31. Angela Dominguez ~ The Young Activist Grows Up

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:00:00) - Hola and welcome to Latino Book Chat. I am your host, Christianne Meneses Jacobs. We invite you to participate in our conversations with Latino authors, illustrators and others who shared their insights into the book publishing industry. Angela Dominguez was born in Mexico City and grew up in North Texas. She's the author and illustrator of several books for children and a two time recipient of the Pura Belpre Illustration honor. She illustrated Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's picture book, Just Help How to Build a Better World. Her debut middle grade novel, Stella Has Something to Say, was a New York public library and a Chicago public Library pick for best books for Kids and Citizen Flash Award winner and an American Library Association. Notable. Her most recent middle grade novel, Estella Leaps to the Future. Latino Bookshop Welcomes Angela Dominguez. Thank you for chatting with us today.

Angela Dominguez (00:01:00) - Thank you for having me.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:01:01) - So Estella Leaps to the Future is part of a series of five books. What inspires Stella? Originally.

Angela Dominguez (00:01:09) - When I started on Stella, I'm an illustrator, so I had just started drawing this little girl with Curly hair.

Angela Dominguez (00:01:17) - And I have very straight hair and I've always wanted curly hair, the polka dot dress. And I started thinking about how it'd be really fun to write a picture book about this character at an aquarium. And I worked on a story for about a year and then I got rejected. And the biggest complaint was that people didn't understand why Stella was shy, because the whole premise was she's at this aquarium and she's too nervous to talk to a kid from school. So instead of enjoying the aquarium, she keeps running away all day. And when I started thinking about it, I started thinking about I'm writing a character that sounded like me growing up. I was very shy, and I realized the big reason I was shy was because I moved to United States when I was two years old. So I was on the younger side. I still had issues with language and I had to take speech classes until third grade. So I'd always jumble upwards mispronounce things and it just made me really self-conscious. So the first book is really about her discovering her voice and learning to make friends and be brave and more confident.

Angela Dominguez (00:02:25) - And then each book has just been this continuation of this world about this character that in many ways is me. But it's become so much more than me as well.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:02:35) - Do you ever think that your first book will become a series where you just thinking, I'm just going to write this one book?

Angela Dominguez (00:02:42) - Yes. I really just thought it would be one book. It was such a journey. It took me three years to write the first book and I thought I would never have the capacity to write a book longer than that again. But the character kept speaking to me and I kept thinking about different storylines and it became a second book. And then once I finished that, I said, Could we do a third? And then they came back and said, Would you do a third and a fourth? And by the time I did the fourth one, I thought I really just kind of want to wrap it up because she's she's almost going to graduate elementary school. So I thought it'd be a wonderful opportunity to really, like end the series with her journey from third to fifth grade.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:03:27) - Wow. You know what I think is interesting? That Estella has a fascination with marine life. How did that come about? You like the ocean?

Angela Dominguez (00:03:35) - I do. I do very much. I think initially when I first started that first book and the whole idea that it was at an aquarium, I thought, well, she's at an aquarium. When I was just working on that basic concept, I thought, well, maybe she could love Sea Creatures and be working on an animal project. And then I thought, Well, if you learn about the oceans, you learn about sea creatures, especially. I know certain kids are really are fascinated with them. She seems like the kind of girl that would be continue that fascination over time. And then also it became like a vehicle to really think about making kids aware of the problems of the oceans and becoming activists themselves. And it can be in the oceans or whatever they're passionate about. But knowing that all kids have a voice and that they should, you know, put it out there.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:04:26) - Do you have a favorite animal?

Angela Dominguez (00:04:30) - I get this question a lot from kids. And I absolutely, you know, like I struggle with it because I find so many of them so fascinating. I will say I think I love the puffer fish because when it's not inflated and puffed up, it's so cute. It looks like it's smiling. So I think that's probably one of my favorites. And then I also love octopuses because they just are so highly intelligent. And there's that wonderful Netflix documentary about my octopus teacher. Oh, yeah.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:05:02) - That was really interesting, wasn't it?

Angela Dominguez (00:05:04) - Yeah, it was really fascinating. And then I read a book called The Soul of the Octopus, and that was really fascinating as well. So I think those would probably be my top two.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:05:16) - That is awesome. That's so cool. I love sharks.

Angela Dominguez (00:05:19) - Oh, really?

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:05:20) - Sharks are my favorite. You know.

