough” (something I’ve definitely related to). This feeling seems to deepen when she thinks about what it will mean to become a U.S. citizen, all leading to one of my favorite moments in the book, when Stella says, “I love that I can be so many things at once.” To what extent are Stella’s thoughts about citizenship and identity inspired by your own immigration experience, which you share in an author’s note?
 
Angela: As you may have noticed, much of the book is inspired by my experiences, but this one really hits close to home. As a child, I felt caught between cultures and not feeling Mexican “enough.” I still struggle with this today to a degree. One offhanded remark about how I pronounce something in either English and Spanish today can trigger some painful feelings or insecurities. But what I have been amazed to realize as I have gotten older is that many people from all types of backgrounds feel this way too! What I perceived as a singular feeling is not that at all which is partially why I write about it today. I hope it will help kids feel less alone to know they have a character they can relate to. More importantly, I hope it might inspire kids to have pride in all parts of their identity as well. 
 
Jennifer: Here’s a question from my daughter Soledad, who is a 9-year-old aspiring artist and major Stella Díaz fan (They were the first books she called her favorites!): Does Stella ever make decisions that are different from what you would have done?
  
Angela: Great question, Soledad! I think the biggest difference between Stella and myself is she thinks coffee is gross while I’ve been drinking it for quite some time. Truthfully, most of her decisions are similar to what I would have done in those situations. In fact, my boyfriend jokingly says WWSD (or What Would Stella Do) when I’m nervously trying something new.
 
I think Stella is perhaps braver than me. She’s been able to speak up to bullies, for example. She’s probably a little more superstitious than me, too.
 
Jennifer: Stella Díaz to the Rescue is just one of many beautiful books you have releasing this year. Can you tell us a little about what else has been in the works for 2022? Would you say there are any common threads that run through these projects?
 
Angela: I’m happy to have more Stella out in the world, including the paperback edition of STELLA DÍAZ DREAMS BIG (the third book in the series.) I also had the privilege of illustrating JUST HELP! by Sonia Sotomayor which came out in January. That shares some overlapping themes of civic duty and stepping in to help our communities.
 
I also have two additional picture books that I both wrote and illustrated. One is called I’M HUNGRY/¡TENGO HAMBRE! It’s about a dinosaur who is hungry, but he’s a picky eater. That is a very silly book that was such a complete joy to illustrate. It’s in the same vein as some of my other early bilingual picture books like HOW ARE YOU? or HOW DO YOU SAY?
 
Lastly, I have a picture book called ME GUSTA. With this book, I wanted to celebrate Latino families and the joys and issues that go through today. 
 
With all my books, I hope to share a bit of myself and celebrate my heritage in different ways. 
 
While I have to say while the pandemic has been stressful, it has allowed me more time to be at home and luckily, work on more books. I’m grateful and excited to be able to share them with readers this year. 
 
Find Angela and her amazing books online!

​Here’s a huge extended Happy Book Birthday to our Madrina Jennifer Torres on the release of her latest chapter book series—in hardcover and paperback!--Catalina Incognito!
 
Alexandra Alessandri interviews Jenifer Torres, but first, a little about the first book of the series, Catalina Incognito, which The Southern Bookseller Review says is “sure to be a charming new chapter book series”!

Alexandra Alessandri: I’ve been a big fan of yours since I read Stef Soto, Taco Queen a few years ago, so I was incredibly excited to read Catalina Incognito! It’s such a charming, character-driven story that made me very much wish I could have a magic sewing kit! But I loved that it was also a story about not being afraid to fail and try again, a message I think is very important for young readers. (I was also tickled to see a main character with the name Catalina; it’s my cousin’s name and growing up, I didn’t know many Catalinas.)
 
Jennifer Torres: Oh, thank you so much for such kind words! And especially for reading Catalina. The series is so special to me, and I’m thrilled to finally be able to share it!
 
AA: I’m always so curious about a story’s origins. Did you start with the character first, a first line, an image? How did you decide to include a magical sewing kit?
 
