Collecting Voices with Ernesto Cisneros

Ernesto Cisneros, author of Queso, Just in Time (Quill Tree Books),  joins Matthew to talk about valuing our own stories and meeting our parents as who they were.

Listen along:

About the book: Queso, Just in Time by Erneso Cisneros. Published by Quill Tree Books.

Pura Belpré Award-winning author Ernesto Cisneros takes readers “back to the future” in this funny and heartfelt time-travel tale about family, grief, and love that stretches across the years. Give to readers who love Erin Entrada Kelly, Gordan Korman, and Jason Reynolds!

Quetzalcóatl Castillo—Queso for short—has had an ache in his heart that won’t go away ever since his father’s death. More than anything, he wishes he could spend time with his dad again.

After whispering that wish one night under the light of the moon, Queso wakes up the next morning in 1985. With twelve-year-old Pancho—the kid who will grow up to be his dad.

Even though he has no idea what to do, Queso is just happy to be by his dad’s side again. But while Pancho is confident when scoring on the foosball table or standing up to bullies, he doesn’t think he’s smart enough to reach for his dreams.

If only Pancho believed in himself the way Queso does, who knows what his story could be? 

More:

Visit Ernesto Cisneros online at www.ernestocisneros.com 

Other helpful links:

• Ernesto Cisneros at Boyds Mills

• Community Retreat with Meg Medina: Celebrating Latinx Stories in Kidlit - Join Meg Medina and guests for a retreat celebrating the rich tapestry of Latina, Latino, Latine, and Latinx voices in children’s literature, a space to rest, create, and honor the stories that shape us.

Learn more about Boyds Mills and their upcoming programs by visiting www.boydsmills.org. 

Transcript:

NOTE: Transcript created by Descript. I've attempted to clean up any typos, grammatical errors, and formatting errors where possible.

Ernesto: You're living your life, you're doing the best that you can.

And it's just really funny how you'll remember something that your seventh grade teacher said to you when you were in middle school and as they continue to guide you even when the people aren't around you. So when I write, I hear things that my mom said especially with this book, I heard my parents, all of the things that they would tell me, and things like that, that my mom would always tell me right before going to school.

And those voices are there.

Matthew: That is the voice of Ernesto Cisneros, the author of Efrén Divided and Falling Short. Ernesto’s latest middle grade is Queso, Just in Time (Quill Tree Books), a time-traveling story about discovering where you come from.

Welcome back to the Children’s Book Podcast, where we celebrate the books and creators who help young readers feel seen, supported, and understood. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Boyds Mills, positively impacting kids by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inspire children to become their best selves.

I’m your host, Matthew Winner—teacher, librarian, writer, and a fan of kids.

It was so wonderful to meet Ernesto through this conversation and to learn about his practice of collecting voices. By this I mean that he listens closely to those he’s with and those who have come into his life before. 

Here are a few of the things I learned in this conversation: 

NUMBER ONE: Ernesto writes from a sense of disentitlement, often asking himself “Do I dare do this?” I think that’s something through which many of us can relate.

NUMBER TWO: Ernesto talks about the changing dynamic in the parent-child relationship as you grow older. There’s a friendship there that can accompany parents growing older. I love hearing that this is something Ernesto holds in his mind as he writes.

And NUMBER THREE: The importance of valuing our own stories. As writers, we can sometimes, for lack of better words, write ourselves off. Ernesto emphasizes that our stories hold value and are waiting for us to share them.

So, a little about Queso, Just in Time (Quill Tree Books) from the publisher:

“Pura Belpré Award-winning author Ernesto Cisneros takes readers “back to the future” in this funny and heartfelt time-travel tale about family, grief, and love that stretches across the years. Give to readers who love Erin Entrada Kelly, Gordan Korman, and Jason Reynolds!

Quetzalcóatl Castillo—Queso for short—has had an ache in his heart that won’t go away ever since his father’s death. More than anything, he wishes he could spend time with his dad again.

After whispering that wish one night under the light of the moon, Queso wakes up the next morning in 1985. With twelve-year-old Pancho—the kid who will grow up to be his dad.

