Kids

Mask of My Own: A Story of a Negrense Girl’s Love for Her Family

Mask of My Own is a book about the annual Masskara Festival held in Negros Occidental. Little Carmela wants to make her own mask. But what will she draw?

Parents who encourage their children to read will love this new book called Mask of My Own. The book talks about little Carmela, who encourages her family to make their own masks for the Masskara Festival held every year in Negros Occidental. However, while her parents and siblings know what to draw, Carmela is stumped about hers! After all, there are too many things she loves about living in Negros. In the book, young readers will find out what they are and how Carmela’s mask will look with the help of her family.

Modern Parenting recently talked to the book’s author Ines Bautista-Yao, and artist, Georgina Golez Camus, who happen to be cousins. The book is published by Kado Publishing, a small-scale, independent, woman-owned publisher specializing in books by Asian artists and writers. As a group, they are passionate about diversity and inclusion, education, children’s rights, literacy, and the environment.

Mask of My Own is set in Ines’ hometown, Negros. “I wanted to write a story about my hometown. And I felt the best way to do it was to have it surround the most celebrated festival of Negros, which is the Masskara Festival. It was a great way to highlight all the different things I love about Negros, too.”

Georgina adds, “It’s been a dream of ours to be able to work on something together. And this was finally our chance to do it! It was a very collaborative process but it didn’t really feel like work because I got to work with my cousin.”

Georgina Golez Camus and Ines Bautista-Yao

Life in Negros

Ines’ childhood in Negros was filled with nature and all kinds of animals. “We’d be thrown in the back of a pickup surrounded by pillows when my parents and their friends decided on a whim to head for the beach,” she recalls.

“My childhood memories include riding on a horse bareback, eating sugarcane with the juice dribbling down my chin, picking ipil-ipil leaves off the trees, peeling them open and eating the seeds, imitating the sounds of the roosters that woke me up in the morning and the tukoo that put me to sleep at night. It was a goat eating my hair as I fed it grass, threading worms through hooks to catch fish in the fishpond, coming home to steaming bowls of batchoy or slices of fluffy angel cake for merienda; it was welcoming visitors from Manila and other places around the world every few weeks because they stayed in our house while they visited Negros, and having family members stay over for months, even years, because they fell in love with the province that was my home.”

It’s evident how much Negros means to Ines that she finds herself incorporating it into her books for young adults. “It’s not just because I grew up there and so many of my experiences are rooted in my childhood, but because life in Negros was so colorful. So different from what people in Metro Manila go through every day. It’s not just the provincial life but the little details that make Negros so special to me. And I was able to inject most of that in A Mask of My Own. It truly is a love story to my hometown.”

How Love for Family Shaped the Story

Ines’ books are always a collaboration. She can never write or publish alone, and Mask of My Own is no different. “First of all, I really wanted Georgina to illustrate the book because it has always been a dream of ours to create a book together.”

“We worked very closely on each page. At the same time, George had an inspired idea to use the drawings of my youngest daughter Tammy as Carmela’s drawings. Tammy was thrilled. And so were George and I at how the pages came out.”

Members of their family also contributed to putting the book together. Ines and George asked their other cousins who grew up in Silay for photos of the different places that George wanted to draw. “So much family involvement in this book,” says the author. “We also asked my dad Geny, George’s mom Pia, our Titas, and our kasambahays to have a look at the Hiligaynon translation of the book to see if it all was understandable.”

Empowering Little Girls

Before having two daughters, Ines was already writing for young girls when she became the editor of a local teen magazine. Moreover, she was teaching high school girls in Assumption College. “I have always wanted to champion women empowerment in my life and in my work,” she says. “This book doesn’t directly do that but just having a strong little girl as the main character, as a little Negrense girl, plus a Hiligaynon translation right next to the English words I had written, is already very strong representation. It speaks to the little Negrense girl I used to be. One that still lives inside me today.”

On the other hand, Georgina has illustrated two children’s books for Kado already. And each time she illustrates, she keeps her nieces and nephews in mind. “I always want to produce works that they can appreciate and enjoy. I am lucky enough to be able to bring stories to life that empower little girls and talk about the importance of family. Two things that are very important to me.”

The Value of Family

From the heartwarming story to the beautiful illustrations, there are many things to love about Mask of My Own. It highlights the value of family while emphasizing how each member has a unique individuality. To grab a copy of the book, visit Kado Publishing’s website.

Find more books for your kids to read on Modern Parenting:

6 Books to Jumpstart Your Child’s Love for Reading

8 Neil Gaiman Books Kids Can Get Into If They Love The Sandman

6 Classic Books For Kids To Read and Learn From

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