Our recent Beyond Borders book launch and author celebration, hosted by Programs Director Alexa Patrick and Story Coach Tatiana Figueroa Ramírez, was an inspiring and heartwarming evening. On a Tuesday night in December, our young authors, their families, and members of the SMP community joined our friends at the Latin American Youth Center to celebrate the release of our three new bilingual children’s books and the nine young authors who collaboratively wrote them.

Attendees got to hear directly from the authors about their experience writing their books. When reflecting on her inspiration, Yasmina, co-author of Fernando’s Big Idea, shared:

“One of the major decisions we took was making sure that underrepresented kids who aren’t typically seen in books have the chance to see themselves...We also wanted Fernando’s family to look like our families, which meant having a lot of people living, laughing and existing with each other.”  

Fernando’s Big Idea ultimately reinforces the idea that there are many ways to make your family proud, not just through money. The other books in the series also tackle important topics, like grief (in Belinda Lifts Her Voice) and the experience of immigrating to the US on foot (in The Adventures of Guz and Goz). Brizel, also co-author of Belinda Lifts Her Voice, shared part of her inspiration here:

“Loss was something that we all shared. We wanted youth to learn to honor their lost loved ones  in different ways. It's not something that we talk about until you’re older.  I want readers to see this book as a resource and I hope that they can use this book as a lesson. You can hold lost loved ones with you in your everyday life just like Belinda holds onto her Tia through singing.”  

We’re continually inspired by the wisdom and talents of our young authors like Yasmina and Brizel, and we are so excited for the impact that the books in the Beyond Borders series will provide young people who will see themselves in these stories.