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• What Makes Us Human Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (Grand Rapids, MI), 2024

1. What makes us human LCCN 2023023596 Type of material Book Personal name Santos, Victor D. O., author. Main title What makes us human / Victor D.O. Santos ; illustrations by Anna Forlati. Published/Produced Grand Rapids, Michigan : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024. Projected pub date 2403 Description pages cm ISBN 9780802856258 (hardcover) (ebook)

• Dylan's Birthday Present - 2020 Linguacious, Linguacious
• Kiki Goes to Brazil - 2021 Linguacious,
• A Wild Day at the Zoo (Victor Dias de Oliveira Santos (Author), Eszter Miklós (Illustrator)) - 2020 Linguacious,
• The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness (Victor Dias de Oliveira Santos (Author), Eszter Miklós (Illustrator)) - 2021 Linguacious,
• Just Like Magic: (Victor Dias de Oliveira Santos (Author), Iryna Kazakova (Illustrator)) - 2022 Linguacious,
• My Dad, My Rock - 2022 Linguacious,
• Goodbye, Colors! (Victor Dias de Oliveira Santos (Author), Eszter Miklós (Illustrator)) - 2022 Linguacious,

• Victor Santos website - https://www.authorvictorsantos.com/

  I am a children’s picture book author and enthusiast, a professional linguist, and a proud father and husband in a multicultural household. I was born in Brazil and left my home country at age 25. After living in Germany and in The Netherlands for a couple of years, I moved to Iowa (USA) to do my Ph.D. in Linguistics and decided to settle down here. I love the MIdwest and all the quiet secrets it has to offer.

  I wrote my very first children’s book, Dylan’s Birthday Present, in 2020, as a gift to my son, who was only 4 years old at the time. After writing and creating eight self-published children’s books, my breakthrough in the picture book world came in 2022, when my eighth book, My Dad, My Rock, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, was selected as a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2022, and started being acquired by publishers in other countries and translated into several languages. In early 2023, Scribble (an imprint of the Australian publisher Scribe) decided to acquire world English rights to My Dad, My Rock and re-publish it in spring 2024 under the Scribble imprint.

  My ninth book, What Makes Us Human, was selected for the dPICTUS Unpublished Picture Book Showcase 4, for the prestigious White Ravens 2023 catalogue, and for a special exhibition during the 2023 Bologna Children’s Book Fair called Beauty and the World: The New Non-fiction Picture Book. UNESCO decided to make the book an official children’s book for the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages and Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, one of my favorite publishers, bought English rights to the book in North America and the UK. Rights to the book have now been sold into over 20 languages, with many of the foreign editions being co-published with UNESCO. Foreign rights to my books, including Before I Forget (my latest book), are represented by Syllabes Agency.

  I absolutely love writing, reading, and studying picture books and I strongly believe they can change the world. Although I have by now spent literally thousands of hours studying the craft of writing high-quality picture books, reading picture books, and studying picture books, I am still only at the beginning of my picture-book journey and can hardly wait for what is still to come. I like to write on topics I deeply care about and that shed some light on what makes us tick.

  I look forward to continuing to write and create picture books that will touch hearts and engage minds, both young and older.

  MY PICTURE-BOOKING Q&A (ALWAYS IN PROGRESS)
  Q: What are three picture books that have had a huge influence on me as a picture book author and creator, and that I would choose to have with me if I was stranded on a deserted island for months?

  – ‘The Night Gardener’ by The Fan Brothers

  – ‘Nothing in Common’, written by Kate Hoefler / illustrated by Corinna Luyken

  – ‘The Forest’, written by Riccardo Bozzi / illustrated by Violeta Lopiz & Valerio Vidali

  Q: Who is an illustrator I really admire and that I would love to collaborate with one day?

  Kaatje Vermeire

  Q: What are four publishing houses whose catalogue and taste I admire and that I would love to have one of my books published by one day? (list cannot include publishers that I really admire but that have already published one of my books):

  – Kite Edizioni (Italy)

  – Thule Ediciones (Spain)

  – Éditions du Rouergue (France)

  – Signatura (Romania)

  Q: Do I have any routines to bring me inspiration when writing?

  Yes, basically two. The first is listening to a song that happens to fully match the mood of the manuscript I am working on, which can significantly speed up my creation process. The second is swimming breaststroke in a warm, long pool.

  Q: What is in my opinion the best analogy for good picture-booking?

  Good music-making, and how a song’s lyrics and music must work hand in hand to produce an amazing result, just like the text and illustrations in a picture book.

  Q: Do I collect picture books myself?

  Yes, I do have a personal picture book collection. I keep a spreadsheet where I review and give a grade (out of 10) to every single picture book I read. If I give a book a grade of 9 or higher I then buy a copy of it and add it to my personal picture book library. Right now, there are 73 books in that library and I hope to leave this library collection as a gift to my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on. I naturally have many more picture books around the home since I have small children, buy books for research purposes, etc, but only the ones above are part of my personal library.

• The National Museum of Language - https://languagemuseum.org/interview-with-victor-santos-founder-and-ceo-of-linguacious-llc/

  Interview with Victor Santos, Founder and CEO of Linguacious LLC.
  / Blog, Interviews / By Webster
  1. Please tell me a bit about your academic background.

  My entire education has been in the field of Linguistics. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), during which

  I had a strong focus on syntax and indigenous languages. Then, I received a scholarship from the European Union to do a binational Master’s degree in Computational Linguistics in Germany (University of Saarland) and in the Netherlands (University of Groningen). After getting my Master’s, I moved to the USA to do my PhD in Applied Linguistics and Technology at Iowa State University, with a strong focus on Language Assessment/Testing.

  2. Please tell me a bit about your professional background.

  Before moving to Europe for my Master’s program, I taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) for over 6 years in Brazil. Then, during my PhD program, I interned with five different language learning or language testing companies in the USA and abroad, including language learning companies such as Mango Languages and Language Testing Companies such as SLTI and Michigan Language Assessment.

  After my PhD, I got a position as Director of Assessment and Research with Avant Assessment, a major language testing company in the USA.

  Finally, about 4 years ago, I founded my own company, called Linguacious®. At Linguacious, I develop innovative language learning flashcard games and children’s picture books in over 30 different languages, including major world languages such as Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Italian, but also many less-commonly-taught languages such as Kurdish, Welsh, Hawaiian, Yup’ik, Basque, Irish Gaelic, Swedish, Galician, and others. The materials I have produced with Linguacious have already won over 12 different awards. It makes me very happy to know they are benefiting so many people around the world.

  3. What gave you the idea to create interactive flashcards and children’s books?

  As for the flashcards, the initial idea came from my own difficulty in finding suitable physical materials in Portuguese (my native language) to use with my son when he was born. I now have two children (my son is 4 years old and my daughter is 2 years old) and we are a multicultural and multilingual family. My wife and I have always spoken to our kids in our native languages (Russian and Portuguese, respectively) and when my son turned 1, I tried to find vocabulary flashcards in Portuguese to use with him to help him with language acquisition.

  After carefully analyzing the market and what was available, I was actually quite disappointed. The types of flashcards I found available fell short of what I, as a language educator and professional linguist, would like to see in a vocabulary flashcard game. For example, the majority of flashcards featured both the image and the word in the target language on the front side of the card, which makes it much harder for children of reading ability to practice recalling the word (productive knowledge) themselves based on the image, since the word they need to recall is right there in front of their eyes! In addition to this simple layout issue, the vocabulary games I came across in my research were just not fun enough, since kids could not play games with them. As a previous language teacher, I knew that kids don’t usually care about something unless it’s made fun for them. Last, I wanted a listening component to be part of the cards as well. None of the flashcards in the market featured audio pronunciation of each words. Some of them featured written phonetic pronunciation of each word using the English alphabet, which, in my opinion, can do more harm than good when it comes to acquiring correct pronunciation, especially in languages with sounds that cannot be presented by English letters.

  So I thought: wouldn’t it be cool if kids could access audio of each word by a native speaker of each language right from each card? I was familiar with QR codes and thought it would be nice to have a QR code on each card that kids could scan using a common cell phone and a very simply app (point and listen) to pronounce each word for them.