Angela Dominguez (00:05:22) - You're not scared of them at all.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:05:25) - I have touched nurse sharks and gentle. Yeah. Wow. They're very gentle, and they're really nice.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:05:33) - They're not scary, Of course. They're really big ones are scary, you know, with teeth, you know, it's like, oh, my God. But the ones that are smaller in size, they're really gentle. They're not as ferocious as they seem, you know? Yeah, but I do like them a lot, you know? Speaking of being an advocate for marine life, like Stella Diaz, I remember one time when we were living in LA, we, my husband and I went to Long Beach to just walk around in the summer and see the ocean and have a good time there. And we decided to go into this restaurant and oh my God, I was completely appalled because they were serving shark fins. Oh, my God, Yeah, shark fin soup. I'm like, May I speak to the manager? Are you really serving shark fin soup? Yeah, the sharks. You know, we get them, you know, from that, I'm like, okay, I cannot eat here.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:06:29) - Yeah. Thought it was terrible. I'm like, No. And I explained to him, there are not many sharks, you know, the population is diminishing. And I said, No, I'm not eating here. So we walked out of the restaurant. Wow. Yeah. I said, Nope, can't eat here. Not in good conscience. I can not do this, you know? So we walked out and we went somewhere else.

Angela Dominguez (00:06:51) - Oh, good for you. I mean, that that's appalling. I didn't really think that there was anywhere in the United States left that they would actually serve that. That's shocking.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:07:00) - I know, right? I was pretty shocked, too. I was like, how can this be? So I was like, no, that was like, no, not anymore. You know, I thought also that in your book, I thought it was interesting that one of the themes, the theme of change is predominant in your most recent novel. How does Stella deal with change? Can you tell us a little bit about that and why did you think change was important in this fifth installment of the novel?

Angela Dominguez (00:07:32) - Well, I think Stella is both excited and nervous about change.

Angela Dominguez (00:07:38) - So often you feel things are going so good, you don't want anything to change. And then also the idea that change could be positive and negative at the same time. And I think those are feelings that everyone feels, especially kids. And it's, you know, she's leaving elementary school and she's going into middle school. And there's a lot of anxiety about that with kids as well. Equally, they're very excited to feel like you're grown up, but then you're also don't have the same routine every day. You might not be in the same classes with your same friends anymore. So I wanted to speak about it truthfully, knowing that this was like a time of full of change for kids this age. And it was just an opportunity to, you know, talk about it through Stella. And I think adults also as well. There's just so much change going on in the world every day. Technology is changing. The weather is changing. So I think it's nice to have these opportunities to speak about it in a truthful way.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:08:43) - Yeah, and I think at the beginning she's not really sure she wants this change. Yeah, most kids do. And I'm not going to see my friends. And she's very sad, I think. But she grows into the idea that change is important and then change is good.

Angela Dominguez (00:09:01) - Yeah, Because if you don't change, you know, at the same time, if everything stays the same, you don't grow as a person and you don't get to experience new things. So it's important to put yourself out there and to take on change and take the good and bad that comes with it. For her, it's mostly positive. It's more just about her getting over that fear of things will be different. Um.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:09:26) - And that's a real fear, like you said, for many children, even for adults. Yeah. Should we back another Stella Dear books in the future.

Angela Dominguez (00:09:35) - Sadly, this is the last one. Really. I know it feels very sad to say that because I've grown to love this character so much.

Angela Dominguez (00:09:45) - It is a part of me. I love the way that I see kids connect with Stella, but I have been working on the concepts since 2013, so it is nice to also move on. But I will say I am working on a new series that's a spinoff of Stella and it's called Gabby Taurus, and it's going to be half comic, half novel, and Stella is still going to be a character in that series. So yeah, so it's really exciting. I've never done anything like this. It's a lot more drawing and designing, which is exciting. And Gabby is the complete opposite of Stella, where you meet her in the fifth book, Gabby And when she gets nervous, she just talks a lot. Stella get shy and Gabby is more impulsive, so it's fun to, like, indulge this other part of me and, you know, have this new character to put a lot of energy in. And it makes me very happy to see Stella in there. Still.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:10:47) - You can let go of her.

Angela Dominguez (00:10:49) - Yeah, exactly.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:10:52) - What was your favorite part of writing this series? Because you work on this for now. Ten years?

Angela Dominguez (00:10:57) - Yeah.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:10:58) - That's a long time.

Angela Dominguez (00:11:00) - I think. You know, there's many parts that I enjoyed. I really enjoyed writing the character of Stella and her mom and her brother Nick, because they're very similar to my own family. And my brother is like a typical older brother, but he also acted like a second father to me and very supportive. So it was very sweet to be able to talk about him, but also kind of throw in those things from childhood that were he picked on me a little bit. Not too bad, just a little. Um, and then I also love just creating this whole world of friends and people that would cheer her on, some of them based off of real people. Some of them are people I just, you know, made up. And I really enjoyed writing. The character of Stanley. Stanley is someone that I made up. It was just someone to kind of be the opposite of Stella.

