GENRE: **Diverse, Humor, Character Driven
WORDS: 602
Query:
Thank you for your generous offer to participate in PBParty 2025. I am submitting Koi Joy, an intergenerational book that features splashy fish and a koi legend.
Catalina longs for a koi for her new pond, but Abuelito will first test her perseverance. Can she outsmart a school of fish to get her own koi? Koi Joy is perfect for inquisitive fans of How to Eat a Mango and The Girl Who Loves Bugs. My fishy tale was picked as best promising picture book in SCBWI’s 2024 MayFest conference.
I’m a member of the Midwest Pond & Koi Society and enjoy listening to fishy tales. Koi are associated with good luck, prosperity, and perseverance. Market research estimates the koi global market was worth $2.68 billion in 2024. My STEAM book can grace the shelves of libraries, schools, arboretums, zoos and hospitals – any place that has a koi pond. In Vietnam, for example, koi ponds are very popular at cafes.
I’m a Latina author of two nonfiction chapter books: Behind the Scenes of Pro Basketball and Behind the Scenes of Pro Baseball (Capstone, 2019). I’m an award-winning journalist and serve as Assistant Regional Advisor for the Illinois chapter of SCBWI. I’m also a mom of 15, or is it 18 koi? Thank you for reading my fishy entry.
Excerpt:
I’ve asked Abuelito a million times for a baby koi.
But, he always says, “Not now, sweet Catalina. I’m not sure you are ready.”
I dip my fingers into his chilly pond.
Whiskers tickle, scarlet scales sparkle in the sun.
Butterfly fins glide past mis dedos. La Dragóna Dorada says hello.
I’m going to ask again.
First, I help Abuelito with fishy chores.
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
When we bought our first house, we inherited a pond with several graceful koi. We knew nothing, but fell in love immediately. One of the koi was 50 years old! One morning, when I was trying to figure out how many fish we had, Catalina was born. What would happen if she wanted a baby koi? Her Abuelito would test her because koi parents are very protective, putting up nets and chasing predators. He’d ask her how many fish he had. How would Catalina count moving fish?
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