Even though he has no idea what to do, Queso is just happy to be by his dad’s side again. But while Pancho is confident when scoring on the foosball table or standing up to bullies, he doesn’t think he’s smart enough to reach for his dreams.

If only Pancho believed in himself the way Queso does, who knows what his story could be?”

It’s time to go collect voices with our guest!

Please welcome Ernesto Cisneros to the podcast.

Ernesto: Okay. All right. Hello everybody. My name's Ernesto Cisneros. I am a parent, teacher, and also an author.

My newest book is Geel just in time. And I am just honored to be here. 

Matthew: I'm glad you're here, Ernesto. Welcome. 

Ernesto: Me too. Thank you. Thank you. 

Matthew: I would love to start off by just asking you in this beautiful Sunday in Maryland, it's like a [00:01:00] high of 75. It's quite a gorgeous Sunday. 

Nice, beautiful spring.

Start. I'd love to ask you though, what is giving you hope today? 

Ernesto: So I think that my response will be in two parts. For one, it's. Every time I turn on the TV or look at social media, and I try not to, but when I do I love hearing about everybody who's doing everything to fight injustices in our country.

Everybody who's holding our government accountable people who are giving up so much of themselves and, sacrificing time with their family so they can run for office. And these people are just amazing. The second half of my response would be my kiddos in the classroom also give me a lot of hope because I see how mindful and kind they are, and I know that they're gonna step up in the next generation to come.

And I know they're gonna do amazing things too. So every time I see them doing [00:02:00] little acts of kindness I just smile and I'm like, okay, you know what? I think we're gonna be okay. 

Matthew: I know that feeling. I know that feeling very well.

Yeah. How long have you been teaching? 

Ernesto: So after a while, you lose track.

I believe this is either my 29th year or my 30th year. 

Matthew: Hey, congratulations. What 

Ernesto: ages? Oh, thank you. 

Matthew: Or have you typically been teaching? 

Ernesto: I started a long time ago in second grade, and then I moved up to four, five, and then I moved, I. I noticed a lot of my kids were getting in trouble in the middle school.

Matthew: Oh, 

Ernesto: I just thought that was where I could be a little bit more influential. So I grew up in the same neighborhood where I teach being Latino and there's not too many male teachers in the middle school. I just thought I could be a little bit more influenced there and and I just fell in love with the age group as well.

Matthew: That's lovely. So I would imagine for that period of time when you made the transition, you probably. Had the opportunity to teach some of those kids a second time. 

Ernesto: A few. Yes. Cool. Yes. And now [00:03:00] I'm at the point in my life or my career I just had open house and it's really nice that I get to see, not just that I the parents, but some of the parents who I've taught, I've actually taught myself.

And so they're like, oh, Mr. And they still call me Mr. C because of course, that's what you're used to. And they're like, Mr. C, you taught me when I was back in 2005. And at first it's, it you're taking aback for a second, but. It's just wonderful to see that, oh my gosh, I've taught what, two generations of this family.

I don't know. That's probably one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching when they come back. And 

Matthew: yeah. 

Ernesto: And sometimes the kiddos, the last day of school and this, that, than everybody else. Last day of school comes and they just run out and they're just so grateful to be outta school and there's no looking back or no goodbyes, or, you get one or two of those.

But then when you see the kids 10 years later and they tell you how much, your instruction and the way you treated them, the way you made 'em feel how much it meant to them, then all of a sudden it makes the job completely worth it and just, an incredible experience, honestly.

Matthew: [00:04:00] have to imagine it, it must be something like being a published author that you just don't know who your books are reaching as a teacher. Those kids don't all, especially working with young children, I'm working with five year olds to 11 year olds, and they don't often maybe know how to express or articulate 

What impact you've had. 

Ernesto: Exactly, yes. And and it's just nice when you get letters or emails out of the blue. Both as a teacher and as an author. It's the same thing. We're definitely invited. I keep all the letters that I receive and they just tell me, thank you for the book. It really helped me not feel so alone.