JT: My grandmother taught me to sew when I was in elementary school. I can remember watching her work and thinking it was a little like magic the way she could take a piece of fabric, a needle, and thread and turn it into something completely new. The image and the thought stayed with me over the years until I wondered, “Wait, what if it really was magic?” And that was the first spark of the story. So, the magical sewing kit was there from the beginning! Just as importantly (to me), the intergenerational piece was there too.
 
I’m also interested in celebrating forms of creativity and self-expression that aren’t always—or at least haven’t always—been seen and respected as such. In The Fresh, New Face of Griselda, it was makeup. In the Catalina Incognito series, it’s home-sewing. I’m so lucky to have grown up with grandmothers who made things. I don’t think they would call themselves creative, but they absolutely are. That’s something they gifted me the way Tía Abuela gifts Catalina the sewing kit.
 
AA: I love this so much! So what was your creation process like for the first book and, by extension, for the rest of the series? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Did you go in knowing it would be a series and what would happen?
 
JT: Oh, I plot for sure! I really struggle writing anything until I think I understand how all the puzzle pieces are going fit together. That’s not to say it’s a rigid process. Stories evolve, especially in revision, but it helps me a lot to start with an outline. For Catalina Incognito, I had a feeling it would be a series because I knew, based on the premise and the voice I had in mind for the main character, that I wanted to write a chapter book. That said, I didn’t plot the whole series at once. I took it book-by-book (there are four), but I knew there were some common threads (sorry!) I wanted to pull through each one—the sibling story, for example, Cat’s Stitch and Share community, Pablo’s latest telenovela obsession. And, of course, I wanted every book to have an amazing magical disfraz!
 
AA: I can’t wait to see what other disfrazes are in the rest of the series! They say we put a little bit of ourselves in our stories and characters, and I love the whole cast of characters in Catalina Incognito—from persnickety Catalina to her siblings Coco and Baby Carlos to her parents and glamorous Tía Abuela. They were all so great. With that in mind, which character is most like you and why?
 
JT: I love them too and am so glad I had the chance to write this big, warm family! While I wish I was as fabulous as Tía Abuela, I can’t even pretend. I’m an older sister, so there’s definitely some of me in Coco (We also share a bit of a clutter problem). Even though Coco knows exactly how to get on Cat’s nerves, she’s also the family member who pushes Cat hardest and believes in her most. I hope I’m that kind of sister.
 
And, of course, Cat’s frustration at her own mistakes, her impatience to get through the clumsy beginnings of learning something new are very deeply familiar.
 
AA: Oof, yeah. I think Cat’s impatience and frustration are going to be really relatable for readers. I love the nod toward childhood nicknames, and how we tend to outgrow them as we age (usually lol). It made me think of my own nickname—la maquinita—given to me by my Tía Abuela Beatriz because I would get into all her drawers and closets. So of course, that made me curious: What was your childhood nickname? Or, if you didn’t have one, what would you have wanted it to be?
 
JT: I LOVE that nickname and the story behind it! I think I’ve been called every possible variation of Jennifer. And you can tell which period of my life someone met me in by the one they use. I don’t mind any, but it does throw me a little when someone from the Jenn days calls me Jenny for example.

AA: I loved the nuances we get into Catalina’s family right from the first chapter that reminded me of my own family and customs: the politeness Catalina exhibits, the nod to telenovelas, the family dynamics, the full name warning. How much of these nuances were based on your own family and your own experiences?
 
JT: I’m so glad those details resonated! They have made the books so special to write. My editor, Alyson Heller, was also committed to the family story, and I love that we were able to keep the Castañedas at the heart of the series.
 
They are very much based on my own family and experiences. Like Catalina, I’m Mexican-American, and grew up with two working parents, and with grandparents, tías and tíos, and cousins who have always been very present in my life. When we see Catalina with her family, there’s always a lot going in the background—someone cooking lunch, someone chasing after the baby, someone getting ready for their shift at work. That was rhythm of my childhood too, while the mix of English and Spanish Catalina hears around her was its sound.
 
AA: That’s beautiful! I recognized some of that rhythm, too, and it reminded me of my own family and childhood.
 
You’re the author of several other middle grade novels and chapter books, including Stef Soto, Taco Queen; Flor and Miranda Steal the Show; Twins Vs. Triplets; The Fresh New Face of Griselda; and the upcoming The Do-Over. How is the process different between writing standalone novels and those in a series?
 
