Hope and Fortune by Marissa Bañez gives a lost little girl an adventure with a message. As Esperanza must continue through the forest she’s become lost in she meets 12 fairies who teach her lessons each of us could take to heart fora better us and a better world.
First, the art in the book is beautiful. Not in an overly artistic manner but one that should appeal to a younger reader but also give a bit of nostalgia to an adult that might be reading the story to a child. I got the feel of watching certain shows with my own son, when he was little. (Not so little any longer.)
The chosen fairies, each with a certain quality for a better person are appropriate and the fairies are inclusive of all types and parts of society we don’t normally see in the vast majority of children’s books.
The rhyming scheme of the text is fun but also educational. Larger words are used at times but once one gets the first word, then they can easily figure out the second rhyme.
I give Hope and Fortune a 4 out of 5 stars.
You may find Hope and Fortuneby Marissa Bañez at just about every online outlet including:
A first-generation immigrant to the U.S. from the Philippines, Marissa Bañez is a graduate of Princeton University and a lawyer licensed to practice in New York, California and New Jersey. She has published legal articles for the prestigious New York Law Journal and the American Bar Association, but her true passion for writing lies in her children’s stories. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. Her childhood was filled with many original stories and puppet shows made up entirely by her mom. In her free time, Marissa likes to travel, design and make clothes, cook, binge-watch Star Trek shows and Korean dramas, and occasionally strum a guitar.
She is currently working on her second book, Hues and Harmony (How the Singing Rainbow Butterfly Got Her
Colors), a story about mixed or multiracial children, self-discovery, and respect for others as told through the
life and adventures of a caterpillar. It is scheduled for publication on July 20, 2023.
A child who loses her way seeks help from 12 multi-cultural and multi-generational fairies, who give her practical life advice to get on the right track.
Trying to possess its beauty, Esperanza chases after a butterfly, which inevitably leaves her behind, lost and scared. Then, she meets 12 Fortune Fairies. Among them is the Fortune Fairy of Beauty, who talks about the beautiful butterfly that flew away and comforts Esperanza by saying: “Beauty is not what you see with your eyes but with your heart.” The other Fortune Fairies likewise give Esperanza words to live by to discover her true path.
Hope and Fortune is a children’s book with positive and frank messages about empowerment and self-discovery, designed to stay with a child well beyond childhood.
Hope and Fortune by Marissa Bañez cover.
The 10 Questions
1. What would be your one sentence elevator pitch of what your book is about?
Hope and Fortune is a beautifully illustrated children’s book featuring
multicultural, multiracial, multigender and multigenerational fairies of various shapes
and sizes who give practical life advice to a lost little girl and get her on the right path.
2. What book/author/movie/tv show/song might a potential reader compare your book to in order to get an idea of its feel and why ?
The honest answer is I don’t know. I didn’t take inspiration for my book from any
other book, author, movie or song . . . at least not consciously.
Plus, my book is a relatively short children’s book that most likely would be read
at bedtime, which should be a quiet time without the need for music or other distraction
in the background. I’d want the child to focus on the story and appreciate the beautiful
illustrations without thinking about how it compares to other books, movies or shows.
That all said, in coming up with the Fortune Fairy of Beauty, I was inspired by a
Star Trek, The Next Generation episode in which certain aliens evolved from their
corporeal states into beings of pure energy. I didn’t feel comfortable depicting the
concept of beauty through physical attributes of a human because beauty is a
subjective ideal. So, I illustrated beauty as a life force radiating light and positive energy
from a heart to correlate with what the fairy says: “Beauty is not what you see with eyes
but with your heart.”
3. Why did you choose this topic for your book?
When my daughter was little, I wrote original children’s stories and created
puppet shows from the stories.