It help me to navigate through this a similar experience that I'm having. Just that they just tell me how much the book means to them and Oh my gosh. I don't, how do you respond to that? That's just, it's just a beautiful thing. 

Matthew: It is. I ever since I was interning, my, my mentor teacher suggested to all of us that we keep a smile folder of any [00:05:00] of those notes from admin or from children or from parents, or even moments that we take note of ourselves that make us feel.

Something. And Ernesto, I've been teaching for 20 years and I have multiple smile folders from moving to different schools. But I've kept them because I think it's important for any of us author, teacher, whatever position you're in to be able to. Realize the impact we're having. Maybe we can get lost sometimes and realize in, in, in thinking that maybe we don't matter as much as we do.

It's beautiful when those little moments can be held onto that. We do. Yes, we do matter as much as those kids matter to us. 

Ernesto: Yes. And I do have a box full of my classroom of all the notes I've received from students. That's super. I have every year. Yes. I have every yearbook that I've ever taught.

Wow. And when you have those days where you're, just look frustrated and you feel like, oh, I don't know if I could keep doing this, you open up the yearbooks and those letters and you see them and Yeah, they completely reenergize you. Yeah, I yes. 

Matthew: Oh we could just [00:06:00] talk teacher talk for the rest of time.

But oh, and I have a teacher connection with you that I need to bring up with you after I have you share a book talk. Would you mind please sharing a brief book talk of Queso just in time for readers who haven't encountered it yet? 

Ernesto: Sure. SEL just in time. All my writing is very personal, but I think this is my most personal book yet.

Let me show the picture because I, it makes it easier to explain. So my, the story is about a 12-year-old boy, a boy named sel, and sadly enough, his dad has passed and he really misses with them and he's just really longing to reconnect with them and his memories. And so he goes to the backyard at times and he it's a treehouse that his dad helped to build.

And so he just has good memories for him. And then one day he encounters this little magical little critter named tta, and he makes a wish. He wishes he could see his dad. One more time, and this is where the story takes a very wonderful twist. He wakes up the next day [00:07:00] and it's 1985. He gets to see his father and his father is just a troublemaker who gets in trouble.

So he spends half the books just trying to keep his dad out of trouble. And then he decides he's gonna try and instill some of the knowledge and the fatherly advice that his father will one day, who imparted that on him. And he's gonna try and give that to his father as a, the 12-year-old version of his father Pancho.

And it's just I don't know. It's a wonderful mixed of, we're calling it a cross between oh my gosh. You're gonna have to help me out here. Back to the future meets what's the one with the mother? The daughter Switch places. 

Matthew: Oh, like Freaky Friday. 

Ernesto: Freaky Friday. Yes, of course. Yes.

Freaky Friday meets back to the future. Yes. 

Matthew: The Back to the Future Element for me, rings so hard in this because of that very feeling of GESO. Doesn't have recent memories of Dad. Dad. No. I don't know how much we wanna give away, but Dad tragically loses his life is out of GA's life earlier [00:08:00] than earlier than anyone should lose their parent.

No one should lose their parent. 

Ernesto: Yes. But, 

And I think a part, what makes this the beginning of the book a little bit more? I don't wanna say sadder, but it brings more layers to the story is the fact that I think, and this is a universal truth, I think we don't get to meet our parents as who they are.

Like deep inside we see who, we see the byproduct of who our parents have become after sometimes harsh lives. So you don't see them joking in front of you. You don't see the smiles as much as you wish you could. And so I think that's how the book came, took form where, you, this boy gets, wants to see what his father was like before life had brought him down a bit.

And and I think we, it's something that we all wish for you to see. 

Matthew: It's a really interesting thing as maybe universally as someone in my mid forties. As someone who has raised kids myself, it's caused me to think on how [00:09:00] my parents raised me, and maybe even to forgive them with distance.

Forgive them a little more than how I felt at the time about some of the choices they made. Maybe it's taught me to see through an understanding lens might not have been the way I would make decisions with my own children, but I can understand maybe in this case you were trying to protect me as a.

