 Welcome. My name is Eliana, and I'm a librarian for the San Francisco Public Library. Thank you for joining us today. We are so happy you're here with us to celebrate Viva at the Library, an annual celebration of Latinx heritage, cultures, and traditions. San Francisco has a rich Latinx heritage that is highlighted in a diverse array of exciting programs for all ages, from Spanish bilingual story times to cooking classes, author talks to art, and cultural presentations. Come celebrate with us y bienvenidos. Check out the Viva webpage of the San Francisco Public Library to see our upcoming events, find great books by Latinx authors and illustrators, and more. We are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Rometish Aloni, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula, and continue to live, work, and play here today. As the indigenous stewards of this land, and in accordance with their traditions, the Rometish Aloni have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Rometish community, and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. Thank you to the friends of the San Francisco Public Library for their generous support of this entire program series. We would not be able to do this without them. I am really excited to be able to introduce our authors tonight. We'll be having a conversation about their fantastic middle grade books. First, let me introduce Chantelle Acevedo. She's the author of the novel's Love and Ghost Letters, A Falling Star, The Distant Marbles, which was a finalist for the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and The Living Infinite, hailed by Booklist as a vivid and enthralling tale of love and redemption. In the sequel to the Mew Squad, the Cassandra Curse, Acevedo's middle grade duology was called Riveting and Suspenseful by School Library Journal, and the sequel, Mew Squad, The Mystery of the Tenth, follows the main characters on an unforgettable adventure. She is professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs the MFA program. And joining Chantelle, I'd like to introduce Donna Barba-Higuera, who grew up in Central California surrounded by agriculture and oil fields. As a child, rather than dealing with the regular dust doubles, she preferred spending recess, whirled away in the janitor's closet with a good book. Higuera is the author of Lupe Wong Won't Dance, El Cucuy is Scared 2, and The Last Guendista. Her middle grade and picture books are about kids who find themselves in odd or scary situations. She lives in Washington State with her family, three dogs, and two frogs. Both of our authors are members of Las Musas Books. Las Musas is a collective of women and non-binary identifying on the female spectrum Latinx picture book, middle grade, chapter book, and young adult authors. Their mission is to spotlight the new contributions of Las Musas in the evolving canon of children's literature and celebrate the diversity of voice, experience, and power in our communities. Welcome Chantelle and Donna. Thank you, Eliana. I know Donna and I are both so happy to be here. And Donna, I'm so glad to see you. And some time with you tonight. Yes, I know it's early evening for you, but it's late at night here in Miami, so I'm glad I get to spend time with you. We are about as full or opposite on the sides of the country as you can get. Oh my gosh, right? Seattle to Miami. We couldn't get further away. Exactly. Oh, it's so good to be here with you. I think, I think for all the kids watching and some of their teachers, maybe the best way to start is introduce our books and maybe read a little bit from the books. Sure. Yeah, sure. Do you want to go first or do you want me to? Sure, I'll go first. And as Eliana said, I'm the author of several books for adults, but new squad is my first middle grade book. And so here's new squad, the Cassandra curse, which is part one and new squad, the mystery of the 10th, which came out this summer. And that is part two. And new squad tells the story of Cali Martinez Silva, who is a Cuban American girl living in Miami, who discovers that she is one of the nine uses of classical myth. When she accidentally turns her best friend into a pop star. So that's book one. And then in book two, she leaves Miami to spend the summer with her dad and her stepmom in New York City and her new baby brother. And the muses, four of whom are girls or kids like like Cali, they learn that there could potentially be a 10th muse. And so that book is full of adventure and has them sort of seeking out who this 10th muse might be. So I'll read from that book because it's the most recent and it's just a little passage, and then I'll hand it off to Donna. That night, I lay awake in bed thinking about the way my summer was turning out. When I came to New York, I thought I knew exactly who I was. Cali Martinez Silva, muse of the epic poem, Eater of Arroz con Pollo, Watcher of television, and a good friend. But since then, I'd broken curfew a bunch of times, lying to my dad and stepmom Laura. My magic had changed. And I was the storyteller. I had all this power and I didn't exactly know what I was supposed to do with it. All my friends seemed to know who they were and what they were meant to be. Me? I didn't have a clue. I was New York Cali, Miami Cali, now Cali, future