This children’s book is inspired by my grandmothers and their accounts of their childhood. They come from two very different cultures– the Philippines and Germany. In the development of this book, I was able to listen and learn about their experiences. The story became about two women from very different cultures who have experienced very similar life events. It is intended to recognize the value in their individual cultures but also identify the unity it brings when the cultures are shared with one another.

The development of this book allowed me to step into valuable conversations with my Grandma and read through written accounts from my Oma. Through this process I have been able to hold both parts of my background as equally important to one another and capture the appreciation I have for where I am from. I hope this book brings about a similar sense of appreciation that I found when listening and learning about these two remarkable stories.

This children’s book is intended for ages 8-12. It is written as a children’s book for the purpose of bringing a story that recognizes children of mixed backgrounds and creates a sense of appreciation toward who they are.  

I began with the idea of writing a children’s book inspired by exploration of my ethnic and cultural background, but I still didn’t know what story would come out of my exploration. These were a few questions I had in the back of my head.

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What story do I want to tell?

What question do I want to explore/answer within the book? Or what question do I want to develop this book around?

What question do I want to leave my audience with?

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I began by taking a trip to my Grandma’s home and sitting and talking with her. We sat at her kitchen table and I listened to her share her story of growing up in the Philippines. I learned things I had never known or thought to ask about. We also went through boxes of old photographs from her time there.

Then, I was able to visit my Opa’s home and talk with him about my Oma and her life growing up in Germany. She passed away in 2011, but I still remembered her stories she would tell. My Opa had this folder of written accounts of Oma and her siblings’ stories that I was able to borrow and read through.

As I talked with my Grandma and read through accounts from my Oma, I found so many parallels between their stories. One of the parallels that stuck out to me was how fruit trees were a part of their everyday life and something they both shared as meaningful to their story. That is where the idea of the mango and cherry trees came from. They also both experienced growing up during World War II. In their part of the world, the war affected them very differently, but nonetheless had an impact.

I was able to form the story around these parallels and share parts of their life.

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From there, I began testing out color themes, storyboarding illustrations, and writing the transcript of the story. Some of the illustrations were inspired by photographs I found in the research process. For the transcript of the story I wanted this alternating narrative between Grandma and Oma, so that created a rough guideline to begin writing within. 

The illustrations were done by hand in India ink pens and watercolor ink. I photographed the illustrations and brought them into the digital realm. Some were layered on top of subtle photographs I’d taken. 

The transcript went through different iterations, as the visual of the book began to build. Eventually, I started pairing the type with the illustrations and working with the typesetting of the story. In my process, I found printing and tacking the spreads to my wall midway through my process of creating the book was a helpful way to take a step back and look at things. 

At first, the type was set in Garamond. Later I changed it to Palatino, designed by German type designer Hermann Zapf in 1948. The original structure of the type was rigid left-justified paragraphs. After, receiving feedback from professors we worked to create a typographic feel that mimicked the loose playfulness of the illustrations. 

While I wanted hardcover copies printed and produced, I ended up making an edition of five hand bound books to be displayed at the Senior Show. The cover was linocut print design of mango and cherry tree leaves and fruit and it wraps around from the back to the front. I wanted there to be a handmade quality about the books since the storyline is personal. The books are pamphlet stitched with embroidery thread. The hardcover copies of the books are in the process of being ordered.