October Events

Filipino children's book author events, children's bookstore events, children's book festival, Filipino book festival for October 2023 in San Jose, Bay area, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Orange County, and Long Beach.

Bay Area friends! I’ll be in San Jose at my first official Bay area event on Friday, October 6, and I’ve also got some other fun events planned in Orange County and Long Beach. I’ll be there with treats in tow.  Hope to see you there!

📅 Sunday, October 1

⏰ Signing 1-2 pm at Booth B17

📍OC Children’s Book Festival

Orange Coast College

2701 Fairview Road

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

📅 Friday, October 6

⏰ Author Visit 4:00-5:30 pm

📍San Jose Public Library

Berryessa Branch

3355 Noble Avenue

San Jose, CA 95132

📅 Thursday, October 19

⏰ Signing 5-7 pm

📍Barnes & Noble Tustin

Grand Opening Week

The District (next to Whole Foods)

2857 Park Ave

Tustin, CA 92782

📅 Saturday, October 21

⏰ Reading at 1 pm

📍Liwanag Lit Fest

Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library

5870 Atlantic Avenue

Long Beach, CA 90805

The 'Ber Months Are Here

The BER months are here and that means the holiday season has begun in the Philippines! You can catch a glimpse of the longest holiday season in the world in the September spread of Maribel’s Year, where Maribel’s papa makes traditional Christmas parol lanterns by hand to hang on the doors of all of her titos’ and titas’ homes.

Christmas in the Philippines with colorful parol lanterns in September in Filipino picture book Maribel's Year.

Maribel's Year

Maribel’s Year is out today!

Follow Maribel’s first year in America with her mother as she adjusts to a new life, new school, new everything, all while she’s waiting for her father to join them from the Philippines.  It’s a story about finding home in a new, strange place and family bonds that are strengthened through time and distance.

Thank you to all of the amazing individuals who played a part in bringing this story to life, including wonderful illustrator Sarah Gonzales. Maribel’s Year was published by HarperCollins.

Happy #bookbirthday to Maribel’s Year! So much gratitude to those who preordered and shared!

Maribel's Kalamansi Blondies

Calamansi blondies made for Filipino picture book Maribel's Year.
A Filipino American dessert inspired by Filipino children's book Maribel's Year.
Calamansi blondies, an American dessert with Filipino flavors, inspired by Filipino kids' book Maribel's Year.

To celebrate the upcoming release of Maribel’s Year on May 9, I’m sharing something special — it’s a recipe inspired by the story.

Kalamansi blondies are one of Maribel’s favorite after-school snacks.  They combine Filipino and American food traditions to create something wholly unique.  Maribel loves them because chocolate chip blondies are like a warm hug after a cold, wintry day at school, and the bright, refreshing notes of kalamansi remind her of the Philippines.

In order to create them, we used America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for chocolate chip blondies reprinted on Hip Foodie Mom’s blog, and made these adjustments:

— Reduced butter to 8 tbsp.

— Added 2 tbsp. of kalamansi juice to the sugar-butter-eggs-vanilla mixture

— Used white chocolate chips

A couple of notes.  Although the blondies tasted absolutely delicious with white chocolate chips, we have a feeling that milk chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips would work well, too.  For kalamansi juice, we like using Sun Tropics Pure Calamansi 100% Juice, which you can find at Filipino supermarkets or select Asian markets.  It can also be ordered online from SarapNow.

Happy baking and hope you get a chance to check out my new book illustrated by Sarah Gonzales, Maribel’s Year, which comes out in one week on May 9!

Click here to watch a video of me making kalamansi blondies!