Cali, Papi's daughter, mommy's daughter, Fernando and Mario's little sister, Maya and Rafaelido's big sister, the ninth muse. I was all these things and yet I still didn't know what my purpose was or if I had one. Future Cali definitely had her work cut out for her. So you get a taste of Cali's voice there. How about you Donna? Well, so, as I said, I have a few books. This is the picture book that just released. El Cucuy is scared to about, if you don't know who El Cucuy is, he's about the scariest of scary things in the world. And he is sort of like the Mexican boogeyman. And in this book it shows that even the things that are the scariest things to some of us are scared of something and El Cucuy is afraid of change and moving and starting a new school and worried about making friends. I think we've all been through that this year starting back to school after a little bit of a break. And so suddenly El Cucuy isn't so scary even to Ramon anymore who's his boy. Suddenly they're both afraid of change. And a book that's just about to come out in a few weeks, The Last Quintista, and this book is written for middle grade. It's a little, I would say upper middle grade. So maybe 10 years old and over nine years old and older. But a lot of adults are reading it. And so it's kind of one of those books that I think might be one that people read with families. And it's about, it's set in the future. And it's about a girl Petra who wants to be a storyteller. And when Earth is going to be destroyed, don't worry, it's long in the future. She is going to be going to another planet and when she goes to this planet she wants to be a storyteller her parents want her to be a scientist. And along the journey, as often happens in books, things happen and an evil empire takes over and when Petra awakens from her deep sleep of 100 years, she discovers that all the memories of Earth and stories and everything she adored and loved have been erased from those memories and she is the only one who remembers. So she has to try to remind people through storytelling of what it was to be human and remind them of Earth and maybe their families. So it's a little bit more of a tension filled book. So we're going to talk more about Lupe Wong won't dance I've got my little place card here. And this book is about Lupe Wong, who wants to be the first female pitcher in the major leagues. And when she goes to, and if she gets straight A's this quarter or semester, her uncle, who is a groundskeeper for the Mariners is going to introduce her to fully Hernandez who is a pitcher and like her is a Mexican, and Chinese descent. And so Lupe, if she she got to get straight A so she can meet him she shows up to PE one day and finds out that they're going to be square dancing. And she's having none of it so she's trying to eliminate square dancing. It's a lot more than that it's not just about square dancing it's about friendships and it's a funny book, but so it's a lot more funny than my serious work. I'll read to you a scene from Lupe, when she's having dinner with her grandparents her grandparents come over for dinner, and her mother's side of the family is of Mexican descent, her father's side of the families from Chinese descent. So we're going to start off when they sit down at the table. We're going to start the whole families around the table including Lupe's mom, her brother Paolo and her grandmother Salgado and her grandma and Grandpa Wong. Grace Paolo mom says, God thank you for our grandparents who can cook. No offense he whispers to mom. There's a small knock followed by out. Thank you for giving Mr Montgomery pink eye so my algebra test is postponed and help Lupe through puberty and bless this food. Paolo mom admonishes. Oh sorry he says and bows his head again. Amen. Mom and Bella sigh simultaneously and cross themselves, Papa and Grandma Wong are not so religious, but they not respectively. Paolo must be hungry because he doesn't waste any time spooning Pusole into his bowl. Pusole and Pats his head. Pusole is magic. It will cure any illness or trouble you have. How much do you weigh now Grandma Wong asks Paolo to skinny. Yes to skinny Bella says in agreement. Mom sets her chopsticks down. He's perfect. He just had his physical. Grandma Wong pops a shrimp in her mouth and stares out the window. Bella ignores mom's comet and spoons more Pusole into Paolo's bowl. I put a heaping spoon of steamed eggs on top of my white rice and spoon Pusole over a scoop of Mexican rice. I grabbed the soy sauce and drizzle barely four drops on top of the eggs. Too much soy sauce. Grandma Wong says. Paolo narrows his eyes at me just like Grandma and we erupt and laughter. I yeah, Grandma says shocked at our outburst. I finished scarfing it all down and stand up with my plate. Already done. Grandma reaches up and pinches my cheek again. I guess you don't need anymore. I can see you've been eating a lot. Mom drops the shrimp she's holding. Bella takes my plate from my hand and sets it back down. She takes it to mouth from her own plate and sets it on mine. She pulls me back down and I take a bite before she can shove it into my mouth herself. I quickly make a muscle with my arm at Grandma Wong. Gotta keep my strength up Grandma. Baseball season started. Bella smiles and pats my knee under the table. Grandma