VEo Veo, I see you
BOOK OVERVIEW
A heartwarming picture book celebrating essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic that’s also a lively, bilingual game of Veo, Veo (I Spy).
Marisol’s mami is the best cook at Rosita’s Cafe! But now, the restaurant is closed. A bad virus—too easy to catch in small, crowded places—is going around.
Marisol, Pepito, and Mami still need to go out to bring Mami’s arroz con pollo to housebound Tía Olga and Cousin Johnny. As Marisol and Pepito watch the people working around the neighborhood, who their mother explains have essential work, Marisol thinks of the perfect game to play:
Veo, veo…
¿Qué ves, Marisol?
I spy…a trash collector. Essential work. Those bins were full!
By the time they get home, Marisol has another idea: a way to show the people in her neighborhood that she sees them!
The process
ABOUT THE STORY
The year 2020 brought a worldwide pandemic. To protect people from getting sick, many states in the United States ordered everyone to stay home for many months. Workers who state governments agreed were essential were exempt from the stay-at-home orders. They were needed to keep the country going. They could not work from home to avoid catching the deadly virus. My freelance work allowed me to stay safe at home: but I witnessed how others could not. The caregivers at my mother’s assisted living could not miss a day of work. My husband went to work along many other health providers in circumstances difficult and dangerous. During long walks around the neighborhood I saw handmade signs go up. These signs, some of which were created by children, publicly thanked essential workers. And the idea for this book was born: to celebrate essential workers in a joyful way, making them visible to the youngest children through the game of Veo, Veo (I Spy).
The story shows that essential workers included people in the healthcare field, like nurses and doctors, and those in food production, like Marisol’s neighbors at the chicken plant and the food pantry. But many other people were needed, too, for all our neighborhoods to function. Trash collectors, bus drivers, pharmacists, cashiers, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, firemen, and police all kept going to work. Essential workers, who were disproportionately Black and Brown, risked their lives daily to protect their communities—to protect all of us. They worked in jobs that allowed the rest of us to go about our daily lives, meeting our basic needs.
Before the pandemic, many of us did not think about how important these workers were for our society to function properly. They were invisible. Not anymore.
ABOUT THE ART
Marisol, Pepito, and Mami came to life in my sketchbook. Before I wrote a word, I drew, and drew, and drew until I knew who Marisol was and how would Pepito behave. I challenged myself to create art that expands and complements the manuscript. I did not know what technique I would use for Veo, Veo, until I thought of Marisol’s special way of thanking her neighborhood’s essential workers. Yes! Collage was the perfect match. So, I created my own palette of died, painted, and texturized papers. Limiting myself to the chosen palette, I was able to give cohesiveness to the art in the otherwise chaos of paper pieces.
SCHOOL PROGRAMS
Veo, Veo, We See YOu!
45 min. Lulu tells how she became an illustrator and author of books in English and Spanish. She shares how she used the Latino equivalent to the I Spy game to define the concept of essential work in the story. She shows how she created the collage art; and how students can become co-authors with Marisol. A discussion ensues about who and why is essential in the school community. With school support this program can have an additional interactive component where Lulu and the students recreate Marisol's I SEE YOU collage. Recommended for Pre-k-3rd and adapted according to grade level.
reviews + AWARDS
School Library Journal 30 Picture Books to Celebrate the Diversity of Latinx Heritage List
“Delacre ingeniously sets up the game of Veo, Veo as a conversation between the siblings and Mami that alternates between English and Spanish…in a neighborhood rendered in effervescent colors and curved landscapes…Essentially kindhearted” —Kirkus Reviews
"Readers join Marisol, younger brother Pepito, and their mother in a game of 'I Spy' around the neighborhood in this charming story. . . . Recommended for those building their collection of titles covering the COVID-19 pandemic, but this is also a wonderful choice for expanding bilingual titles on offer."—School Library Journal
“Collage-style art adds depth and texture to vibrant pages that portray a busy, largely brown-skinned community, offering readers much to find throughout. Alongside the gamified plot, the family’s own errands—taking food and medicine to loved ones, queuing at a food pantry for themselves and for others—underline themes of essential community care.” — Publishers Weekly