Author of the Month: Reni Roxas (3 of 3)

We’ve reached the last installment of our special conversation with Reni Roxas, the award-winning author behind Pretty Peach! If you’ve been following our series, you’ve already gained insight into her inspirations, creative process, and the heartwarming journey of bringing Pretty Peach to life.

Now, in this final part, Ms. Roxas shares her top tips for aspiring writers, a sneak peek into her upcoming projects, and her personal reading habits—because even the best storytellers are lifelong readers. Whether you’re an aspiring author, a book lover, or simply curious about the mind behind Pretty Peach, this interview is packed with wisdom and inspiration.

Let’s dive in one last time with Reni Roxas as she talks about the power of storytelling, the books she cherishes, and what’s next on her literary horizon!

7.  Advice: What advice would you give aspiring authors who want to write meaningful children’s literature?

If there is a story you are burning to tell, COMMIT it to paper (or a keyboard). And practice, PRACTICE the art of telling a story. The best way to do this is to READ, read lots of children’s books. Immerse yourself in the genre that you wish to write—whether that is science fiction or graphic comics…

            …And EAVESDROP! Listen to how children talk to each other. How do they talk to grown-ups? This will help keep your dialogue sounding genuine.

            READ YOUR STORY OUT LOUD. Children’s books are meant to be heard as well as read. Your ear will pick up superfluous language or errant words that are best weeded out of the story.

            Understand that CONFLICT is at the heart of a good story. Even in children’s books. The main character must want something. Why can’t she have it? What is standing in her way? If she falls into a hole, how will she climb out of it?

            And here’s an insider tip from someone working in the business: Know that as the writer, you are engaged in a collaboration with the artist. If there’s something in the text that can easily be illustrated (i.e. he was wearing a green T-shirt), you don’t need to put that in the text. The illustrator will work it in.

8.  Future Projects: Are there any upcoming books or stories you’re working on? What can your readers look forward to?

I am a slow writer. I’ve been working a number of years on a collection of animal tales inspired by Zen-like fables. It wants so much to be a book someday.

            And there’s a children’s book I’m co-writing with a friend about a feisty young girl who goes out into the world to rescue her lolo from the forces of evil. It’s quintessentially the Hero’s Quest in a picture book.

            Abangan!

9.  Reading Habits: What books or authors have inspired your writing journey, particularly in children’s literature?           

When I was young my father gave me a copy of A.A. Milne’s When We Were Six, a collection of poems about Christopher Robin and his bear Winnie-the-Pooh. I adored that book. My mother also gifted me with a collection of Greek myths. I do not recall having many books in our house growing up, which is why these two books stand out in my memory. In my tweens and teens I inhaled Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie books and later on, after falling under the spell of the ground-breaking novel A Hundred Years of Solitude, I tried to read everything Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote.

            During the 1980s I worked for a number of children’s book publishing houses in New York City. At Dial Books for Young Readers, I loved the Frog & Toad series, and the work of Rosemary Wells, Mildred Taylor, Tony Ross, and James Marshall. I just loved John D. Fitzgerald’s The Great Brain series, something my son would later love and enjoy as well. I also edited a lot of nonfiction children’s books—books ranging from the animal kingdom to the American Civil War to teen suicide.

Reni with the Women Writing Team

            However, when my former husband and I started Tahanan Books, our focus naturally pivoted from Western to Asian lit. We set our sights on producing Filipiniana folk tales that Filipinos would be proud to call their own, as well as science books on Philippine flowers, fruits, trees, birds, butterflies, and fishes. We published biographies of Filipino heroes with our Great Lives series; and we reissued José Rizal’s The Monkey and the Turtle, which is actually a retelling of a Southeast Asian folk tale. Everything we did and still do at Tahanan is linked to Philippine culture. In that regard, Pretty Peach is a departure from the norm. It is the story of a butterfly of no particular ethnicity or gender, and yet whose desire to find true love is a universal quest.

Now go get your copy of Pretty Peach Today! 🍑✨

Retailing for only P295, Pretty Peach is available at Fully Booked and selected National Bookstore branches.

📍 Special Feature! This February, visit Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street and check out our dedicated Pretty Peach table—the perfect Valentine’s month treat! 💕

Prefer to shop online? Order now through Tahanan’s official website:
🔗 https://tahananbooks.ph/products/pretty-peach

Grab your copy and fall in love with Pretty Peach! 🍑💖 

#PrettyPeach #TahananBooks #ValentineReads

Author of the Month: Reni Roxas (1 of 3)

This Valentine's Day, the blog's Author of the Month is none other than Reni Roxas! Her new children's book, Pretty Peach and the Color-Matching Kaleidoscope, is a heartwarming love story for all ages to enjoy.

