Goodreads asked Rebecca Balcárcel:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Rebecca Balcárcel Quijana’s story grew out of the real-life moment when my abuelos flew all the way from Guatemala to visit, and I couldn’t talk to them. They spoke only Spanish, and I spoke only English. It pained me at age twelve, and it pains me now. And book-reader that I was, awake to the power of words, the conversation we couldn’t have felt like a serious loss. This moment and others like it laid the foundation for the book, and they remain the heart of Quijana’s story.

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