Wong barely lowers her voice. No money in baseball. Waste of time. I slam down my chopsticks. It's one thing for her to always call me fat. It's just a Chinese grandma thing, but it's another to criticize the greatest game in history. Bella sits up tall and orgullosis her chichis to show she is competent. Baseball started in Mexico. It is in her blood, she says. Paolo snorts into his poise. Bella's eyes are huge and her mouth is tight. I sort of appreciate the help. She's dead wrong about its origin, of course, but I'm not going to correct her. So as you can see, a lot of times in families when you have a mix of cultures, some of you might be familiar with Mexican culture, some of you might be familiar with Chinese culture and sometimes when they collide, it's really interesting and funny. And so this scene is absolutely something that could have happened in my own family at certain times and it has. So it's kind of based on that, but we all have really unique families. So that's, you know, something that I wanted to show and showcase in my book. I love that aspect of complex families in both our works, but especially how it plays out in that scene, right? Where it goes from funny to suddenly, you know, your main character gets, you know, she gets upset, right? And Felicia, oh, she gets upset. But that's something that were you drawing from? You said it could have happened in your family. Were you drawing from experience to write, you know, a scene like that? Oh, yeah. And a lot of these things are things that actually happened, you know, within, and they're funny. Like sometimes you go, wow, is this, is this real? And all of these things have happened in some way or another. And I just wanted to show, of course, when I was writing this, I never thought that it would be a book or that other people would read it. But when I wrote this scene in particular, I just kind of imagined a dinner scene of what would happen within families. And, you know, my background is Mexican American and white. So there was a mix of cultures there within, you know, growing up with, you know, a white parent and someone who's a Mexican descent. My kids, it's even more complicated. Their dad is Chinese. And so I wanted, you know, when I was writing this, it was kind of based on my kids and their experiences and how funny it actually is. But sometimes there are things that can be said that seem difficult or they're a little complicated. And I wanted to show that there's always love. It's not meant necessarily to be that way. And we can have families that are complicated and have families from different cultures that sometimes it seems a little tense, but underlying all of that. They love each other and grandparents, no matter where they are, they love us and parents the same way they can come from different backgrounds, and even children looking at that they can have two very different grandparents and you love them just the same. Yeah, yeah. I think complex families are so are so interesting and I think important to represent in middle grade. I've got them in Muse Squad too, because my own family was complex in a different way, right? I was, my parents divorced when I was really young, my dad wasn't around. And lots of kids sort of in the extended family, right, have divorced parents and step-parents and step-brothers and I have a step-sister that I love, right, and how these families can be very complicated and tense at times, but also sort of loving and wonderful, you know. And I love that you mentioned to that difference, right, that there are sort of cultural things that are very specific, right, to families and to however that family is put together. In the second Muse Squad book, Callie has to go to spend the summer with her dad in New York and her feelings are a little raw because he, you know, her parents divorced, dad moved away, like got married almost immediately, right, to this other person, right. And who is lovely, right, who is also, there is still love there, right, and those, these are the sort of the configurations that the adults have found for one another, and the kids sometimes feel like stuck in the middle of it, you know, but they very much still love her. Well, and I think probably in your book as well, like, especially a child who's going from one household with a parent to another, there's another set of rules or expectations. And is that something that was in your book, like, did she go from her mother's home to her father's and have like suddenly it's like, wait, this is really different than what it is at mom's house. That's so real. Right. And I think kids who are sort of going between like two, two homes like that, whether it's every other week or on the weekends, I think they feel that, you know, very strongly and certainly I gave that to Callie as well. So with mom at home, it's more easy going and then she goes to New York with her dad. And he's strict right he's strict in a way that she's no longer used to. Right. She's gonna gonna custom to her mother's, her mother's flow, and her father's flows is a really different one. And I remember with my, with my editor, you know, she I mentioned in the little section that I read that she breaks curfew. And the first time she breaks curfew he takes her phone right it's like that's evil, like