Its been so long since I was last at Fairyland for their annual book events. This year I’ll be there along with 30 other authors and illustrators like Kim Ko, Nidhi Chanani, Christian Robinson, Angela Dalton, and the Leticia Hernandez-Linares who wrote “Alejandria Fights Back!”
Come meet me in person at the Children’s Fairyland Book Festival on Saturday, June 3! It’s a kid-lit event that brings Bay Area children’s literature authors and illustrators together with families for a full day of read-alouds and more. Alejandria Fights Back (Leticia Hernandez-Linares/Rise Home Stories project), We Are Yoga (Jill Guerra), and Sam! (Dani Gabriel) will be available to buy from The Collective Oakland, and I’ll be happy to autograph it for your kiddo!
Hey folks, here is a panel discussion I did with J.M. Hunter (Ohio) and Henry Barajas (Arizona/LA) back in March of this year at the Latinx Comic Arts Fest in Modesto California. This was a great convo moderated by Kristen Parraz of Comadres y Comics (LA). This is the short description of the panel topic:
“Artivism: Comic Arts as Activism” features a discussion of how from the earliest superheroes fighting the “forces of evil” to historical accounts and graphic memoir, comics have virtually always been used to express discontent and call for change. Join us as panelists discuss how comics can work as a medium for social justice.
If you’d like to table at the next one in the Spring of 2023, Stay tuned to their website and their social media.
What up? This is a bit of process behind the cover for “Alejandria Fights Back/ La Lucha de Alejandria”.
First let’s start with the sketches. I usually do a bunch of sketches in my sketchbook or on paper. I think I did that too. But these are the first I presented to what was a huge team effort. Normally when you make a kids book you have 1-2 people to answer to. Thats either the author/creator or the art director. In this case I was working with a team of filmmakers and organizers called the “Rise home Stories Project” who initiated this project, writer Leticia Hernandez-Linares, and the team at Feminist Press (Lauren Rosemary Hook, Jisu Kim, and designer Drew Stevens. The book was translated by Dr Carla España.
The next round was refining these sketches a bit.
They picked the one at the podium and thats the one I really nailed down.
After nailing it down I went straight into painting the cover because the team was pretty loose with the art direction even though it was BIG. Here’s some of the painting process for the front cover. It was painted with watercolor. I start with an over all warm tone and focus where Ale (main character) was the focal point. Then I started to add color to the characters.
Here’s the final front cover painting w/ text on another layer drawn with ink.
Here’s a bit of the back cover sketches
They chose the one with a few things scattered around which was directly inspired by Dawud Anyabwile’s “Brotherman Revelations” back cover. Here it is painted.
And add the back matter (synopsis, logo, isbn scan) and the front cover design w/ type.
Love this book like so many of my others. If you’re not familiar with the storyline check out this video
You can get a copy of the book from your local bookstore, library, bookshop.org, or Feminist Press.
Did you like this? Check out my most recent book “Somos Yoga/ We are Yoga” written and published by Jill Guerra an author, teacher, and mindfulness/yoga instructor for kids.
Hey fam, if you have seen the reading of Alejandria Fights Back in Español by the books translator Dr Carla España please watch it here. This book came out last summer and his been making the rounds via reviews and classrooms. If you know of any educators who would dig hearing or sharing a Spanish reading of the book please share this with them.
Want a reading in English? watch elementary school teacher Mr Limata read it here
Skip to the 11:45 min mark for the reading.
And if you haven’t seen the trailer please check it out:
This is an image from a school visit to a school in Oakland. Organizer Heather Appel (masked and standing in the rear) and myself read to this huge group of students wearing our masks and it is never not fun to share stories like Alejandria Fights Back with kids.
If you haven’t seen the book trailer , check it out here:
If you are a school teacher who would like to get a copy of the book or some resources for it check out the website: www.alejandriafightsback.com/
Yo, this is a video of the artwork up at the Macla gallery in San Jose California if you would like to see. The show was about highlighting Afro Latinxs of many types and the artists who participated are: DJ Leydis (Cuba), Los Rakas (Panama), Anna Lisa Escobedo, Breena Nuñez (Guatemala), Vanessa Wallace, Thomas Jones, Diamela Fernandez, and Patricia Encarnacion.
If you would like to see a virtual panel discussion featuring some of the artists from the show tune in February 23rd at 6pm. Go to MACLA for more details.
My work was from several Inktober drawings I made of Latinx and AfroLatinx people (artists, activists, atheletes) and two spreads from “Alejandria Fights Back”!
If you missed it this is the book trailer for Alejandria Fights Back/ La Lucha de Alejandria which came out last summer. This is a book published by Feminist Press in NYC and written by Leticia Hernandez-Linares and the Rise Home Stories Project; and illustrated by me.
Please watch the trailer and check out the other projects from this team such as a video game, animated short, podcast, and more HERE
If you’re an educator and you’d like to get a copy of the book there are limited free copies here.
Recently me and Leticia got on Latinxs in Kid Lit to interview each other and talk a bit about the making of this picture book. Its an audio piece so go to the blog and give it a listen! Shout out to Cindy from the blog for giving us a space to talk.
A few years back some of my work was featured on Latinxs in Kid Lit:
Yo, we got a review by Tibby Wroten who runs the “At Home Librarian” blog where she reviews a diverse array of kid lit so parents, librarians, booksellers, and book lovers can learn about cool new books. Check it out HERE.
Here’s a quote from the review:
“the book is a roadmap of sorts or how kids and adults can take steps to protect their communities. While this story is particular to gentrification, the ideas behind organizing community are the same no matter what issue you take on. I also really appreciate the ideas presented here around organizing the people around you to show up to City Hall to speak at council meetings and also getting plugged into organizations working specifically on the issue at hand. Most books for kids that talk about “activism” are about making signs and showing up at marches they didn’t organize.”
And if you check out this link, you can see some other books of mine that she’s reviewed.
