Christina Oxtra, author of What Lolo Wants, illustrated by Jamie Bauza
Children’s Literature Category, sponsored by Beret Publishing
Each week leading up to the 37th annual Minnesota Book Awards, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
What inspired you to write this book – or inspired you while writing it?
What Lolo Wants was inspired by my maternal grandfather. Lolo means grandfather in the Tagalog language in the Philippines. My lolo was kind, loving, supportive, and good at drawing. He said that one day, I would go to the United States and pursue my goals. “You’ll show them what you can do,” he said. Sadly, he passed away before my family and I immigrated to the U.S.
This book is also for my maternal grandmother who used to buy me children’s magazines that I read from cover to cover over and over again. She said I would be a journalist one day because I love to read, write, and talk. After graduating from college, I did become a journalist.
What Lolo Wants carries within its pages not just my grandfather’s story of when he became ill and began to lose his memory, but also my grandparents’ love, hopes, and dreams for me. This book is my way of remembering, honoring, and thanking them. Their memory and legacy live on each time the book is read and shared with others.
After the release of What Lolo Wants, and recalling how my grandfather taught me how to draw, I’ve rediscovered my love for drawing. I used to enjoy drawing. I drew editorial cartoons in high school and college. However, I had forgotten about drawing for many years. This past fall, I took a cartooning class online, bought an iPad, and I’m trying to learn ProCreate. I’m enjoying exploring drawing again.
What is one detail you wanted to include in this book, but couldn’t find a place for?
The first time my lolo drew a dish he wanted to eat, it was adobong pusit. Squid adobo. It’s delicious Filipino dish! I haven’t had it in years, and I miss it. Whenever I see a picture of it, like on social media, I think of my lolo.
Tell us about someone (whose name isn’t on the cover!) who proved instrumental to the creation of this book.
Besides my family, I’d like to thank three authors who inspired me. All of them are faculty members in the MFAC program at Hamline University.
My first advisor in the program, Claire Rudolph Murphy, encouraged me to find my voice and share my personal stories. I was hesitant because I didn’t think anyone would care to read stories related to my Filipino heritage. However, Erin Entrada Kelly proved Claire was right. I read Erin’s book, Blackbird Fly, while I was in the MFAC program. I found it at my local public library by accident while I was there to research something else. Erin’s book touched my heart and it was the first time I had seen myself, as a Filipino American, in a children’s book. This was a turning point for me. Then my final MFAC advisor, Meg Medina, read my manuscript and encouraged me to further refine it.
I presented What Lolo Wants as part of my creative thesis to graduate in the MFAC program in 2019. Six years later, here it is! A finalist for the 2025 Minnesota Book Awards. I thank Claire, Erin, and Meg for their inspiration and tutelage. I’m so fortunate. Having such incredible authors to look up to and outstanding mentors to learn from is invaluable.
Please tell us something about yourself that is not widely known. (It doesn’t have to be about the book in question – or even about your writing at all!)
I’m a chameleon with accents. I can listen to an accent for a while, and soon I’ll start speaking with the accent. I’ve performed in community theatre and earned roles because I can speak in different accents. I’ve even served as a dialect coach for a musical to teach the actors how to speak and sing in English accents. Maybe one day, I can voice an audiobook on Audible.
I also enjoy learning languages. I can read, write, and speak Tagalog fluently. I know some Spanish and I studied German in middle school, French in middle school and high school, and Russian in college. I’ve learned a few words in Korean through Taekwondo. I’d really love to learn American Sign Language.
Share your thoughts about the role and value of libraries.
When I was growing up in the Philippines, I didn’t have access to libraries and buying books was a luxury expense. When I discovered a school library in the United States, it changed my life. I can’t recall the librarian’s name, but I can remember how she made me feel. I was so happy to learn that I could borrow any of the books for free! The library was my sanctuary, my magical, happy place, and I was like Matilda in the book by Roald Dahl. Besides borrowing books, I often helped the librarian shelve books, decorate for the seasons, and assist other students. She would inform me whenever new books arrived or were returned that she thought I’d be interested in reading. She nurtured my curiosity and fostered my love of the written word.
As I grew up, wherever I was, wherever I moved to, one of the first things I made sure to know was the location of the nearest library. Even today, on my days off, you’ll often find me at the library. At a previous job, during my lunch break, I’d walk several blocks to the public library and peruse through the books. The library is still my getaway place. I have friends who are librarians and I’ve volunteered at public libraries. I also love library book sales and I’ll often adopt or find a new home for books that have been discontinued.
Looking back to the day I discovered the library, I would’ve never thought that I’d see the day when children’s books are being banned and libraries and librarians would be in danger. It’s the ugly reality in our country today. It’s heartbreaking, worrying, and angering to hear about book bans, restrictions on public libraries, and schools cutting back on its library services or eliminating the role of librarians all together. Libraries in schools and communities are treasures that should be valued and protected. They should be allowed to serve as a safe space that welcomes everyone, and everyone should be free to read whatever they want. Beyond reading materials, libraries also provide programs and resources that improve literacy, enhance learning, and build social connections. Libraries are bastions of community, knowledge, and truth, and librarians are their guardians and defenders. I hope empathy and common sense will eventually prevail. I also hope that more people in our country will support libraries and librarians and fight for them, for all the books, for all voices, and for all readers today and in the future.
Cristina Oxtra is a Filipino American author of books for young readers, including Tara and the Towering Wave, Can You Discover and Alien? and Keep Dancing. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing for children and young adults. She was born and raised in the Philippines where her lolo taught her to draw.