Author & Illustrator Chat with Cristina Quintero and Sarah Gonzales (The Only Way To Make Bread), Plus Giveaway! ~ US/CAN ONLY

Today we are very excited to share an interview with author Cristina Quintero and illustrator Sarah Gonzales!

Read on to learn more about the creators, their book, and a giveaway!

Meet the Author: Cristina Quintero

Cristina Quintero is a first-generation Colombian-Canadian of both Afro-Colombian and Indigenous-Colombian descent. As a child of immigrants, she understands the importance of stories that go beyond trauma and struggle and instead highlight the everyday joy that is created within immigrant communities. She grew up in a neighborhood where one mama filled in for another, so while it was not always easy, her childhood was always delicious. Thus was born her lifelong love of food and ideas about community-building through food. Cristina lives in Sherwood Park, Alberta.

Website * Facebook * Instagram * X

Meet the Illustrator: Sarah Gonzales

Sarah Gonzales is a Filipino-Canadian illustrator who was born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Canada. Sarah has been drawing ever since she can remember and has never stopped; she eventually went to the Alberta College of Art and Design, where she focused on illustration and design. Sarah lives in Montreal, Quebec.

About the Book: The Only Way to Make Bread

A delicious exploration of all kinds of breads, from sourdough to bannock to bao, that will tickle your taste buds and warm your heart.

What’s the only way to make bread?

You might use white flour in your bread, or whole wheat flour or corn flour.

You might use water or milk, maybe an egg or two.

You’ll use a handful of this, a dash of that, a bit of this and a splash of that.

Some dough will rise, some dough will bubble. Sometimes it will be sticky, sometimes it will be shaggy.

What’s the only way to make bread?

Your way!

This tasty celebration of all kinds of bread will tempt bread lovers big and small. No matter what kind of bread YOU like to make, this book is for you!

Amazon (US) * Amazon (CAN) * B&N * Goodreads

~Author Chat~

YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?

Cristina: I am legendary for answering a question with a story or five, so I’ll try to keep this short: please edit at will. ☺️

I’ve been bouncing this idea around my brain for 5 years, but with dumplings. I wanted to find a way to bring people with differing opinions on difficult topics to the table, so to speak. I had a work plan, a budget, a list of people to interview…and then it was 2020 and we all went inside our homes. Bad timing. Then inspiration struck as I saw how bread was connecting all of us to each other, and my idea was reborn.

YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?

Cristina: There is a scene in my kitchen where Sarah drew my kids and I making my dad’s arepas, and it lights my heart up something fierce. I was raised during a time where Colombians were only represented in the media for the worst parts of what our nation has to offer. Despite that, my parents raised my siblings and I with a deep love for traditional foods, our language, and a pride in the small stories of what it means to be Colombian. The fact that my kids now have that food to take forward in their lives, and to share that with the world, means that while they haven’t been to Colombia yet, they still carry a piece of it with them.

YABC: What came first, the concept, landscape, characters, or something else?

Cristina: Definitely the concept, and then the community. It’s modelled on my childhood, and the remarkable Sarah Gonzales captured it more beautifully than I ever could have hoped for. The people themselves are loosely based on the friends and family who generously shared their bread stories with me. Sarah also included her family and friends in the pages, so every page is just overflowing with love and gratitude.

YABC: What can readers expect to find in your book?

Cristina: Hopefully, hope. This is a love song to community, and to the shared experiences of what it means to be human. Ava DuVernay says that “everyone is human at the table”, and my deepest desire is that this book brings more people to the community table to see each other as equals in care and contribution.

YABC: What is your favorite snack when writing?

Cristina: I don’t really eat while writing, but I will always have a range of beverages: definitely a coffee, and probably an abandoned tea or smoothie somewhere in the space. Music, though? That’s a very specific hype up mix of Beastie Boys and Beethoven…my family knows it’s time to get out of my way when they hear a particular playlist.

YABC: What’s your least favorite word or expression and why?

Cristina: I’m deciding which end of the pool to jump into with this one. (Have I mentioned I learned to swim in a waterfall? 😉 ) I’m going to go with somewhere right in the middle and say I place little value on “kids these days”. It’s so full of judgement and doesn’t truly take into consideration how wildly different the world they’re being raised in is from the one that my generation was.

YABC: How do you keep your ‘voice’ true to the age category you are writing within?

Cristina: I tend to speak to everyone in somewhat the same way, except for my dogs. I’m ridiculous with my dogs. Adjusting language for younger audiences is a well practiced habit for me as a former family literacy educator.

YABC: What is your favorite holiday or tradition and why?

Cristina: I can thank my mother for instilling a love for New Year’s Eve in me.

We clean (and I mean clean) the house so that we begin the new year fresh, stock the fridge, and put money in our pockets. However, you enter the new year is how it will go, so we keep it tight. Then, we light a fire and make lists: one for gratitude, one for what we leave behind, one for what we wish for others, and lastly, one for what we wish for ourselves. We choose whether to share or keep private what we’ve written, and then we burn them.

YABC: What’s up next for you?

Cristina: I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say “officially”, so I’ll just say that this book is definitely just the beginning. This industry is a lot like the film industry in terms of “hurry up and wait”, which means you spend a lot of time sitting on the happiest kinds of secrets.

YABC: Is there anything that you would like to add?