no more phone for you. And my editor was like, already I mean wouldn't he give her a chance. And I'm thinking myself, oh my God, he's like an old fashioned Cuban dad. That's like, that's like, that's actually not enough what he's done, right, like, like taking her phone is actually a little too mild, you know, to how he might have react and what else how else he might have like, you know, punished her and kept different friends or your or whatever you know in the way I imagine him. So that's, that's, that's funny too. And a lot of that that book is sort of her like dealing with that, that difference in disciplinary styles, you know, it's real. It's very real for kids. Well, and I think we need to point out that, you know, a lot of times you hear Oh, you know, that's too bad or that's not perfect. And we all have our own home life and yeah it can be complicated, but it's good. You know, it doesn't have to be bad. It's just what kids experience and I think that a lot of times as kids, we think that our home life might not be great or might be complicated and we don't know that that other kids have complicated home lives as well. And sometimes we don't talk about those things. We get to read a book and see what's really going on with other kids. And as writers we try to put real life into books, and we can see that it's not always, it's not always perfect, but there's love and they're there, that's your home and it doesn't make it any better or worse than anybody else's. And I always worry that kids will, you know, read books with these perfect families and go wow I wish I had that well that's not realistic because most families are complicated and and we've got a lot of combined families and I think that kids need to know that their family is what they have to navigate and to never feel like that it's less than anybody else's. Yeah, absolutely. So families are tricky in both our books with so our friendships. Absolutely. So, I think that, you know, in your book, you've got your character, who is suddenly kind of whisked into this different world of she is in this different, you know what what her real, not persona but like what she can become. Luckily, she gets to do this with other people other uses like herself so can you speak a little bit to that about her learning to make friends with, you know, others who may not be like her have the same background and what that was like. Yeah, there are there are a couple of tensions there for Cali because, especially in the first book, you know she accidentally magically turns her best friend into a pop star, and starts to feel that she's lost her best friend right and I, and this is me pulling from my own sort of middle school memories of having a best friend who suddenly in middle school became very popular. Like suddenly she was like the school rock star and feeling, oh my God, I'm left in the dust, right like suddenly like her social sphere was different from mine and what happened to us to our friendship right we're being tugged in different directions, and trying to navigate and trying to rediscover what you liked about each other right in the first place and why you became, you know, best friends and and getting to the essence of that. So she's dealing with, with losing friends, this one best friend on one on the one hand and getting sort of guilty about that, and then making all these new friends who are completely diverse and global, and they're there, they have all these very different personalities and they have to work together as a team. So there's a lot of compromise there with them because they have their goals as users that they have to accomplish together and they might not always see the eye to eye. And so that was really fun to navigate through those complexities with Cali in both books. I think that, you know, in in Lupe Wong won't dance. She has a lot of complicated friendships to Lupe isn't always the most likable character I sometimes she she makes a lot of mistakes and one thing I wanted to showcase because a lot of people will read it and they'll go. She's not always likable and I'm like, yeah, she's growing, you know, and part of what I wanted to show is that even in her friendships, she makes really bad mistakes she takes her friends for granted and sometimes she uses them to get to her goal and so she'll you know have them do tasks for her when really she just assumes they're going to do it because they're her friends, and she discovers along the way that she's making mistakes and one thing I really wanted to show is that that's part of growing and especially when we're in, you know, middle and going into high school and navigating friendships and sometimes we lose friends and it's really hurts like you know friends will move on to other friends it happens to all of us but when it happens to us we feel like we're the only person in the world that it's happening to. But when it happens to Lupe it's really hard and she has to look at her behavior and go wait, what did I do, maybe I had part of the maybe I was part of the problem. And just to learn to forgive ourselves and I herself and I think that we need to remember that along the way, we're going to make a lot of mistakes with our friendships and other things and we have to learn to go wow. I know I made a mistake, but I