RENI ROXAS is a writer, editor, and the publisher of Tahanan Books. She is the author of MÉME: The Baby Book (2020) and co-author of First Around the Globe: The Story of Enrique (1997). Her picture book Ay Naku! won a 2012 National Children’s Book Award. The tale on which the book, Pretty Peach and the Color-Matching Kaleidoscope is based won the 2019 First Prize Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for a children’s story in English.

In this blog interview, Ms. Roxas generously shares her inspiration, insight and back stories-- which are all wonderful to read, in writing Pretty Peach: and the Color-Matching Kaleidoscope.

1.  Inspiration: What inspired you to write Pretty Peach and the Color-Matching Kaleidoscope? Was there a specific moment or idea that sparked the story?

I suppose you could say that the story of Pretty Peach was inspired by three unrelated events:

    A few years ago I attended a writing residency in Port Townsend in Washington state, where I listened to a storyteller perform a children’s story about a beautiful cockroach being counseled by her grandmother about how to find a good husband (what an unusual premise for a children’s story, no?...that’s the magic of children’s books for you!)

    Driving home in my car to the ferry that day, I passed by a residential street with rows of houses on either side of the road—all of them different, each home painted with a color uniquely different from the next. It was the way the sun cast its light on the facades of these houses—the play of light on color—that planted the story seed in my mind.

    Also, it so happened I was choosing a new color to paint my kitchen cabinets at the time; I’d been sorting through dozens and dozens of color swatches, mindful of the way colors behaved in natural sunlight and under fluorescent and incandescent light. This whole process of selection—choosing the right color, one that I wouldn’t get sawa of easily, and one that complemented the kitchen—fascinated me.

    And so these three random events—an inspiration, a drive down the road, and picking a color swatch—formed the triptych that served as the basis for what would become PRETTY PEACH and the Color-Matching Kaleidoscope.

    Sometimes you get the best ideas not sitting at a desk, but while your brain is in motion—such as when you’re driving through someplace new! 

 2.  Themes: The book explores themes of love and relationships. Why did you decide to frame these ideas within a children’s story about colors?

My book is about a butterfly who ventures out into the world to find the love of her life. Out of the millions and millions of butterflies out there, how will she know when she’s met her perfect match?

     Isn’t life all about choosing? Even children are taught to make choices while they are very young. Will you have the popcorn or the candy bar? Which blouse or T-shirt will you wear today? Should you go out to play even when it’s drizzling out? And kids hear their parents make lots of decisions based on a particular criteria. Mommy has decided not to go to the movies because Lola is sick and she opts to stay home. The family will have chicken for lunch because yesterday they had seafood. The decision-making process dawns on kids early in life, whether they are aware of it or not. As they grow older, the life choices they make will cast ever wider ripples and consequences.

     So I thought, why not write about something big, with high stakes for the main character, something impactful. Why not make the story about love and the whole bewildering, discombobulating process of finding a life mate?

    The illustrator and my collaborator for this book, Adrian Panadero, chose butterflies as his subject. It was a brilliant idea, because butterflies are so color-ful. And did you know that a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope? The kaleidoscope is a pivotal element in the story, so it was, in a word—serendipity.

    The only thing is that butterflies live very short lives. The average butterfly typically lives only 3 to 4 weeks. But even that helps to serve the story. Life is short, use the time to find love and romance quickly!

3. Message: What do you hope young readers (and perhaps their parents) will take away from the story?

Back to the topic of choices, I hope the book serves as a springboard for parents to have a conversation with their children about the pursuit of love—its challenges, its hazards, its rewards. Who you love, who you marry or co-habitate with, is a major decision that can deeply affect a human being’s happiness. Choose wisely!

     And there is also a feminist component in the story. Pretty Peach is a character who refuses to be subordinate or subservient to her partner. An aunt once advised me that you want to be with someone who will accept you for what you are and who will not try to change the essence of who you are; both of you can grow together side by side and still respect and honor each other’s differences. Marriage can homogenize a couple, but it is the couple’s differences—that give-and-take synergy—that can keep the spice in the relationship.

    So I love that Pretty Peach chooses not to accept the first proposal offered her. I love that she doesn’t “settle.” And I love that she had to go through a series of challenges before she reached the conclusion of her journey.

Part 2 of this interview will be posted next week. More interesting stories up ahead!

Go get your copy of Pretty Peach Today! 🍑✨

Retailing for only P295, Pretty Peach is available at Fully Booked and selected National Bookstore branches.

📍 Special Feature! This February, visit Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street and check out our dedicated Pretty Peach table—the perfect Valentine’s month treat! 💕

Prefer to shop online? Order now through Tahanan’s official website:
🔗 https://tahananbooks.ph/products/pretty-peach

Grab your copy and fall in love with Pretty Peach! 🍑💖 

#PrettyPeach #TahananBooks #ValentineReads