JT: I love that middle grade books meet readers at a time when their worlds are getting bigger. And I love that chapter books meet readers when they are just beginning to explore their worlds on their own terms (reading independently, making their first best friends, exploring hobbies.) I feel so grateful that I’ve gotten to write both!
 
One important difference for me in writing a series like Catalina Incognito versus a standalone novel was in needing to think about how Catalina would grow and change within each story as well as across all four books. The way she responds to challenges is different (I hope!) in Book 4 than in Book 1, yet there has to be enough consistency that readers recognize her as the same character.
 
Another big difference was in working with an illustrator, the amazing Gladys Jose, who brought Catalina and her world to life with so much warmth and charm. Knowing the books would be illustrated made me think about them in more visual terms than I might have with an unillustrated middle grade novel.
 
AA: I loved Gladys Jose’s illustrations! Fun question: If you could have one magical object, what would it be?
 
JT: This is fun. Lately I’ve been wishing I had a time-travel device. Or even a time-freezing device! Just to linger a little while longer in cozy moments with my family. Though a magical sewing kit like Catalina’s would be pretty great too. 
 
AA: A time-freezing or time-travel device would be SO useful! I would get so much more done. Lol What advice do you have for writers wishing to write and publish chapter books?
 
JT: Read lots of chapter books! There are so many excellent ones, and it’s really a joy. When I first shared a draft of what would become Catalina Incognito with my agent, she said there was a lot she loved about it, but that I had more work to do. The voice, the structure—all of it was reading a little too old. And she was right! I had just finished writing two middle grade novels, and I needed to recalibrate. She suggested I read and study more chapter books, and I did. It made a huge difference. I don’t think anything helped more than that.
 
I also think it can be valuable to get to know chapter book readers. Not necessarily personally, but to understand what they’re experiencing from a child development perspective. They’re often navigating new independence and the dynamics of new communities—teams, classrooms, friend groups. (That’s so exciting, but it can also feel sort of perilous at times!) They’re compassionate and curious. And also very funny.
 
AA: That’s such great advice! What do you hope readers will take away from the series?
 
JT: Tía Abuela shares a dicho—a saying, or bit of wisdom—with Catalina in each book. In the first book it’s this: “Coser y cantar, todo es empezar.” To me, it speaks to the importance of just starting when approaching something new. Coco puts it in her own words: “You won’t start to get better until you … start.”
 
That’s a lesson I have to learn every time I begin a new book, or really anything new. I hope it’s one that stays with readers and inspires them to push through those worries about messing up or just not being as good as you want to be. It’s all about starting.
 
I also hope readers take away they knowledge that creativity—to put something new in the world—is a very powerful kind of magic.
 
AA: I love that so much. Can you tell us what we can expect from you next?
 
JT: I get to share six new books this year! Three are part of the Catalina Incognito series. The others are The Do-Over, a middle grade novel about family and change set in the pandemic; the second book in the Twins vs. Triplets chapter book series about poor David Suárez and his prank-loving neighbors; and the picture book Lola Out Loud, inspired by civil rights activist Dolores Huerta and my own family’s history of farm and cannery work. I also have a couple of new projects that haven’t been announced. I can’t wait to say more soon!

Purchase Catalina Incognito today!​

Jennifer Torres is the author of Stef Soto, Taco Queen, the Catalina Incognito series, The Do-Over and many other books for young readers. She writes stories about home, friendship, and unexpected courage inspired by her Mexican-American heritage. Jennifer started her career as a newspaper reporter, and even though she writes fiction now, she hopes her stories still have some truth in them. She holds a doctorate in education and lives with her family in Southern California
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Alexandra Alessandri is the award-winning author of FELIZ NEW YEAR, AVA GABRIELA! (Albert Whitman) and the forthcoming ISABEL AND HER COLORES GO TO SCHOOL (Sleeping Bear Press). The daughter of Colombian immigrants, she is also an Associate Professor of English at Broward College and a poet, with some of her work appearing in The Acentos Review, Rio Grande Review, Atlanta Review, and Young Adult Review Network. Alexandra lives in Florida with her husband and son. 
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