>> Whether it's connecting with extended family from afar or taking pride in your heritage in the U.S. growing up as a child of immigrants can come with many complex experiences, local writer and illustrator Jackie out onto draws from her own childhood to help kids navigate their diverse identities.

In her new book called Pios and Primo's Spanish for aunts, uncles and Cousins.

And joining us now is the book's author and illustrator Jacqueline account.

I thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

So this book tells the story of a young girls visit to Honduras where her family is from.

She's excited to meet her extended family.

Of course, you're also Honduran.

How did some of your childhood experiences inspired the story of this book?

Yeah, well, I have hunter and my father's side of the fight.

Family lives there.

>> And growing up in state in Chicago, you know, really wanted to connect with that part of identity.

But luckily, we were able to take a lot of trips there.

And I was giving opportunities to connect with my cousins and aunts and uncles.

But, you know, when you arrive there, realize the Spanish that, you know, is only get you so far and you're missing out on conversations and jokes and you really want to bond with people further.

That was kind of when I get frustrated.

And so when I was starting to dive into writing this book, I started to remember all of the ways that my family really made me feel so welcome and so accepted in really part of the family.

Despite that language barrier.

Yeah.

And your your character in the book, the Little Girl.

she has a little bit of anxiety about meeting the family.

And how's it going to go like you said the family welcomes her in the book and all works out.

>> Yeah, we have to read the book to hundreds is often underrepresented parts of Latino culture.

Lots of stereotypes, of course, about all of What was it like for you to bring under an identity to life through words and pictures as an illustrator?

Yeah, I think it's you know, trying from your personal experience.

Always the best, right.

And then writing and illustrating.

So it was a natural thing for me to want to create and want to draw and paint these parts of Honduras.

That means so much to me and our also contrasting a lot of the negative rhetoric that we hear about Central Erika Lankan families.

So you know, kind of a great time to have such a positive book out about how loving families or their beautiful of a country.

It is.

so it feels great to be able to share a positive story for, you people to people to see well into that point.

You know, we are in a time when many people from immigrant communities are facing challenges with current immigration policies and xenophobia, attitudes.

Have you think your book sort of contributes to, you know, this current national contacts that we're Question?

you know, I guess my hope for it is that it's just interesting that and kids and families are able to see positive depictions of their culture that are may be very different from other sources of media that they're being inundated with and that they can sit with books like this and others and chill pride about their own identity and curious about.

Heritage.

If they have grown up here and they haven't visited it and you know, maybe it's parks than wanting to tell their own story one day as well in the book.

You also talk about the language barrier that the little girl, your main character experiences.

What do you say to the assumption that, you know, because your family is Honduran that you're fluent in Spanish?

>> Has that ever happened to you where someone's like, oh, you're 100 and you I think maybe it's more of a, you know, internal issue that I've been dealing with for my whole life of just wanting to be more fluent and.

>> But of course, being in situations where maybe you're expected to know more, then you do.

But I just kind of find it amazing that there's always ways that you can really connect to people despite, you know, maybe knowingly.

>> A little bit of the language.

And so hopefully a good reminder that there's lots of ways we can bond with people.

>> And in reverse, there's lots of small things we can do to make other people feel really accepted.

That might not know our language and understood but I'm always trying to learn more we all been is getting mad at me.

He's got like a 3rd eye right now.

It's a little weird.

Al.

What do you say, though, to children of immigrants who may be feeling scared or nervous about sharing their multi cultural identities?

>> Another great question something you ever experienced yourself.

Lucky as you mentioned, being have 100 right.

Think that, you know, growing hundreds wasn't necessarily in that news as it is today.

maybe that's lucky thing for me growing up because they don't feel like I had instances where I had combat that.

I think it was more just, you know, being having a multi cultural background are always kind of feeling a little bit this a little bit that maybe not enough.

This is not an of that, but it's also, you know, a lot of really exciting and cool things that you get to share with people to, you know, as a kid having been to rainforest, getting to visit your family, another country you know, so I feel like just kind of bit of a balancing act.

Yeah, I'm sure it the 30 seconds left.

What's next for you?

And you've got another full project that's coming up later this year.

Yeah, I was very lucky enough to boost ratings.

Supreme Court Justice Oney said Myers next picture book.

So that releases in September another project to have under way is a biography about Cuban artists.

We fatal him.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it's more stuff for us be on the lookout for from Jacqueline all content.

so much congratulate