10-year-old in the case of the incidents that happened in my life. I would love to hear, Ernesto, how this story started for you, that voice in the story, having your main character talk. It's a he's a fun character and I, you're telling me that it's personal. We're gonna walk through this and I'm gonna hear all about this, but where did the seed of this story start for you?

Ernesto: Every Sunday which actually is right now, today is Sunday morning. So later on I'm gonna be going over to my parents' house. Today we're celebrating my birthday happy 

Matthew: birthday. 

Ernesto: Oh, it was actually on the 11th, but [00:10:00] we just haven't had a chance because of the book tours for, and all the events for the book.

So we're celebrating today. So thank you very much. But this is something we do on a weekly basis, and we always go over to my mom's for ADA and Les and, just the traditional food that we like. And and as of late, over the last couple of years, as my parents begin to get older, our relationship has shifted where it's not so much of, like parent and son, it's more like.

There's a friendship there. 

Which is a strange thing to, it's just the way the family evolves after time. But I found myself, so let me backtrack a little bit. I'm gonna go a little bit out of order, but I'm gonna try and make this make sense. I remember when I was a kid and I got to meet my grandfather and I asked him,

grandpa, can you please share some stories when you were young? And he just. Pause for a second. He goes, son, of those things, I just don't know much about them. And it was just really sad [00:11:00] to me because he didn't value his own stories and because he didn't see value in his own life and to share that with me, now those stories are gone and I will never be able to get 'em back.

And so I've, every time I go over to my mom's house I ask, Hey mom, how did you and dad meet? And she'll tell me stories and and one of the stories I found out these last couple of years is that my dad, when he was a teenager in early, like 1213, he'd run away from lo Pato where he lived.

And he didn't want to clean up after the pigs and feed the chickens and live that lifestyle. His dream was to wear a suit and tie. So he wanted to work in a bank. He wanted to be in an office. Unfortunately where, the country that he was at Mexico, he didn't see not any opportunities for him there.

And so at 15 he came to the us looking for those opportunities. And instead he spent probably about 50 years of his life cutting grass for a living. So he never really got to have that office [00:12:00] job. But the way that I, this is why I dedicated the book for him, and I need to, I think this explains what I'm trying to say.

So it's may the dedication reads and Andra of the Rio Pancho, who sacrificed his own dreams for those of his family. And so I'm able to have an office, as a teacher, it's a white collar job. All my family, we all have college degrees. My mom has a wall where she has all five college degrees.

I, I, she says that, I only got to fourth grade in Mexico, but here I have five college degrees now, and she certainly deserves 'em. So 

Matthew: yeah, I think that connection that you have with your family and being able to articulate. The way that those relationships change is really beautiful. But it also then makes me think in this story of how you've given your main character an opportunity to be friends with his dad, and that's a special thing too.

Where in the country are you, Ernest? 

Ernesto: I'm in [00:13:00] Orange County, California 

Matthew: in California. 

Ernesto: 15 minutes. Yes. 15 minutes away from Disneyland. So every night at nine 30, I hear, I can't see them, but I can hear the fireworks. 

Matthew: The fireworks. 

Ernesto: Yes. And that's my signal that, oh I need to be in bed. 

Matthew: I love that.

I, the question I was gonna ask you about earlier, but I thought, oh, I should get a sense of geographically where you are. Is that I know another writer, a good pal of mine, who is also a middle school teacher named Tory Maldonado. Oh yeah. And I saw the name Maldonado come up in this book and it made me think of him.

And it made me think of that special age that you're writing toward. And so I think, I can't help but put that onto this conversation as well. But to be able to have this character who hears his parents and to know, or his dad in particular, and that's guiding him through much of the book, but to know also that you as an adult are actively hearing what your parents are telling you.

You're actively hearing and absorbing [00:14:00] those stories and trying to commit them to your own memory is a really neat connection at Ernesto. 

Ernesto: Thank you. Thank you. I'm really blessed in being able to do that, that not everybody has their parents at the, yeah. I'm 53 and I still have my parents, and I think that's a, just a huge blessing.

