Little House of Hope (La Casita de Esperanza) A Sneak Preview and Interview with Author Terry Catasús Jennings~Julie Phend

 

 

 

Here’s a sneak preview of The Little House of Hope (La Casita de Esperanza) by Terry Catasús Jennings, illustrated by Raul Colón, scheduled for release by Holiday House on June 14, 2022, and interview with the author.

 

Julie’s Review:

 

This beautiful picture book for ages 4-8 tells the story of a family who immigrates from Cuba to the U.S., where they rent a modest house.

 

It was small. 

It smelled like old, wet socks.

It had rickety, tattered furniture

from a church basement…

 

But the family was together.

They were safe.

They were happy in la casita.

 

To make ends meet, the parents each work two jobs, and Esperanza and her brother Manolo work hard in school. On weekends, they fix up the house, scrubbing, painting, and making repairs. La casita becomes home, complete with the good smells of Mami’s cooking and decorated with the children’s art. Esperanza makes a collage of her name in Spanish and English. Esperanza=Hope, which is what they found in la casita.

As they learn of other families who need somewhere to live, they open their doors. By sharing their home, they help other newcomers achieve their dreams

 

Little House of Hope is a heartwarming story of hard-working immigrants who come to the U.S. full of hope and promise, and share what they have to help others. Terry Catasús Jennings’s text is spare and lyrical, while Raul Colón’s watercolor illustrations bring the family to life in vivid, expressive detail. This is a book that is at once charming and important.

Interview with Author Terry Catasús Jennings:

Terry Catasús Jennings

Julie: Welcome back to the Grog Blog, Terry! Today, we'll talk about The Little House of Hope. Like the family in the book, your family emigrated from Cuba in 1961 when you were twelve years old. How close is the book to your own experience?

 

 

Terry, center, in Cuba with extended family, 1959

Terry:  Oh goodness, so close! When my family (Mom, Dad, my brother Tony and I) came to the U.S., we could only bring fifty dollars and one small suitcase each. Can you imagine starting a new life like that with no one to help you? However, my uncle and his family had been in the U.S. for about a year, and they opened their home to us. They also took in my aunt’s brother and his wife and baby—they lived in the garage like one of the families in the book.

When our family was finally able to rent a house of our own, our furniture came from the church basement, and I decorated the walls with collages I made on colorful poster board. One house we rented did have a peculiar smell, like old wet socks. When we lived with my aunt and uncle, the good smells of my aunt’s cooking filled the house. BUT after we moved out and my mom cooked, it mostly smelled of burnt rice. Mami had never cooked before in her life! She lived with her grandmother until she got married, and then she had a maid. So I stretched things a bit there.

Terry in Cuba with her Mami and Papi and brother Tony

Julie: In your Author’s Note, you say this book was born out of anger. Tell us about that.

 Terry: A realtor I knew told me he never rents to Hispanics because they live four families to a house and trash the property. It made me angry. He knew I was Cuban and had known me for years. Then I had a lightbulb moment: I was one of those people! We lived three families to a home, and we left it better than when we moved in. That was the kernel of Little House of Hope. I wrote the book very quickly. Neal Porter expressed interest within hours of my agent’s e-mail, and we had an offer two weeks later.

 

Julie: What do you love about this book?

Raúl Colón, Illustrator

Terry: How can you not love Raúl Colón’s illustrations? They are so evocative. When Neal Porter, our editor, told me Raúl was to illustrate The Little House of Hope, I was elated. I was already captivated with his work in Good-by Havana, Hello, New York. Raúl is from Puerto Rico and his wife is Cuban, like me. Raúl got Cubans right. One of the spreads in Little House shows the father after he has a good job. That man looks just like my papi. It made me cry.

 

I also love that I got to do the translation for La Casita de Esperanza. Neal allowed me to keep my Cubanisms, words like guagua, which we use for bus, when other Latin American countries use autobus. I had a fairy godmother, Eida DelRisco, who watched over me to make sure my grammar and usage were correct. We found that some phrases were more lyrical in Spanish, so we changed the English to match. When we got a review that praised the lyricism of my Spanish, I knew we’d nailed it. I couldn’t be happier about the way the whole project turned out.