can do better, and I'm going to forgive myself and move on. And if we always just think about that mistake we made and we dwell on it and that's all we think about. That's not what we should do we should learn from it and say okay I'll do better next time and move on and, and we should do that with our friendships and yeah. One thing I love about Lupe though is that she has many different friendships she has her friendship with her friend, Andy who she and Andy have been friends for a long time. And she also is friends with a boy down the street whose name is Niles. And so she's in there, they're all very different and I think that that's one thing I wanted to show as well that it's, it's okay. So school is tough because a lot of times people run in clicks. It's okay to have all kinds of friends and friends are there are different from you or have different hobbies or activities and you know friendships can be a lot deeper than just, you know, kind of going okay this way or this click is that way. There might be that quiet person that you never talked to, or you might be that quiet person and it's okay to make friends with someone who you may not have thought you ever would be friends with and it could create a lifelong friendship. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that the, at least in, you know, in my book at the sort of towards the end. I'm going to spoil a little bit but she gets her best friend back. It would be kind of sad if they were like enemies forever right so like she gets her best friend back and part of that is, is that they apologize to one another, and the power of an apology I think is really, really important and it's, I'm always shocked at how there are some people who really struggle with apologies right they have a hard time saying I'm sorry. But I think once you once you learn how to do that in a way that that's genuine right and it's thoughtful it can really heal things right when you think of a friendship has gone bad what you really need to just communicate. And the power of an apology I think is really, really important there too. I agree and I think you know when you when those apologies happen. Sometimes it doesn't mean that you agree on what happened you can still be that we just don't agree on this one thing and you apologize and you move on in your friendship and you just know okay hey you know what, we're not going to agree on that thing. It doesn't mean that we're not going to be friends or we can never be friends again. We just know that okay that's something we're not going to agree on and we have to, you know, learn to just respect that the other person has a different opinion. And accept each other's differences too. Absolutely. It's important as well. Yeah. You know what else both our books have in common is a sense of activism. Absolutely. Yeah. Lupe is a bit of a social justice warrior and that's kind of what gets her into trouble you know she's trying to band square dancing but we found it find out almost immediately that because she is Mexican American and Chinese. She was upset about there being one bubble on the scantron where it said choose one. And she's like wait a minute. Why do I have to choose one I'm equal parts of these things and that was that came out of how I felt as a teacher or when I was a young I asked a teacher why do I have to choose one bubble and she goes well that's just the way it is you have to choose one. Not just one and it was very odd to me so she becomes an activist for that she doesn't like the dress code where girls have to wear shorts that are to their fingertips but boys, it doesn't matter. And so I wrote that was something that happened with my kids and they were mad about it I'm like you know what that's right so she's a bit of an activist and finds things that she that to her, they don't pass the smell test and she's like okay. If this is if this is just feels wrong to me she can't just accept it and so she is constantly trying to figure out ways to either get something banned or bring it up with the school board or bring it up with the school. Unfortunately for Lupe she gets so excited about these things and that she forgets that sometimes you have to take other people into consideration it's not just about yourself it's great to have causes it's wonderful to do that but you want to do it in a way that if you are going to enlist the help of your friends you do it politely and you ask you don't tell and so. But yeah social activism it's I think it's important that if something doesn't feel right to you I know sometimes as a kid. You feel powerless to change something. And this was something you know when my kids came home and said, Well, we have to square dance and not only do we have to square dance. We have to square dance only with a boy and we only have to square dance with the person who asks us. So, and we have to say yes. And so, for my daughter I felt so bad for her she never even held a boy's hand. And suddenly she's in middle school and she's going to have to dance with a boy and hold his hand it just all felt very awkward to her. And she was powerless to change it her grade depended on it so that's kind of how I like okay. Yeah, who could stand up for those of us who felt like we you know we felt like I was like wait a minute I had to do