  Knowing what I wanted to achieve, I got down to work and started developing several prototypes of the cards and testing them out with my son and other children. From the beginning, the prototypes would allow kids to play various games to practice Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking independently, all of which are important skills to practice when learning a language, although naturally Reading and Writing would only be introduced when children are a bit older.

  Five months later, the first set of Portuguese flashcards (Animals) that fulfilled all the requirements for what I thought a good vocabulary flashcard game should be was born.

  Portuguese flashcards
  When I started showing the first flashcards I created to other parents who were also passing their languages to their children, I started getting requests to develop them in other languages. In fact, many parents struggle to find good quality materials in other languages to use with their kids, even here in the USA. That’s when I knew there was a business opportunity there as well.

  Fast-forward 4 years, we now offer our flashcards in over 30 different languages and in 5 different topics, such as Animals, Around the Home, Foods and Drinks, Alphabet, and Verbs & Phrases.

  Yup'ik Cards
  An image of the Linguacious® vocabulary flashcard game Around the Home in the Yup’ik (Yugtun) language, produced in partnership with the Anchorage School District (Alaska).

  As for the children’s picture books published by Linguacious, it’s a more recent project. In addition to the cards, which are more useful at the very early stages of acquiring a language, when kids are still at the single-word or perhaps phrase level, I wanted to also give them the opportunity to be exposed to richer input in their languages. I have always loved reading and by this time my daughter had already been born, which means I was reading a lot of books in Portuguese to my kids at home. I decided then to start writing a children’s book series called Little Polyglot Adventures, which would provide that richer input in various languages to children. To this point, three books have been published in the series and the series has won over 7 book awards and been translated into over 19 languages. The books in the series are available in either monolingual or bilingual editions and all books in the series features words in additional languages so that kids can pick up some new words in other languages here and there. One of the main goals of the series, in addition to its linguistic goal of providing rich input in the language, is to show kids the value of speaking other languages, of multiculturalism, and of respecting cultural, racial, and geographical differences.

  Book 1 (Dylan’s Birthday Present) in the Little Polyglot Adventures series. Bilingual English – Welsh version.

  Book 2 (A Wild Day at the Zoo) in the Little Polyglot Adventures series. Monolingual Basque (Euskara) version.
  4. What sort of research or pedagogical basis did you consider when creating your flashcards and books?

  When creating the flashcards, I relied on my knowledge of Applied Linguistics as an Applied Linguist myself but also consulted with others in the fields of Language Learning and Bilingual Education.

  For the flashcards, for example, I knew that reading, listening, speaking, and writing were skills that should be practiced with the cards independently. That informed the design of the cards and where each little piece of information (image, spelling of the word, QR code) would go in order to allow kids to practice each of these four skills separately through the games we propose for the cards. Research in vocabulary learning dealing with active recall, the ability to remember a word in a language without being provided with a small set of possible choices, was also an important foundation in developing the flashcards.

  For the books, the decision to publish them in both monolingual and bilingual version came from the understanding that these two versions cater to different end users. For example, parallel bilingual texts can help boost language learning, especially in the earlier stages of acquisition, and that informed out decision to have the two languages side by side after each groups of sentences, instead of having the two languages show up on different pages in the bilingual versions.

  Sample page from the bilingual English – Russian edition of Book 2 in the Little Polyglot Series (A Wild Day at the Zoo)
  And just as with the flaschards, instead of providing phonetic spelling of the foreign words in other languages that we introduce in the book every now and then, we offer instead a simple translation of the word as a footnote, and readers can access our website to actually listen to a native speaker of the language pronouncing the foreign word.

  Sample page from the monolingual Italian edition of Book 2 in the Little Polyglot Series (A Wild Day at the Zoo). The blue word (in Spanish) has a footnote translation but readers can go to the Linguacious website to hear the pronunciation of the word if they would like.
  5. How would you like to see your products evolve in the future?

  I would love to see our flashcards and children’s books developed in a much larger number of languages, including more endangered languages. Some people in the Yup’ik community, for example, have told me that our books are not only a resource for rich language input but they actually work as language documentation as well, since the number of resources in Yup’ik (with only about 10,000 estimated speakers left) is quite small. We are currently in talks with a foreign rights agency to represent our books abroad to other publishers who may be interested in publishing our books under their own imprints in their own countries and languages.

  I would also love to be able to record audiobook version of all our children’s books (some already have audiobooks) and make the audio available directly from the books (with no reliance on an Internet connection) in order to bring a more interactive experience to children and parents using our books.

  Lastly, I would love to develop new products, especially toys, that help kids learn languages.

  6. Are there any other activities or games that your company is currently working on?

  Not at the moment. I am quite focused on working on my writing skills as an author at the moment and writing more books that we can publish into more and more languages.

  7. Is there anything else you would like us to know?

  I would just like to thank the National Museum of Language for what you do. I love your webinars and learn quite a bit from them. I am also fond of the Multilingual Digital Storytelling project and would love to see more and more stories being added in more and more languages. In fact, I will try to add one of our own children’s book to the collection sometime soon. If anyone has a request for a given language we offer our books in and especially if they are a native speaker who could record it, please do get in touch with me by all means through the email below or our website.

  contact@linguacious.net

  www.linguacious.net

  Lastly, I want to congratulate all of us here who understand and value the importance of all languages and who advocate for a more linguistically and culturally diverse world.

• #WorldKidLit - https://worldkidlit.org/2024/02/12/interview-with-author-and-linguist-victor-santos/

  Interview with Author and Linguist Victor Santos
  In March 2024, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers will publish the English version of What Makes Us Human, a lyrical picture book about the importance of language and culture. Today World Kid Lit co-editor Jackie Friedman Mighdoll talks to the author Victor Santos.

  What Makes Us Human
  Jackie FM: What Makes Us Human has had an incredible journey from dPICTUS winner, to a special UNESCO partnership, publication around the world, and a White Ravens 2023 selection. Can you tell us how this came about?

  VS: As a professional linguist, picture book author, and father to two trilingual and multicultural children, I felt I was in a lucky position to write and create a picture book about the value of all languages and their vital connection to the people and cultures behind them. I also wanted to make people aware of the fact that at least half of the world’s estimated 7,168 living languages are expected to become extinct by 2100, which is a loss to all of humanity.

  Both Anna Forlati (the illustrator) and I still cannot believe the success What Makes Us Human is having and all the languages it is being translated into (19 at the time of this interview). We are so happy that the book and its message are resonating with readers in so many parts of the world.

  What Makes Us Human had already been licensed into a few languages – Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Basque, Galician, Catalan, Asturian, and Korean – before UNESCO ever heard of it. And when the UNESCO Chief of Section who is leading the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022 – 2032) read it, he proposed that UNESCO become a co-publisher of the book in as many future editions as possible, as a way to draw attention to their Decade and also increase the visibility of the book.

  Since then, most publishers who have licensed What Makes Us Human have decided to publish it in partnership with UNESCO, including Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (EBYR) for the English edition.

  Finally, the fact that the book was selected by the International Youth Library (in Munich, Germany) for their prestigious White Ravens catalogue in 2023 also gave the book a nice boost in terms of interest from foreign publishers.

  JFM: The first version was published in your native country, Brazil. Did you do any of the translations to other languages? If so, what challenges did you find?

  VS: I tend to write all my picture book manuscripts both in English and in Brazilian Portuguese to ensure there are no obvious issues when translating the text into another language.

  For What Makes Us Human, I really wanted the first edition of the book to be published in Brazil, so I pitched the book with my Portuguese text to a publisher (Editorial Abacatte) that had already published another book of mine in Brazil (My Dad, My Rock, coming out in the USA in March 2024 from Scribble). They decided to license it and were the first one to do so. Later, when the book was pitched to EBYR, it had my own English text as well, so I guess you could say I’m the translator of both the Portuguese and English editions.

  Although I did not do the translations into the other languages, all publishers have been kind enough to send me their proposed translations before they sent out the files to the printer. For languages I can understand to a decent extent — such as Italian, Spanish, Galician, or French — I have been able to directly participate in some of the discussions regarding specific translation choices. For other languages I have no knowledge of — commonly found languages such as Arabic and Korean — I usually consult with native speakers of these languages in my personal or professional network and have them look at both the English version and the translation. Finally, for languages such as Mapuzugun (an Indigenous language of Chile), for which I do not know any native speakers and for which there are unfortunately no easily available translation tools, I have no input at all into the translation process.

