Roberto Germán [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Our Classroom. In this space, we talk about education, which is inclusive of but not limited to what happens in schools. Education is taking place whenever and wherever we are willing to learn. I am your host, Roberto Germán, and Our Classroom is officially in session. Welcome back to Our Classroom. In this episode, we get the opportunity to tune into a conversation that Lorena moderated with Yuyi Morales as part of the Latinx Kid Lit Book Festival. Shout out to them and all the work that they're doing. They made space for this wonderful conversation to take place.
Roberto Germán [00:00:48]:
And Yuyi Morales, she knows what it takes to be a rebel, to shape the world. And so I want to draw us into this conversation where they're breaking down and talking about her latest book, Little Rebels, Peques Rebeldes. And so tune in, enjoy, take some notes, and be inspired by Yuyi Morales and Lorena Germán.
Lorena Germán [00:01:14]:
Let's. Let's jump in. I'm going to introduce myself and then, Yuyi, you can introduce yourself. Although you might not need any introduction, but, you know, fine. And then we'll get into some questions and sit here and just be excited about listening to you. My name is Lorena and I am an educator. I'm also an author, but of teacher professional development books. So I don't get to write the very cool children's books that you get to write.
Lorena Germán [00:01:45]:
And I'm a speaker and I talk to educators all across the country about what it is that we should be doing, shouldn't be doing and how we could be centered in love and respect and cultural sustaining and responsive type of teaching. So that's the shortest about me.
Yuyi Morales [00:02:09]:
And I love books, especially pictured books. So I write them, I imagine them, I illustrate them, I share them, and I live them. I live picture books. So happy to be here today. Yay.
Lorena Germán [00:02:29]:
So I've got some questions and, yeah, no way to listen to some of your thoughts. These are questions that, you know, once I heard and understood that I would be talking with you, I was like, oh, my goodness, I have so many questions. Just because, you know, I think that your books are really powerful and I think that they do so much work to open the doors of thinking and the heart and the mind for children. And so that when they're in a group, it's just like, you know, you're opening a big can of worms in a good way. But that. And they can all think about so much of what you create on those pages in so many different directions and ways. And so I love using your books in particular with children whose minds are not yet. You know, kind of like grown up like ours, where we have a lot of barriers to our imagination and we'll be like, no, that can't happen, or that's not what that looks like.
Lorena Germán [00:03:30]:
They are still ready to imagine, you know? And so with all of that being said, can you just let us know a little bit about this new book, Rebelde, which. I'm sorry, a Little Rebels. Little Rebels.
Yuyi Morales [00:03:42]:
Little Rebels.
Lorena Germán [00:03:44]:
I say Rebelde because I have. I've got a plant in my backyard. Okay. And she is rebelde. Okay. That's her name. Your book, Little Rebels. Can you tell us a little bit about that book?
Yuyi Morales [00:03:56]:
Yeah, actually we also have Peques Rebeldes. So we have also Reveldes in the book. And this is a book that has taken me so long, so long to create because it has been a journey.
Lorena Germán [00:04:13]:
And.
Yuyi Morales [00:04:16]:
It is an exploration. Is an exploration in a territory that is being disputed. What does it mean to be a rebel? Like, when I started writing it, there were people who were saying, like, but when we think of rebels, we think of people who does harm, you know? And when I was a child, my mother would have not wanted me to be a little rebel. I know that. But in the world that we are today, and when we are just little, even us adults are just little sometimes in front of big problems. Now I imagine how it is like for children to be these little children and be in front of everything that we see in our world, which cannot be concealed. Anything from violence, from not taking care of people and not taking care of people that feels like they are others. And I made this book because I wanted to explore how it is like to be little and feel that maybe you don't have a saying in what happens around us, but in fact realize that being little can be our strength.
Yuyi Morales [00:05:32]:
It is our strength and it is our strength, especially when we get together.
Lorena Germán [00:05:38]:
Oh, yes. I hope that our audience is ready for everything that you're about to share with us. I also know that you have some pages that you are going to read or want to read for us. That would be amazing. Yes, exactly. Listen.
Yuyi Morales [00:05:56]:
So I'm going to read to you Little Rebels. And I actually have the book here with me in Español, Peques Rebeldes. And when you take one of my books, in this case Little Rebels, you can always take the jacket to see what else is inside, and then we can start reading it. This is. It starts like this. It says, how shall we begin? Let's start with a question. Have you ever heard of little Rebels. You might not see us at first, but look closely.
Yuyi Morales [00:06:47]:
So take a look. Peekaboo. Little rebels know there is more than one way of doing anything.
Lorena Germán [00:06:56]:
Grow.
Yuyi Morales [00:06:58]:
We come in all colors and forms. Yes. We show up however we feel. And we take all the time we need to find each other. I see us. We like to ask lots of questions. But we aren't looking for answers. We are looking for stories.
