A Bean and Cheese Taco Birthday-Illustrated by Robert Trujillo

Wow, it was more than ten years ago that I started on the path of becoming an illustrator of picture books for children and adults. I was reading a story to my son and thought, I could do a story that he would like. I had been sending postcards, emails, and artwork to publishers like Arte Publico for years before I got a message returned. I would say that it is important not to wait for publishers now because I am also self publishing Furqan’s First Flat Top, but it was nice to know that persistence with Arte Publico paid off.

I want to give a huge thank you and shout out to Adelaida over at Arte Publico/ Piñata Books for trusting me with this task of illustrating such a beautiful story by writer Diane Gonzalez Bertrand. Please look out for the book in your local store or library and request it if they do not have it. This is my second children’s book in print! So blessed. Check out some of the photos of me opening the box and some original sketches/paintings from the book. This is the first children’s book I ever illustrated , before Furqan’s First and I am Sausal Creek, so it is very special to me. It symbolizes my entry into the field as an official children’s book illustrator.

About the story: The story is about two brothers Dario (big brother) and Ariel (little brother). It’s Ariel’s birthday and he wants a simple birthday party. But his big brother wants to convince Ariel to ask for more, but all Ariel really wants is to play, hang out, and eat bean and cheese tacos at the park. The birthday gets better as the day progresses and Dario finds out that a taco and bean cheese birthday is not so bad after all.

Purchase the book through Arte Publico or Amazon