I absolutely fangirled when Kaela Rivera agreed to let me interview her for the MUFMGA.
Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls and Cece Rios and the King of Fears
When you read this introduction to Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls and Cece Rios and the King of Fears, I bet you’ll see why I am such a huge fan.
When a powerful desert spirit kidnaps her sister, Cece Rios must learn
forbidden magic to get her back, in this own voices middle grade fantasy perfect for fans of The Storm Runner and Aru Shah and the End of Time.
In its thrilling sequel, Cece and her sister Juana must journey into the stronghold of Devil’s alley to challenge the criatura king El Cucuy if they, and their criatura friends, have any hopes of staying alive.
Can’t you just feel the excitement and tension? Plus, I love a good story that touches on a type of mythology we don’t read about often—or should I say often enough?
Tzitzimitl
Your story places a lot of emphasis on Tzitzimitl. What is it about this Aztec God that captured your attention?
Tzitzimitl
One of my favorite things about Mesoamerican mythology is this emphasis on exploring and understanding duality. It reminds me that our ancestors were wrestling with our own duality as people, just as we do now. How we can be both beautiful and dangerous, healing and painful, loving and wrathful. That theme is perfectly captured in the legend of Tzitzimitl, a creature who’s almost demon, almost goddess.
In myth, Tzitzimitl is both the protector of children and pregnant women and also a wrathful warrior who attacks the earth whenever there’s an eclipse. She devours and destroys when her loyalties call upon it, but she also protects and uses her power to have mercy on humans. Her character is of great importance throughout the series because I wanted Cece, my main character, to learn that both good and evil wars inside people. It’s our job as we wrestle with them to choose which one wins.
That is such interesting insight. It’s not always a black and white world, and your readers can learn to appreciate that right along with Cece.
Los Cinco Soles (The Five Suns)
Aztec Mythology
Did you spend much time studying Aztec mythology and/or culture before you wrote your books?
I’d studied all kinds of folklore and mythology before writing Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls, but very little of it had been from Latin America, despite my heritage. That changed when I went to visit my abuelo when I was in college, and he told me stories about curanderas and brujas and La Llorona. I came home with a desire to learn more, and after researching all kinds of folktales and myths, inspiration struck, and I started writing Cece.
Las Brujas (The witches)
In fact, one of the reasons I love to write is because it’s one of the best ways to learn. Want to know more about folklore? Write an article or story about it, and you’ll find yourself encountering all kinds of questions that send you hunting excitedly for answers. That process also connected me more and more with my culture, something I’ll forever be grateful to my abuelo for inspiring.
Abuelitos and abuelitas are truly wonderful!
Monsters/Monstruos
Chupacabra
What do you think are the scariest Aztec monsters?
Honestly, so many Aztec monsters are terrifying! Most Latin American monsters are; in fact, most monsters from mythology across the world is—a testament to the kinds of fears our ancestors wrestled with in even harsher times. But like the horror genre itself, there’s a distinct morality about the terror in Latin American mythology and folklore. There’s usually a reason why something became terrifying, or why terror was inflicted.
In Cece Rios and the King of Fears, I got to include a few of my favorites, including Alux. In the story, he’s a dark criatura, but in actual tradition aluxes were small, magical beings similar to how those of European descent might think of dwarves or fairies or elves. But they had a ferocious side, and they could curse or harm people if they trespassed on their homes, good will, or even nature itself. I took that inspiration into my series because I think the exploration of nature itself being both benign and dangerous is fascinating.
Huichol
Another one of my other favorite legendary beings comes from Huichol tradition (the Huichol are direct descendant of the Aztecs): Tukákame
Tukákame
He’s something between a demon and a zombie—an animated corpse that burns at the touch of water and has skeleton birds for minions. He eats human flesh, and he seemed like an appropriate way of exploring destruction in the second book, though I did that more symbolically than outright.
Buñelos
Buñelos (yummy!)
I see that you know how to make buñelos which are amazing. What other Mexican foods do you like to make (or eat!)?
Yes, I adore buñelos! I’m quite happy to say I’ve gotten pretty great at timing exactly how long they need to fry for, too.
I also like making enchilada sauce from scratch. Well, “like” might be a strong word—it takes a few hours, so I’m sometimes reluctant to start, but chile sauce really does taste better when it’s fresh, not from a can.
Spanish rice and refried beans are also a classic, so I can’t not mention them (or I won’t, at least, hah!). Spanish rice with garlic smashed with the side of a knife? Mmm. The smell fills up your whole kitchen, and I love that. Refried beans that taste fresh, not canned? All half-smashed by hand in a pan? An absolute must.
