Every day, we wake up to more evidence that we are not moving toward but are, indeed, in the midst of a climate crisis: pockets and articles bring to us sobering images and news of record temperatures, flooding, earthquakes, raging wildfires, tornadoes, poor air quality, melting arctic ice, rising sea levels, and the loss of so much human and non-human animal life.
Living with such realities can be not only overwhelming at times but also crippling. How are we to keep moving forward in our day-to-day lives when our collective future as Earth-dwelling critters seems so bleak? How do we raise conscious and environmentally aware citizens while also instilling in our children a deep sense of hope? As a mother, I have asked myself this often.
One way that our family has found is through art and story-telling, which we have relied heavily upon, especially during the challenges and upheaval that the Covid-19 pandemic brought with it.
Bootswa: A Tale of Loss and Remaking, a children’s picture book, was first conceived of in early spring of 2020, as the first cases of Covid-19 were appearing in the U.S. The narrative’s beginnings took form leading up to what would be mandatory lock-downs and widespread social change, and the story was woven throughout the first two + years of the pandemic.
My husband, Geovani, was finishing up a doctoral program at UNC-Chapel Hill at the time and was in Seattle for a conference when I grew acutely ill. My mother drove me to urgent care, and she and my two children, Milo and Camila (Mila), waited hours in the car during my appointment in order to avoid potential exposure to flu or Covid-19.
To pass the time, my mother, an artist and natural storyteller, offered to tell Milo and Camila a tale, and they eagerly requested “a scary story (that is not too scary) that takes place in the jungle.”
What began as a simple story imagined by my mother and children became, for our family, a magically collaborative effort that would be our blueprint for how to not only survive unprecedented times but to thrive in them.
For the nearly eight consecutive years leading up to the pandemic, my mother visited us in Chapel Hill almost every week. She would drive the three-hour round-trip trek from her log cabin in the woods, often greeting the kids at the door with a new book or a pack of paper, and we would spend our days learning, playing, and exploring nature together. Milo and Camila always looked forward with delight to when their “Grammy Cakes” would visit, and on the days she would spend the night, they would tiptoe downstairs to her in the mornings and tell stories from underneath the covers, where the three snuggled in pajamas and traveled to new worlds.
When Covid-19 came to our area, however, things quickly changed. Lock-downs made visiting impossible, and when those were lifted, we knew from all we saw around us that we needed to be cautious to protect one another until we knew more about the virus.
Bootswa became a way for us to (re)connect. Although we couldn’t hug, and the kids couldn’t snuggle with their Grammy and caress her face or brush her hair as they once did when they told their stories, and although we were all masked and six feet apart, Bootswa allowed us to bridge the distance that the growing pandemic had created.
Thankfully, my mother sensed the importance of the story for our family and thought to write down its beginnings one sleepless night. In the days after, Milo and Camila reminded her of things she forgot or misremembered, and, over the course of the following three years, my mother, children, and I created and reshaped the story that we now lovingly call Bootswa.
I was moved by the way in which the three worked together to construct a narrative, which stemmed from their combined love of storytelling, animals, nature, and an impending birthday. At the time the story began, Camila was months away from turning five, and she longed for painted finger nails like so many other children around her had. Because she was not allowed to have them, my mother thought the animals in the story could (with natural paints, of course!). While the story, on the surface, is centered around Ebony’s (a panther cub’s) birthday celebration and her excitement for getting painted fingernails, the story offers profound themes that are relevant to people across cultures and time: those of making a family and building a community in sometimes unexpected places, of loss and renewed hope, of resilience in the face of struggles, and of the need to protect our Earth and the animals that inhabit it.
Bootswa is a three-generational, collaborative effort that combines the visions of not only my mother and children but, ultimately, me as well. Though there were some things the kids preferred not to change (e.g. the animals were to remain fully anthropomorphized, with nails instead of claws, and toucans and monarch butterflies, as well as African elephants, can be found in India in this story), they graciously welcomed me into their world and allowed me to suggest additions or changes to the narrative that I hope highlight the deeper messages they wished to convey.
As the story developed, we knew it was time for illustrations. While my mother and Milo deliberated on how to begin an artistic project of this scope, Camila happily volunteered to show us all what Bootswa, the panthers, the monkeys, and the humans looked like. With her whimsical style, the book continued to take shape. Milo followed her lead and fastidiously drew the background jungle life around her characters and colored them in with his characteristic colored pencil and ink style. At other times, Milo would create the first images, such as in the illustration below of the poachers standing with guns. Milo drew the weapons, and Camila created the people around them. Milo then drew the background around the people and placed them perfectly in the scene. Remarkable!
The easy, respectful way they worked together—the way they understood each other’s creative process and showed encouragement and patience—was humbling and inspiring to behold.
As with any successful collaborative effort, it is sometimes hard to know where one’s work ends and the other’s begins.
Like their (grand)parents, Milo and Camila have always loved stories and art, and they care deeply for the environment and all animals. In some ways, these seemingly distinct appreciations have merged in their lives and mutually informed one another and have manifested in this collaborative effort.