Angela Dominguez (00:11:52) - But I admire people that are like that who are outgoing, and they never worry about how other people may think. They may sound, or at least they don't appear. They don't. So it was really fun to write a character like that.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:12:07) - I really enjoyed the characters. I really enjoyed them very much. I'm a big fan of middle grade novels. I think they're awesome and you did a fantastic job. I really do live with these characters and presenting them and making them very relatable. I think it's a fantastic series. I highly recommend that. I know that you have read them many different picture books, and I know that you are an illustrator. I wanted to know how do you decide to write a middle grade novel and what make what prompted the transition? You know what came first? Were you first an illustrator and then became an author? Or how did that happen?

Angela Dominguez (00:12:50) - So I was an illustrator first. I went to college to study art and then later realized I wanted to do illustration and a much later realized I wanted to do children's book illustration.

Angela Dominguez (00:13:02) - So I started getting work. I was not exactly happy with the projects I was getting initially. They were wonderful stories, but as someone that's Latina, I would get stories with Latino characters and I didn't always relate to it because it wasn't my experience or my family. So I started thinking about how I would like to write my own stories. And thankfully, I found editors on my agent that were all really supportive of that. So I started doing picture books, writing different stories, and now definitely doing a lot of bilingual books, which I've really enjoyed doing because I love the opportunity to like make speaking Spanish fun to little kids because I would have loved books like that when I was little. And then as I was working on and I drew Stella and that didn't work as a picture book, I started writing it longer. I showed it to another editor. I thought it would be like a really early young reader, like maybe 70 or 80 pages. But she thought because of like the complexity of what Stella was feeling and her experiences, that it needed to be three times the length.

Angela Dominguez (00:14:13) - And then that made it a middle grade novel. So it kind of happened by accident. But I've really enjoyed writing for this audience. It just feels natural. I can relate to like the experiences and put myself in that mindset very easily. And so it's just been a great deal of fun writing middle grade, and I think I would love to continue to write both middle grade and picture books. Yeah.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:14:42) - And you know, you mentioned that the first book took three years to complete. Yes. You know, people think that it was easy to write for kids, but it's not. What are your thoughts on that?

Angela Dominguez (00:14:54) - Oh, definitely. It's very hard. It's one of my most frustrating moments is when somebody tells me I have a picture book idea. Can I show it to you? I wrote it over the weekend and I'm just thinking, oh my God. So it is a lot of work. I will say middle grade these stories. After I wrote the first one, it took me about a year to write the additional books.

Angela Dominguez (00:15:22) - Part of that was because I needed to illustrate that. Part of it is you are waiting for feedback, But I mean, there is skill into writing a book like this. They're deceptive. They seem so easy. But the reality is like making sure you have a story that's concise and appealing to kids that you are, you know, having elements that are fun and it's all about pulling back and not including too much details as well, especially in a picture book. You know, your illustrations are saying so much. So it's a real skill. And to anyone who wants to write children's books, I would just say read children's books. Like read books that are out right now. Don't look at all the old books that you have, because that doesn't really reflect the kind of books that are being made now. And if you read a lot and you study them, then you'll have a much better shot at trying to write a picture book or a middle grade novel.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:16:23) - Yeah, that is very true. I know that sometimes kids want to know how they become writers, and one of the advice that they get is read books, read, read, read.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:16:35) - They can get inspired to write their own stories.

Angela Dominguez (00:16:38) - Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:16:40) - Yeah. While you were writing the Stella Diaz books, where you also busy illustrating your own books or other people's books, how does that work?

Angela Dominguez (00:16:49) - Yeah, so the past few years that have been working on Stella because really the I started working on Stella like every year since 2018. So it took me a long time to get it started. But then since 2018 to now, it's been the past five years. So I usually work on 1 to 2 picture books a year. Some of those are books that I've written occasionally have illustrated other people stories as well, like Just Help written by Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor, which is really exciting. I kind of try to always have ideas flowing and concepts and ideas for fun, bilingual books. But if there's an exciting manuscript that lands in my lap, you know, I will definitely try to make that work in my schedule as well.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:17:39) - That makes you, you know, a very busy person, huh? Yeah.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:17:46) - What was it like working with Judge Sotomayor? The. Have been really such an honor. So it's an exciting experience. Tell us about it.

Angela Dominguez (00:17:56) - So I was very lucky to meet her in person. In 2019, there was a society of children's book writers and illustrators Gala where they were handing out awards, and she did a keynote that night, and I had won the Sid Fleischman Award for Stella as something to say, and she said that she wanted to meet me because she knew I was a Latina and an author, and I was just so excited. So I got to shake her hand. Oh, wow. And talk to her just for, like a couple of minutes. She gave her keynote. I gave my award acceptance, and then afterwards she came back again to say goodbye and tell me I did a good job with my speech, which is really nice. And I thought that was it. And then about a year later, in February of 2020, I got offered to illustrate the book and it was just, you know, an honor to be asked to do it.