  Several interesting things have surfaced during translation into all these languages:

  What Makes Us Human is written as a lyrical riddle in which the first-person narrator (theme) of the book does not reveal itself until the very last page. Clues are scattered throughout the text and illustrations. When I wrote the manuscript, I carefully selected the words in a way that would either lead readers towards an ambiguous path or make them think of one thing, when in fact the book is about something else. Not revealing the answer to the riddle too early is something I strived for since it makes the reading experience more engaging.

  As many readers will know, Romance languages (e.g., Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish, etc.) have grammatical gender, and each noun as well as the adjectives that agree with them must be marked for gender. That means that once readers know the gender of the first-person narrator, they can already eliminate many of the possibilities that English speakers would not (note: English does not show grammatical gender on nouns and adjectives). Also, different possibilities of who the narrator might be will be triggered in the mind of readers depending on what specific adjective a translator decides to use in their language since each word has different associations in each language. In the end, no matter what the translators choose, the riddle must work well in all languages, so it’s quite a challenging but fun exercise.

  JFM: Have you seen the other international editions? Are there any interesting differences? Can you share any stories about seeing your work published in different languages?

  VS: I get to see and comment on the final proofs of all editions before they go to the printer, and I also receive finished author copies of each edition. Of all editions I’ve seen to date, the most interesting — in terms of doing something different — are perhaps the Italian, Arabic, and Korean ones.

  The Italian edition (to be published by Terre di Mezzo in early 2024) has a beautiful yet completely different cover from all the other editions. They also changed the title of the book from What Makes Us Human to The Most Beautiful Thing (“La cosa più preziosa”). Additionally, they are the only publisher that decided to reveal the answer to the riddle on the back cover in the book blurb. All these decisions were made to better fit the Italian market.

  In the Arabic edition, the great majority of the illustrations had to be flipped sideways since Arabic is read right to left. This, of course, is quite common when translating picture books into Arabic, but I did not know that at the time and found it really interesting. Going through the Arabic book is a unique experience since it opens and reads right to left.

  Lastly, in the Korean edition (published by Hanbit Media in 2023), they added a marketing sleeve that envelops the book and contains, among other things, blurbs written by well-known people in South Korea. Some of the people who provided a blurb for the book were Kim Eana, a famous lyricist behind many famous K-pop songs and Jihyun Kim, author/illustrator of The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky, a picture book I really enjoy and have in my personal picture book library.

  Our Korean publisher bumped into Anna and me at the dPICTUS stand during the 2023 Bologna Book Fair and was so excited to meet us that they asked to take pictures with us holding the book. Later that day, they tracked us down again and gifted us beautiful silk bookmarks.

  It’s a great feeling seeing and holding the book in all these different languages. Every time I receive a package with author copies of a new edition, I stop everything I’m doing and open it straight away. With every new language, I know that the book and its themes are reaching more and more people. And when it’s a language with fewer speakers, such as Mapuzugun or Asturian (spoken in Spain), I feel extra happy, since the publication of the book in that language directly contributes to the preservation of the language.

  JFM: Can you tell us more about UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages? Will there be a version in any of the indigenous languages? (I’ve been enjoying seeing the bilingual books in Indigenous languages in Canada.)

  VS: The United Nations General Assembly declared 2022 – 2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. Over this period of ten years, the United Nations (especially through the leadership of UNESCO) aims to create sustainable and effective changes in social, cultural, and governmental dynamics to increase awareness about the importance of and the need to preserve Indigenous languages around the world, many of which are severely endangered, with only a small number of speakers. Some Indigenous languages and peoples can be seen represented in What Makes Us Human. Indigenous languages are absolutely fascinating and complex, and I’ve had the pleasure of studying some of them during my bachelor’s degree work in Brazil, which focused on the Brazilian Indigenous language Xavante (A’uwẽ, as seen in the book).

  What Makes Us Human has already been licensed into two Indigenous languages — Mapuzugun in Chile and Hñähñu in Mexico. Both will be published in a bilingual edition, with Spanish being the other language. I would love to see the book published into as many Indigenous languages as possible. The existence of children’s books in these languages increases Indigenous children’s pride in their own language and culture and creates written resources in these languages that can be directly used to help revitalize them.

  Indeed, Canada has many Indigenous languages, and I really hope we can soon see the book available in many of them, either in a monolingual or a bilingual edition.

  JFM: The book sets up a mystery or question: “I am everywhere. In every country, every city, every school, and every home.” Have you had the chance to read the book with kids? I’m curious at what point they guess the answer?

  VS: When I had a draft for What Makes Us Human that I was happy with, I read it to several friends and a few children (one of them being my own son, who is 7 years old). As I read each page, I would ask them who they thought the narrator was. It was very interesting to see how they would change their mind as new clues were presented in the text. I wanted to make sure that the words and metaphors I chose would elicit enough interesting possibilities in their minds while also not revealing the answer to the riddle too early. None of the kids or adults could guess the answer before the final page when I only read the text to them, which was good news. That helped me, Anna Forlati, and our designer (Daniel Cabral) fine-tune how we wanted to insert clues into the illustrations.

  In the illustrated version, most adults either do not guess at all or only guess about 2/3 into the book since the illustrations also provide several clues for those attentive readers. I haven’t yet had the chance to interact with children who are reading the final, illustrated version, since the book only comes out in the USA/Canada in March 2024, and I haven’t yet been able to participate in live events for the book outside the USA. I really can’t wait to see kids’ reactions and how early they may be able to guess the theme of the book. For readers here who end up reading the book to their kids or students, feel free to get in touch with me on Instagram and let me know!

  JFM: I know you’ve studied picture books from around the world as you’ve worked on your books. Can you share some of your favorites?

  Absolutely! I love reading picture books as well as more academically-driven books about picture books, with Martin Salisbury’s Children’s Picture Books: The Art of Visual Storytelling being my favorite one in the books about picture books category.

  For me, reading tons of good-quality picture books and identifying those I connect with or admire the most, and why that is the case, is a great way to speed up my learning process when it comes to picture-booking and better understanding the kinds of stories and techniques I tend to lean towards.

  I have an Excel sheet where I give a grade to every picture book I read, and I then buy a copy of all those I give a grade of 9 or higher. Many of my favorite books are listed on my author website (link below) but here are some of them. The ones I am listing are all English editions except for the very last one, a French book with no English edition yet. Those with an asterisk were originally published in a language other than English:

  The Night Gardener – The Fan Brothers

  Nothing in Common – Kate Hoefler (A) & Corinna Luyken (I)

  The Forest* – Riccardo Bozzi (A), Violeta Lapiz (I), Valerio Vidal (I)

  The Longest Letsgoboy – Derick Wilder (A), Cátia Chien (I)

  Small in the City – Sydney Smith

  Du Iz Tak? – Carson Ellis

  I am the Subway* – Kim Hyo-eun

  The Big Question* – Leen Van Den Berg (A), Kaatje Vermeire (I)

  The Sour Cherry Tree – Naseem Hrab (A), Nahid Kazemi (I)

  My Father’s Arms are a Boat* – Stein Erik Lunde (A), Øyvind Torseter (I)

  The Little Barberian* – Renato Moriconi

  Du Fond de la classe* – Sébastien Joanniez (A), Pauline Kerleroux (I)

  If readers would like to see more of my favorite books, they can find them on my author website. If they would like to say “hi”, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. Thank you so much for this interview, Jackie!

  Victor D.O. Santos is a linguist and children’s author who has lived in five different countries and studied 10 different languages. My Dad, My Rock, his English-language debut (Scribble), was a Kirkus Best Book of 2022. Originally from Brazil, Santos now lives in Des Moines, Iowa, where he and his Ukrainian wife are raising two multicultural, multilingual children. Follow him on Instagram.

• School Library Journal - https://afuse8production.slj.com/2024/01/04/cover-reveal-and-interview-with-victor-d-o-santos-what-makes-us-human/

  Cover Reveal and Interview with Victor D.O. Santos: What Makes Us Human
  January 4, 2024 by Betsy Bird Leave a Comment

  “I make you human”.