Furthermore, what began as the creation of another shared story became an ethical practice that required lots of conversations over the responsibility as writers to critically reflect on the depictions of specific people, spaces, and animals and their ecological relationships. As parents, reading for us has been a means through which we can talk about pressing issues with our children in ways that are fruitful (but also sensitive to their developmental stages, which the more playful aspects of Bootswa reflect).
From the time the kids were little, we would frequent the library in search of stories. Books are some of our greatest treasures, and we still sit down and read them together by the hour, taking turns reading to one another and sometimes sitting next to one each other as we go on individual travels through silent reading. Some books are entertaining and others instructional. The best are often both. Books—and stories—can help us transcend difficult times and can aid in our continual search for truth and personal growth. For, as my father, Ken, says, “life brings us to literature, and literature brings us back to life.”
For over a decade, we have frequented UNC’s Botanical Gardens and Arboretum as well as Duke Gardens and the Museum of Life and Science. We have also enjoyed many days roaming my parents’ land, where the kids have made a log cabin and teepee out of reclaimed wood, planted vegetable and pollinator gardens, and studied and reveled in nature’s wonder. We have camped and canoed in the NC mountains and hiked many paths down the Appalachian Trail in SW Virginia, where one is met with breathtaking views and unparalleled natural beauty. We firmly believe that children, and people more generally, are not only happiest in nature but indebted to our beautiful Earth for all that it gives us physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually.
Though we know as parents we can do more, we strive to teach Milo and Camila that as inhabitants of this land, we have to help the Earth by reducing our consumption and living mindfully in order to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil we live on.
What that means might look different for different people. But, as Dr. Seuss’s the Once-ler warns us, we must care. We only have one Earth which, Robert Frost reminds us, is the “right place for love. I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.”
There are many ways to make a positive impact on our world. In India, groups like Warrior Moms work for cleaner air, while in some areas villagers create task-forces to patrol forests and protect against illegal logging and poaching. Animals such as tigers, rhinoceroses, elephants, and panthers are poached for their hides, hair, whiskers, and tusks, which are used for fashion and perceived medicinal properties, and many targeted groups are already endangered. Their habitats are threatened by legal and illegal logging, urbanization, and growing environmental hazards caused by global warming, which threatens India even more than most other areas around the globe.
Environments know no borders, and our destinies are intricately tied. Here in the US, loss of habitat and pesticide use threaten many creatures fundamental to our ecosystem, like bees, blue birds, and Monarch butterflies—all living creatures. Whether through erecting blue bird houses or planting pollinator gardens, recycling, buying less and keeping our things longer, and passing down or sharing clothing, we can make differences in small ways that, when added up, can be quite impactful.
Thank you for taking the time to read this story about how Bootswa was made. I hope that it might serve as inspiration for how to use collaborative storytelling and art to share important messages, to experience joy and healing, and to bridge distances despite any obstacles that may be present.
In lieu of an abstract, please find below a brief excerpt of Bootswa: A Tale of Loss and Remaking. Please contact us if you’d like to hear more!
Chapter One: A Serendipitous Meeting
One morning, Bootswa, the greatest tiger in India, was attempting to catch fish for his breakfast while keeping watch for Goliath, the largest crocodile ever seen. He was ferocious, nearly as big as an elephant, and as ancient as any story ever told.
Bootswa stood at the river’s edge and looked down at his reflection in the gently moving water and thoughtfully stroked his whiskers, giving special attention to the longest whiskers in the middle, which he curled upward, just like the satisfied smile he wore on his face.
With the promise of the day before him, Bootswa gingerly walked into the water a few steps and stood still. He steadied his gaze on the smooth ripples, looking hungrily for signs of fish, listening and feeling intently for any underwater movement that could be a sign of Goliath.
Out of the corner of his eye, a dragonfly drifted by, but Bootswa didn’t pay it the least bit of attention. His only thought was on fishing and the fact that he didn’t want to fight for his life with the biggest, meanest creature that swam these waters. The day was just too perfect. Suddenly, Bootswa’s quiet focus was interrupted by a soft meowing sound in the bushes behind him. He turned around at once to investigate.
Author/Illustrator Bios:
Milo Dominic Ramírez enjoys reading, writing, drawing, and spending time in nature among its many special creatures. He has been writing and illustrating books since he could hold a pen. He loves literature across genres and forms, and some of his favorite authors are J.K. Rowling, Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, and David Walliams. Milo’s “Stampeding Elephants” art piece was selected among an open pool of Latinx applicants for UNC PlayMakers Repertory Company’s art exhibition during their run of Karen Zacarías’s play Native Gardens.
Camila “Mila” Carolina Ramírez loves to hear stories and to draw for hours on end. Her whimsical, impressionistic style, shown in “Bootswa Saves Teeny and Weeny,” secured her a spot in UNC PlayMakers Repertory Company’s art exhibition during their run of Karen Zacarías’s play Native Gardens. Like Milo, Mila loves stories, and some of her favorite characters to read about are Elephant and Piggie, Pippi Longstocking, Junie B. Jones, Ramona, Peter Rabbit, Pete the Cat, Laura and Mary, and Ron Weasley. Mila adores animals, particularly her dog, Hattie.
*All photos as well as the manuscript for Bootswa have been copyright protected. Please do not reproduce or use any language or images without written permission from the authors/illustrators.
