A truly beautiful new book about Día de Muertos was written by a mother and daughter, which raised our curiosity about a family collaboration. The Ofrenda that We Built is written by Jolene Gutiérrez and Shaian Gutiérrez, illustrated by Gabby Zapata, and published by Chronicle Kids. They share their tradition of building an ofrenda to honor departed family members. Here’s my interview with Jolene, who shares how this book was made.
Do you remember where and when you first conceived the idea for The Ofrenda That We Built?
My brother-in-law passed away in 2018, and our ofrenda became an important part of our healing process. I started writing a very rough draft in early 2019.
When did you decide to involve your daughter Shaian as a co-author of the book?
Shaian was away at her first year of college when I started brainstorming this manuscript, but she’s so artistic and has always been extremely involved in helping create items for our ofrenda: cutting papel picado, sculpting alebrijes, and painting sugar skulls, fabric chickens, and plastic rabbits in a Día de Muertos style. Then, my dad, Shaian’s grandfather, passed away on November 1, 2019. November 1 is during Día de Muertos and my paternal grandmother had passed away on November 1, 1977. This made Día de Muertos feel even more important to our family. When Shaian made an animated video of the rough-draft ofrenda story as a gift for me, it clicked: she had always been the most involved in creating our ofrendas … what if we worked on completing the story together?
and Shaian Guttiérez, published by Chronicle Kids 2024
How did your co-authoring process work?
Shaian’s an amazing viola player and has such an ear for the musicality and rhythm of language. Thanks to her, our rhyme and rhythm is spot-on!
We worked on this story during the pandemic, so Shaian was learning from home and I was teaching from home. When our school days were done, Shaian would come to my room and sit on my bed and brainstorm elements we could include in the story or different rhyming phrases we might use. Or I would go to her room and hop onto her bed and read parts out loud while we tested out different words. I’m so grateful for our experience creating something beautiful during a time when it felt like the world was falling apart.
Was it always going to be a cumulative tale?
Yes — the initial idea for this story came because I was thinking about all the elements and layers to an ofrenda and how building an ofrenda reminded me of a nursery rhyme my mom read to me when I was little, “The House That Jack Built.” Because it’s a cumulative nursery rhyme, it felt right that we include that repetitive element in our building story as well.
What was the trickiest part of writing the manuscript?
The rhythm and rhyme! Every change had a domino effect on the rest of the story, so we had to be very mindful of what we changed and make sure the changes made sense and were echoed through each stanza. Feather Flores, the acquiring editor, did such a wonderful job of having us examine each word and really build out the story in a beautiful way, but those edits took a lot of time and brainpower. It was so wonderful to have Shaian processing through edits with me!
The back matter for this book is delightful, explaining how you both feel about the traditions of Día de los Muertos, of honoring the dead and inviting them into our homes. You also give detailed instructions for building our own ofrenda. Are these pages something you wanted to include or did your editor encourage this?
Thank you so much! As a librarian, I LOVE back matter! Our earliest versions included a short note about Día de Muertos, a glossary, and a little guide to creating your own ofrenda. Feather Flores encouraged both Shaian and me to write an author’s note and asked the best questions of us that helped us expand our writing and delve more deeply into the history of this beautiful holiday and the elements of an ofrenda!
Thank you for your candid answers, Jolene. I hope our readers will find a home on their bookshelves for your book. I find the whole idea very appealing to create an ofrenda to honor and respect those who no longer abide on this earth. We’re going to adopt some of your ideas!
Learn more about teacher, librarian, and author Jolene Gutierrez and her books.