that too so I loop they long was a character who I'm like okay she's going to be she's going to stand up for all the things that I was too afraid to stand up for. And it's hard there are things all the time that you go wow I really want to get I don't think this is fair. But is it, you know when you're a kid it's like you feel like can I say anything can I do anything is anybody even going to listen to me if I do. Yeah. Now that's really that's really powerful and something that always intrigued me about adolescence, right, which is that that incredible sense of passion, right, for causes for sort of for for justice, and not a lot of power in the in the world, you know, at least power power that's sort of visible to you as a kid right that you can't access it and so, of course there are there are ways to do it and doing it in the ways that loop a learns to over the course of the book right is is really healthy. When I was writing new squad I wanted to because it was set in Miami. And I'm married to a scientist and so there's always like science conversations happening in my house and, and I knew that I wanted climate change to be a part of the story as well right because it's something that that kids, especially are worried about and kids, especially in coastal areas like Seattle and like Miami are worried about in really specific ways. I want to be that to be part of the story. And so the muses are tasked with inspiring faded ones right people who are destined for greatness, whether it's in the arts, or it's in it's in some other field. And so Kelly's first assignment is actually a classmate Maya Rivera was there like the science geek of the school and she kind of dresses funny and she's goofy, but she's passionate, particularly about climate change. And so, Kelly and the other muses in the music squad where the kids on the of the nine muses are tasked with inspiring Maya and making sure she has a friend, because she's destined for greatness. And so when you are 11. What that means is making sure she gets to that science fair, and that she does a good job at the science fair you know and so I was able to call yourself as an activist but she's the support system. Right for that for the activists in her life and you see that actually in both books. And I thought that was important too because you might not be that kid who feels maybe brave enough to be on the frontline, right, of an issue, but you can certainly support right those those who do if you agree with them right and whether that's helped them make posters or even Tom good job I think that's great right like being that support system can be really important to that I think that's a vital position to hold and so the muses are there they were interesting to write because they're not front and center they're not the heroes of the story. Right like they're the makers of heroes. And so they're sort of in the shadows, and they're, they're helping people like do what they need to do in the world. So that was really fun. I love that because I think that a child who would read your book would say okay maybe I don't have to be the one on the frontline maybe I'm shy maybe that's not my strong suit but I can help and you know say I can I can inspire other people or I can be a support system for a friend. And, you know, like you said, obviously you want to believe in what it is they're doing, but even just, you know, activism sometimes is knowing that, you know, saying, Wow, that's their cause, but I do believe in it, but I want to help and that's a great, a great way to to be proud of yourself and to find those things that are important to you and to help others to it doesn't always have to be your cause and yeah I love. Yeah that's a great way to look at it and I think kids will will if they read your book will go wow okay I can do that so what a great message. Oh, thanks so I think of Mr Rogers right that was always his his famous quote look for the helpers. And sometimes I mean I think so many kids books, especially books that are fantasy books, right like they're especially the magical books like you are the chosen one. And so like a spotlight on that one kid and these these girls are are magical right but they're not, they're not the goddesses in the gods right like they're they're taking that back seat because they're there sort of as an assist. I think it's an I think it's an important role. Yeah, and when you don't see very often. There's been some really fun heartwarming chatter on both in chat on YouTube and here just just empowering multiracial families and kids just showcasing that diversity and talking and in an appreciation of like the friendships and the families and the and the activism so I wanted No, no questions yet, but I wanted to just share that that there's folks that are out there that appreciate the discussion around those pieces and I really appreciated how you both went into depth a little bit around the growth of your characters, because I do feel like that's something like that's very real right and and that's very much a piece of of the middle grade experience. It's very real to have likable days and unlikable days, whether they're internal or external so I do have a question about writing process, if you both are willing to share a little bit about how, how you go about