  Here is the gist of the matter. In Germany there is a library. Not simply any library either. An International Youth Library. One of the finest in the whole wide world. And from this library, every year like clockwork, there is a booklist. Not just any booklist. A list of literature from around the world. It’s called the White Ravens List and it’s worth looking into if you truly believe in finding the best children’s books of a given year. When books from Americans make that list it is something to pay attention to. And now I must tell you that today’s guest, one Mr. Victor D.O. Santos, made that list with his book What Makes Us Human. Haven’t heard of it? That’s because it isn’t even out yet.

  Here’s the description:

  A poetic riddle about language, history, and culture, released in partnership with UNESCO in honor of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032).

  Can you guess what I am? I have been around a very, very long time. You hardly knew me as a baby, but now you cannot get me out of your head. There are thousands of me, all over the globe, and some of those forms are disappearing. I can connect you to the past, present, and future. Who am I—and why am I so important to humanity?

  Clever and thought-provoking, What Makes Us Human is an accessible introduction to how language connects people across the world. This unique book celebrates all the amazing ways communication shapes our lives, including through text messages on phones, Braille buttons in elevators, and endangered languages at risk of disappearing.

  I had the chance to read through this book and it’s a strange and intoxicating consideration of the connections between language and humanity. I really can’t explain it any better than that, so maybe I need some help. Maybe, I need to talk to author Victor Santos about it directly. And as luck would have it, today I’m going to do precisely that:

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  Betsy Bird: Victor! Thank you so much for answering some of my questions today! To those
  who are only just hearing about WHAT MAKES US HUMAN right now, could you tell
  us a little bit about where this book came from?

  Victor Santos: Thank you, Betsy! I have long admired you and your deep knowledge of picture books, your 31 Days, 31 Lists, and your very entertaining podcast Fuse 8 n’ Kate, so it’s a real treat for me to talk to you.

  What Makes Us Human came from my passion for languages, cultures, diversity, and for
  children’s books. My love for the first three led me to pursue an entire education (B.A., M.S.,
  and Ph.D.) in Linguistics, to live in six different countries, to study ten languages, and to
  have worked with over thirty languages so far. It also led me to marry my beautiful Ukrainian
  wife and to end up raising two multicultural and trilingual children; although, there is more to
  that story (laughs!).

  I have witnessed and experienced firsthand the power of language, in all its diverse forms.
  I’ve seen language shape the identity of an entire country, an entire people, a whole
  individual, and open doors to additional ways of viewing the world and understanding
  ourselves. I figured I was in a lucky position, as both a linguist and a picture book author, to
  hopefully impart to readers some of the beauty of language. I also wanted to do it in a way
  that would be emotional and engaging for readers, which is why I decided to write in a more
  lyrical style and to frame the book as a riddle in which the theme of the book is not revealed
  until the very last page. Clues as to the theme are scattered throughout, both in the text and
  in the illustrations (spoiler: including on the cover . . .)

  BB: Let’s talk a little bit about “language survival”, a topic that’s had a fair amount of
  attention in the adult literary world, but may be an entirely new concept to young
  readers. What, to your mind, is the advantage of letting kids know about the diversity
  of language and its preservation at a young age?

  VS: At least half of the world’s estimated 7,168 living languages are expected to become extinct by year 2,100. This is such an alarming loss rate, and when a language dies an entire way of living, an entire culture, an entirely unique way of thinking and understanding the world dies with it.

  The death of a language has many parallels with the death of an animal or plant species,
  and I believe it is by no means less sad or less of a loss to humanity. In the same way that
  we keep discovering new medicines and finding solutions to many of humanity’s problems
  in biological species, many of which are endangered, every language holds secrets and
  knowledge passed down through uncountable generations of speakers and can hold many
  hidden possibilities. For example, think of how the amazingly complex Navajo language
  (Diné Bizaad), featured in the book, was crucial to the success of the USA and its allies
  during WW2.

  Each language also has immense value to those who speak it, to their identity. I would ask
  this to kids: can you imagine if the language you speak, the language you learned from your
  parents and that you use to think about everything suddenly stopped existing? Can you
  imagine no longer being able to read the children’s books you love so much in your own language? Or can you imagine being the last speaker of your language? How would you
  feel?

  Most of us are lucky we do not have to worry about this, but it is happening all the time with
  other people. Helping kids understand the value of language survival and preservation is a
  way to help children understand the importance of diversity and the right that every person
  and every people have to use and maintain their own language and, consequently, their
  own culture if they so wish.

  If kids understand this basic human right, they will become better world citizens who
  appreciate differences, diversity, and who can put themselves in the position of others and
  better understand how they feel. Just as with biological diversity, the more languages we
  have, the more colorful and enriched our world is. And there is no better time to understand
  and appreciate this than when we are young.

  BB: I’ve learned that WHAT MAKES US HUMAN is a “key part of the International Decade
  of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032).” What is this Decade and how does it connect
  to WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?

  VS: The United Nations General Assembly declared 2022 – 2032 the International Decade of
  Indigenous Languages. This is a rare period of ten years during which the United Nations
  (especially through the leadership of UNESCO) aims to create sustainable and effective
  changes in social, cultural, and governmental dynamics in order to increase awareness
  about the importance of and the need to preserve Indigenous languages around the world.
  After hearing about What Makes Us Human and seeing the book, UNESCO decided to
  officially associate the book with the Decade as a way to significantly spread the word about
  the Decade and its message in a very concrete, physical form, especially to children.
  UNESCO is a co-publisher of the book in many editions, including the English one. That, of
  course, was a huge honor for all involved in the creation of the book.

  Although the book is a celebration of language in general, it also aims to convey the idea
  that many languages are quickly disappearing, which is a loss for all of humanity. Several of
  the languages and groups depicted in the book are Indigenous since Indigenous languages
  are among those at the highest risk of disappearing, given that so many of them have only a
  small number of speakers left. Unless concrete, swift, and immediate actions are taken to
  safeguard their survival, most of these languages and cultures will not survive.

  BB: What, to your mind, is the role that children’s literature can play in entrusting
  languages to future generations?

  VS: When it comes to language survival, a key factor is the extent to which young children are
  learning the language as a native language. Children love reading children’s books, and
  when such books are not available in their own language, they start to think that their
  language has less value than other languages in which such books are available. When that
  happens, these children feel less motivated to learn and keep the language of their parents, grandparents, etc. It’s a simple matter of representation when it comes to children’s
  literature.

  By having children’s books available in their native language, children not only remain
  engaged with the language but also have an actual record of the language that can be
  preserved for future generations and help others become fluent in the language. This is
  especially important for languages with few speakers left.

  Even if we are talking about English-language children’s literature, having the topic of
  language—especially language preservation—featured and discussed in children’s books
  will hopefully help raise awareness of this important issue with both young people and
  adults. Without support from society at large, it’s less likely that many of these languages
  will have enough means to survive. After all, governments tend to listen to taxpayers.
  Also, I firmly believe that every positive attitude, by anyone, towards any language, is a tiny
  victory for that language. In striving for a future existence, every person—either for your
  cause or against it —counts.

  BB: This book is already slated to publish in 19 languages. Do you envision it casting an
  even wider net and publishing in more?

  VS: Absolutely. The more languages the book gets translated into, the more the message will
  spread, directly contributing to language preservation and the International Decade of
  Indigenous Languages.

  I would especially love to see the book translated into Indigenous and minoritized
  languages, which may themselves lack resources in the language. Right now, the book has
  already been translated into two Indigenous languages (Mapuzungun in Chile and Hñähñü
  in Mexico), which makes me really happy. The Mapuzungun edition of the book in Chile was
  even endorsed and promoted by Yalitza Aparicio, an actress of Indigenous descent
  nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in 2019 for her lead role in the movie Roma.

  BB: Congratulations on the book’s inclusion already in the White Ravens catalog! Plus
  you’ve some incredibly impressive blurbs from everything from Sydney Smith to
  Jihyun Kim and Felicita Sala (amongst others). That kind of positive feedback right
  from the start must be enormously gratifying. How has it felt?

  SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST
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  VS: Thank you, Betsy! I am, indeed, beyond happy that What Makes Us Human was selected
  for the prestigious White Ravens catalogue in 2023 and truly honored it has received blurbs
  from such amazingly talented picture book creators. I have learned so much about picture-
  booking by reading their beautiful books, so they have all had a great influence on me. I am
  a newcomer in the picture book scene and such positive feedback is a very effective way to
  assure me that I am on the right track. Having your own idols appreciate your work feels
  really good, and I will forever be grateful to them for their support.

