  Today we celebrate the book birthday of Abuelita’s Gift: A Día de Muertos Story / El regalo de abuelita: Un cuento de Día de Muertos. We sat down with by Mariana Ríos Ramírez to learn more about the inspiration behind this book. Tell us a little bit about the book: Julieta is excited for Abuelita's spirit to visit on Día de Muertos. She is determined to find the perfect gift to honor Abuelita and to show how much she misses her. However, her ideas fail one by one and Julieta grows worried. It is only when Julieta embraces the memories she once shared with her abuelita, that she realizes the perfect gift comes from the heart. An uplifting story about both life and death, family, and the threads that connect us, long after we are gone. This sounds so meaningful... What 3 words would you use to describe your book? Family love Tradition Culture  What inspired you to become a writer? Writing is something I’ve enjoyed since I was a little girl, but I never thought that I’d become a writer growing up. In 2016 my family moved to the USA from México due to my husband’s job. At the time my son was 5 years old and my daughter just 2. Soon after we moved, my son faced the challenge of starting kindergarten without speaking English. Thankfully, he was supported by kind and patient teachers as well as welcoming classmates, but as a family we also tackled the challenge at home. Reading a lot of picture books with my children turned out to be a nice way to enjoy time together, but it also became an effective tool to help them learn English. It was then that I fell in love with this genre and what inspired me to seriously explore the idea of becoming a picture book writer. It was actually my son’s experience when we moved to the USA what inspired my debut book, Santiago’s Dinosaurios. Where did you get the idea to write Abuelita’s Gift? The inspiration for writing Abuelita’s Gift was also triggered by our relocation to the USA from México in 2016. When we came to live here, our family was suddenly exposed to a different culture, language, and traditions, which we have embraced through the years. However, from the beginning, my husband and I also wanted our children to grow up with traditions from their own country, so we began to set up an ofrenda for Día de Muertos every year. This has been a way in which we’ve been able to stay connected with our Mexican roots and with our family and ancestors. Celebrating Día de Muertos has inspired conversations about our loved ones who are no longer with us. It’s been precious to share our memories with our children, hoping one day they’ll continue this tradition with their own families. Can you share your path to publication for this book? Abuelita’s Gift is actually the story that got me my agent, Natascha Morris, from Tobias Literary Agency. After a long time in the querying trenches, I participated in PitMad with a pitch for this book in March 2021. That day I received a lot of love, support, and encouragement from the writing community on Twitter, and I also got a “heart” from Natascha. I queried her right away and after a long process and lots of waiting, I ended up signing with her by July 2021. From the start, Natascha was a true ambassador for this manuscript and it didn’t take long for her to find it a perfect home at Knopf Books for Young Readers. My editor, Gianna Lakenauth, felt a very special and personal connection with Abuelita’s Gift, so I knew she’d be the perfect person to help me make it even better. I’m very grateful for the opportunity of working with Gianna, Sara Palacios (an award winning illustrator), and the whole team at Knopf. I’ve learned a lot and grown as a writer through this journey, and I’m very happy and excited with how the book turned out. I can’t wait for children to read it! What message are you hoping readers will take away from this story? First of all, I want readers to get a glimpse of what Día de Muertos celebration is about, so that they can have a better understanding of this beautiful Mexican tradition. For this reason, it was important for me to include detailed back matter in the book. There’s an author’s note in which I explain a bit more about the celebration, a diagram of an ofrenda and it’s most distinctive elements along with their meaning, and also a Spanish-English glossary. However, I mostly want readers to wonder about their own family and ancestors, to ask questions so they can get to know more about their past and about themselves. I hope they will remember Día de Muertos as a celebration of love and family, and that our loved ones never really leave us as long as we remember them and keep them alive in our hearts.
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