"All I wanted for my son were books that we would both enjoy reading while supporting his language acquisition.The struggle was that I could not find the right Spanish children's books for my then 8 month old"
The idea to start Veoleo, an indie press, was born in January 2018, the same month my grandfather, an immigrant from Colombia, passed away. Our conversation about his life evolved into my sister and I discussing the importance of sharing our love of reading and Spanish language to younger generations because he was an avid learning and reader. At the same time, I embarked on the journey of raising a Spanish bilingual child. All I wanted for my son were books that we would both enjoy reading while supporting his language acquisition. These books would encourage independent reading, with simple storylines, interesting and colorful illustrations, and, most importantly, a fictional world with authentic text in Spanish that spoke to our Latin American heritage. The struggle was that I could not find the right Spanish children's books for my then 8 month old. That conversation we had in January concluded with a statement: my sister, Alexis, and I would create those books. Between Alexis' extensive professional legal background and mine as a scholar in Latin American language and culture, we had the professional skills and the drive to materialize our idea. My sister and I launched Veoleo by October 2018 with our first book titled, ?D?nde est? el coqu?? Un cuento sobre una ranita cantante.