Harry N. Abrams

A boy and his monster confront their mutual fears in this unlikely friendship story that's rooted in Mexican folklore

Ramón is a little boy who can't sleep. He is nervous for his first day at a new school. And El Cucuy is the monster who lives in Ramón's cactus pot. He can't sleep, either. It turns out that El Cucuy is scared, too!
This gentle, perceptive story explores the worries that can accompany moving to a new place and beginning a new journey—and reveals how comfort, bravery, and strength can be found through even the most unexpected of friendships.

BOOK JOURNEY:

El Cucuy Is Scared, Too! is my debut picture book and has its roots in an online picture book course.

Writing Middle Grade is where I felt most comfortable, and oddly where I had the most awkward years of my life. I was surprised by how well Lupe Wong Won't Dance was received.  The Sid Fleischman Humor Award and Pura Belpré honor left me a bit… "deer stuck in headlights" but it validated what I thought, that writing Middle Grade was where I belonged.

So when my agent, Allison Remcheck with Stimola Literary Studio, asked that I work a bit more on my picture book ideas, I felt flustered. Those younger years were where I probably felt the most fear and insecurity. Maybe that was why I was avoiding it? Well, I decided if I was going to work on this part of the craft, I would need help. Enter stage right: Mira Reisberg's Children's Book Academy Picture Book course.

My picture book ideas were rambling and long, and quite frankly, I didn't understand just how different writing picture books were from novel writing. (You know what, writing picture books is hard!) So many of the students in the course had been writing picture books a very long time. Many of them repeat students. I felt intimidated, but soon found out that was my own baggage. I was amongst a supportive writing family. We all had one unifying goal: to write books that kids will love, and hopefully make them laugh, or think, or maybe give them goosebumps.

One of the first suggested writing prompts to choose from was, (I'm paraphrasing) "Take something that you were frightened of as a child, and make it less frightening, and even vulnerable".

Easy! El Cucuy! El Cucuy is sort of the Mexican version of the boogeyman, and the stuff of nightmares! El Cucuy is hairy and has bloody fangs, and sharp talons. Mexican grandmothers, parents, or anyone who wants a child to behave, go to bed, eat their dinner…might threaten a child with El Cucuy. "Eat your dinner, or El Cucuy will eat you", "Go to bed, or El Cucuy will come steal you away." (That last one always backfired for me! How was I supposed to fall asleep if El Cucuy might come slinking out of the closet any moment?)

So, back to that writing prompt. How to make the thing that scared me most less scary? I needed to make El Cucuy afraid of something himself. What if he were afraid of something most of us are afraid of? Change? A new school? Worrying about what others think of us? Enter a little boy named Ramón. When Ramón moves to a new town, and is about to start a new school, what if El Cucuy were no longer so frightening? What is El Cucuy is scared too?

Making El Cucuy vulnerable was a start. But then, Juliana Perdomo, who is from Colombia agreed to illustrate the book. Turns out, she had her own El Cucuy. But in Colombia it's El Coco. Juliana created the most adorable El Cucuy I could imagine, solidifying what that writing prompt had asked for.

I am so grateful for my agent, Allison, for asking me to write outside my comfort zone. I am grateful for teachers like Mira and the contributing agents and editors in her online writing course. And I am grateful for my fellow writers who always lend helpful advice.

DONNA BARBA HIGUERA'S BIO:

Donna Barba Higuera grew up in a tiny desert town in central California surrounded by agricultural and oil fields. Rather than wrangling dust devils, she'd spend recess squirreled away in the janitor's closet with a good book. Her favorite hobbies were calling the library's dial-a-story over and over again and sneaking into a restricted pioneers' cemetery to weave her own spooky tales using the crumbling headstone for inspiration.

​Donna's Middle Grade and Picture books reinvent history, folklore, and or her own life experience into compelling storylines. She still dreams in Spanglish.

​Donna lives in Washington State with her husband, four kids, three dogs and a frog. Her debut novel, Lupe Wong Won't Dance, was released September 8, 2020 with Levine Querido.

Her debut picture book, El Cucuy is Scared, Too! was released by Abrams Kids in July 2021. Her Middle Grade Sci-Fi, The Last Cuentista will be released by Levine Querido in Fall 2021

JULIANA PERDOMO'S BIO:

Juliana is a writer and illustrator. She was born in Bogotá/Colombia, surrounded by a huge loving family, friends, bright colors, music, weird fruits, sunshine, lots of rain, but also rainbows. She still lives there with her amazing son Luca, my rocker partner Iván and our crazy old dog Menta.

Juliana has a background as a psychologist and an art therapist, but her passion is in children's literature. She tries to make her work diverse, heartfelt and personal, folkish, a bit retro, joyful, with a Latin touch.

She is deeply grateful to have participated in many beautiful projects: books, puzzles, animations, branding, family portraits, and magazines all over the world.