 Today we celebrate the book birthday of Our World Colombia. We sat down with Alexandra Alessandri to learn all about the inspiration behind this book. But first, a little bit about the book: ¡Hola! Come along for a day of exploring the sights and sounds of Colombia from the farm to the city. Join Bebé and Perrito as they snack on arepa con chocolate, visit the market, dance cumbia, and count whales in the waves. Colombian author Alexandra Alessandri and illustrator Manu Montoya draw on their personal experiences to create this vibrant board book as part of the Our World series for very young readers. What 3 words would you use to describe your book? Colombia field trip!  What was the most challenging aspect of writing in this story? One of the more challenging aspects of writing this story was fine-tuning the writing style and structure appropriate for the board book audience-–especially since I was coming from writing picture books and novels! Just when I thought I had it down, I had to revise some more, but I’m so grateful for my editor Erin Lueck who helped me with the process. What message are you hoping readers will take away from this story? I’m hoping readers young and old will see how beautiful and diverse Colombia is, both in people and landscapes. It’s one of the most biodiverse in the planet, and every region has distinct customs, food, music, and accents. But perritos (dogs) are a constant throughout!  What 3 recommendations would you give writers who are starting out? 1. Engage in the process and allow yourself to just write, even if that first draft is terrible, because you can always revise later. This frees you from the stress of the expectation to get it right from the start. 2. Butt in chair: The only way to write is to, well, write! Even when it’s hard or takes forever or isn’t coming out right. Just write. You’ll revise later (see #1 above). 3. Read a lot in the genre and age category in which you’re writing (and outside of it too). Look for mentor texts. Study those. Type them out (if picture books) so you can get a feel for the cadence and layout and page breaks without the illustrations. What comes next for you as an author? I have two other stories releasing this year, LUPITA’S HURRICANE PALOMITAS (picture book) from Beaming Books in May, and GROW UP, LUCHY ZAPATA (middle grade), releasing from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster in July!
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