This is one I don’t make myself, but I also really like gansitos. My friend introduced them to me a bit later in life, and now I can’t quite get over the perfect blend of cinnamon, vanilla cake, chocolate, and raspberry filling. It might be junk food, but it’s my junk food. I even had them at Cece Rios and the King of Fears’ launch party!
I see from your website that you’re part British, part Mexican-American. Any plans of focusing on your British roots for upcoming stories?
I do, actually! Well, I suppose I should say I have plans to combine my heritages together in my stories, to embrace the mix I was born with. I have a YA fantasy that will combine the Victorian language of flowers, and certain aspects of British culture, with an Aztec kingdom steeped in old magic. Plus, a playful middle-grade written with a narrator that nods toward old British fairytales, but focused on latine main characters and setting.
This has been so fascinating. I hope you’ll come back when Cece Rios and the Queen of Brujas comes out, and if any readers are interested in learning more about Kaela Rivera, you can find her and her recipe for buñelos at:
When you study entomology, you see you’re not just looking at bugs and their behaviors (also fascinating enough) . . . you discover the people who spent their lives studying them, how insects adapted to endure and thrive, and the ways insects impact our lives. Here are some ways to challenge students to explore lives of insects and the people who study them.
After defining each and their roles in nature, vivid photographs accompany descriptions and fascinating side bars, as well as “How to Spot” and “Fun Facts” sections for each insect, spider, and other critter. Easily browsable, it is divided into the categories: True Flies, Beetles, Wasps and Bees, Ants, Moths and Butterflies, True Bugs, Spiders, Ticks and Mites, and Scorpions.
Student Activity
Make an Insect Identification Journal. Use this field guide out in the field and record any identified insects in your journal. Separate your entries by date and take photos or make sketches of the insects you see. Record the weather, the area where seen, and the insect’s common and scientific names.
E.O. Wilson is an insatiably curious biologist, well-known for his work on ants and insect societies. He reminisces about childhood expeditions to the creek with friends, and an effort to collect and study “all the ants in a vacant lot.” Ants may be small, but examining their societies led Wilson to ask big questions about social structure, genetics, and biogeography.
Student Activity
A Day in an Ant’s Life Comic. Craft a three-panel comic about an ant’s life. Think of a short narrative arc that can stretch ver three panels. Write the text of your comic. Sketch the panels to go along with your text. Revise after getting some feedback, and then color an complete your comic. (Extra points if you can fit in an interesting adaptation!)
At a time when most colleges didn’t accept black students, Charles Turner went to study zoology. He had a particular fondness for small creatures, insects, and used them to help answer big questions: how do ants find their way home? Can an insect solve a maze? Can bees learn to identify colors? This book will inspire emerging entomologists of all ages.
Student Activity
Ask Like a Scientist. Charles Henry Turner asked lots of questions. All scientists do. See what questions you have about an ant’s body. Find a photo of an interesting kind of ant. Then study its body. Does it have strong jaws? Does it have little hairs? Is it tiny or huge? Label the parts that make you wonder with a question you want answered. Then do some research to find answers to add.
One of the most remarkable stories about natural selection is that of how the pepper moth adapted to the sooty pollution of the industrial revolution. Evolution is a big concept, hard to grasp sometimes, and this book does a marvelous job telling – and showing – how environmental changes affect insect populations. A picture book for the 8-10 crowd.
Student Activity
The Perfect Insect. Insects have evolved in all kinds of ways—some fly, some hop, some squirm and some swim. They can be iridescent and delicate or brown and solid. These colors, forms, and behaviors are all adaptations that occurred over time to help them survive. Design your perfect insect. How will it move? What colors will it have? How will its features help it survive in its habitat? Figure out all the parts of your insect and then draw it.Don’t forget to give it a name, too!
Karen Latchana Kenney loves to write books about animals, and looks for them wherever she goes—from leafcutter ants trailing through the Amazon rain forest in Guyana, where she was born, to puffins in cliff-side burrows on the Irish island of Skellig Michael. She especially enjoys creating books about nature, biodiversity, conservation, and groundbreaking scientific discoveries—but also writes about civil rights, astronomy, historical moments, and many other topics. Visit her at https://latchanakenney.wordpress.com
http://www.basicbook.org, GPL <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>, via Wikimedia Commons
05 REM I used to think of coding (programming, as we called it back in the day.) and writing as two separate things. Polar opposites.
