Kid Lit Village: If Your Babysitter is a Bruja

Hello Readers! Welcome to Kid Lit Village. This week, I’m delighted to welcome back Ana Siqueira, whose book, Bella’s Recipe for Disaster/Success was released last year. Today, Ana is back with a new release published by Simon Kids titled IF YOUR BABYSITTER IS A BRUJA. The book comes out August 23, 2022. Illustrations are by Irena Freitas. And at the end of the post, you will get to see some of the interior pages for a sneak peek inside the book!

This bouncy, bilingual picture book is an enchanting, rollicking read-aloud for small ones with big imaginations.

On the night before Halloween, a new babysitter might be more than she appears. If she wears a black sombrero and cackles like a crow, she might just be a bruja! One little girl is determined not to fall victim to an evil witch or her cats. She knows bath time is really the bruja’s way of putting her in a boiling cauldron, and the only way to keep her at bay is with a magic potion—or is it?

With a boundless imagination and plenty of tricks up her sleeve, the young protagonist may just have the best night ever!

Ana Siqueira is a Spanish-language elementary teacher, an award-winning Brazilian children’s author, and a published author in the Foreign Language educational market. Her debut picture book is BELLA’S RECIPE FOR DISASTER/SUCCESS (Beaming Books, 2021), Her forthcoming books are IF YOUR BABYSITTER IS A BRUJA/ CUANDO TU NIÑERA ES UNA BRUJA (SimonKids,2022), ABUELA’S SUPER CAPA/LA SUPERCAPA DE ABUELA (HarperCollins 2023) – two-book deal auction, BOITATA (Capstone 2023), ROOM IN MAMI’S CORAZON  (HarperCollins 2024) and some others that can’t be announced yet. Ana is a member of  SCBWI, Las Musas Books, and co-founder of LatinxPitch. 

Hello Ana and welcome back to the Kid Lit Village blog!

What appeals to you about writing books for children?

As a co-founder of Latinxpitch, a Twitter event that wants to promote Latine creators, I dream of the day that all children will see themselves in a book. As a Latina, I write about children in kids-relatable situations where I show that despite our differences, we are all the same. Universal emotions connect us all. Besides, writing is so fun. I can’t imagine my life now without writing. I think all the ideas in my head would explode. Oops!

2. What challenges you as a writer?

Time and Patience (or lack of) I work full-time as a Spanish teacher and I love it. But it’s hard to find enough time to work on all the projects plus marketing and publicity when you work. My dream is to become a full-time author one day, in a faraway future. 
Another challenge is waiting. It’s hard for an anxious person like me, and I guess to everybody else, to wait for publishers to reply. I keep looking at my emails hoping for some good news, and Nada! And then I waste the time I have to write looking through emails. This waiting life is so hard!

3. List 5 favorite picture books. Explain what you like about them. I have so many favorites, so if you see a list from me next month, I might have different ones. It’s hard to choose. I Wish You Knew by Jackie Azúa Kramer  and Magdalena Mora This book talks about a girl and her feelings after her father gets deported. It treats this subject with heart and gentleness. Other children also share their problems and the school community gets together to help each other. As a teacher, I can’t stop crying when I read this book and imagine how much some children go through. And the illustrations… Unbelievable. I hope Magdalena Mora will illustrate one of my books one day. Bisa’s Carnaval by Joana Pastro and Carolina CoroaA festive book filled with dance, culture, family, and love. The text and the illustrations bring alive this Carnaval in Olinda, Brasil. And even though this party is all about dancing and fun, in this book, this party is also about not leaving anyone behind, especially your lovely bisa (great-grandma). I love seeing all the colors and movement of the Carnaval in Olinda. This is a great book to share with kids about another culture and the universal theme of love.  Drum Dream Girl By Margarita Engle, Rafael López This rhythmic book will take you on a magic drum trip with this Chinese-African-Cuban girl, who broke the taboo of girls not being allowed to play drums. This is a poem song filled with rhythmic words, sounds, and heart. Beautiful words, beautiful art,  gorgeous story. I hope after reading it, you’ll feel inspired to dance and dream. I danced around the house, then I sat down and wrote beautiful stories and dreams.  Run, Little Chaski by Mariana Llanos and Mariana Ruiz Johnson Through this book, little ones will learn about history, the Inkas, Peru, and its animales. But all in a super fun way filled with tension. Will our little messenger – a Chaski – deliver the important message on time? Kids will be involved in this story, cheering for our little Chaski all the way. This book has received many awards. So well deserved to both the author and the illustrator. If You Want to Take an Alligator to School, Don’t by Elise Parsley This book and her other ones in this series inspired me to write the Bruja story in the second person. I could see how much fun you could add to the story and how less scary it could be. I read all the books to my grandson, and he laughed so hard. Super fun, period.  4. Tell us about the inspiration for your books. All my books are inspired by my own stories. Some are based on my own experiences as a child, others are based on my children or grandchildren, and some are based on my life as a teacher and my fabuloso students. But the Bruja was inspired by something that happened between me and my daughter. Here it is: My three-year-old daughter Karina and I were at the beach. She kept asking me, “One more dive. This is the last one.” After the 100th the last one, I said, with my strict teachers-voice, “No more! We must leave now!”  And that’s when the humiliation started. My sweet daughter started shouting, “You’re not my mom. You’re a witch.” And I had to walk three blocks, dragging her, while she kept shouting. It was not a fun moment. But everything worked out. After a shower and some hugs, she recognized me as her mother again. And now, after thirty years, I wrote this story. Well, not exactly the same story because (here is a tip for writers) even though your stories will be stronger, in my opinion, when based on your experiences, they should be changed so it’s more fun and relatable to our universal emotions.  Ana, I know there are a lot of parents who can relate to the requests for one more dive, one more story, or one more cookie! It’s wonderful that you book can relate to adults and children alike and that Latina children will be able to see themselves in more books. Thanks for being a guest, it’s been great to have you! I especially enjoyed learning about some of your favourite picture books. Find more about Ana and her books atWebsite: https://anafiction.com/Twitter https://twitter.com/SraSiqueira1307Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/asiqueira1307/?hl=en

Interior artwork…

Thanks to my readers for stopping by kid lit village today! I hope you enjoyed a sneak peek of Ana’s new book.

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