Matthew: That's a blessing. Sure. I am grateful at 45 to be able to have conversations with my parents that I think I never would've thought we would've been able to have. And a lot of that comes from perhaps a vulnerability. That I've shown toward them that thankfully, my, my, that they accepted, my mom in particular, accepted that vulnerability.

I think that they never stopped being our parents. And so maybe I can't help but put onto them the relationship that I saw as a child. There's a number of these moments throughout. Quesos story where he hears his dad's voice in his head. And I love that inner monologue and knowing, guiding us [00:15:00] through not knowing when and what was going to happen in this story, but knowing that voice was so important to him.

I wonder if. You have a voice that comes up in your head while you're writing, while you are going through life? Is that something that, that's guiding you as well, Ernesto? 

Ernesto: I feel like over my entire lifetime I collect voices. 

Matthew: Oh, yeah. 

Ernesto: And by that you're. You're living your life, you're doing the best that you can.

And it's just really funny how you'll remember something that your seventh grade teacher said to you when you were in middle school and as they continue to guide you even when the people aren't around you. So when I write, I hear things that my mom said especially with this book, I heard my parents, all of the things that they would tell me, and things like that, that my mom would always tell me right before going to school.

And those voices are there. I also have the voices of my editors on my, the back of my head. True when I'm writing and they're telling me, oh would you be able to write this way? Or could you make, this [00:16:00] isn't quite working? And all the advice I've gathered over the years, there's a collection.

It's just I don't know how to explain it. I, yes. It's almost like I'm there in life and you have all these little quotes of wonderful people who've influenced your life, and they step up whenever you need them. And that's just, it's a wonderful feeling. It makes you not feel alone. And it gives me a sense of community when I'm writing and I don't know, it's almost like you get a hug from these people every time those memories come back.

So it's. I wish I had a better way of explaining it, but 

Matthew: I think it's terrific that you're able to nurture that. If I can communicate that back to you. I have a lot of memories of feelings, how people made me feel. 

But I sometimes struggle to hear their voice and, being able to hear you share that, that you're able to pull from them not only the way that they felt, but in some cases the words that they said.

You wrote this beautiful and reflective story, Ernesto, it was so lovely to read, and I love the ruminations on. [00:17:00] Where we come from and who we are and the influence of other people in our life, including the influence we have on others on whom we care for and whom we love. And I know your other books.

I know I I know Efrin divided from reading it, but then last year is it falling short? Was a book on our yeah. It was a book on our Battle of the books book list for our fifth graders. And so to read that again it's wonderful to hear these, to hear your voice and know it across books is maybe what I'm saying.

Has that been a quality. Here's the thing I'm fascinated with by talking to so many authors is how do we find our voice, our, what our muse wants to express when we sit to write these stories? Is that something that at three novels or more, I know you're continuing to write at three novels in the that, that you are finding that this is the thing as a writer that I want to [00:18:00] express, that I want to give my readers.

Ernesto: Definitely I grew up with what I like to call a sense of disentitlement, where it didn't matter what people said, what educators told me I was not the best student in middle school or in high school because I didn't see the point. I came from a family of service. And so everybody around me, there were mechanics.

They worked, they they took care of other people's children's. My mom worked in a factory. My dad cut grass for a living. And so I just thought I was gonna continue the same route and I was going to wear a uniform similar to my dad's. And so I put in all this effort. If that's all that's afforded to people like me, and, yes, I Now, my mission is to erase this, I call my books, glam books because I don't think it's enough to see yourself in a mirror. Like we call books, mirror books sometimes. The lighting needs to be right, because, we all have those mirrors in our homes that we try to avoid.

And if you, if that's the last thing and you go to [00:19:00] work, you're gonna go to work feeling a little self-conscious and you think, oh my gosh, these wrinkles are getting much worse. I need to do something about 'em. Oh my, my hair, I don't, my, it's starting to recede and you just don't have a good date.

But when you see a mirror that has the proper, that just has the right light and you see yourself under the right light. You have a little pep to your step and you feel good about yourself. And I feel like the books can do that. For 15 years I struggled to sell any of my books because I was always writing what I thought the industry was looking for, and I would model and I wouldn't be, my genuine voice wasn't coming out.

