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New book shares memories of growing up on Guam, inspires others to do same
We hear them all the time - stories from our elders, growing up and our culture. Although not many stories are documented, Victoria Leon Guerrero has inked her stories about growing up on Guam in a new book called "Lola's Journey Home".
Victoria told KUAM News, "I've always believe writing is important, growing up on Guam, there are so many stories, we mostly tell them and not write them. And as a kid I didn't have local children's books that were written by local authors to pick up, and so I wanted to be able to do that for future generations of children."
She continued to say that her work is semi-autobiographical, based on her childhood. "It has a lot of experience I shared with my grandmother," she said, "I share those aspects that touch me the most." A special mention should also be made to the illustrator of the book, Maria Yatar McDonald, one of Guam's traditional master artists. Her colorful drawings exemplify life on the island and highlight much of the island's beauty.
Said Maria, "A lot of the drawings of characters are based on the actual photos graphs of [Victoria's] family so you'll probably see some similarities; also she was my student so we had a a lot of mutual relationship already so it was easy for me to do this for her."
Lola's Journey Home was funded in part by a grant from the Guam Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. It was produced locally and aims to inspire Guam's children to tell their own stories. Leon Guerrero will be donating her recently published children's book to Guam's public elementary schools, libraries and some nonprofit organizations this summer.
Leon Guerrero and McDonald will be hosting public readings and discussions about the book throughout the summer. Today was the first public reading at the Nieves M. Flores Memorial Library in Hagatna.
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