  BB: Finally, what are you working on next?

  VS: I am currently finishing a picture book called Before I Forget, which is about a delicate and
  emotional topic. It’s also illustrated by Anna Forlati, illustrator of What Makes Us Human as
  well as another book of mine titled My Dad, My Rock (coming out in the USA in March 2024
  from Scribble).

  In 2024, I will start developing at least two other picture books. The first will have themes of
  immigration and friendship and will be illustrated by the Danish illustrator Anna Margrethe
  Kjærgaard (Coffee, Rabbit, Snowdrop, Lost—a 2022 Batchelder Award Honor Book). The
  second will be a fun picture book about the quirks we all have. It will be illustrated by the
  Portuguese illustrator Catarina Sobral (current nominee for the 2023 Astrid Lindgren
  Memorial Award). I so can’t wait to bring these books to young (and not so young!) readers
  in the USA and in other countries.

  Great thanks to Victor for answering my questions today. Thanks too to Amy Storey and the folks at Eerdmans Books for Young Readers for facilitating our conversation. You can find What Makes Us Human by Victor Santos, illustrated by Anna Forlati, on U.S. shelves March 5, 2024.

• Kids Book Explorer - https://www.kidsbookexplorer.com/conversation-victor-d-o-santos-linguistic-diversity/

  A Conversation with Victor D. O. Santos: Celebrating Linguistic Diversity in Children’s Books
  Interviews / Multicultural

  1. Can you share a bit about your journey into becoming a children’s book author? What sparked your interest in writing for children?

  In 2016, my son Dylan was born and my wife – who is Ukrainian – and I decided that we would raise him speaking all three languages of our household (English, Portuguese, and Russian) and that we also wanted to pass our cultural heritage to him. So in 2018, I decided to write and self-publish a children’s book in which my son was the main character and in which he had to use his knowledge of more than one language to solve real problems. The main goal of the book was to show my son – and other kids in similar situations – that speaking more than one language and having more than one culture is something they should be proud of and something that was “cool”. I still remember the day when my son saw the finished, printed book for the first time. The spark in his eyes and his big smile from seeing himself on the cover of a children’s book is something I will cherish forever. He also enjoyed the story itself, which started me thinking that maybe I could do yet another book since I really enjoyed working on this first book. That’s when I got the children’s book bug, I would say. I decided to write and create more children’s books and to study more deeply about writing and creating good picture books.

  “Notre-Dame de Paris” by Victor Hugo, illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe
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  “Notre-Dame de Paris” by Victor Hugo, illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe
  That first book became Book 1 in a series called Little Polyglot Adventures, composed of four books. After that, I also wrote a few other children’s’ books but my breakthrough, so to speak, came with my eighth book, a book called My Dad, My Rock, my first book with Anna Forlati (illustrator of What Makes Us Human). My Dad, My Rock benefited from all the knowledge about picture books that I had learned in the previous 3 years, and that Anna was already so familiar with, and was my first attempt at real picture-booking (vs just writing children’s books). My Dad, My Rock went on to receive a starred review and be selected as a Best Book of 2022 by Kirkus Magazine in the USA and to receive blurbs from well-known picture book creators such as Eric Fan (from the renowned The Fan Brothers). In 2023, Scribble Kids Books, based in Australia, acquired world English rights to the book, which is being re-released by Scribble in English now in 2024. Rights to My Dad, My Rock have been sold to eight languages so far.

  After all the fun and good results we had creating My Dad, My Rock, Anna and I decided to collaborate again on another picture book, What Makes Us Human, which has seen a level of attention and success we never expected but which has made us incredibly happy. In addition to having been selected for the 2023 White Ravens catalogue by The International Youth Library, in Germany, translation rights to the book have already been sold into 20 languages. The book has also been selected as an official children’s book for the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages and has received blurbs from amazing picture book creators such as Sydney Smith and Felicita Sala, as well as a starred review from School Library Journal in the USA.

  I am a firm believer that children’s books can change the world for better by changing or positively affecting people and that’s my main drive to write and create picture books. Nowadays, I like to write about emotional or social topics that somehow can contribute to making the world a better place.

  2. I understand that you’ve lived in six different countries and stuied ten languages, which is quite impressive. Which are these countries? Are you fluent in all ten languages? How have these experiences enriched your life and informed your work, including your writing for children?

  I have been lucky to have lived in Brazil (my native country), India, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, and the USA so far. When I lived in these countries, I also studied the languages spoken where I was living and made great friends, which was such an enriching experience. I have also studied other languages such as Hungarian, Turkish, French, Mandarin Chinese, and a few others for different length of times, but I nowadays definitely do not speak all of them. Learning a language is not like learning to ride a bike. If you don’t use it, you will definitely lose it. Nowadays, I can hold a conversation in English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish, basically. I also have basic knowledge of Russian since it’s one of our home languages. However, I have by now forgotten most of what I was able to speak in the other languages I studied, since I have not spoken them in a very long time.

  Having lived in these countries and having studied these languages has shown me several things. The first is that despite our cultural differences, we humans are all very similar at our core, all having a desire to feel appreciated and listened, a desire to laugh and be entertained, and above all, a willingness to be engaged and touched by amazing stories. Second, it has shown me the importance of language to a culture and that unless we speak the language used in a certain culture, our understanding of that culture will always be only partial. Language is the key to culture.

  This realization above has impacted my writing and my books in the sense that I tend to write my books on universal topics that can be shared and understood by people across a wide range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. I would like my books to be available into as many different languages as possible, as this cultural sensibility is something I consider when developing my books.

  3. I understand that you are a father to trilingual children. How does your personal experience with language and culture at home influence the themes you choose to write about and your storytelling?

  Yes, my wife and I are now raising two trilingual and multicultural children. This has clearly influenced me in writing What Makes Us Human, given this first-hand knowledge I have of the importance of language (and languages). Apart from my first books, in the Little Polyglot Adventures series, I am not sure my personal experience with language and culture at home has much of an impact on the themes I choose. I think I would be choosing similar themes even if I were not raising trilingual and multicultural children.

  4. Can you share how your children have reacted to your books? Do they have any favourite stories or characters from your works? Are there any particular moments or conversations with your children that have directly inspired scenes or messages in your books?

  My son Dylan is especially proud of the fact that daddy is an author, and I sometimes take him with me to some of the events I participate in. Both Dylan and Isabella enjoy my books and often ask to read them during bed time. They do share a favourite character from one of my earliest books: a platypus called Nino, from a book called Just Like Magic. It’s about a platypus that has self-confidence issues and is often bullied by other animals for looking so different. One day, Nino the platypus comes across a genie who may be able to help him with his poor self-confidence. It’s a fun book to read with children.

  As for specific moments or conversations with my children having inspired any of my books, yes, that has happened once, with my book My Dad, My Rock. The short dialogue seen on the very first page of the book was a real dialogue I had with my son Dylan one evening during bedtime reading:

  Dylan: Dad, was grandpa a magician?
  Victor: Not that I know, my love.
  Dylan: Then why did he disappear?

  I grew up without a father in my life and my son, as a result, has never met his paternal grandpa. Therefore, when he asked me the question above one evening in 2021, I decided right there that I needed to write a picture book that would give him a good answer to his question. And that’s how My Dad, My Rock (Scribble, 2024) was born.

  5. What inspired you to explore the theme of linguistic diversity in “What Makes Us Human”, and how do you believe children’s literature can aid in the preservation of endangered languages?

  I have done my entire education in Linguistics, all the way to a Ph.D. program. During my bachelor’s degree in Linguistics in Brazil, I wrote my thesis on an Indigenous language of Brazil called Xavante – it’s also seen on the last page of the book as A’uwe, its native name. Indigenous languages can be so beautifully complex. Yet, many of them are unfortunately dying out given that there are only a few speakers left and the languages are not being passed on to children. Having lived in several countries and studied various languages, I have also come to deeply appreciate the power of language for the identity not only of an individual but also of an entire culture.

