Firesnake by Donna Barba Higuera is the third and concluding installment of the powerful Cuentista Series. The story revolves around Itzel and her community of Saganites who receive a surprising message from planet Earth, a planet whom they thought was a thing of the past. Itzel, heir and granddaughter to the legendary Petra Peña, feels there is a lot to live up to while struggling to assist her community. New monsters, adventures, knowledge, and generations await, prepare yourself for the exciting novel, Firesnake.

Yvonne Tapia: It’s fantastic to have you here again, Donna! I’m so excited to speak about Firesnake. Your story touches on the storytelling theme – during the beginning of the book, we’re introduced to the main protagonist Itzel, and you immediately mention the beloved Petra Peña, who started the Cuentista series. Readers [learn] that Petra Peña passed on [some of] Earth’s famous storytelling to the people of Sagan, such as A Wrinkle in Time. I love that. Could you please elaborate more on the importance of passing down stories either as “fractured” or “retold” by someone?

Donna Barba Higuera: Thank you! I’ve actually thought a lot about this recently, about the stories that we pass along and the legacy that we leave. I also think a lot about which stories work and which don’t, and I think oftentimes as writers, if there’s a book or a story that we love, sometimes we will write an ode to that story. We will recreate something with our imagination or mix stories together. For stories that don’t work, I think, “I can maybe rewrite that and do a better job.” I thought about kids who are reading my books now, who may either decide one day that they want to write books, or write science fiction or fantasy, and also kids who might read my book and say “I would’ve done this differently, I would’ve put this in,” and that’s good too.

Not every book is for every reader, but kids who will be able to say “I could do it better than she did,” and then one day they’ll take my books off the shelf and put those books up. I think that’s the important part about passing along the books of our childhood, that I had. The books you mentioned are the ones that made me want to be a writer. I do hope that there might be a few kids out there who experience the same thing with these books.

Yvonne Tapia: That’s so great to know, and I relate with you in that A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books as well, I actually wrote a college paper on it. [A great message A Wrinkle in Time has] is to maintain the joy of reading, family, [identity], good mechanisms to keep you grounded.

Donna Barba Higuera: Right, and A Wrinkle In Time was published over 50 years ago and it was groundbreaking, and it me, a young girl who lived in the Central San Joaquin Valley, in the desert, took me across the universe. I got to go to a place that could only possibly be in my imagination, and it was so magical and I think that is what it gave to a lot of kids.

Yvonne Tapia: Yes. As [readers continue through Firesnake, they learn that], it is the norm for parents to actually pull their kids out of school, and have those kids become “worker bees” or similar. What inspired you to incorporate that into Firesnake?

Donna Barba Higuera: My grandmother, and even my father sometimes, would go to work at times in either the oil fields or the agricultural fields. It was very much a part of the people in the Central Valley of California and so when we look at the characters, I think you’re talking about Alebrijes, those kids worked in the fields. But also in Firensnake, the kids who at a certain age went to work in the fields, that was absolutely inspired by the children of migrant workers – that is part of their life. I think now there is a little more stability and kids can stay in one spot, but a lot of times kids would move and migrate with the crops. So [those kids] weren’t able to stay in school, and this was kind of an ode to those kids who didn’t get to stay in school. In Firesnake, just like those children at a certain age, they have to go work in the fields. So I really wanted to get the feeling of that and what it meant in a society that that’s what your future is going to bring – a life in the fields.

Yvonne Tapia: That is really powerful and relatable to the present day as some kids still don’t have access to education, and they have to find the means to [gain access to learning]. [In all three books in the Cuentista Series], the characters have to find a way to get food as well. It’s great how you incorporated the themes of poverty, marginalization, systemic oppression, and social inequality throughout the Cuentista world.

Speaking of education, you also introduce new vocabulary to us as well, with words such as “librex,” which ties into the theme of the power of words. This is essential and ties in with the current rise of artificial intelligence (AI). How did you create these new words for us?

Donna Barba Higuera: In The Last Cuentista, I used a lot of that terminology, such as “story generators,” in reference to AI, and there was no such thing as AI related stories. [AI] came a few years after that. What strange timing for that to be in my book, and then it came to happen, I promise I’m not psychic. I wrote about something that scared me back then, so a lot of the words and vocabulary that I used are just things that came to my mind as I was writing. Oftentimes, it may not make sense, but then I rewrite some of it to make it [understandable]. Sometimes technology is strange – when writing science fiction, it can happen at a very quick pace and sometimes it comes to be that way in the story. A lot of my writing when it seems fantastical while I’m writing it, sometimes it will come to be. For example, in Alebrijes, talking about “the transfer of consciousness,” and now they’re talking about these things in our current world.