Yuyi Morales [00:07:24]:
How do you want to be called? What color do you feel today? Would you like to see a secret? And here are some other questions. What are your pronouns? Where are you going Here? You as a reader can always think of your own questions. But will you ask someone you just met? Do you want to hear how little rebels make poetry? Little rebel smile Popcorn cub-style. We speak worlds that shape the world we want to live in. When we need a different world, we invent new palaveras. Kek. Look. A wonderful wiggly tooth.
Yuyi Morales [00:08:14]:
My secret fang is loose. Be aware. Little rebels are dreamers. I dream of transforming into a tadpole. Like the legend about the lake. Tonight is a full moon. Shall we go and play with a guitar? Rebellious we are. And we dare to say what we feel.
Yuyi Morales [00:08:48]:
No. Yes. Do you want to hold hands at every step? We trust our intuition first. I changed my mind. Let's go. Kekekekeke. Do you want to know what did all rebels bring on? Adventures? Something to share. Something just in case.
Yuyi Morales [00:09:17]:
Something for giving thanks. Ready or not, here we come. Whoops. Don't worry, Senora Cangeja. Among little rebels, you are safe. Even if we are not friends, we will not hurt you. We create a tender path for everybody. Aguita water calls us all.
Yuyi Morales [00:09:55]:
You know what rebellious means to us? We don't race to be the first one or the best. Each one our splendor. When we root for each other just the way we are, we become who we want to be. I think that's as long as we are going to read this time.
Lorena Germán [00:10:28]:
Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciated that there were some things I missed when I read it. And so I appreciated how you embedded those sounds. That's awesome. That is awesome. Thank you so much for reading. So here is my first question for you.
Lorena Germán [00:10:47]:
This is a moment. I can use so many words to describe our moment in our country. Right. This is a challenging moment, a tough moment, a scary moment, a sad moment. What do you think.
Yuyi Morales [00:11:02]:
The role of.
Lorena Germán [00:11:03]:
A writer is in moments like this one?
Yuyi Morales [00:11:07]:
Yeah. You know, there is this feminist, Frita Segato. She's from Argentina. And she says that the work of the artist or the role of the artist. And in this case, as writers. We are artists. We are creators. Is to be like an antenna.
Yuyi Morales [00:11:31]:
Is that how you say it in English? And so we. We are these antennas to the world, and we are capturing what our antennas can, you know, about what is happening there. And then we bring it to us, and we. And we make it. We transmit it to our readers. I really believe that is exactly what it is. So, as a writer, as an illustrator, as a creator of books for children, I know that I am an antina, and I am capturing what's around us and trying to bring it to the place where we are going to deliver it to the most precious thing that we have in this world, which are children. So from there, we have many tasks.
Yuyi Morales [00:12:25]:
We have the task of bringing it to a place where children are going to relate to it. But also we have the task of bringing a thinner path for all of our children who are going to read this book, not only for some of them, but for everybody. So I think that in that sense, as authors, we need to be very careful, and we have to be tender and bring to our books those things that are going to. We are going to present. We are going to give children with that are going to give them a strength, that are going to let them know that they are cared for, that they matter, that we will do whatever is in our hands to protect them always. So I think that especially us who create books for children, not only we are capturing what the world is not right now, but we are also bringing kind of like a search for the tools, and for what is that? That is going to help us live in this world and not only adapt to this world, but make a change. Yeah.
Lorena Germán [00:13:44]:
Wow. Thank you so much for that, for that Very thoughtful answer. I'm going to be thinking about that analogy for a while of us being antennas. It makes me think a lot about what am I in tune to and what harm does it cause when I decide to tune out? What happens when I'm like, no. And that is one of the ways that I function in the world.
Yuyi Morales [00:14:14]:
Bella. Yeah.
Lorena Germán [00:14:17]:
So when we read your books, I feel like all of them. Land is like a character. Land is always there, and especially in little rebels in. Because everything that's happening has to do with what's going on outside. Right. The whole book is outside, and the outside is a character. So that Land is always a character. Why? And what does land mean to you? Why is it always so important?
Yuyi Morales [00:14:48]:
Sure. You know, I've been learning how disconnected we had Been from anything that is not ourselves. And to like what I mentioned before, which is the authorize everything else. In the case of land, we have been made believe that land is something that is not ourselves. And when in fact we are the land and land is us. So it is only just that in my stories, land has to be a character we will not live if we were not in this land. And you know, I live in Mexico now and anywhere. Nowhere else has been so clear to me how the care of the.
Yuyi Morales [00:15:40]:
Of our territory and the place where we live is as important as taking care of ourselves.
Lorena Germán [00:15:45]:
Wow.
