Welcome to Hillside Valley! 12 year-old New York city kid Santi is heading upstate, in the debut of this irresistible contemporary graphic novel series about friends, family, community and identity! Book 1 in the Hillside Valley Graphic Novel series introduces an unforgettable group of kids readers will love!
Writer Julio Anta talks his inspirations, the future of the Hillside Valley series, and more in this interview about his upcoming graphic novel, Speak Up, Santiago!, releasing February 3, 2025
What inspired you to want to tell this story? Did Santiago’s struggle with connecting to his grandmother come from personal experience or the experiences of people around you?
I like to think that every character I write has a small piece of myself or someone I love in their personality or struggles. In the case of Santiago, his struggles with language are a mixture of myself and my son. Unlike Santi, Spanish is my first language. I grew up in Miami, my father is Cuban and my mother is Colombian, so that’s what I spoke everyday. But as I started to attend school, English quickly became my dominant language and I began to feel extremely insecure about my accent when speaking Spanish and constantly feared saying the wrong words. My son, like Santi, is just getting started learning Spanish after struggling with speech as a toddler. So, it’s a bit of a combination of the two of us for a character that I think kids all over the U.S. will relate to strongly.
The other major part of this book is the town of Hillside Valley! This is a fictional small town in New York’s Hudson Valley region inspired by the towns my family and I would take day trips to visit during the pandemic. Towns like Cold Spring, Sleepy Hollow and Beacon with their natural beauty, hiking trails, small town charm, and vibrant Latino communities were huge inspirations for this book.
Throughout the book, Spanish words that Santiago doesn’t understand are crossed out. How did you determine which words or phrases Santiago would struggle to understand?
This is one of those parts that is definitely based on my own struggles. When I was growing up there were so many instances where I didn’t understand a word – either because I was never formally schooled in Spanish or it was being spoken at rapid fire. In those moments Itried to use context clues to sort out it’s meaning but often failed. To be honest, that still happens to me now! During those moments in the book I wanted to showcase how mentally exhausting and draining that can be. The moment where Santi confuses “lucha” (struggle) for “ducha” (shower) is a particularly embarrassing moment from my childhood that I still think about to this day haha.
What do you hope that both kids struggling to learn Spanish and parents and family teaching their kids Spanish take away from this story?
The message of this book is that our families love us for who are, not how well we speak Spanish. That’s the message I hope comes across. In addition, it’s also about anxiety, self doubt, friendship, soccer and so much more!
How do you think readers who aren’t of Latino descent can relate to the core themes in Speak Up, Santiago.?
I think the anxiety that comes with speaking multiple languages is something first and second generation kids of all ethnicities and nationalities struggle with. But beyond that, it’s a book about understanding and the importance of communicating our feelings with our loved ones. I think any middle grade reader will be able to relate with these themes.
What can readers who liked Speak Up Santiago expect to see in the Hillside Valley series going forward?
Book 2 comes out in 2026 and it’s titled Sol Goes For Goal! Sol is one of my favorite characters in Speak Up Santiago. She’s one of Santiago’s new friends when he arrives in Hillside Valley. For book 2 we’re shifting the focus to Sol, but all the other Hillside kids we know and love from Speak Up Santiago will be back!