 

Julie: Many of your books are based on your life experiences. As a writer, how do you mine your past for story ideas?

 

With friends, in costumes

Terry: As writers, our experiences always inform our stories. In the Definitely Dominguita series, I was the girl who was just as happy reading as doing anything else. I didn't need friends because I had my books. When I look at pictures from when I was young, so many show me in costumes because we loved to pretend. That became the basis for Dominguita.

The story of The Little House of Hope is largely true. I use events in my life in all my stories. I have experienced discrimination—stupid things, large and small, that made me feel like a second-class citizen. Those experiences hurt. For the longest time I wouldn't tell anyone I was Cuban. My English was good, my last name was Jennings. Nobody needed to know. I kept that up until I was 46 years old!

 

Having experienced discrimination, I want my books to show that people like me are not different. When I was younger, I used to tell my friends, "You know, there were big buildings, museums, and world-renowned restaurants in Cuba, too," because many kids thought I’d lived in a hut made of sticks with a thatched roof. When people view you through a lens that distorts the truth, it’s your responsibility to bring that truth out in your books.

U.S. Citizenship Day (Terry in green)

 

From anger, I hope this book brings understanding. It is dedicated with unwavering gratitude to the country that took us in, and to all immigrants who come to the United States in search of hope.

 

Julie: Thank you, Terry, for your insights. Best wishes for success with Little House of Hope. It’s a lovely book. 

 

 

 

Pauli Murray: MG Biography of a Little-Known Civil Rights Activist and Interview with Author Terry Catasús Jennings~Julie Phend

Who was Pauli Murray?

How many of you know the name Pauli Murray? Until I read Rosita Stevens-Holsey and Terry Catasús Jennings' MG biography, Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist, released this February, I had never heard of this incredible woman.  

Julie’s Review:

This book, written in verse for ages 10-14, tells the story of Pauli Murray, a activist for Civil Rights and Feminism before either movement was fully established. Born the child of mixed-race parents in Baltimore in 1910 but raised by an aunt in Durham, North Carolina, Pauli Murray never fit in.

 

Bright and perceptive, she “saw injustice and unfairness with uncommon clarity. And she didn’t accept it.” Instead, Pauli Murray tackled injustice with all the force of her determination. Despite poverty, she graduated from Hunter College, taught for the WPA Education Project, and wrote articles pointing out injustice. 

Pauli Murray, 1944

Her activist heart sent her on a quest to change the Jim Crow laws that held back her race at every turn. She entered Howard University School of Law and graduated top of her class, ahead of all her male peers. A paper she wrote while at Howard became the basis for arguments in Brown vs Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that finally toppled those laws, though Pauli never received credit for it.

 

Despite a prize for her exceptional scholarship, she was barred admission to Harvard because of her gender. So she tackled gender laws along with Jim Crow laws. She went on to get a master’s in law from Boalt Hall of Law in Berkeley, California, and a doctorate from Yale University. She was a participant in President Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women and a founding member of the National Organization of Women. (NOW)

 

Pauli Murray battled poverty, discrimination, racial and gender barriers. And she never gave up.

 

This moving and inspirational biography tackles difficult issues head-on, while creating a vivid portrait of an incredible woman. The free-verse form makes it easy to read and allows the authors to return again and again to the important themes of Pauli Murray’s life. 

 

Interview with Author Terry Catasús Jennings:

Terry Catasús Jennings

Julie: You’ve had a big year! You published the Definitely Dominguita series, Pauli Murray’s biography, and have a picture book, The Little House of Hope, coming out this month.

 

Terry: Julie, thank you so much for hosting me on the GROG Blog. I’ve been very fortunate. All these projects have been in the works for a while, and then their paths converged. 