Yuyi Morales [00:15:46]:
As we take care of the land, we take care of our bodies. As we let our land be depleted, being taken, hurt, abused, it's as if we are letting our bodies and our existences also being abused and being hurt. So knowing that we are so connected and we are part of this land, we need to take care of it. Otherwise it will happen what is happening right now in which we make others just be so other and so not. How you say, like no worth of humility and care that then we can do whatever we want to them. Right? Then we can deport them, we can them, we can hurt them. Yeah, exactly. But that's what happens with land as well.
Yuyi Morales [00:16:42]:
When we see that something that is not ourselves, then we can do whatever we want to it and we can really, really hurt it. And that's what I think that land needs to in ourselves, needs to be brought to us and realize that it is us.
Lorena Germán [00:17:02]:
That is great. Thank you for sharing that. One of the things I think about is that adults read your books too. Because when we read them to children, we are reading them, right? Yes. Whether I'm reading them at home to my little children or I am reading them in a classroom or locasea. Right. But I am also accessing them. And often we consume as adults children's books as if they are for the kids and that there's for us.
Lorena Germán [00:17:36]:
So what do you say to us adults? What is there for us to take away?
Yuyi Morales [00:17:41]:
I think the first, like yesterday I was hitting something like we cannot pretend that we are all horizontal. You know, there are. There are different like us as adults, we have different abilities and powers that children don't have yet. Right. And then we as adults can always remember that we have responsibility. And rather than make it all about how we are whatever the ones that know and the ones that control. I think that I want adults to feel that they are the caretakers. They are not the ones that handle the situation, but they are the ones that take care of.
Yuyi Morales [00:18:32]:
Of the space, they take care of the space. And where we are reading, when we bring our children close together, we see them in our labs or we are in front of a classroom. And what we are doing is we are creating that safe space and where children can exist, can take on the book, what the book offers them, and we will make sure that not harm is made to them. And so our responsibility as a adults, I think, is when, yes, the book is also directed to adults. Children are not less than us, so we can always imagine that the book is for ourselves as well, but also that our role there is to be the guardians of the space where the reading can happen.
Lorena Germán [00:19:28]:
That's great. I have so many more questions, but they're telling me that I only have. Okay, King, Seminole, Tito. So, yeah, yeah. So I want to ask you a technical question. Okay.
Yuyi Morales [00:19:42]:
Yes.
Lorena Germán [00:19:42]:
Or at least as technical as I can get. One of the things that I find powerful about being. I mean, I don't. But you are both an author, illustrator. How do you do that? Like, how does your brain work? How do you make those decisions about what goes first, what goes second?
Yuyi Morales [00:20:01]:
Is it.
Lorena Germán [00:20:05]:
And then, you know, your books are said to talk to us about culture, about family, about folklore. But I feel like maybe something's missing. What do we not know? What are we missing from what you are creating?
Yuyi Morales [00:20:21]:
You know, I think that. I hope that you are not missing it. And I think that it is healing. I think that the journey of a book bring us to healing. And not only when we read it, but like for me, when I'm making a book, I'm always answering questions that I have and question for which I have no answer to. And making this book, making any book, allows me to explore and to ask. I am never going to be as us, as authors, we are never going to be the sole solo answers of any questions. We are tapping again, you know, as an antenna.
Yuyi Morales [00:21:03]:
We are tapping into the wisdom of the people around us, our community, and even our world. And having said that, I will tell you that I can't pretend that I know how to make books. But the truth is that every book has its own journey. And at least for me, it has to be learned again and again and again. And maybe at the beginning, I was always writing my story first and I had like a set path that I follow after I wrote it. Then I will create thumbnails and sketches, and I still have. I still embark on that path because I know that at least in action, it takes me to what I'm going to get. But at the same time, now I know that every book will call for something else.
Yuyi Morales [00:21:52]:
And there will be be times in which I'm just like, not even in my studio making this book right. I'm somewhere else. And sometimes I am doubting and sometimes I already made some drawings, but then I go back and I revise the text and change everything. And for every book, the journey is going to be different. I think that what I've learned of this is to trust. To trust the journey. To know that as long as I keep moving and breathing and my heart keeps beating and the book is in me, in my heart, I will be making a book, but the journey will be discovered.
Lorena Germán [00:22:37]:
Wow. Gracias. That was for me porque I am in the process right now of a book. And you know, my first couple of books, Fueron como Cathartic, they just came out. I had to write them, they were clear yet, you know, the purpose is clear, but the method is not. And I have been trying to fight it and wrestle it. And so I appreciate what you just said about Journey, about trusting that process. And no book is the same and each one is its own character, its own person.
Lorena Germán [00:23:12]:
So with that, what would you say you've learned about yourself as a person? Maybe as a mother, as a woman, as a friend, you know, as a writer, the process of writing is so intense. What's your journey like as a writer when it comes to all of this?
