The Guam Bus – a creative collective on a mission to revitalize the CHamoru language and empower the CHamoru people – are releasing two new books centered on connecting learning to daily life and building language foundations at any age.

It’s been said that the best way to become fluent in a language is to start learning when you’re young. But here on Guam, many families have embraced a different truth – that it’s never too late to learn, and that language revitalization is at its strongest when its done together. The Guam Bus is launching two new bilingual CHamoru children’s books that root language learning in everyday life — from play and family time to letters and simple sentences.

Dr. Michael Bevacqua, co-founder of the Guam Bus and author, said, “Some people learn really well in a classroom, but if you have a really busy life, if you’ve got lots of things going on, then the more that you can connect it to your experiences, your likes, your joys, your family, the rhythm of your life – the faster you’ll learn.”

The first book, I Lina’la’ Lulai, follows a day in the life of a little girl — from waking up to helping at home — using simple sentences that make grammar and structure easy to grasp for both children and adults.

“And so," said Bevacqua, "I Lina’la’ Lulai is just a great way to get started for you as a learner, but also for your child to be introduced to CHamoru in a way which hopefully connects to their own life.”

The second book, I Lepblon Atfabeto Ginen As Makåhna, grew from community requests for a CHamoru alphabet book — paired with a pronunciation guide. “And so, we made a book that has the CHamoru alphabet and every letter is a different vocabulary word," he said.

Both books are also a family collaboration – written by Bevacqua, featuring his children, and illustrated by their oldest sibling, Sumåhi – making intergenerational learning part of the story itself. “It’s really all about taking the CHamoru language, culture, and history and finding ways to put it into books, games, and social media videos so that it's accessible, it can help teach, and it can help pass things on to the next generation," he explained.

For Bevacqua, this work is personal. He learned CHamoru as an adult and promised to raise his children speaking the language, strengthening their confidence in their identity and their voice.

In releasing these works, he recognizes that same desire to preserve the CHamoru language in other parents and creates spaces for them to grow together, saying, “We can just complain the language is dying and say young people are lazy – basta enao! Help those that want to be helped. Create the resources. Create the possibilities.”

“But you start with books like this to create a strong foundation to where you’re sharing a family space with the language.”

The official launch of I Lina’la’ Lulai and I Lepblon Atfabeto Ginen As Makåhna takes place February 7, at the Guam Museum from 3 to 6 p.m. – with chesa, family activities, and a chance to meet the authors and artist.