 

 

 

 

Julie: I was surprised I had never heard of Pauli Murray, even though as a middle school teacher, I taught both the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements. How did you learn about Pauli and come to partner with her niece, Rosita Stevens-Holsey, to write this book? 

Rosita Stevens-Holsey

 

Terry: I discovered Pauli Murray during research for The Women’s Liberation Movement: 1960-1990. The more I learned, the more I felt her biography needed to be made available to young readers. While I could do justice to her story as a feminist, I could not do justice to her story as a Black person, so I wanted a partner. My research led me to the Pauli Murray Center, and through them, I tried, at first unsuccessfully, to find Dr. Murray’s family. Then I went to see a play about Pauli Murray at Howard University. There was a row of seats reserved for the family, so I introduced myself. When I said I was looking for someone to work with me, Rosita raised her hand. She’s a teacher!  And she was already working to promote her aunt’s legacy. What could be better than that? The partnership has been as productive as it has been delightful. 

 

 Julie: Why did you choose middle grade readers as your audience? 

 

Terry: I wrote the story, with Rosita’s help and concurrence, so it would be accessible and engaging to an audience beginning with fourth grade. To me, that’s when young readers can understand the damage and humiliation of the Jim Crow laws, the struggles of women in the workplace, and the rights given us by the Constitution. I hope that anyone above the age of ten can enjoy this book and garner new knowledge and understanding from it.

Pauli Murray, Lawyer

Julie: Why did you choose to write the book in free verse?

 

Terry: Pauli just seemed to flow in verse. There were earlier prose versions, including a picture book, but none of them seemed to have the heart that Pauli Murray demanded. At one point, I started writing verses, and then it flowed. At first, our agent wasn’t crazy about the verse version, but then Courtney Fahey from Little Bee Books became interested. She liked verse and fell in love with the project. I felt writing the biography in verse would honor Dr. Murray, who was herself a poet. Our aim was to tell her story in a respectful way that would be accessible to young readers. And for folks with a little more age and a little less time, verse provides a way to learn about a transformative individual in an easy manner.

 

Julie: What do you love about this book?

 

Terry: There are certain passages I love. The verse about Pauli’s mother knowing her life might last no longer than a whisper on a windy night. The imagery of Pauli being prickly and a thorn in the side of those in power. 

Pauli Murray, 1967

But what I most love about the book is what it teaches young readers about a person who was previously ignored. It shows how difficult it was to gain the rights we now take for granted. How some legislators did what was right, and others got around those forward steps and caused human rights in our country to regress. Pauli Murray believed in the Fourteenth Amendment—the one that guarantees all will be treated equally by the laws. Right now, laws are being passed that would not pass the Pauli Murray test. They do not conform with the Fourteenth Amendment. I love that this book comes at a time when it can remind all of us that our only weapon in the fight for human rights is the ballot box.

 

Julie: Thanks so much, Terry, for sharing your passion for this subject and for introducing us to this amazing woman!

 

*Watch for next week’s Grog blog post with a sneak preview of Little House of Hope and Part 2 of my interview with Terry.

Definitely Dominguita—An Interview with Author Terry Catasús Jennings by Julie Phend

 

Meet Dominguita Melendez, intrepid knight of the neighborhood, who, along with her squire, Pancho Sanchez, have brave adventures and do good deeds just like Don Quixote in Dom’s favorite book.

 

Definitely Dominguita is a delightful chapter book series for ages 6-9 released this month by Aladdin/Simon & Schuster. In a starred review, Kirkus called it “a charming adventure that will encourage kids to become knights in their own communities as well.”

 

In Dominguita, better known as Dom Capote, Cuban-American author Terry Catasús Jennings has created a character who is determined, independent and resourceful, and who just happens to be a child of immigrant parents.

Terry Catasús Jennings

 

Terry Catasús Jennings knows what it’s like to feel different. Her family, including her father who had been jailed during the Bay of Pigs invasion, emigrated from Cuba in 1961 when she was twelve years old. Terry was immediately enrolled in an American school. The problem was that she only knew enough English to recite the days of the week and months of the year. Like Dominguita, Terry found refuge in books, especially the classics she read with her abuela.