Yuyi Morales [00:23:36]:
Well, it's been tough. Like in the. You would think, or I will think that because I make more books then I know better and I have everything more under control. And what is happening now is that most of the time I feel like I'm in the middle of a revolution. And. Yeah, and I don't know. I do trust that I'm going to get the best book I can because my heart is on it. But I have no idea what the result is going to be and I have no idea how it's going to translate to my readers.
Yuyi Morales [00:24:17]:
And I'm trusting that readers know how to take what is best for them. And then at the same time, I will be so, so careful that I will never put them in a place where in order to discover what they need or take what they need, that I'm going to put them in harm. So I'm learning like, about myself, like so many things. But one of them that is very important is that books and stories have to be made in a community. You know, for so many years. I live in Mexico now, but for all the years, almost 20 years that I live in the United States, my journey was most of the time, like this image of the lonely artist. And I was lonely for many reasons. One, because of also the isolation of, you know, someone who comes from another country.
Yuyi Morales [00:25:17]:
But I always also found that the people that I could join and create together. But here in Mexico, the journey has also taken me to understanding how we make books that are not only dictated from our own memory and our own brain, but that are created because. Because the community is giving you the nutrients that you need to imagine what stories are really needed to be captured by our antennas and then brought to our processes. So it's not just an empty book that we put in the shelves of the house or the library, but also a book that serves our community. And maybe it's too much to say, oh, my book is going to be of good to the community and everything. Like, maybe that's too much to ask for. But that doesn't mean that we cannot make the effort to engage and to take what the community is giving us and bring it back with our narratives.
Lorena Germán [00:26:34]:
I feel like I have to write everything you said down so much, so much information. Thank you so much. I have one more question. And. And it's. It's.
Yuyi Morales [00:26:51]:
It's just.
Lorena Germán [00:26:53]:
It's. I'm pulling from something else. But you explained that you've learned English with your son by reading picture books. And. And, you know, basically a literacy, right, like picture books, a tool for more than just stories. When did you realize and how did you embrace this reality that your stories, that your books, could actually be a method for telling stories, but also for using voice, which I think is partly what we need to do in this moment. But, like, I see, like, we have to. We are seeing the power of voice.
Lorena Germán [00:27:31]:
We're seeing the power of silence. We are right, you know, and so your. Your books do that. They offer us a voice, a powerful voice. And so how did you come to that realization?
Yuyi Morales [00:27:45]:
You know, I like what you're saying like that, like, the books give this. This opportunity, power of voice. And one of the things I want to say right now is that, for me, super important that we can. That we take away the voice from the author and we give it to the readers, to the children. So then, at least when I make a book, I want to make an invitation. And my invitation is not only come here to read my book, because I just made a fantastic, clever story for you, but it's more like I gave myself permission to use my voice, and I Want to join it with you reader? And you, reader, can you tell me your story now? Can you tell me how you. I have learned to be a little rebel. What are those things that bring you healing to bring these books to the reader, not so that they can admire us.
Yuyi Morales [00:28:47]:
And then we put in the pedestal of the authors, but rather how we join our voices and how we invite those voices, which are the really, really wise ones, which are those of our leaders and our children.
Lorena Germán [00:29:00]:
And.
Yuyi Morales [00:29:02]:
You were asking me about this journey. For me, it began when I came to the United States. And not knowing the language, not knowing English, I did felt deprived of my voice. And when I saw picture books, even though I couldn't read them well enough at the beginning, I always had the help of the images. And that will make it possible for me to start understanding the stories. And then I realized how powerful that was. And I thought that I love making pictures. And I had the stories inside of me, and I never felt it more than when I was in the United States without my family, without my culture and the things that sustained me.
Yuyi Morales [00:29:53]:
So I. I wanted to bring those stories out. I didn't know how. And the picture book became like this mirror in which I could see myself reflected. And I thought, I can if this book is a mirror. And I want to offer that to every reader. Whenever you see a picture book or anything that you like, what you are staring at is at yourself and your possibilities and your passions and your hopes and your abilities. And for me, the picture book was.
Yuyi Morales [00:30:29]:
That was that mirror in which I could see myself and explore not only who I was seeing, but who else I am seeing in there at this moment. I'm bringing another book to you, and I'm hoping that you, as a reader, I'm gonna see yourself reflected in it, even if you don't look like the characters in there. But if there is something that you like, no matter what it is, be sure that it is you as well. And if you want to make a book like the books I am making you, all you have to do is just be yourself and the stories and the books will come.
Lorena Germán [00:31:15]:
I have a whole page of my notes here. Gigi, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing your voice with us through your books. And thank you for talking to us right now and explaining all of this and just blessing us. Thank you.
Roberto Germán [00:31:34]:
As always, your engagement in Our Classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show, and write a review. Finally, for resources to help you understand the intersection of race, bias and education and society, go to multiculturalclassroom. Com. Peace and love from your host, Roberto Germán.
