Gift #5 – Bahay Kubo Book

What is a favorite book or story from your childhood?
My favorite book from my childhood is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It’s so beautifully written and simple.

What was your inspiration for writing bilingual books?
My daughters are half Filipino and they’ve always loved reading bilingual English/Tagalog books.
I had read that one of the best ways of acquiring a new language is to read songs and children’s stories from the language you’re trying to learn. But I couldn’t find any books of Filipino children’s folksongs, and I thought it would be a fun project to spend some time on.
We mostly speak English at home to be honest. However my wife speaks Tagalog, so my daughters and I are trying to do our best to learn from her.

Any advice for parents teaching kids Tagalog?
The best thing I’ve found to help my daughters learn Tagalog was to travel with my kids to the Philippines at a young age. It’s a big expensive trip, but there’s nothing like being in a country to help you pick up a language. We’d love to get back over there and do some more exploring.

Is there a large Filipino community where you live?
Yes, Florida has a pretty big Filipino community. Particularly South Florida where we live. There are lots of cruise ships that dock here and many Filipinos work in that industry.

Tell us about any future book release or projects.
One thing I’m working on at the moment is a website of free children’s stories called Story Yeti https://storyyeti.com/. It features many tales from many different cultures of the world – including a few Filipino folktales.  I’m planning to add more Filipino stories in the future.
The idea is to create a place where anyone in the world with an internet connection can find high quality children’s stories without having to pay anything.

And of lastly, what is your favorite Filipino Food?
My favorite Filipino food is chicken barbecue, the deliciously sweet and tangy street food kind that comes on a stick.