One of the stories from those days is the precursor to Hope and Fortune called
The Lost Foal. For my daughter’s 7 th birthday, I wanted to put on a show for her and her
friends at her party. She wanted a story about cowgirls, fairies, and her little stuffed
horse. I came up with a story entitled, The Lost Foal. In The Lost Foal, the stuffed
horse was the one that got lost in the forest and encountered “cowgirl fairies” played by
my daughter and her guests, each of whom wore fairy wings and pink cowboy hats and
gave the horse life advice to get it back on the right track.
Fast forward 16 years later to the pandemic and lockdown in 2020. I felt bad for
my daughter, her peers and those younger, all of whom faced unprecedented
uncertainties in life. Many of them were really lost. I then took The Lost Foal,
modernized it with a diverse cast of characters, and created a message that I hope will
resonate not only with the very young but also with those less so who may feel
rudderless and lost – in however way you want to define and contextualize those terms
– at some point in their lives.
4. What led to your choosing the setting for your book?
I always imagined – rightly or wrongly – that fairies lived in wooded areas, so I
created the world called the Fabled Fairy Forest.
I think more important than the overall setting for the book is how I depicted each
character’s setting within the forest. In writing and illustrating Hope and Fortune, I
learned that numbers, colors, and animals represent or symbolize certain ideals and
principles that dovetail nicely with what I wanted to say in the book. I then incorporated
a lot of that symbolism to make the story as multifaceted as possible. I explain all this in
greater detail in a document I created called the “Backstory of and Guide to Hope and
Fortune,” a copy of which I’m attaching for your background information. Another
blogger in this tour will be writing more about the symbolism that I used in the book.
5. How did you come up with the title of your book and what is its significance?
I finalized this book during the pandemic when everything was so bleak and
dreary. I wanted to put something out in the universe that was uplifting and conveyed
positivity.
Esperanza is my daughter’s middle name, and she is my muse for all my stories.
The protagonist in the book is named after her. Esperanza is also the Spanish word for
“hope.”
I also wanted to pay homage to my late mom, who along with my dad brought my 9 siblings and me to this country from the mountain province of the Philippines with
literally nothing more than the hope that we would all have a better life here. She is
depicted as the Fortune Fairy of Hope.
As for the “Fortune” part of the title, when I wrote the book, I wanted a nice
alliteration with the word “fairy” that has an optimistic feeling. My fairies were
dispensing life advice intended to bring good fortune to Esperanza in her path in life.
Hence, the Fortune Fairies came to life.
6. How has your own experience influenced your writing?
If you’re asking how my life experience/career influenced how I write, writing is
my favorite part of the job as a lawyer. Being a lawyer has made me confident in my
general writing and editing skills.
Children’s illustrated books usually have a limit of 1000-1500 words. It’s often a
challenge to get complex messages and concepts across with that limitation. But, as a
litigator, it’s my job to tell a client’s story in a concise and relatable way. From that
perspective, my experience as a lawyer positively influenced the way that I wrote about
the various principles or ideals discussed by the Fortune Fairies.
If, on the other hand, you’re asking how my general life experience influenced
what I write, I’ve found that as a mom, talking to one’s own kids about certain things can
be very difficult to start, much less sustain. As one reviewer has pointed out, this book
is “a great discussion aid” on topics that deal with self-esteem, self-discovery and self-
acceptance.
I’m also a very “visual” person, with some artistic leanings. I believe that artistic
expressions are simply different forms of storytelling. So, as more fully describe in the
attached backstory and guide, I intentionally curated the illustrations in Hope and
Fortune to supplement the fewer-than-1000 words I used to create a multi-faceted story.
7. What will connect the reader to the story?
The story had universal appeal. For example, in December, I did a reading of
Hope and Fortune at a local library in New York City. After I read the book, a 7-year-old
boy took a copy of the book to read to himself. He then followed me around until he had
my full attention to tell me how much he loved the book and that now he wants to write a
book someday too. Even though the book is about a little girl with a Spanish name and
fairies, the story still resonated with a little Asian boy – which is more than I could’ve
hoped for. How wonderful to be able to touch the hearts and minds of young children
with just a few words and illustrations.
