My book baby, THE WIND CALLED MY NAME, is a year old today. As with all first babies, one makes mistakes and learns on the fly, especially with this website. I took baby steps as I participated with other authors writing on my first blog, Mad About MG History, and am still learning marketing in general. I am very fortunate to have a group of Latinx women children’s authors  maneuver the intricacies of being debut authors with me. You can learn more about our group at LasMusasbooks.com. These women are still holding my hand as I learn how to participate in Tweetchats, Google Hangouts, and Slack. I marvel at their writing talents and their social media skills which help market our books.

I’m so appreciative of all the support from Lee & Low Books and hope I’ve added something to their wonderful canon of children’s books. Our efforts resulted in my book being recognized as  the 2019 WILLA Award finalist in Children’s Fiction and Nonfiction. Women Writing the West are the sponsors of this fine award.

The Wind Called My Name born October 30, 2018!

page 5   I rested my head against the car window and studied the colorless New Mexican sky. Maybe the sky would be a beautiful pink or light purple in Wyoming It might be exciting to see different colored skies on my first trip away from our mountains.

ANNOTATION: On my mom’s first trip to town she hoped to see a different colored sky, and was so disappointed to learn it was still blue.

Page 109 Mamá pounded some nails outside the house, and we hung the long ristras on them so the sun could turn the chiles bright red.

ANNOTATION: New Mexico is famous for their red and green chile. If you go to a restaurant and you are asked if you want green or red chile, order Christmas. That way you can taste both preparations.

Page 92

September 4, 1934

Dear Abuelita,

          I would like to see the pictures the artists draw of our beautiful mountains. Maybe they will paint your picture.

ANNOTATION: Since Georgia O’Keefe lived in northern New Mexico and painted what she saw, I’m imagining that she might have painted mountain scenes near El Carmen.

Page 97  Back in the kitchen, Mamá read the ingredients on the box [Bisquick]. “This has flour, shortening, salt, baking powder. . . . Yes, it has everything we need to make tortillas.”

ANNOTATION: Bisquick was invented in 1930 and was still popular in my family in the 1960s when I got married. My mother’s cooking advice to me as a new bride was to have a box of Bisquick handy. I also remember that my mother’s eldest sister, Ruth (Sandoval) Lucero sometimes made her tortillas from Bisquick.

Page 55   Mr. Sims drove down the street and turned right. “That’s the big house,” he said, nodding to a building nearby. It stretched from one corner of the street almost all the way to the next corner.

            “This mansion is bigger. Who lives there?” I asked.

            Caroline laughed. “Prisoners. That’s the state prison.”

            “It must hold a lot of people.”

            “Yep. That’s why it’s called the big house.”

ANNOTATION: The Wyoming state penitentiary is located in Rawlins, Wyoming. As a girl, we often sat on the penitentiary grounds in the summer where the penitentiary band entertained the townspeople. I guess the prisoners had lots of time on their hands to practice their instruments. When I was in college, my parents moved to a house about two blocks from the pen. I never saw the inside of the old prison until it was turned into a museum after the new penitentiary was built.

Page 55 He [Mr. Sims] kept driving north until he stopped near a big house made of pink stone. It had three levels of windows that led up to a tower. People were eating under a covered porch.

            Caroline clapped her hands. “This is where the rich Ferris family lives. Everyone calls this the Ferris Mansion.”

ANNOTATION; This beautiful Victorian mansion is in Rawlins, Wyoming and was built from sandstone found nearby.