Book Project Update: Cover of My Daddy! My One and Only!

Jomike Tejido has consistenly blogged about our book project with Lampara Publishing House. Last Friday, he released a teaser illustration on the book's cover, front and back.

Jomike's post touches on a personal experience because he finished illustrating the book at the wake of his father's death. My condolences to Jomike and the Tejido family. I could not help but admire Jomike's creative spirit and his tenacity for churning out a beautiful work of art in the midst of grief.

As for my back story on My Daddy! My One and Only, I remember that I wrote the story when my son was in first grade. It was actually a poem first published in the The Junior Inquirer. At the time, my husband was a stay-at-home Dad and I marveled at how our eldest adored him. For my son, it was a time of hero worship and he saw his father's acts of love as heroism. Over the course of time, his image of his father being a hero changed and evolved into something real and palpable.

There came a point when he learned that his childhood hero has flaws, a wounded soul who continues to love despite his limitations and shortcomings. Then he realized how wonderful it was to be not just his father's son, but his father's friend too. But that, my friends, is for another story. A young adult novella, perhaps?