And not only the young. Many grown-ups have told me they wish they had this
book when they were growing up. Also, several early readers have stated in their
reviews that this book should be read by adults as well as kids.
In addition to the story itself, the illustrations add another path through which the
reader could connect to the book. Many people have expressed their gratitude to me
personally for creating such a diverse cast of characters because they could see
themselves and their children represented in the book. When I say “representation,” I’m
not just talking about non-White people. Two incidents brought this home to me
recently.
The first incident involved an early reader of the book who has a little boy to
whom she read the book. She then wrote that the little boy “loves” the book, partly
because the Fortune Fairy of Innocence and Wonder looks like him – a beautiful blond,
blue-eyed boy. That’s precisely the type of reaction and narrative I wanted to create
with the Fortune Fairy of Innocence and Wonder.
Unfortunately, the second incident is far from uplifting but nonetheless
demonstrates the obvious need for diverse representation in children’s books. This is
what happened when I advertised my reading of Hope and Fortune at a local library on
a public page on Facebook:
She deliberately chose to ignore my conciliatory tone and further challenged:
“that doesn’t look like a white fairy.” What is a white fairy supposed to look like?!? Her
combativeness and willful refusal to acknowledge that non-White characters can – and
should – exist in children’s books is exactly why representation matters. In Hope and
Fortune, both Whites and non-Whites are represented. Everyone is exposed to the idea
that people that may look different from us may have something valid to say and
contribute for the betterment of humanity.
8. Did you have difficulty deciding your book was ready to publish?
Not really. I lived with the concept since my daughter was young and it just took
a little tweaking before I submitted it for publication.
9. What genre(s) and reader ages would your work fit best?
Children’s illustrated books, ages 5-10, although as I’ve said, I’ve often been told
that adults should read the book and learn from it as well. Sub-genres include diversity,
multiculturalism, self-esteem and self-reliance, social themes of values and virtues, fairy
tales.
10. What’s your next project idea?
I’m currently putting the finishing touches to my second book, Hues and Harmony
– How the Rainbow Butterfly Got Her Colors. It’s about multiraciality, empowerment,
self-acceptance and belonging as told through the life and adventures of a singing
caterpillar. I use common shapes, primary colors, and basic chemistry concepts to
convey my message.
Like Hope and Fortune, Hues and Harmony is a re-write of story and puppet
show from my daughter’s childhood entitled The Singing Rainbow Butterfly. At that
time, I created the puppet caterpillar in the story out of round silver pot scrubbers held
together by a wire, string, and popsicle sticks, not to mention a prayer. I think I still have
that caterpillar somewhere and intend to use it when I do public readings for Hues and
Harmony.
Esperanza and the Fortune Fairies from Hope and Fortune make a cameo – yet
important – appearance in Hues and Harmony, but it’s not a sequel.
I am using the same illustrator, and the dialogue/songs are also in rhyme so it will
have the same look, feel, and sound as Hope and Fortune. I’m happy with how Hope
and Fortune turned out and I want Hues and Harmony, as well as any other subsequent
books, to have the same quality.
Hues and Harmony is scheduled for official release on July 20, 2023.
You may find Hope and Fortuneby Marissa Bañez at just about every online outlet including:
A first-generation immigrant to the U.S. from the Philippines, Marissa Bañez is a graduate of Princeton University and a lawyer licensed to practice in New York, California and New Jersey. She has published legal articles for the prestigious New York Law Journal and the American Bar Association, but her true passion for writing lies in her children’s stories. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. Her childhood was filled with many original stories and puppet shows made up entirely by her mom. In her free time, Marissa likes to travel, design and make clothes, cook, binge-watch Star Trek shows and Korean dramas, and occasionally strum a guitar.
She is currently working on her second book, Hues and Harmony (How the Singing Rainbow Butterfly Got Her
Colors), a story about mixed or multiracial children, self-discovery, and respect for others as told through the
life and adventures of a caterpillar. It is scheduled for publication on July 20, 2023.
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