writing. If it's changed from when you wrote these books and depending on what you both have coming up. Well, my writing process is normally I get like just the spark of an idea, and it always starts that way if I try to force an idea for a book, it doesn't happen it's normally and it's can be something weird and bizarre like the last Quintista. I was listening to an NP you know it can happen at any time where you hear something but it was a writing prompt and it was right about take a traditional fairy tale and make it sci fi. And even though the book I mean it's considered science fiction it's also dystopian. I just wrote a short story and then after that I write down plot I'm like wow this would make a good novel so I wrote down plot points. And then as I start writing, and I start following my little plot points, the characters start forming in my mind and so as I'm writing them. It never follows the plot points because the characters start just it sounds so weird but it really happens they characters start taking the story in another direction, and sometimes as a writer you're going wait that's not where we're supposed to be going we're supposed to go over here, but it's always more interesting in the end if you allow the characters to kind of play play like a movie in my head and I just write down what they're doing and sometimes I'm like, don't do that and they just do it anyway. So it's always interesting but most of the time when I'm writing. I don't the characters, people ask me a lot are the characters you or are the characters someone you know, and they're not they could they sometimes their pieces of them that remind me of somebody, but they're never someone in particular they always form themselves and so they're different types of writers who write plot and others that they're called panzers where panzers just means just write whatever mine are always character driven where the characters kind of come into play and then they just. It sounds silly but they kind of write the story themselves and once I have the character in my mind it actually is very easy to write the story. I basically begin with character as well I think almost everything I've written, including the adult books begin with character, the difference with you squad and everything I'd written before those books had come to me certain pieces right like I like this historical moment and then I like this, you know this theme and it slowly the pattern you know the tapestry starts to come together until finally, right I have the idea. You squad, the idea came like a bolt of lightning. And that's never happened to me before it probably will never happen again. And I like to say that it was actually news given because there's no other explanation. But for real, I was at it in museum I was the VNA, which is Victorian Albert Museum in London and I made that news had headquarters in the book. And I went back to this moment, but I was visiting with my family, and waiting for the kids to use the bathroom, and there was this beautiful sculpture of a muse, and I went to take a picture of it. And the idea just came to me which was what if they'd been children like what if the muses had been children, and that was it. And I started to serve bumps. Just frantically wrote it. And you know museum that the more museum comes from the muse right museum right so place where everything is inspired and so I'm frank to frantically writing in my notes app on my phone and over the course of that vacation sort of plotting it in my head and I try not to start a project I start actually drafting until I know how it ends. Because I used to just go by the seat of my pants for the first two books and it was so painful that I decided to do it again. So I spent the rest of that that trip just dreaming about who these kids were. But yeah I was it felt very, very like a very lucky moment. I don't know. You'll have more of those moments because the way that it happened just organically you were in your this every day you're going to have another moment where you're going to go oh my gosh here's another one. You better have your notebook handy because it's just going to happen and you're going to have to write it down. It was wild. It was wild and it typically though doesn't typically like ideas build for a long time in my head like they just percolate and they start adding layers like an onion. And then they're good so yeah. So cool. I love both Callie and Lupe for different reasons like with Callie I was like when she would go to I'm not going to give spoilers so when she would not be where her mom thought she was she she would say she would say like if my mother only knew that I was. However far away and it was just so so real right and with Lupe with her mother, she was really just trying to take that measured approach as much as she could until she couldn't anymore around the different pieces around the dancing and around the boys and around baseball like it was just like it was so so fun to what to be with those characters. So thank you both for for creating them. What's next for you, if you can share. I think that's tricky for writers. I'm trying to remember what I can I can what I can and can't say. I have stuff in the works. So I will be working on another two picture books and that I can tell you