Disaster Ready Kids Series: A Review

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My 2025 Writing Life: Disaster Ready Kids Series (DRK): Flood, Fire, Earthquake, and Volcanic Eruption (1/4)

As 2025 draws to a close, I look back at a writerly year. I am mighty proud to have launched and presented seven titles of books: 1 series and 3 stand-alone illustrated storybooks for children with @lamparabooks @tuttlepublishing and @thebookmarkinc

First of seven is the Disaster Ready Kids Series (DRK): Flood, Fire, Earthquake, and Volcanic Eruption. @juno_abreu and I were interviewed at the Philippine Book Festival last March 2025, and though we were not in the Bologna Book Fair and the Frankfurt Buchmesse, our series was present. At the MIBF in September, we showed up for meet-and-greet sessions. There were author visits in between, where I had the pleasure of sharing my creative process with young readers and it was a joy to talk about the DRK Series with teachers and literacy experts at the Reading Association of the Philippines’ annual conference last November.

As I end this year, I do so with gratitude. For editors who believed, illustrators who brought heart to the page, publishers who took risks, teachers and librarians who carried these books into classrooms, and children who listened, asked questions, and saw themselves in the stories. Writing, I am reminded, is never solitary. It is sustained by community, trust, and grace. I step into the coming year thankful, grounded and ready to keep telling stories that serve, prepare, and hold.

#writinglife #phchildrensbook

Disaster Ready Kids Series at the Frankfurt Buchmesse 2025

 

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Disaster Ready Kids: Earthquake

 

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Illustrator of the Month: Juno Abreu

The Bologna Children's Book fair is on going as I type this feature article in my blog. Our book series, the Disaster Kids Series: Earthquake, Flood, Fire and Volcanic Eruption (Gagatiga and Abreu, 2025 Lampara Books) is on display right now at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. Of the 120 books selected in the rights catalog, our series made it. How timely that Juno Abreu, architect and illustrator of children's books sent over his answers to my questions for a blog interview.

And so, a few weeks after the successful launching of the Disaster Ready Kids Series at the Philippine Book Festival, Juno shares his creative process more extensively in this blog interview.

1. Each book in the Disaster-Ready Kids series tackles a different kind of calamity, yet your illustrations maintain a cohesive visual identity. How did you develop the overall look and emotional tone for the series?

I started by researching the target age group and the types of disasters that would be covered in the series. I wanted to create a visual identity that would be both engaging and reassuring for young readers. I experimented with different styles, I tried doing them traditionally with watercolors but I guess the look doesn’t exactly work on the series, so I tried doing them digitally and found a new style for the overall look, this is actually the first time I did the illustrations in this kind of style and I really liked how it turned out and found a cohesive look that would work across various disaster scenarios. I settled on a warm, inviting color palette to create a sense of depth and texture. Throughout the series, I aimed to maintain a consistent  emotional tone that would help children feel empowered and prepared, rather than scared or overwhelmed.

2. Your characters show such expressive faces– from fear to courage to relief. What’s your process in capturing the emotions of children in high-stress or emergency situations?

Capturing the emotions of children in high-stress or emergency situations requires a thoughtful and empathetic approach. To get into the right mindset, I try to imagine how a child might feel in a given situation - whether it’s fear, anxiety, or courage. I remembered feeling a bit anxious while doing the illustrations for putting and imagining myself in these scenarios. Hehe.

Also, this is kinda embarrassing to admit, I’m not sure if other artists do this too, what I do is, I put a mirror on my work desk and do the facial expressions myself and use it as reference. Haha! 

When illustrating a scene, I try to tap into the emotional tone of the story and convey it through the characters’ faces and body language. I believe that by showing a range of emotions, we can help children understand that it’s okay to feel scared or overwhelmed, but also that they have the power to stay safe and take action.

3. From fire to flood, you’ve illustrated a wide range of disasters. Were there particular scenes or scenarios that challenged you the most as an artist?

    One of the most challenging scenes and also my favorite spread was the volcanic eruption. I had to research and accurately depict the safety measures and precautions that people would take in such a situation, also, the details were much harder to do in terms of illustrating. 

Another challenging scenario was illustrating the earthquake scene. I had to balance the need to convey the danger and urgency of the situation with the need to avoid scaring or traumatizing young readers.

Overall, the biggest challenge was finding ways to depict potentially frightening or disturbing scenarios in a way that was both accurate and accessible to young readers.

4. What was it like working on  a series where your art could help children understand danger but also feel empowered and safe? What message did you hope your illustrations would carry?

Working on the Disaster-Ready Kids series was a rewarding and challenging experience. I hoped that my illustrations would carry a message of empowerment and resilience, showing children that they have the power to stay safe and take action in emergency situations. I hope that the Disaster-Ready Kids series will inspire young readers to take an active role in their own safety and well-being, and to develop a lifelong commitment to preparedness and resilience.

Visit Lampara Book's FB Page and IG account for updates on our books' availability. We can't wait to meet you again for book signing and photo ops!

Philippine Book Festival 2025: A Book Experience Indeed!