Cristina: So much. Seriously, I can talk for days. I’m bone-deep grateful for the opportunity to be publishing this book, and for everyone who believed in it and brought it to life. And I hope that as this book finds its reader, it will inspire them to build community wherever they find themselves.

Illustrator: Sarah Gonzales

YABC: What is your favorite thing to draw?

Sarah: One of my favourite things to draw are portraits. The face is a complex world of its own. Food is another favourite thing to draw. I love diving into all the yummy textures and details.

YABC: Do you doodle?

Sarah: When I’m traveling, I enjoy doodling people from life or my surroundings. I like to re-arrange and mash everything together on a page – it’s a mix of little studies of different angles and moments in time. In my sketchbook I find solace in writing down ideas, planning compositions, and sketching out characters for fun.

YABC: What advice would you have for aspiring illustrators?

Sarah: The first advice I think of, is the one I tell myself all the time – be patient. It took me around 7 years until I started illustrating picture books. At the beginning you may find yourself doing work outside of your field in order to pay the bills. For a while I worked in games before I fully made the leap to pursue illustrating books full-time. During the day I worked as a concept artist and whenever I had the energy I would moonlight as a freelancer and work on personal illustrations. As complex as the process may be sometimes, you simply have to keep creating. Create a lot of bad work to get to the good work. It’s like grinding in a video game. You have to fight all these monsters, explore the terrain, complete quests and puzzles, to gain experience and level up. Honestly sometimes it’s not fun and it can be very frustrating. Because you know where you want to be, but you’re not there yet. The beauty in that, is you have a vision. Remember the bigger picture. Write down your aspirations somewhere so you have something to look back at when you feel lost. For me, I found having an agenda helps me a lot. It’s a place where I write down my goals yearly, monthly, weekly and daily. Even if some tasks weren’t crossed off all the time, I had a form of guidance.

YABC:  How long did it take you to create the artwork for this book?

Sarah: It took me more or less 10 months to complete the artwork. This includes working on other projects, spending time with family and traveling throughout the year. At the beginning I worked on studies of different types of bread and characters. This is one of the most enjoyable parts of the process. Doing a little visual development helped with the overall look of the book and I wish I spent a little more time in that phase! The fastest part was doing the thumbnail sketches of the spreads. After receiving a few rounds of notes, I refined the sketches on the computer and prepared them to be transferred onto paper for the coloured pencil work. The most time consuming phases were rendering the finals with coloured pencils and editing them digitally – this took me around 6 months to fully complete the final art. I’m forever thankful for the team at Tundra for all their trust, patience and kindness throughout the process.

YABC: What inspired you the most for the artwork in this book?

Sarah: My family! All of the parties and gatherings we had growing up served as big inspiration. In the opening scene I infused some of my childhood memories of kids running around, while the older generation would sit at the table, shoes would be piled up at the doorway and there would always be food being prepared in the kitchen. The apartment building in the book was also loosely inspired by my Titas’ small apartment complex. As a kid the hallways and doors all looked the same but then inside each unit was a fun little world to explore. Another inspiration was my Tita Paz. She would be in the kitchen baking pandesal and I remember the sweet smell and warmth coming out of the oven. The coziness of being with family and friends, and the happiness bread can bring were threads woven throughout all the visuals.

YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?

Sarah: One of the scenes I’m proudest of is the oven spread. While I was working on the interior thumbnails, it was one of the sketches I first had in mind. This perspective highlights the warmth of the bread right out of the oven and the feelings of love surrounding it. I’m proud of how the composition encapsulates the heart of the book in a simple moment.

YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?

Sarah: I think my favorite character might be the black lab. You see them throughout the book lingering around and waiting patiently, and finally at the end they get a taste of bread. They’re also based on one of Cristina’s dogs.

YABC: Which techniques are your favorites to use?

Sarah: A technique I enjoy is doing an under drawing using a base color. For this book I used a golden ochre yellow for an overall toasty and warm feel. When I want to add a little pop, I love going over drawings and paintings with a white gel pen for tiny details. With digital techniques, I like to play around with different blending modes and layer in grainy and gritty textures.

YABC: What do you do when you feel stuck or when you want to procrastinate?

Sarah: When I’m feeling stuck, I find journal writing very helpful. I let down all the random thoughts, frustrations in a conscious stream. Eventually I find a path and write about what I’d like to do with my day. Seeing my thoughts written down in front of me helps to clarify my feelings a little.

To get motivated through low points, I listen to music that pumps me up on repeat. While I was working on the book, a couple of my favourite albums were Renaissance by Beyoncé and Dawn FM by The Weeknd. Since I mainly work by myself, sometimes I’ll put on a TV show in the background for some company and inspiration when I need to zone out on the rendering phase. One I love is The Last Dance, a Chicago Bulls docuseries. The intense determination and competitive drive moves me to work hard!

Title: The Only Way To Make Bread

Author: Cristina Quintero

Illustrator: Sarah Gonzales

Release Date: October 3, 2023

Publisher: Tundra Books

ISBN: 9780735271760

Genre: Children’s picture book

Age Range: 3-7 years

*Giveaway Details*

Five (5) winners will receive a copy of The Only Way to Make Bread (Cristina Quintero) and a recipe card. ~ US/CAN Only

*Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway!*

a Rafflecopter giveaway