Angela Dominguez (00:18:53) - And then the story has such an uplifting message that it feels like it relates to kind of the ideas that I'm doing with so as well, if the idea of kids taking time to help out in their communities and knowing that they can make a difference as well. So when I read the manuscript, I knew I had to illustrate it.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:19:13) - Oh, wow. I wonder if she personally asked for you to illustrate her book?

Angela Dominguez (00:19:19) - I believe she did. I believe they showed her a few portfolios. And I don't know because she's such a busy, important woman. But I would hope that she remembered me and asked for me to illustrate it. Because of that.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:19:36) - I would think she probably remember. I've heard she has a good memory.

Angela Dominguez (00:19:40) - Yeah, I've heard that too.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:19:42) - So I'm sure you probably made an impression. And then she remember, Hey, I met this young lady that can read my book. I can totally see that happening. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, what an honor. That is so cool.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:19:55) - Congratulations on that.

Angela Dominguez (00:19:57) - Thank you.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:19:58) - What would you like your young readers to learn from Stella?

Angela Dominguez (00:20:02) - Well, I think with the first book and it's been a theme that I've had or a concept I've had for Stella this whole time is that, you know, it's okay to be shy. It's okay to be quiet. But it's also important to stand up for yourself and to learn the things that you are passionate about. And it's okay to have many interests. Nobody expects you to have everything figured out because you're still growing and changing and that your friends and family are there for you to guide you along the way. And so that's always what I hope for readers that are reading Stella.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:20:40) - I know that you prepare a scene from your book to read for us. Tell us about the scene you chose.

Angela Dominguez (00:20:47) - So I thought because I am working on Gabby right now, I would read a section where Stella is with Gabby and her art club, and it's an opportunity to kind of see the difference between the two characters and see them relate to each other.

Angela Dominguez (00:21:06) - Hi, I'm Chris. He waves to Gabby, she introduces herself and then wiggles around to face me. I'm so excited for our club. I've thought about it all day. It's like a song you can't get out of your head. Gabby turns a little rock. Sorry I ramble when I'm nervous. I softly chuckle to myself. That's the opposite problem I have When I'm nervous. I just clam up. I'm excited to, Chris says with an understanding expression. Miss Benedetto calls Chris up to the front and I see her give him a pamphlet to the magnet school as well. Chris is the best artist at the school, not to mention his parents are big art fans. They even have a van with the license plate Van Gogh. He'd be a perfect fit for the school. I hope he applies. Meanwhile, Gabby empties her backpack on the table in front of me. I noticed the journal I saw earlier, but I also spot a dog eared sketchbook. Gabby flips it open and I spy drawings of sea creatures and animals all inside.

Angela Dominguez (00:22:11) - I'm surprised it looks like one of my sketchbooks. Although mine is now filled with many drawings of Ramona beside all the marine animals. I guess Gabby and I do share a few things in common. I point at her sketch of a seahorse. This is great. She squeals. Really? Thank you. I lean over to share one of my favorite facts. Did you know that seahorses swim vertically and sea dragons swim horizontally? She shakes her head. That's so cool. I grin. I think so too.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:22:45) - I love that. And that's one thing I learned from your book. Two about the horse and the because they're so cute. And then I started picturing them in my mind. When I go to the aquarium, I'm like, Oh, yeah, they they do swim like that. Yeah.

Angela Dominguez (00:23:02) - I have learned a lot of sea creature facts. It's been a lot of fun researching them. And it's the kind of thing that I know as a kid I wasn't as into sea creatures at that age, but I loved learning facts and I loved having it as an opportunity to be like, Did you know, this really cool thing? And I think kids love that.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:23:24) - Yeah, that comes across, you know, I was always amazed how much Stella knows about ocean animals. That is amazing. Well, this was wonderful to get to hear Gabby and Stella interact with each other and to know that Stella is going to be making an appearance in the next book.

Angela Dominguez (00:23:46) - Well, thank you. Now, it's wonderful to be able to share that.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:23:50) - The book, Estella Leaps to the Future by Angela Dominguez. If you follow Latino book chat on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, please support the show by subscribing to the podcast on your favorite platform Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and iHeartRadio. Your support allows us to continue bringing to you the stories of our people told by amazing Latinx authors. Check out the Books feature on the podcast at Nuestra Tienda on our online store at Nicagal.com. A gal from Nicaragua. n i c a g a l.com and Nicagal.com. Angela Dominguez, thank you so much for chatting with us today on Latino Book Chat. It has been such a pleasure to have you on the show.

Angela Dominguez (00:24:35) - Thank you for having me.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs (00:24:37) - Thank you for joining us today. Visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Latino Book Chat. Please subscribe on your favorite platform wherever you're listening to us today. Please give us a positive review and as many stars as possible. Sharing this show will help it grow and continue to come to you. Thank you for your support. Latino Book Chat is a production of Niagara media. Today's episode was hosted, produced and edited by Christianne Meneses Jacobs.