Boxes, Bridges, and Isabel in Bloom, a guest post by Mae Respicio

One of the most common questions I get asked as an author is:
“How do you start writing a book?”
I don’t quite have a formula… though it might be easier if I did! I usually start with a few images or words, or a few themes and feelings I hope might (magically?) turn into a story.
Isabel in Bloom will be my fourth middle grade novel (my first one in verse). When I began writing it, a few intriguing images had come to me: a girl on a plane, a dried-up school garden, and a balikbayan box.
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Other than picturing those things in my head, all I knew is that I wanted to write about creative kids, the intricacies of mother-daughter relationships, and the bridge between homes. The spark I ended up with was about a girl who has only seen her mom five times in five years, since her mom left her behind to become a nanny in the U.S.—a sacrifice to give her daughter a better life.
All the Inspiration
Like many Filipino American kids, I grew up with the ritual of my family sending balikbayan boxes to our loved ones, filled with household goods, from California to the Philippines. The Filipino word “balikbayan” means “returning to one’s country.”
For millions of Filipinos living and working around the world, shipping a balikbayan box has become a symbol of sacrifice, a way to bridge the distance and maintain connections with their roots and loved ones. These boxes have a long, complex history. The Philippine labor diaspora—often mothers who leave their children to work in service jobs abroad—is one of the largest in the world. Yet their journeys go largely untold (I certainly hadn’t heard about it in any middle-grade books yet). And so, the idea of a girl reuniting in a new country with the mom she barely knows was the emotional push I wanted to explore—and what helped me begin writing Isabel’s story.
Still, this was only one nugget of inspiration. I needed a setting.

Generations of Resiliency
What’s happening in our world also affects my writing process. I was working on this book when there was a surge of unprovoked attacks on Asian American elders, which weighed heavily on my mind. I felt hopeless. As with every challenge in my life, I worked through my feelings by journaling. That’s when the idea of setting part of the book at a welcoming Asian American Senior Center found its way into the story. It became important for me to include for young readers how we learn from and honor the generations who came before us.
So I had my inspiration, my setting… the hard part came next. Figuring out Isabel’s story—and how it would end.

Turning Challenges into Joy
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My Papang (grandfather) used to gather me and my cousins during family events, and tell us his stories of being a Filipino soldier in World War II who survived the Bataan Death March. Amidst the harrowing details, he would always end by sharing the thing that got him through: hope. Hoping he’d stay alive, hoping he’d see his family again. It’s a story of resilience passed down through generations that I wove a bit into one of my former books, Any Day With You.
This type of very Filipino spirit is what eventually helped me find the themes and plot of Isabel’s story, in which a dried-up old garden (along with a few quirky new friends), would help Isabel bridge her old and new countries. And it’s this idea of resilience that gave the book the final spark it needed: a story that intertwined both challenging moments with hopeful ones—mirroring how we all experience everyday life.
I won’t spoil the ending but after (magically!) weaving everything together, what bloomed was Isabel’s story, told through the melody of poetry—all of it carried by hope.
I experienced both deep tenderness and joy in writing Isabel in Bloom, as I hope you will when reading it.
Meet the author

Mae Respicio writes middle grade novels full of heart and hope. THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT won the Asian/Pacific American Libraries Association Honor Award and was an NPR Best Book, and her titles have been on many “best books” and state reading lists. Her newest book is a novel in verse, ISABEL IN BLOOM (out 4/9/24). Mae lives with her family including a husband and two sons, one rascally dog, and two sweet domestic pet rats in the suburban wild of Northern California.
About Isabel in Bloom
A girl discovers a connection between her home in the Philippines and her new home in the U.S. through a special garden in this middle grade novel that celebrates nourishment and growth.
Twelve-year-old Isabel is the new kid in her San Francisco middle school. It’s the first time in many years that she’ll be living with her mother again. Mama’s job in the US allowed Isabel and her grandparents to live more comfortably in the Philippines, but now Isabel doesn’t really know her own mother anymore.
Making new friends in a new city, a new country, is hard, but joining the gardening and cooking club at school means Isabel will begin to find her way, and maybe she too, will begin to bloom.
In this beautifully rendered novel-in-verse, Mae Respicio explores how growth can take many forms, offering both the challenges and joy of new beginnings.
ISBN-13: 9780593302712
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Publication date: 04/09/2024
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years
Filed under: Guest Post

About Amanda MacGregor
Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.
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