that that's it I can't say more than that and another middle grade young adult that may or may not be in the same universe is the last Quintista and so the Lupe I think about all the time and I started writing another Lupe book and I decided that Lupe's journey in middle school might need to be over if we revisit Lupe. I think we need to revisit her in high school and have a young adult book and I had written about half of another Lupe and it just what it felt a little bit like she had closure for that moment and trying to keep her in that moment just it wasn't really telling her it was funny but it just didn't feel like there was more growth to happen so I'm like, we need to throw her into a high school situation, but yeah I'm I'm working on something that hopefully it will be announced soon but I can't really say anything just yet, but right now I'm, you know, next on the 12th is when the last Quintista comes out so I'm kind of focusing on that it's like having a baby when your book arrives it's like having a book baby. Absolutely. I can't wait next week. Next week. And I love the idea of Lupe in high school Lupe Wong at the prom still won't. That would be hilarious. Okay that's dancing at the prom. I'm actually I can actually announce something and it's true it's tricky sometimes you're asking that I have a thing and I can't tell you, but I can announce, and it's a new middle grade coming out next fall so Halloween 22 and it's called the curse on spectacle P. There's a lot of boy named Frank Fernandez whose parents are in the home restoration business so they turn trains into houses and old abandoned churches and all kinds of funky shapes and they've decided they're moving to a lighthouse in the Florida keys, except this house is the spookiest lighthouse ever. And Frank runs into a mysterious girl who may or may not be a ghost. And together, they're going to try to figure out what is this curse on spectacle key. And I'll add that he has a great name and her name is Mary Shelley, because Frank is obsessed with Frankenstein, the story Frankenstein. So look for that next fall. Yeah, that sounds fun and it's coming out at kind of a Halloween time. Yes. Oh, I love it. Thank you. Very cool. Very cool. Thanks. Thanks for sharing and not not doing spoilers. If you can. I appreciate that I think both of your books we have them with the San Francisco Public Library or these middle grade books, I think all of your books and so folks can check them out and use them at their local favorite local bookstore that they want to support. And is there anything else that you all would like to share. I, and in the chat there's books are just applauding and, and thinking and just so excited. So just wanted to share that too. But if there's anything else you'd like to share with the audience. I have a teacher's out there you can go to my website. It's either you can go to either Donna Barbara, he get a get a, and it'll pull up or DB E get a and it'll pull up, and I've teaching guide I've a teaching guide there for Lupe, and and there will be a teaching guide for the last Quintista coming. Very soon and I forgot Lupe Wong, no by that it's coming out in Spanish, and it's been delayed because books got stuck in shipping containers. It's a real problem, but it will be out in I think now the new release date is November and I that is wonderful for me and the last Quintista is already being translated so it will be in Spanish as well. And just being able to have a book that you can read in both English and Spanish would have been so wonderful for me when I was younger there just really weren't books like that that were translated so I just it makes me so happy so yeah if somebody you know wants to read it in both language or an ESL class that will be in Spanish in November. That's great and same for me if you go to shantosavado.com there's a teacher's guide for the first new squad book. And I also do virtual classroom visits as well. And yeah please please do check it out. Well that was amazing. I'm glad you both were able to share your teacher guides because they're definitely are some educators out there that are watching right now and that will and that are tuning in so thank you so much. And thanks for saying yes to to another yet another virtual event. We really appreciate it, especially being in San Francisco and touching Seattle and Miami is it's a joy and a pleasure so thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for connecting us across the country. I know yeah one of my airmanas from Las Musas it's wonderful to we don't get to see each other that often. So this was a great opportunity and I just I had so much fun. Same here. Thank you so much for having us and thank you to everyone for watching. Yeah. Thank you everybody for watching and joining us today and if you love today's program. Be sure to check out our calendar. There are more opportunities to engage in cultural programs like this to celebrate Viva Latinx Heritage Month. We'll explore hot chocolate traditions throughout Latin America so be sure to register for that. Take a look at our book lists that have both Chantel and Donna's books listed as well and take good care of your folks yourselves. Stay safe and we hope to see you all at another library program soon. Have a good night. Thank you.