  Given my dual role as a linguist and as a picture book author and creator, I wanted to write a picture book that would celebrate the beauty and power of language in all its forms, while also drawing attention to the fact that many of the world’s languages are quickly disappearing. In fact, at least 50% of the world’s 7.168 estimated living languages (Ethnology, 2023) are expected to disappear by the end of year 2100 if urgent actions are not taken to protect them. And when a language dies, a whole culture can disappear with it. A beautifully unique way to view and understand the world. The loss of a language is a loss to all of humanity and to our cultural and linguistic toolbox.

  Children’s literature can aid language preservation in two main ways, in my opinion. The first is by raising public awareness in both children and adults of the fact that we are quickly losing so many languages and that language conservation is something we and our governments should care about. The second way in which children’s literature can aid language conservation is by making children’s books available into many of these endangered languages. When children see there are no children’s books available in their own language, they start to think that their language is less important and less useful than other languages spoken around them, which may benefit from a larger body of literature available and more economic and social prestige. But when these kids see their own language represented in children’s books, they feel seen and they feel that their language matters. I think the kid lit industry needs to rethink a little its approach to making books available into these languages as well. Some of the languages What Makes Us Human has been translated into include two endangered Indigenous languages (namely Mapudungun in Chile and Hñähñü in Mexico) as well as languages such as Basque and Galician, which are minority languages in Spain. It’s my dream that What Makes Us Human become translated into as many minoritised and Indigenous languages as possible around the world, directly aiding language conversation by increasing the number of children’s books available in those languages.

  6. Can you share the inspiration behind using a riddle-like format for the book?

  Before I started writing the text for What Makes Us Human, I had read some picture books I really enjoyed on specific topics, such as I am Smoke (Tilbury House Publishers, 2021), I am the Subway (Scribble, 2021), I am story (HarperCollins, 2016), Almost Nothing, and Yet Everything (Enchanted Lion, 2021). I really enjoyed reading these books and their approach to describing a single topic from many different angles. However, all of these were explicit from the very beginning as to what the theme of the book was. I kept thinking to myself that those books could perhaps have been even more amazing if the topic was not revealed from the start and readers had to slowly come to understand what the topic was, although I do understand that this would have been a quite difficult feat given the topics chosen.

  That’s when I realised that the more abstract topic of language lent itself perfectly well to a riddle format, in which the topic could be described from many different angles and through various metaphors without revealing too quickly what the topic is. This could keep readers on their feet and engaged, trying to decode the textual and visual cues on each page to find out the real topic of the book (language). I tried the text on several people as I developed the manuscript, so as to ensure that the guesses they were coming up with along the way made sense and that they did not arrive at the answer too soon. However, it was also vital that when they did find out the answer to the riddle, they felt “tricked” (in a good way) and agreed that the topic was staring them in the eyes the whole time. This would give them the motivation to go back and re-read the book with new eyes. It was really fun developing each sentence in the book and collaborating with Anna Forlati to also add visual clues that could aid the most attentive of readers.

  7. What led you to collaborate with Anna Forlati on “My Dad, My Rock” and “What Makes Us Human”? Can you tell us about the genesis of your partnership?

  I first saw Anna’s work during a vacation I took to Brazil in early 2021. I was at a bookstore when I saw the Brazilian edition of one of Anna’s first picture books, called The Books of Maliq. I instantly fell in love with her unique illustration style and said to myself: I need to work with this amazingly talented illustrator. That was at the time I had just finished writing the manuscript for My Dad, My Rock. When I got home that day, I immediately sent the text to Anna and asked her if she would like to collaborate with me on that book. Anna was touched by the text and told me she was open to collaborating. The next day, we had a video call to get to know each other and ironed out the specifics of our collaboration. We worked very closely when creating My Dad, My Rock, and discussed basically all aspects of the book. When Anna and I work together, we work as a unit, in which we are completely free to suggest changes or approaches to both the text and the illustrations. And I think that’s one of keys to the success of our collaboration. In the kid lit industry, this level of communication between author and illustrator is quite rare, but it’s one of the reasons we enjoy working with and learning from one another.

  After we had finished My Dad, My Rock, a few months passed until I finished the manuscript for What Makes Us Human. I was in the process of selecting an illustrator for the book and one day it hit me that Anna’s style would be a great one for What Makes Us Human as well. Since we already knew how to work together and enjoyed collaborating, I sent Anna the manuscript and asked her if she wanted to work on another book with me. When I got a resounding yes from Anna, I felt on cloud 9. I then approached a Brazilian picture book designer that had been recommended to me, called Daniel Cabral, to work on the book design with Anna and I. The three of us then officially became the team behind What Makes Us Human and closely collaborated to bring the book to life.

  8. What was the collaboration process like between the two of you for “What Makes Us Human”? Did that collaborative process evolve or change from “My Dad, My Rock”?

  Anna and I are in constant communication throughout the creation process and constantly bouncing ideas off of each other. Of course, Anna is in charge of and takes the lead on all visual aspects of the book since her mind and talent are simply amazing. However, she is humble enough to allow me to make suggestions here and there if I have an insight or something. And sometimes, to my surprise, she actually likes a suggestion or two I may provide (laughs).

  We often bring as many ideas as possible to the table and then we discuss the merits of each, regardless of who came up with it. This makes our collaboration a very healthy one, in my opinion, but above all, it’s a methodology that works for us and that benefits the final product, ensuring it achieves its full potential.

  I feel that every book we work on becomes more nuanced and complex than the ones before it in terms of visual metaphors and the visual narrative of the book. For example, My Dad, My Rock was relatively simple to develop, with fewer visual metaphors, and the team was just Anna and I. For What Makes Us Human, Daniel Cabral (who also has experience as art director in the publishing industry) joined our team, so starting with What Makes Us Human we had three minds instead of two thinking about how to bring the book to its fullest potential. Because What Makes Us Human reads as a riddle in which the actual theme of the book is not revealed until the very last page, it was a much more complex book to develop since the fact we could not give away the answer too early limited our choices much more often, which also made for a more challenging and rewarding process. The visual metaphors and the visual narrative in What Makes Us Human is also one that took us considerably more effort to develop.

  A Conversation with Victor D. O. Santos: Celebrating Linguistic Diversity in Children's Books Multicultural Interviews anna forlati victor santos bologna book fair
  Victor Santos and Anna Forlati
  9. Congratulations on “What Makes Us Human” being selected for the prestigious 2023 White Ravens catalogue and on the significant achievement of partnering with UNESCO for the book! How did this collaboration come about, and what impact do you hope it will have?

  Thank you so much, Natalia! I was indeed very surprised and flattered that What Makes Us Human was selected for the 2023 White Ravens catalog. A few months after we had completed the book and translation rights had already been sold to a few languages, a Brazilian consultant to UNESCO heard of the book and suggested I introduce it to the Chief of Section at UNESCO who is leading the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032). After reading the book and finding out I am also a professional linguist, UNESCO suggested we have a Zoom call and they offered to officially endorse the book in connection with the Decade and to act as a co-publisher of the book in as many languages as possible, including the English edition by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers for the USA/Canada/UK (rights to other territories are still available for English).

  UNESCO saw the book as a great opportunity to amplify and spread, in a very tangible form, the message about the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, namely that Indigenous languages around the world need urgent support and attention from governments and people in general before they, and the beautiful cultures they are so intertwined with, disappear forever.

  The official partnership with UNESCO has been a welcoming factor by several publishers and governments who have decided to license rights to the book so far into their specific languages. I hope that the book gets published in a very large number of languages (including Indigenous Languages and other endangered languages) in partnership with UNESCO, since each additional language that the book gets published in directly contributes to spread the message in the book and for some languages, even towards revitalisation of those languages.

  10. Can you share any upcoming projects or books you’re working on that you’re particularly excited about?

  Anna Forlati and I are just a few days away from finishing our third book together, called Before I Forget, which has been selected for the dPICTUS Unpublished Picture Book Showcase 5 and will be displayed at their stand during the Bologna Book Fair now in April 2024. I think Before I Forget is our most emotional book so far, on a difficult topic, and it took us about twice as long to produce it than What Makes Us Human (I told you our books tend to get more and more complex every time . . . laughs). Rights to it are currently available in all languages and territories and we are currently looking for publishers who would like to acquire/license it.

  I am also starting the development work of two new picture books, one to be illustrated by the Danish illustrator Anna Margrethe Kjærgaard (of Coffee, Rabbit, Snowdrop Lost, a 2022 USBBY Outstanding International Book and a 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book) and the other by the Portuguese illustrator Catarina Sobral (current nominee for the 2024 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award).

