By Amaris Castillo
In Bodega Cats: Picture Purrfect we meet a frightened cat desperately searching for scraps of food. He finds a cozy ditch to warm up, only to be confronted by a group of snarling cats. That’s their spot, one yells.
So the loner cat runs off, under honking cars and through echoing alleys. He eventually finds a steamy vent behind a mailbox and decides that’s where he’ll sleep tonight.
Suddenly, human hands scoop him up.
“You’re okay, little cat,” the boy says. “Let’s get you out of the cold.”
So begins a beautiful budding friendship between Miguel Rosado, and the cat, who the boy names Lolo.
From Dominican-American author Hilda Eunice Burgos comes a story that will tug at your heartstrings. Out on July 23 from Henry Holt & Company, Bodega Cats: Picture Purrfect features adorable illustrations by Mexican and Black artist, Siara Faison. Burgos expertly tells the story in alternating points of view; we watch Lolo adjust to his new bodega surroundings and Miguel struggle to tell his parents about joining an art club. They work long hours at the bodega and don’t see the value in art the way he does.
Bodega Cats: Picture Purrfect is a great story for young readers, filled with warmth and themes of bravery and and kindness. There's also a gentle lesson for children on advocating for themselves. It is the first standalone installment of a three-part series. The second installment, Bodega Cats: Just Kitten Around, is already available for preorder.
Ahead of the book’s release, Burgos spoke with the Dominican Writers Association about what it was like to write about a bodega cat, what draws her to the middle grade genre, and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Congratulations on Bodega Cats: Picture Purrfect. How did you land the opportunity to tell this story?
The editor at Henry Holt, Carina Licon, reached out to me and said she had this idea for a three-book series about bodega cats and the children that adopt them. And she wanted to know if I would be interested in working on it. I had a meeting with her and the other editor, Brian Geffen, and I loved the idea. Some of what she was saying made me think of all these other ideas of things I could do with the story. We decided that we would make a good team. Then we got to work on it. I lucked out that she came up with the idea, and she reached out to me to do it.
We’re both from New York, so we understand how big of a deal bodega cats are. Their popularity has grown so much now that they’re a part of Internet culture. What is your experience with real bodega cats?
I don’t have any experience with real bodega cats, actually, other than to follow them on social media. My daughter currently lives in Brooklyn and has told me that there’s a cat in her local bodega. But when I was growing up, we didn’t have cats in the bodegas that I went into. So I don’t personally have any experience with bodega cats, but thank goodness for the Internet and social media because I’ve spent a lot of time looking on YouTube and Instagram, and learning more about bodega cats and how they live in these bodegas.
It was so interesting how you did alternating POVs between Miguel and Lolo – so a chapter from the boy’s perspective and then a chapter from the cat. What was it like to tell this story partly from a cat’s perspective?
That was the hard part, actually. The editors kept saying, ‘Can you get more in a cat headspace?’ And I kept thinking, What does that mean? I did a lot of research about cats and how they view the world around them. I know that they’re very much into smells; it’s kind of how they communicate. In the beginning, Lolo gets into a fight with these other cats and some of their body language were things that I learned about through research. I did all this research about cats in order to get into Lolo’s head and try to figure out, ‘What would he be thinking right now? How would he be reacting to these things?’ Obviously, we’re all people that are going to be reading the book [laughs], so I don’t know how believable it is, but that was what I was trying to do.
In the book, Miguel struggles to get his parents to see how much art means to him. They don’t see it as a good career path for him, despite him being a child still. It felt familiar because that happens often with children of immigrants. Why did you want to focus on that specific tension?
You’re also a writer, so I’m sure you’ve heard the advice that in order to write a good story, you should put your characters through really difficult situations and keep making them more and more difficult. So that’s one thing that I was trying to do here. Because Miguel is so young – he’s only in fifth grade, hasn’t even reached those rebellious teenage years, and has always been an obedient kid – I know it’s a big struggle for him to defy his parents. But it was important to him. I think that’s a universal theme that a lot of children have. It especially fits with parents who are immigrants and who tell us all the time [about] all the sacrifices that they made, and [that] we need to make their sacrifices worth their while. That was a universal child-of-an-immigrant theme that I wanted to focus on.
I also wanted to show that, in addition to having this passion despite being so young, he’s also able to find the courage to speak up and tell his parents what he thinks – in part because he knows that they love him and want him to be happy. In order to come up with this tension and what Miguel is thinking and feeling, I did have to tap into some of his anger and some of his sadness. But it also felt great to tap into the love that he and his family feel for one another. And, again, I felt that I was coming from a place of genuineness. That this is something that happens a lot in families.
