Husband-and-wife authors Yajaida and Michelson Aristhyl often draw inspiration from their rich cultural heritage. Yajaida is from the Dominican Republic, while Michelson is from Haiti, and the two play music and cook foods from their countries of origin. (They now live and work in Lee County, Florida.) A desire to share their heritage with the world led to their picture book, La Casita Hispaniola, illustrated by Brittany Gonzalez, the story of a young girl who celebrates both her parents’ cultures. The children’s picture book appears on our list of the Best Indie Books of 2023, and we emailed the authors some questions about their collaboration.

What inspired this story?

We wanted to create a book to teach young children about the beauty of diversity and inclusion, all while highlighting our own family’s culture and traditions. In it, we also wanted to express our desire for our countries, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, to find peace and solidarity despite their history of turmoil. 

In the book, you explain that food tells a story about the countries you’re from. Why did you choose to highlight these dishes?

In our culture, like in many others, love is expressed through food. The dishes we chose to highlight are the most traditional in our cultures and also our favorites. In both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, when we were growing up, shopping for a meal meant going to the market to buy fresh ingredients. You got to see, taste, and smell all the different fruits, vegetables, and spices. You also got to see the goats and chickens, and you could pick which one would be taken home. Then began the actual cooking process, which has so many steps that seemed tedious as children, but we learned that each step guaranteed deliciousness in every bite. Finally came sitting together with family to enjoy the feast and share stories that we have always cherished. We’ve continued this tradition with our family so we don’t lose these great traditions and opportunities to come closer. 

Music is a big part of the book, too. Can you talk about the role it plays in your lives?

Not only are we both part of families of musicians, but we are musicians ourselves, and we play in a band, Karibbean Groove, sharing the music of our countries. We play reggae, kompa, souk, merengue, and salsa to celebrate all the sounds of the Caribbean. We play in our town and all over the state in many culture festivals. Currently, we’re working on an original song for our book.

Were you able to do live events for the book this year? Any memorable highlights?

This year we did over 10 live events at schools and libraries across our city and are scheduled to do many more in 2024. At each event we do craft time, where the children and [their families] create a musical instrument, and after we read, we teach them how to play it and dance to music from both countries. Our favorite moments, besides the music, are seeing how excited the crowd is to learn the different Creole and Spanish words we teach them during the reading.

Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.