  Victor, it’s been an absolute pleasure diving into your world, and I can’t thank you enough for sharing these insights with both me and my audience. I’m genuinely excited to see what wonders you and your remarkable collaborators like Anna Forlati, Anna Margrethe Kjærgaard, and Catarina Sobral will bring to life next. Here’s to continued success and creativity on your journey ahead!

  Victor D. O. Santos website – www.authorvictorsantos.com

  Victor’s Instagram – www.instagram.com/linguacious_llc/

The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness Victor D. O. Santos Linguacious www.linguacious.com 9781649623003, $23.99 HC, $13.99 PB, 34pp

The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness, a book for children ages 4-9 by author/illustrator Victor Santos tells of young Ben, who is always late for everything because he never wants to stop drawing. He likes illustrating everyday events and he shows his feelings through his art, from drawing his plans for the day to producing creations that make other people smile.

One day, he realizes that his solitary pursuit could be made better by involving others. What if everyone became happier through a shared art effort? As Ben creates a Happiness Club and encourages everyone around him to tap their own unique talents to contribute, the world around him begins to change for the better. The club evolves to attract members around the world ("Not all members spoke the same language. But that was okay, because they communicated through drawings, words, songs, origami, facial expressions, hand gestures, photographs, and many other ways that anyone could understand.

Happiness was the official language of the club, and that was a powerful language everyone understood. Last year, the Happiness Club had more than a million members in over fifteen countries!") as Ben moves into adulthood with a new mission to not just draw, but change lives. Kids receive a lovely message: "What have YOU done today to make someone happy?" This places the onus of injecting positivity into the world at large directly on the reader's shoulders, irregardless of the age, which is an important lesson to absorb as early as possible...yet, is too often omitted from children's reading.

It's the central message in a book that teaches creative positivity and helps young people understand how personal talents and efforts can change the world - a much-needed concept in an era too often criticized for lack of positive opportunities to cultivate new connections. The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness has a lovely message to kids about creative positivity and helps young people understand how they can use their personal talents to change the world. Lovely illustrations add pizzazz and interest to a story which holds a powerful message for young readers about their own importance in and contributions to the world's psyche.

Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness." Children's Bookwatch, vol. V., no. NO., May 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A664138215/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a194b64b. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness, Linguacious, Victor D. O. Santos, 13.99 (32p), 978-1-64962-300-3

Genre: Fiction/General Fiction (including literary and historical)

Alive with heartwarming moments and a cheery blend of colors, Santos's coming-of-age picture book features a budding artist keen on spreading happiness to others. Young Ben expresses his emotions, good and bad, through his art. He continually finds creative opportunities in everyday life, such as designing his breakfast plate with ketchup, squirting toothpaste on the bathroom mirror, and drawing on the foggy bus window. To share this joy with others, he creates the Happiness Club, a group whose members dedicate their time to making each other happy. Surpassing language barriers, the members communicate through drawings, origami, songs, and hand gestures. Ben and his friends soon realize that happiness is a powerful language that everyone understands.

While Ben's age remains vague--seemingly by design--Santos lends him ample agency and a big heart powered by the question "What can YOU do today to make someone happy?" Santos's writing is motivated by themes of compassion and unity, though verbosity and a leisurely pace diminish the impact of the narrative, and story developments concerning a pet and Ben's eventual trajectory in adult life shift the focus from the inspired idea of the Happiness Club. The text tends to reiterate, in a font that doesn't complement Eszter Miklós kaleidoscopic artwork, story beats and deeper meanings that the illustrations already convey or suggest.

Santos's portrayal of Ben's relationship with his parents and his pet fish, Jerry, is a laudable highlight that emphasizes the rewards of the kind of happy childhood that Ben is so eager to share. Readers will appreciate the attention to detail--such as the framed Caldecott honor alongside Jerry's picture on Ben's bookshelf--and the vibrant hues that characterize his blooming talent and enthusiasm for life. Meanwhile, Miklós's vivid illustrations and pleasing compositions effectively capture Ben's quest with nuance and effervescence. Overall, this delightful treat boasts an inspiring protagonist, diverse characters, and colorful settings.

Takeaway: A charming tale of a wunderkind that underscores the merits of love, respect, and acceptance.

Great for fans of: Kay A. Haring's Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing, Joanne Liu's My Museum, and Jeanette Winter's Henri's Scissors.

Production grades

Cover: A

Design and typography: B+

Illustrations: A

Editing: B-

Marketing copy: A-

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com
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"The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness." BookLife Reviews, vol. 5, no. 12, 14 June 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A664876195/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=85a4284f. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

Kiki Goes to Brazil

Victor D.O. Santos

Linguacious

www.linguacious.net

9781649620996, $13.99

https://www.amazon.com/Kiki-Goes-Brazil-Childrens-Adventures/dp/1649620985

Parents seeking to introduce the concept of foreign languages, words, and polygot speakers at an early age will find Kiki Goes to Brazil another fine addition to the Linguacious picture book collection that promotes multicultural encounters, understanding, and language skills.

The polygot kids are traveling to Brazil, the country of their father's birth, where they enjoy the warm Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro and encounter people from different countries. Words in their mother's tongue (Ukrainian) as well as in Chinese and in Portuguese introduce some new concepts to kids, but the action swirls around pet chicken Kiki, who goes missing. Even more important than the adventure and language lesson is the example of being helpful and sharing new experiences. The story of an evolving friendship that introduces yet more possibilities to the polygot family creates an inviting story about being open to and understanding cultural differences.

The contrast between different cultures and how they become friends is the real heart of a story. Colorful, inviting illustrations by Eszter Miklcs illustrate the tale of how a travel encounter creates new understanding for all ages. Collections strong in cross-cultural representation and lessons supporting positive attitudes and encounters among diverse ethnic groups will find that Kiki Goes to Brazil is delightful in its presentation and perspective.

Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
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"Kiki Goes to Brazil." Children's Bookwatch, Oct. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A684540940/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=aadf25de. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

My Dad, My Rock

Victor D.O. Santos

Linguacious

www.linguacious.net

9781649621221, $12.99 pb

9781649621313, $23.99 hc

https://www.amazon.com/My-Dad-Rock-Childrens-Picture/dp/1649621310

In My Dad, My Rock, Oliver has never met his grandfather. What would he do, if he did? Oliver would tell him about his own father and how amazing an influence his dad has been in his young life. And so the nuts and bolts of a different approach to celebrating fathers emerges, with a refreshingly different perspective than most father/son/grandparent stories. In this story, young Oliver not only has never met his grandfather, but the man disappeared from his own father's life. So, what could a grandchild envision as a conversation with a blood relative who's a personal stranger? There's no greater gift than sharing.

Oliver begins reflecting on his father's many strengths: "My dad has two eyes, two arms and two legs, like most other dads. But sometimes I think he has at least five of each. Even when I am behind him, he always knows what I am doing. If I let go of his hand, he always catches me. Sometimes I call him Octopus Dad. If I hurt myself, he runs to me faster than a monkey when it sees a banana." As he reviews the kinds of experiences his own dad has brought to enrich his world, Oliver also reveals essential lessons passed to him from his "rock solid" father: "He says some people say real men don't cry. I think men who don't cry aren't real." The result is a beautiful and compellingly different approach to celebrating fathers and their ability to be present in and contribute to a child's life.

Many, many books have been written about father/son relationships. Few hold the ability to grasp and present the essential features of a relationship built on not just love, but being silly, being a teacher, and being a supportive "rock" that imparts important basics on what it means to lovingly guide a child. Even though Oliver's dad did not have such a figure in his own life, he grew up to provide all the missing links to his son, who here both recognizes and celebrates these opportunities to learn, grow, and interact with his father in positive ways. Yes, many picture books for kids explore love between fathers and sons. But few are so specific, engaging, and realistically reflective as My Dad, My Rock. The story reinforces how and why a father's presence in a child's life is so critical to his development, making for an exceptional read that is highly recommended. It should be critical, essential reading for any age who would better understand the important role of a father in the family.

Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
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Santos, Victor D.O. "My Dad, My Rock." Children's Bookwatch, Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A707299520/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=320dbfe7. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

My Dad, My Rock, Linguacious, Victor D. O. Santos, 13.99 (32p), 9781649621221

Genre: Fiction/General Fiction (including literary and historical)

Oliver, a young boy who’s never met his grandpa, decides to imagine what it would be like to describe his dad to his unknown grandfather. Despite never having met or known his father, Oliver’s dad is clearly an incredible one—caring, affectionate, supportive—as told by Oliver. In gentle and simple prose, Oliver details the way his dad shows his love, including things he says that don’t make sense to him just yet, such as “He says hugs are food for the heart.” Accompanied by Forlati’s lush, beautifully textured illustrations with an understated but warm color palette, My Dad, My Rock is a heartfelt and moving ode to the father-son bond.

My Dad, My Rock is a genuine delight but will hit home harder for fathers and sons of all ages. In depicting fathers as affectionate, openly hugging their sons, encouraging them to cry, and teaching their sons how to diffuse anger, Santos (author of the Little Polyglot Adventures series) depicts the small ways in which we can teach our boys and men that it’s safe and healthy to have, feel, and express their emotions.

Santos establishes the stakes of this short and sweet book quickly, moving so fast that Oliver is actually only named on the back cover rather than in the story itself. That small detail doesn’t detract from the power of the narrative, thanks to the story’s resonant heart. (One detail that might detract, though, is the size of the font on the page, which is small, and could be larger to ease the reading experience.) More than just a simple list of things a son does with his father, My Dad, My Rock is a profound meditation on the ways in which fathers have the power to positively shape their sons.

Takeaway: Fathers, sons, and anyone who understands the power of a supportive male figure will be moved by this ode to fatherhood.

Great for fans of: Zack Bush’s Made for Me, Miguel Tanco’s You and Me, Me and You.

Production grades

Cover: A-

Design and typography: A-

Illustrations: A

Editing: A

Marketing copy: A-

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com
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"My Dad, My Rock." BookLife Reviews, vol. 6, no. 17, 25 Apr. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A701149671/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=69b925a8. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

Just Like Magic

Victor D.O. Santos

Linguacious

www.linguacious.net

9781649621184, $12.99 pb

9781649621276, $23.99 hc

https://www.amazon.com/Just-Like-Magic-Childrens-Picture/dp/1649621272

Just Like Magic works picture book magic on young readers as it pairs the story of a courageous platypus with bright, whimsical illustrations by Iryna Kazakova. Nino isn't afraid of anything...in his dreams. But reality is somewhat different, and as he is rejected by those who spurn his invitation to be friends, he encounters a magic genie who can give him anything he desires. Or, can he? The clever genie's solutions come with an admonition that Nino just can't seem to follow. Can magic abilities really give him confidence and strength? Parents who choose this engaging story as a read-aloud will welcome and relish its lesson for the very young listener. The understandable dilemmas Nino faces as he confronts the world translates to information youngsters need to absorb to muster their own courage to deal with threats, bullying, and adversity. Adults looking for a strong message within an engaging story will find that Just Like Magic works wonders for enlightening the young about courage and self-confidence. Maybe even magic.

Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Santos, Victor D.O. "Just Like Magic." Children's Bookwatch, Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A707299499/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=12f217f3. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

Goodbye, Colors!

Victor D.O. Santos

Linguacious

https://linguacious-2005.myshopify.com

9781649621214, $12.99 Paperback

9781649621283, $23.99 Hardcover

https://linguacious-2005.myshopify.com/collections/shop-english-esl/products/goodbye-colors

https://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Colors-Childrens-Picture-Book/dp/1649621280

Goodbye, Colors! enjoys gorgeous, colorful drawings by Eszter Miklos as young Sabrina confronts an evil witch who is intent on ridding the world of colors after she crashes into a rainbow. Sabrina throws an apple at her. There goes red!

She slingshots an avocado missile at the witch. There goes green! As Sabrina's efforts to stop the witch only result in more missing colors from the world, the effects of each color's absence resonates. Stop lights are no longer red or green. With no green in leaves, they fall off the tree, unable to achieve photosynthesis. Her actions only make things worse, until the world falls dark. And, courageous Sabrina has only one fear...

Victor D.O. Santos crafts an inviting story that goes far beyond helping young picture book readers identify colors. He explores the meaning of color in the world through the courage of a young girl determined not to see an evil force take them away. His story of a witch who inadvertently forces Sabrina to confront her deepest fears will delight adults who choose Goodbye, Colors! for a lively picture book read. Those who believe that the presence of a witch regulates this story to Halloween alone will be delighted to discover that the adventure offers year-round appeal.

Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Goodbye, Colors!" Children's Bookwatch, Apr. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A707299121/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8f60ba9d. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

Santos, Victor D.O. WHAT MAKES US HUMAN Eerdmans (Children's None) $18.99 3, 5 ISBN: 9780802856258

Published in partnership with UNESCO, in honor of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, linguist Santos' latest considers the relationship between language and culture.

"I have been around for a very long time. Longer than toys, dogs, or anyone you know." Presented as a long-form riddle, this tale is narrated by language itself, though that's not revealed until the end. The illustrations accompanying the lyrical text are striking in their texture and detail. On a spread featuring a tan-skinned person and a dog in an elevator, the text reads, "I am sure you saw me today. / Or heard me. Or felt me." Readers who look closely will notice the person holding a white mobility cane and the raised dots of braille on the elevator buttons--it's clear that language is far more than spoken words or visual text. The story's main purpose, however, is to raise awareness about disappearing languages, because "When one of me disappears, a culture may also disappear." Indigenous people are depicted throughout the narrative, but they aren't identified in the text (though a few written examples of their languages are included), which undercuts the message about preserving culture. The backmatter (which notes that about half the world's living languages will become extinct by 2100) offers more context, but the narrative's focus on general humanity keeps the book from accomplishing its stated goal of exploring the significance of protecting Indigenous people and their languages.

Artful and attractive but somewhat muddled in its messaging. (author's and illustrator's note, note from UNESCO) (Picture book. 6-10)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Santos, Victor D.O.: WHAT MAKES US HUMAN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A782202540/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c5656409. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

What Makes Us Human. By Victor D. 0. Santos. Illus. by Anna Forlati. Mar. 2024. 48p. Eerdmans, $18.99 (9780802856258). K-Gr. 3. 306.44.

This lovely picture book is a UNESCO publication, and the text consists of simple statements that serve as clues to help readers figure out what the subject might be. Sample entries such as, "I have been around for a very long time. Longer than toys, dogs, or anyone you know," spark curiosity and speculation. The illustrations, rendered in rich palettes of hazy, muted colors that evoke mysterious, wide-open vistas, offer visual clues through a series of busy two-page spreads, populated by characters representing an array of ethnicities and cultures. The ultimate answer, "I am language, " is quite satisfying, and almost every clue offers opportunities to explore different aspects of verbal communication ("Some people only have one of me. Others, two. Others, more. More of me means a more colorful and diverse world. A world with more doors you can open. And more people you can ask to help open those doors"). The detailed digital collages and varied approaches warrant multiple explorations, and the cross-curricular applications make this an appealing choice for most libraries.--Kathleen McBroom

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
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McBroom, Kathleen. "What Makes Us Human." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2024, p. 56. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780973492/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=730666d0. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

"The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness." Children's Bookwatch, vol. V., no. NO., May 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A664138215/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a194b64b. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. "The Boy Who Illustrated Happiness." BookLife Reviews, vol. 5, no. 12, 14 June 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A664876195/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=85a4284f. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. "Kiki Goes to Brazil." Children's Bookwatch, Oct. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A684540940/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=aadf25de. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. Santos, Victor D.O. "Just Like Magic." Children's Bookwatch, Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A707299499/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=12f217f3. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. Santos, Victor D.O. "My Dad, My Rock." Children's Bookwatch, Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A707299520/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=320dbfe7. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. "My Dad, My Rock." BookLife Reviews, vol. 6, no. 17, 25 Apr. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A701149671/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=69b925a8. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. "Goodbye, Colors!" Children's Bookwatch, Apr. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A707299121/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8f60ba9d. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. "Santos, Victor D.O.: WHAT MAKES US HUMAN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A782202540/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c5656409. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024. McBroom, Kathleen. "What Makes Us Human." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2024, p. 56. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780973492/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=730666d0. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

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