10 REM Now, I’ve come to realize the two are not as different as they may appear.
20 PRINT “If you want to learn more about my coding past, press “Y”.”
30 INPUT (N)
40 IF N = “Y” THEN GOTO 150 ELSE 50
50 REM Writing code and writing stories both involve accomplishing a goal through a series of operations.
60 REM To achieve one’s goal with writing, one uses language and word operations to convey ideas.
70 IF (THIS HAPPENS) THEN…
80 REM The story flows and the plot develops.
90 REM To achieve a goal in coding, one uses a programming language’s set of operations to implement ideas in a functional manner.
95 PRINT “On a scale of 1 to 10, enter your level of excitement for writing like a coder.”
100 INPUT (X)
110 IF X >=1, THEN GOTO 200
150 REM After my sophomore year, a huge change happened at my high school. The computer programming class moved from punch card programming to actual work on computer stations connected to the school district’s mainframe. Game on!
Pete Birkinshaw from Manchester, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
160 REM BASIC programming was the name of the game back in the day. For some reason, unlike most of my family and friends, coding came naturally to me. The logic, oh the logic, drew me in like a tractor beam. I was hooked.
170 REM Several years later, probably around 1984, I scraped enough money ($100!) from odd jobs and such to walk proudly into our local Dolgins store and purchase a Texas Instruments 99. I hooked it up to a blue, plastic 13” black and white television we had sitting around in the basement. I was in heaven.
Ron Reuter, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons
180 REM My parents and siblings worried about my sanity, a 19-year-old sitting in the dark basement for hours, writing a primitive electronic football game or a program to show an animated smiley face graphic saying “Hello” over the 2” speaker and scaring the crap out of my mother as she walked by. Heaven.
190 REM Sometimes, one gets run through the wringer by siblings and friends for buying a freaking computer instead of spending that money on a real video game console, like ATARI or INTELLIVISION, that ordinary people actually want to play. When this happens, one learns to code simple, low-graphic games to show aforementioned siblings and friends that coding can be fun. A football simulator, PONG(!), craps, blackjack, etc. were all in the output of my TI99 and me. My friends and siblings, however, were not as impressed as I was.
195 GO TO 50
200 REM Coding also runs in a similar vein to writing in the aspect of trial and error. One simple mistake, a glitch in syntax or in logic, can stop a program or a paragraph dead in its tracks. Writers and coders both run into walls, fall off cliffs, or get lost at times. That’s when the true creator’s heart and soul kick in. Analyze, problem-solve, take a step back, and then try again. Instead of getting stuck in a loop, a coder or writer changes the subroutine, reformats, and changes the inputs to get better outputs.
210 REM There is a difference between writing and coding, though. In coding, a programming language allows many creators to communicate the story through that single voice of the code. In writing, the opposite is true. The writer uses the tools of language and individual experiences (see Creative Braining) to create their unique voice.
220 REM Finally, a friend recently told me that throughout high school, their child was intent on majoring in computer programming. However, once the student spent a year in programming classes at college, they changed majors. The student figured out that writing code for games was not nearly as fun as playing games. I laughed and said that sounded like the 20+ years I wanted to be a writer before I accepted it was hard work and found the discipline to actually sit down and write.
230 PRINT “Thanks for reading!”
240 END
Ron Reuter, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
My apologies to you, dear reader, for putting you through a rusty and mistake-ridden use of a 1980s version of BASIC programming for this STEM Tuesday Writing Craft & Resources post. Memory fades, as does the free time to go online and review the proper syntax of BASIC.
On a positive note, writing this post did trigger a desire to jump into contemporary programming languages and learn Python or another modern coding language. It also made me dig into the storage boxes to find one of the greatest coding-themed computer games ever written, The Island of Dr. Brain. When my kids were young, we would play Dr. Brain for hours and they had little to no idea they were learning how to think and manage like coders. They probably still don’t since their main memory is probably of Dad hogging the family PC while playing Dr. Brain “with” them.
Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal-opportunity sports enthusiast, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/training-related topics at www.coachhays.comand writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101, are included in the Putting the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming around the Twitter-sphere under the guise of @coachhays64 and on Instagram at @mikehays64.
The O.O.L.F Files
This month’s version of the O.O.L.F.(Out of Left Field) Files explores
Steve’s Old Computer Museum (Warning! This site is a rabbit hole for computer nerds, especially us who sport more than a few gray hairs. I need to go in and see how many of these I’ve had the pleasure of working on.)
Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Amie and Shannon. We’re thrilled to have you here. Congrats on the launch of Dancing in the Storm. It’s so inspiring and powerful. I had...
From the Mixed-Up Files is the group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers. For anyone with a passion for children’s literature—teachers, librarians, parents, kids, writers, industry professionals— we offer regularly updated book lists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a children's book from writing to publishing to promoting.
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