Huh. And it's just really ironic after 15 years, divided was the first time this is, was an accidental publishing. Okay. It was never meant yes, it was never meant to be sold. It was only meant to be shared with the kiddos who were going through the similar problems with parents being taken by ice and just to give 'em a little bit of, it was like a love letter to them and I was gonna print it out and just give it to 'em.

[00:20:00] And they're the ones that were like, this is the best book we've ever read. I'm like, okay. I don't, this was 2016. Elections were happening. Horrible things were being said about Latinos and I, I was like, guys, this is about an immigrant family. Do you guys really think that I haven't been able to sell my work in 15 years?

Do you guys think this is. That's gonna be the right thing to send. And so when I sent it to my agent, I apologized to her because she said, write something that you think we might be able to sell. And and I'm like, I'm so sorry, you told me to ask them, write something else. And I write probably the least likely book to sell.

And yet two weeks later we heard from Harper Collins, one of the biggest publishers in the world from the vice president of the company. Wow. Yeah. And so that just, and I guess. The point of this long story is that I learned that I needed to have my genuine voice out there. I needed to use Spanglish, I needed to write about my [00:21:00] community and just be me and be proud of where I came from.

And I think that was, that became my superpower. And that's something I continue to do now. 

Matthew: That's a great message for all of us, Ernesto. I'm glad. I'm glad you found that. I'm glad your readers encouraged you in that way too. Hey, talk to me about your involvement in this community retreat with Meg Medina celebrating Latinx Stories and Kid Lit with Boy Mills.

I love those community retreats. They're so good. I'm gonna make it to the GBT Q1 one day, but. Meg Medina, come on, friend of the show. But don't, I think the entire children's literature world would love to be learning from Meg Medina. I would love to hear more details about this retreat, about your involvement in it.

I don't know how long you've been involved with Boyd Mills, but I'm a fan. I wanna hear about anything you're willing to share. 

Ernesto: So a long time ago, and I say a long time ago because I honestly don't remember how long ago it [00:22:00] was, but it was def definitely before before it was ever even a thought.

I met Meg Medina at LA Times Festival. It was pouring, and I had my entire family with me, and we were under one, one umbrella. And and afterwards she was so gracious and she spoke to us, and then my wife's kind of nudging me and to tell her, and I'm like I'm aspiring to, to be able to write books someday.

And Meg told me about this event at the highlights. Back then it was called the Highlights, retreat. She said, I'm gonna be here. Why don't you come over and we can chat more and maybe I can even look at your work. And I did and I told my wife, oh my gosh, that do I dare do this? This is, if I go here, everything's gonna become really very real.

And, you have a little bit of again, my, my this sense of disentitlement was kicking in. I decided to go ahead and show up to this event and it, first [00:23:00] of all, the place, if anybody, it's beautiful there. 

Matthew: Yes. 

Ernesto: And the food is amazing and the people, and it's just, it's a paradise. It really is.

And when I was there, and to this day, Meg doesn't really believe she did anything for me, but but I completely disagree. One, she treated me like a peer. And that was something. And so I was able to feel like a writer. And then the gift that she gave me was that she read my work back to me one day.

I think it was like one of the final day before we were leaving and we sat at the porch and this beautiful this the envi, everything around us was just, it's like a postcard. Just so beautiful there. And she reads my work and she's okay. Imagine that I'm sharing you my work.

So this is my story and I'm sharing it with you. And I remember actually getting teary-eyed because it was beautiful and I was thinking, wow, Meg I wish I could write like that. And then, and I forgot that it was actually my [00:24:00] writing. And just hearing it back. And it was the first time that I actually, again, I felt like a writer and I thought I had something to offer.

And. Just that sense of community and support. She mystified the entire process for me made me feel like she and, and now, all these years later I want to go back there with her and I wanna see if I can offer the same kind of feeling to other people and just pay it forward. That's really what I'm there for.

