LAS MUSAS BOOKS
  • About
    • Mission and History
    • Community Standards
    • FAQ
  • Meet Las Musas
    • 2023 Releases
    • 2024 Releases
    • 2025 Releases
    • Alumni >
      • 2022 Releases
      • 2021 Releases
      • 2020 Releases
      • 2018 - 2019 Releases
  • Mentorship
    • Hermanas
    • Madrinas
  • BLOG
  • Contact
  • Podcast, Book Club & more
    • Podcast
    • Book Club
    • Latinx Kidlit Resources
    • Webinar Series

Happy Book Birthday to Veo, Veo, I See You

9/6/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Join us in celebrating the book birthday for Veo, Veo, I See You. We sat down with Musa Lulu Delacre to learn all about the inspiration behind this book.
​

But first, a little bit about this book series:

A heartwarming picture book celebrating essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic that’s also a lively, bilingual game of Veo, Veo (I Spy).
​

Marisol’s mami is the best cook at Rosita’s Cafe! But now, the restaurant is closed. A bad virus—too easy to catch in small, crowded places—is going around.

Marisol, Pepito, and Mami still need to go out to bring Mami’s arroz con pollo to housebound Tía Olga and Cousin Johnny. As Marisol and Pepito watch the people working around the neighborhood, who their mother explains have essential work, Marisol thinks of the perfect game to play:
Veo, veo…
¿Qué ves, Marisol?
I spy…a trash collector. Essential work. Those bins were full!

By the time they get home, Marisol has another idea: a way to show the people in her neighborhood that she sees them!
How would you describe the main character of the book?
Marisol is curious, playful and one little girl with a BIG heart.

Where did you get the idea to write this particular story?
A few days before the national lockdown due to the pandemic of 2020 my mom went into hospice care. The facility did not allow any visitors. My mom became dependent on the facility's young immigrant staff during the last months of her life. Her aides, many of them young mothers, could not miss work as they cared for the most vulnerable of populations. On walks around my neighborhood I saw signs go up thanking essential workers. Some had been made by children. And the idea to link the childhood game of Veo, Veo (I Spy) with the understanding of what and who is essential in life, was born.

What was your favorite part of the publication process with this story?
Creating the collage art with my own hand painted and texturized papers was messy delicious fun. I spent hours dying, drying and organizing  rice paper sheets into piles of gorgeous hues from which I would cut out the shapes to compose the landscapes of Marisol's environment.

What message are you hoping readers will take away from this story?
I would love for young readers to ask themselves who is essential in their home or school community. I'd love for them to create their own collages in windows and walls, like Marisol did, for others to see. To help young ones do just that, I created a free download that anyone can access on my site by clicking here.
What 3 recommendations would you give writers who are starting out?
Be persistent, challenge yourself, and speak from the heart.


Picture
Three-time Pura Belpré Award honoree
​Lulu Delacre has been writing and illustrating children's books since 1980. The New York Times Bestselling artist was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Lulu’s mother language, Latino heritage, and life experiences inspires her work. Her titles include ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! Descubriendo el bosque nublado; Olinguito, from A to Z! Unveiling the Cloud Forest and Cool Green: Amazing Remarkable Trees. Delacre has lectured internationally and served as a juror for the National Book Awards. She has exhibited at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the Zimmerli Art Museum among other venues. Veo, Veo, I See You is her first book done entirely in collage.

X (Twitter): @luludelacre
Instagram: @lulu.delacre
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Las Musas Speak

    Welcome to our blog!  

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018

    Categories

    All
    Activism
    Book Birthday
    Cover Reveal
    Gift Guide
    Hermanas
    Madrinas
    Middle Grade
    Personal Essay
    Picture Book
    Reading Lists
    Webinar Series
    Young Adult

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2021 . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • About
    • Mission and History
    • Community Standards
    • FAQ
  • Meet Las Musas
    • 2023 Releases
    • 2024 Releases
    • 2025 Releases
    • Alumni >
      • 2022 Releases
      • 2021 Releases
      • 2020 Releases
      • 2018 - 2019 Releases
  • Mentorship
    • Hermanas
    • Madrinas
  • BLOG
  • Contact
  • Podcast, Book Club & more
    • Podcast
    • Book Club
    • Latinx Kidlit Resources
    • Webinar Series