Without spoiling anything, there is a tender moment in the book between Miguel and his parents. An apology is shared. Why was it important for you to put that on the page?
Well, sort of the same thing as what I was saying. I did want his efforts and his standing up for himself to have a positive result. Because otherwise, it would have been a very negative thing.
Interspersed throughout the book are comics drawn by Siara Faison. What was it like to work with her?
I haven’t met her because the process has been very similar to working on a picture book, where the editor and the art director do all of the communicating between us. But one thing I can say is that I really loved her drawings and, whenever I had a comment or a suggestion for a change, her changes were exactly what I was thinking of. So yes, I’m really thrilled that she’s on this project with me.
I really loved Miguel and his cute little face. And Lolo. It really tugged at my heart the first time I saw her illustrations. I thought she did a really great job.
This is your third published middle grade novel. You’re also the author of Ana María Reyes Does Not Live in a Castle and Miosotis Flores Never Forgets. What draws you in about the middle grade genre?
Oh, well. I actually really like reading middle grade books. I like that children at that age are getting to a point where they can explore the world outside of themselves, and you can start to introduce different things and different aspects of life to make them really think about things. But still, at the same time, you want to be positive. What I like about middle grade books is that you can introduce a topic that can create a little bit of tension, a little bit of turmoil, and make you think outside the box and outside of your usual way of thinking. But in the end, there’s always a happy ending, and things get resolved. The characters are always different at the end of the book than they were at the beginning, because they grow and learn. And I really like that about middle grade.
You draw a lot from your Dominican heritage in creating your stories. How did our culture influence this book?
I want to create believable characters and situations with all my books, so I draw on what I know. My heritage is an integral part of who I am, so Dominican culture just naturally comes through on the page. As for Miguel in particular, I was 10 years old the first time I visited the DR – and Miguel has also only been there one time so far. And yet, like me, he feels very connected to his Dominican culture; he speaks Spanish, eats Dominican food, and has these immigrant parents with these ideas that might feel a little different from his.
While I don’t actually say this in the book, I think to Miguel’s parents his passion for art and the things he wants to do is kind of “American.” Miguel is someone who, like me, has always straddled both cultures. It’s just a part of who I am, and I can’t rip out my Dominicanness to write a book so it’s always going to come through.
What is your must-have when you walk into a bodega?
One great thing about bodegas is that you can find just about anything. I remember I did an event at Word Up Community Bookshop. It was winter and my hands were dry, so I just popped into a bodega and got some lotion. So whatever I need, basically. But I do have to say that one thing I love about bodegas is that I can find foods that I love. If I was told you have to pick one food to eat for the rest of your life, it would definitely be plátanos. That’s what I would be getting.
What do you hope people take away from your book?
When I was a child, I never read any books about kids like me. One thing that I really hope is that readers have something in common with Miguel and can see some of themselves and their lives in this story and say, ‘Oh, wow, I feel like that, too’ or ‘My cat does those things,’ or ‘My parents always say that stuff.’ I just want them to feel this recognition and this acknowledgement that they exist, and that there are people out there like them. Of course to readers for whom this book is not a reflection of their lives, I hope they learn something about Dominicans, about New York City, bodega, cats, art. It’s always great to learn something new in a book. I always want my readers to just enjoy my books, and to be inspired to read more and more books.
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Visit our Bookshop to purchase a copy of Bodega Cats: Picture Perfect and to preorder a copy of Bodega Cats: Just Kitten Around.
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About the Author:
Hilda Eunice Burgos was born and raised in Washington Heights, New York City. The first time Hilda read a book—back when she was a student at P.S. 132—she knew she wanted to be a writer. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, Hilda headed to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania and later Harvard Law School for her law degree. She and her husband have two grown children and an adorable dog named Bear. She is the author of Ana María Reyes Does Not Live in a Castle, The Cot in the Living Room, and Miosotis Flores Never Forgets.
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About the Illustrator:
Siara Faison is a bookseller turned illustrator from all over California. If she's not drawing, you can find her bingeing movies with her husband, sister, and old cat, Kitty.
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Amaris Castillo is a journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times, the Lowell Sun, the Bradenton Herald, Remezcla, Latina Magazine, Parents Latina Magazine, and elsewhere. Her creative writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms be Like..., and most recently in Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, "El Don," was a finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. Amaris lives in Florida with her family. You can follow her work at amariscastillo.com.
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