"Juanita": Bridging cultures through bilingual storytelling.

"Juanita" authors: At left are Jesse Buendía Ragbir (top) and Rayne Affonso, and at right are Talia Khan (top) and Bilqees Mohammed.

Juanita: A bilingual bridge between Trinidadian and Venezuelan culture

“No matter the nationality, ‘Juanita’ is designed to be both educational and entertaining. It highlights major aspects about Trinidadian and Venezuelan culture…”

Four colleagues and friends, Bilqees Mohammed, Rayne Affonso, Jesse Buendía Ragbir, and Talia Khan, majored in Spanish together at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine and published Juanita (2024), a bilingual children’s book set in Trinidad and Tobago, intended to enhance foreign language skill in the islands. Rayne shares the team’s journey to launching their first self-published book.

Juanita: A bilingual children’s book set in Trinidad and Tobago

Juanita is a bilingual children’s book written in English and Spanish. It is designed to sensitize young readers to Trinidadian culture, Trinidad and Tobago’s ethno-religious diversity, and the contemporary migrant experience while simultaneously improving foreign language skills. Juanita is targeted at readers aged 7-12 and consists of sixteen chapters that contain vocabulary lists, reading comprehension questions, and a written reflection exercise.

A book for young readers across two languages

“Juanita” is aimed at both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking children ages 7-11. Because the book focusses on increasing foreign language proficiency, we wanted to make it as enjoyable as possible for a wider audience. For instance, an eleven-year-old English-speaking child may not be reading at the same capacity in Spanish, so in that sense it was important to ensure accessibility across a vast age range.

No matter the nationality, Juanita is designed to be both educational and entertaining. It highlights major aspects about Trinidadian and Venezuelan culture through typical coming-of-age experiences, such as making new friends, trying new foods, having a pet, and much more.

Juanita consists of sixteen chapters and is in bilingual format, so the English and Spanish translation lie side-by-side to enhance reader interaction. In each chapter, certain vocabulary words are highlighted in both languages, and the chapters end with brief reading comprehension questions, and a written exercise. In this way, the book can be used simultaneously as a recreational storybook and as a pedagogical tool in the classroom.”

The inspiration behind Juanita

“In light of the ongoing Venezuelan refugee and migrant crisis, there were numerous opportunities for us to interact directly with the Spanish-speaking population in Trinidad and hear firsthand stories of their plight related to economic instability and sociopolitical turmoil.

It was extremely disheartening, especially when it came to the situation in which the children are placed, as the vast majority of refugee and migrant children continue to be denied access to the public education system. So, inspired by their eagerness to learn and the lack of local educational resources that offer diverse representation, we began to work on our manuscript as a passion project.”

Juanita: A story of friendship and cultural exploration

“We all hold a bachelor’s degree in Spanish, we took advantage of the multiple volunteer programmes that were offered at the Centre for Language Learning at UWI, and we have professional experience as interpreters.

Certainly, we also possess varying strengths: I (Rayne) am particularly interested in the story-writing aspect of the project, whereas Bilqees’ eye for detail is especially useful in the editing rounds of the manuscript. Talia’s skill in translation makes her the ideal person for that process, and Jesse, as a dual citizen of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, assists tremendously in the cultural background and sensitivity reading of the manuscript.

In a collaborative effort, the hard work of self-publishing a book felt much less like an egregious task and much more like a fulfilling project among good friends.”

Improve Spelling and Reading Skills (10 books)

Overcoming challenges and finding success

“We were honestly quite nervous at first about the public reception to this book, simply because we know that some people in our society are less open-minded than most. We were worried that we’d see xenophobic comments, especially.”

However, we’re happy to report that such comments were a very small, almost negligible, minority of responses. Most readers reported that they really saw themselves in the Juanita characters, and that they related to the aspects of Trinidadian life we portrayed! Our younger readers really loved the ensemble cast, and the way we taught both Caribbean and Latin American culture in Juanita.”

The future of Juanita

“Juanita” is our first self-published book as a team, but it is not the end of our literary journey! A sequel entitled Juanita 2: Juanita en el Mundo will be published in April 2025, and it will focus on our protagonist’s continued adventures in Trinidad and Tobago with her diverse friend group as they navigate childhood and learn valuable life lessons together.”