Each book in the Dominguita series is based on a beloved classic: Knight of the Cape on Don Quixote, Captain Dom’s Treasure on Treasure Island, All for One on The Three Musketeers, and Sherlock Dom on—you guessed it—Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles. 

 

I had the pleasure of chatting with Terry about the series and her writing career. 

 

Tell us a little about your journey as a writer and how it led to this series.

I always dreamed of being an author, but family pressure led me to a more “practical” career. I majored in math and physics and worked in finance for many years before I decided to give writing a chance. At first, I wrote articles and essays. The first essay I ever submitted—about teaching my daughter to drive—was published by The Washington Post. Then I moved on to writing educational content for the Smithsonian Science Education Center and non-fiction books for children. Finally, I decided to try my hand at writing a novel, an upper MG book about a Cuban girl. 

 

Submitting that novel (still unpublished) led me to my agent, Natolie Lakosil. I pitched the idea for the Dominguita books to her in 2018. She was enthusiastic, so I got right to work. The series sold rather quickly. I signed the contract in May of 2019, and the first two books are being released this month, March 2021.

 

Tell us about the illustrator.

The books are illustrated by Fátima Anaya, who lives in El Salvador. I LOVE the illustrations. Fátima got the characters just right—Dom’s spunky face and the wonderful Roco, the dog whose belly is so low it almost touches the ground and whose ears are so long that they do. The costumes are so creative—and the colors she uses are wonderfully vivid. Her work is just terrific.

 

In the first book, Knight of the Cape, Dominguita is reading Don Quixote to stay close to her Abuela who’s had to move to Florida because she’s getting forgetful. When the class bully says Dominguita reads because she doesn’t have any friends, she has to come up with a better idea: she’s studying to be knight. He laughs. “Girls can’t be knights.” Dominguita decides to prove him wrong. She adopts the name Dom Capote, Knight of the Cape.

 

How is Dom like Don Quixote?

 

Both Don Quixote and Dom Capote failed spectacularly! But both eventually transition from fantasy to reality. They come to understand and accept themselves as they are, including their shortcomings and failures. They both recognize the value of love and friendship.

 

Having based the characters on those in Don Quixote, how does that work in the rest of the series, where the books are based on other classics?

 

In each book, the character relationships stay the same. Dom is the visionary, Pancho brings her down to reality, and their friend Steph is the even keel rule-follower. The events and key scenes echo the classics but the novels are each a contemporary story. For example, in Captain Dom’s Treasure, Dom finds an old map in a library book with a telltale X marking an unknown place. She and her crew set off to find treasure like Jim Hawkins did in Treasure Island.

 

These books are filled with the kind of humor that kids love. Give us an example.

In All for One, inspired by The Three Musketeers, Dom and her friends set out to foil a villain’s dastardly intention to spoil their friend Leni’s quincerañera party. They use the ultimate musketeer weapons—chocolate covered toilet plungers.  

 

I know you’re a big fan of writers’ critique groups. Did you work with a critique group on these books?

I sure did. I belong to two critique groups, and at one point, I was writing too fast to be able to wait for the meetings. So one group critiqued the second book, and the other did the third. They were a big help! 

(For more information on Terry's work with critique groups, see https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1295379888006925064/3563527391626195485)

 

What do you find most rewarding about writing children’s books?

The reward is connecting with a reader and making a difference. My hope is to reach children and cement the belief that there are no “others.” Dominguita is every child. Whether she is American, Cuban or the descendant of a purple popsicle, she loves and misses her grandmother, tries to manipulate her brother, sometimes disobeys her parents, loves sweets. She has moments of brilliance and moments of sheer folly. She is just a kid who happens to live in a household where black beans and rice with a side of plantains are a staple.

 

Thanks, Terry, for sharing your journey with us. We wish you every success with Definitely Dominguita.