 Today we celebrate the book birthday of Abuela's Library. We sat down with Musa Lisette Normal to learn about the inspiration behind this book. Tell us a little bit about the book: Alfonso and Abuela love to spend Saturday afternoons finding books at the library and reading them together beneath their favorite oak tree. But when their beloved tree is cut down, can Alfonso transform the stump into something magical for their whole community—their very own neighborhood library? This uplifting story from award-winning poet Lissette Norman and illustrator Jayri Gómez shows us how to turn an unexpected setback into a happy ending: one with a beautiful sky-blue door and shelves filled with books for everyone to enjoy. What a moving story! Read more after the link... What 3 words would you use to describe your book? Creativity, community and books! How would you describe your main character? Why did you create your character that way? Alfonso is thoughtful, creative and inspirational. I wanted him to be the one to come up with the idea for how to turn an unfortunate situation into something that brings his community together. I also wanted to honor librarians and have the profession of librarianship represented in this book; the main character aspires to be a librarian like his grandmother. What was your favorite part of the publication process with this story? The illustration phase of the publication process is always exciting to me. I’ve been fortunate to work with fantastic illustrators. Seeing this story come to life with Jayri's gorgeous illustrations put the biggest smile on my face! I love how she deepened and elevated the story. It was wonderful to collaborate with her on this book project. What message are you hoping readers will take away from this story? That no matter how young you are, you can make a difference, you can help solve problems that affect many, you can build community, and you can inspire others! This story is about hope, determination and possibilities! What comes next for you as an author? I recently completed a picture book that’s totally different from anything I’ve written before and working on it brought me a great deal of joy. Next, I’ll be jumping into a special project, which I was invited to write. Unfortunately, I can’t say much about either. But my next book, an amazing collaboration releasing in 2025, will be announced this summer.  Photo credit: David Welch Lissette Norman is a poet and author of the picture books My Feet Are Laughing and Plátanos Go with Everything.
She is also co-author of the picture books, On the Line: My Story of Becoming the First African American Rockette (w/ Jennifer Jones) and Until Someone Listens (w/ Estela Juarez). Lissette received her BA in English at SUNY- Binghamton. Twitter: @lissettejnorman IG: @platanosgowitheverything Website: www.lissettenorman.com Comments are closed.
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