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About My Tatita
A guest post by author/illustrator Imapla
Imapla is an award-winning picture book creator and graphic designer from Barcelona whose books are published throughout the Spanish-speaking world. In her picture book Come Closer, Tatita (also available as a Spanish edition), a young girl’s five senses take her on a journey through sweet memories of her tatita, her grandmother, in this heartfelt picture book.
Come Closer, Tatita is an important book for me. There’s a very special personal connection to it.
My tatita was a significant person in my life. She wasn’t my real grandmother, although she was in sentiment. It’s the ties of sentiment that are important. The grandparents you get are the ones you get. It’s wonderful to be able to choose them yourself. That’s what happened with my tata.
Julia Laguna Crespo, my Tata, had a difficult childhood and adolescence. When she was not yet 18, her mother sent her from the small Spanish village of Quintanas Rubias de Abajo to the big city of Madrid, alone. There she was caught up in the Spanish Civil War and decided to move to Barcelona. She started working in my grandparents’ house when my father was barely twelve years old. When my father married my mother and they had their fourth of five children, me, she came to work at my parents’ house. She has always been with me.
My son, Pere, who is now 23 years old, also saw her as a very special person. When Pere was born, my Tata gave him this stuffed toy, “Pingu,” which he still keeps, and which appears throughout the book.
Turning my Tata into a book makes her endure over time. That’s the magic of books. That’s why I hold this book dear. It’s a story with significant emotional weight.
And I’m very pleased that she, born in a small village in deep Spain, now wanders the U.S. as a character in a book. She had a childlike soul, and I imagine my Tata like a Pippi Longstocking with Pingu on her shoulders and riding a polka-dot Ford Thunderbird on Route 66. Or jumping from skyscraper to skyscraper to New York like a baroness in the trees, or singing with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in Las Vegas after hitting the jackpot on the slot machine. Or dancing in the rain under a streetlamp in Hollywood, hugging Yogi Bear in Yellowstone, sitting on the moon with Neil Armstrong counting rockets, smoking a peace pipe with Sitting Bull (TATAnka Iyotanka) in South Dakota, having a McDonald’s in Connecticut or a Crazy Coconut with a beach lifeguard in Miami, surfing with the Beach Boys, seated with Lincoln in Washington, riding in a convertible with hair flying in the wind, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with my little brother Santi, riding a helicopter in the Grand Canyon with a thousand and one tourists, sitting in the shade of a cactus in the Arizona desert, or refreshing herself at the Crown Fountain in Chicago on a hot summer morning. And many more places…
She would go crazy for the USA.
From Quintanas Rubias de Abajo to the end of the world, starting with the United States.
Other recommendations that celebrate Grandparents
The Most Perfect Persimmon by Hannah Chung
In this charming author-illustrator debut, a Korean American girl harvests a perfectly ripe persimmon that she can’t wait to share with Grandma.
When Joo Hong harvests a beautiful persimmon from her mom’s garden, she can’t wait to give it to her grandma who is visiting from far away. However, the days leading up to her arrival feel like forever—and the persimmon is looking less and less perfect as time passes by. What can Joo Hong do to make sure it’s perfectly ripe—and not mushy and wrinkly—for Grandma’s visit?
One More Story, Tata! by Julie Salamon, illustrated by Jill Weber
This whimsical story of a little girl’s bond with her great-grandma, who tells the silliest, most magical stories, celebrates four generations of a Jewish family who come together for Shabbat.
In this heartwarming tale that spans four generations of Jewish women, acclaimed author-illustrator duo Julie Salamon and Jill Weber celebrate family traditions, the enduring love between a girl and her great-grandma, and the everlasting power of stories.
