How did you get the idea for Shaken?
Current children’s media feels a little too sanitized to me. There aren’t a lot of kids’ books or movies that talk about serious topics. So, this was my way of reaching out to any kid who’s having such an experience and being able to help them get a better understanding of it.
Santiago Chamorro '25
Hometown: Managua, Nicaragua
Majors: Creative Writing and Japanese
What do you hope to convey with this book?
Even though things can get difficult sometimes, we should value those things and those people who can help us get through them. Overall, it is thanks to the people who love us that we are able to push forward and grow up through tough times.
“There aren’t a lot of kids’ books or movies that talk about serious topics. So, this was my way of reaching out to any kid who’s having such an experience and being able to help them get a better understanding of it.”
What went into creating Shaken?
I brushed up on stuff that I liked as a kid and that was easy to read, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Little Prince. I also had to figure out how to talk about dark themes as a kid to a kid. Afterward, with the help of [Professor of Literature and Creative Writing] Margaret Thickstun, I drafted and edited over nearly three months. I had to watch my sentence structure, paragraph lengths, and vocabulary so it was accessible to children. Surprisingly, creating the illustrations was the most difficult part. There’s one on every other page, and I had to make sure they were both interesting to look at and simple enough that a child could understand them.
What has been the reaction to the book?
Before this, I did some other short, illustrated stories, which were pretty well-received with some local public schools back in my home country of Nicaragua. That’s what inspired me to write this book. I’ve shown copies of Shaken to some family and friends who have kids. From [feedback] I’ve gotten so far, they have really enjoyed the book. I wrote this book in English for the Levitt Center, but I think it would be pretty fun to do a version in Spanish as well, because I want to share it with a larger audience in Nicaragua.