And both of us are there where we've both had so many people who have helped us along the way and just 'cause some, somebody opens the door for you, you gotta open up wider for other people. You don't close it behind you. 

Matthew: I hear that so much from others. The. Recognition of those giants on whose shoulders you're standing on.

And also making sure to lend that hand to the next person and the next it's the only way that we'll be able to have [00:25:00] all of those kids have any chance at all at seeing themselves in books is if we get more voices to write those books. And how wonderful that. Meg left that impression on you 

Ernesto: and she continues to and continues to because, yes, because now I watch the way she conducts herself.

I see The way that, there's authors out there who won a lot of awards and sometimes, they, their heads get a little big, but not Meg. The only thing I've seen grow with me is her heart. And she continues to be that same person she was when she first got started. And so every time that I'm wa every time I go to an event, I'm watching authors how they conduct themselves.

And I'm always taking notes. And Meg Medina is the person you wanna be watching 'cause she's just a wonderful human being. 

Matthew: And the folks that come out to this retreat will then have a chance to. Share the things that they're working on. To be in community to hear. Yes. How other, in this case, LA Latinx individuals are [00:26:00] writing and telling their stories.

I would imagine that opportunity to hear how others are articulating their story, but also to be able to reflect back. Here's what I hear in your story. I wonder if you've considered working this into the way that you're sharing it, because. I feel like sometimes we restrict, don't we, the value of our memories and the way that others can connect with them, but by sharing them with others, someone might say I never would've thought but this quality in your story is actually making me feel this way.

Oh, I can turn the volume up then when I write my story to make sure that, that isn't just brushed off. I didn't realize that was so unique to me, but it must be yes, that's a beautiful thing. 

Ernesto: Yes. And we have the benefit we of having worked with really amazing editors. 

Matthew: Oh, great. 

Ernesto: Yeah. And once you've gone through, when you publish a book, it's really like getting a master's degree because you learn so much and every, all the techniques that they share with you to make your work better, [00:27:00] you're now able to pass those things on to others.

Matthew: Yes. That's a great point. Wonderful. I hope that. You have such a wonderful time with this retreat and I hope one day Ernesto, to be interviewing someone that said, I met this guy, Ernesto, and he read my work to him and I cried thinking that his work is so beautiful. Mine will never be, but it was my words.

I am so grateful that you shared that back that way, and really the Meg shared that. Shared your work back that way too, that you were able to hear it outside of yourself. That's wonderful. I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful that you are a voice in front of not only the children that visit you in school, but also the readers that visit you through your story.

Thank you for all that you do, Ernesto. 

Ernesto: Yeah, thank you. And you as well. You're, I love all the little kiddos, but I don't think I could ever teach the teach 'em. So what you're doing is amazing as well. 

Matthew: We're all called the different ages, aren't we? 

Ernesto: Yes. I know. People look at me like you teach [00:28:00] middle school.

I'm like, yes. It's wonderful. 

Matthew: Yeah. 

Ernesto: Yeah. But thank you for everything you're doing and just, give, allowing me to be part of this your platform. I 

Matthew: appreciate 

Ernesto: that. Oh, 

Matthew: I'm blessed because of it. Thank you. I would love to close in this way that I've closed with so many other folks by asking you that I'll see a library full of children tomorrow morning.

Is there a message I can bring to them from you? 

Ernesto: I think each one of my books has a different message and I don't write the message in mind. They just just organically happen. But I think the message for a guess what just in time is twofold. One, don't wait for time to pass for you to really connect with your parents and really get to know them as human beings.

And two. This one speaks to the ending of the book which I'm, I don't wanna give any spoilers to right now, but I want to show, I, I think one of the, my goals was to show kiddos that even though times look really dark right now. [00:29:00] That they used to be darker back in the eighties. And that's something that I wanted to illustrate only because I wanted to see that we have progressed as society and that things are getting better.

And when you're young and you have, don't have those experiences of what it was like in the past it wasn't that long ago that women weren't able to vote. And so when you think about things like that, it's oh my goodness, things are advancing. And so I just want them all to know that please know that things are getting better and they will continue to.