Now that the dust has settled over the success of the 2025 Philippine Book Festival (PBF 2025), I look back with much fondness on the experience of my 2-day visit and participation.

On Day 2 of the PBF 2025, I had the pleasure of meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends at the Lampara Booth. I have new books out in the market in September 2025 and the scoping session by the DepEd was an opportune time to talk to teachers and librarian friends about our new titles.

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After lunch, I joined the team of Indie Collab PH for a panel on Inclusion and Inclusive Library Services. There I discovered Lean Borlongan's moving poetry. As to the course of our discussion in the panel, I'm reserving a separate post for that -- so, stay tuned!

Day 3 was our moment -- the Lampara Team who helped me and Juno Abreu work on our new book series, the Disaster Ready Kids, as we took the main stage to share our creative process and back stories. I spent the rest of the day buying select books, visiting booths in the Booktopia, Kids Lit and Aklat Aral realms, as well as the PBBY and IBBY booth that featured award winning books by our writers and illustrators.

The Philippine Book Festival was indeed an experience! However, we need a bigger and roomier venue next year.

My deepest gratitude to the incredible team at Lampara Books and to Jun Matias, whose resilience and dedication made the Disaster Kids Series a reality. Heartfelt thanks as well to the National Book Development Board - Philippines for giving us a space on the Main Stage to launch this important series and share what truly matters to us—why we write, why we love stories the way we do, and the dreams that keep us moving forward.

In times as chaotic and uncertain as these, stories remain our anchor. They connect us, challenge us to think critically, and nurture empathy. More than ever, we need narratives that empower young minds, equip them with knowledge, and remind them of their strength and resilience. This passion fuels us, and we’ll keep going—creating, sharing, and believing in the power of stories to make a difference.

#PhilippineBookFestival2025 #DisasterKidsSeries #LamparaBooks #BatangLampara

#StorytellingMatters #BooksThatEmpower

Rey Bufi salamat!

Book Launch: 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙎𝘼𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍-𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙔 𝙆𝙄𝘿𝙎 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙄𝙍 𝙒𝘼𝙔

 

Q and A on Disaster Ready Kids Series on Radyo Magasin (1 of 2)

I'm sharing my answers to the prompts and questions that the staff of Radyo Magasin sent over for my radio interview last Wednesday, February 5, 2025. It did not exactly turn out the exact way the question go as written on paper. The conversation was casual but informative. 

    1.     Paano ka nahilig sa pagsusulat ng mga kuwentong pambata?

Core memory ko ang read aloud at storytelling ng nanay at lola ko sa akin nung bata pa ako. Dito nagsimula ang pagkahilig ko sa pagbabasa at nung lubog na lubog na ako or inlab na inlab sa aklat at sa pagbabasa, nangarap akong magsulat ng kuwento. Sa diary, sa journal ko ito sinusulat. Naging school librarian ako at nakakahalubilo ko ang mga batang mag-aaral. Naging nanay ako at nagpalaki kami ng 2 anak. Mas lalo akong na-motivate na magsulat at lumikha ng kuwentong pambata. Gusto ko ibahagi ang haraya at mahika ng kamusmusan at ang pag-asa na hindi nawawala sa Kabataan.

 

2.     Ano-ano ang iyong inspirasyon sa mga kuwentong ginagawa mo?

Ang mga anak ko, sina Val and Zoe. Ang mga mag-aaral na nakakahalubilo ko. Ang aking pamilya, komunidad at bansa.

 

3.     Ano ang common theme sa iyong  mga children’s book?

Progressive families; Karapatang pantao at Karapatan ng Kabataan

 

4.     Pag-usapan natin ang tungkol sa iyong bagong libro - Disaster-Ready Kids. Bakit mo naisip na gumawa ng ganitong uri ng aklat? Ano ang pangunahing layunin ng book series na ito?

Hamon ito ni Jun Matias ng Lampara ahahahaha! Naisip ko din na may malaking responsibilidad tayo na itaguyod at sundin ang karapatang pantao at ang Karapatan ng Kabataan. Sa DRK series, priority natin na mabigyan ng sapat or basic information ang bata at ang pamilya niya na maging ligtas sa panahon ng sakuna. Physically, socio-emotionally, mentally at economically ang kaligtasan na pinaguusapan natin dito. Mahalaga kase ang buhay, di ba?

 

5.     Pahapyawan ang mga kuwento ng children’s book series na Disaster-Ready Kids. Ano-anong mga safety tips ang ipinakikita sa mga libro tungkol sa mga susunod na topics? (Sunog, Lindol, Baha. Pagputok ng Bulkan)

 

Common sa 4 na aklat ang proactive na pagkilos at paghahanda sasakuna. Alamin ang basic emergency protocols at contact numbers. Maging alisto sa panukala ng LGU. Maging mapagmatyag sa paligid. Isipin ang komunidad. Tayo ay isang ecosystem. Hindi ito Madali, aaminin ko. It entails hard work and empathy.

 

Where I Talk About Our New Series, the Disaster Ready Kids at Read Pinoy on Radyo Magasin