Our Mission Statement

How are we different?

Bilingual Literacy

At Vista Tranquila Publishers, all of our children’s books are bilingual. Our initial series are published in English and Spanish, but we envision having books in English/French, French/Spanish, Spanish/Korean, Spanish/Chinese and perhaps even English/Creole. Most of the world’s population speaks more than one language. Bilingualism is the norm, not the exception. Bilingual education has many cognitive benefits and certainly, being bilingual makes potential employees more competitive in the workplace and often with an extra salary incentive. A sometimes-overlooked benefit of bilingualism is the effect that it has on a person’s worldview, creating new understandings and increased empathy for others. Travelling is certainly easier if you speak additional languages. Another significant benefit of being bilingual is that it creates new opportunities to expand your social networks and to meet new people. Some of our best friends in the world speak languages other than English. Being bilingual makes it easier to learn new languages, but it also helps to make you more proficient in your native language, since so many parts of speech have been culturally diffused. Finally, bilingualism is fun and helps to build self-confidence. Children love to share the words they have learned and practice their skills.

Cross-Cultural Experiences

When we think of the word culture, many images often come to mind. We may think about going to a museum or visiting an archaeological site or maybe attending a concert or an art exhibit. Language is an important aspect of culture. Of course, all of these things are tied to culture, but how could we do a better job of defining culture? Anthropologists don’t even agree! Some would say it is the set of all shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that are learned from generation to generation. Culture is a tool for human survival, but it is also constantly evolving. Culture is fragile. At Vista Tranquila Publishers, we celebrate culture in all its manifestations. We love to ask questions and learn local interpretations for the way things are. How interesting it is to learn the meanings of symbols, uses of artifacts, kinship structures, and the social bonds that tie people together. We love telling these stories! Hints about our cross-cultural experiences are peppered across the pages we print, our blog, and the illustrations we share.

Creative Storylines

In one of our favorite movie lines, a character playing the role of Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet and author from the Middle Ages, defines his profession by exclaiming, “Yes! Yes, I lied. I am a writer. I give the truth scope!” We take our observations and we transform them into fictional accounts that describe cultural observations from our travels and experiences. Blending factual details with fictional creations, we apply hyperbole and sometimes humorous accounts that guide our readers to imagine themselves in the lives of the characters we present. Repeatedly during our creative processes, we have returned to the same basic premises – just tell the story! We hope to engage the reader and guide them to feel the emotions of the characters using colorful and compelling illustrations to make the experiences come alive. This is what we strive to do.