A lot of the ideas in Firesnake, about how one would travel from one place to the other and use devices that have anti-gravity, those things are really happening. It’s fun to write those and a lot of times the editor or even the interpreter will say, “I don’t know how to change this word to Spanish” and then I say “Then come up with something, there’s no rules for this.” In Firesnake, I make up names for vehicles, and that’s the fun part for me – using my imagination to just make stuff up and make up words. Each person can come up with a different terminology for some of the things that I said. I love writing in the realm of science fiction because you can just make stuff up.

Yvonne Tapia: Absolutely, and it relates to how all languages we speak are made up and passed down through generations, which is another theme of this series – generational knowledge.

We also learn of a plot twist that has Itzel feeling a certain way about our beloved Cuentista Petra Peña. This highlights how good communication is key throughout our interactions, from family to friends and onto the next generation. What inspired you to give us that plot twist involving Itzel’s mother.

Donna Barba Higuera: I’ll try not to give away spoilers – when I wrote that, it was very difficult to write, because Petra is very beloved, people love that character. Having Firesnake’s main character, Itzel, who resents Petra in some ways, and I won’t go into why but eventually, I was like, “Okay, if I do this, there will be readers who have read the series who are immediately not going to like Itzel, because the readers will say, ‘oh, how can she not like Petra, how can she resent her?’’ So I had to figure out how to do it in a way that was true to Petra remaining to what she loved, and also Itzel loving something else equally and hopefully the reader will go, “Okay, I can understand both points of view and why that would happen.”

Then when the plot twist happens, you realize it’s even more complicated than what their motivations are since there are other things going on. When I initially started writing, it didn’t have that plot twist. Once I added that plot twist, I had to go back and rewrite other parts of the book. Once I opened that up, the entire story opened up; the middle of the book, the end of the book. All of that opened up and I had to be careful to reveal everything at the right time.

Yvonne Tapia: That goes hand-in-hand with how much it takes for authors to develop the story. I love that you mention this for our aspiring authors because it’s good exercise to know that sometimes you don’t know the whole story. I was really surprised as I read the first chapters, thinking, “No way, why Petra?”

Donna Barba Higuera: As you know, writers will typically turn in a synopsis. When I would give my editor a synopsis, I’d tell him, “Remember, this is probably not where the story is going to conclude.” It’s so helpful when editors trust you to [flourish] the story well. It’s also equally important for editors to give space for all the wild ideas writers have.

Yvonne Tapia: What inspired the creatures that you introduced to us in Firesnake?

Donna Barba Higuera: In the first book of the series, The Last Cuentista, there were snapshots of the planet Sagan, where Petra saw a flower, a couple of creatures. Then, I thought, “Okay, what would she not have seen?” While I was writing Firesnake I got to explore that. Growing up in the desert, there was a concern for Gila monsters and other myths mentioned, and I got to turn them into something from another planet. I got to make things fly, have the imagination wander.

Yvonne Tapia: When you speak about concern, that also ties in to Alebrijes, where Leandro and Gabi, were under Tia Lula’s management and they find out that the only reason they were listening to her was because she instilled fear in them.

Donna Barba Higuera: Exactly. In Firesnake, the stories of why you couldn’t go to places because monsters could harm you were real. In Alebrijes, the characters were the ones who created stories of non-existent monsters and one needs to think about what the motivations are. A lot of it comes down to human nature. Through these books, you realize that the people that you want to be entirely good, sometimes fail. Sometimes the people who you once thought were evil, can do things to redeem themselves. I don’t ever let the reader be entirely comfortable with all the characters since they each have their own flaws. Because I think that oftentimes as a reader, we should be on guard.

Yvonne Tapia: Very important. How did you decide to combine all the three books together, The Last Cuentista, Alebrijes, and Firesnake?

Donna Barba Higuera: It was actually hard, and when I wrote Alebrijes, I didn’t think that anyone would realize that it was the same planet Earth from The Last Cuentista. As I wrote Alebrijes I thought, “This is a standalone. People won’t realize that the post-apocalyptic world the Alebrijes characters are living in was from Haley’s comet in The Last Cuentista.” In Alebrijes, I never even say that it’s Earth until the very end of the story.

When I submitted the first draft, Nick asked, “What was the earth-ending disaster that caused the Alebrijes setting?” and I said, “Yeah but it’s not a series, it’s just a totally different character that’s in my imagination.” Then my editor said, “This is a series,” and when I got to the very end of Alebrijes, I said, “What if the people from Earth found a way to send a message to the people of Sagan to tell them that there were survivors on Earth?” So I did it, I wrote an epilogue that had me decide, “Okay well now I have to write a third book.”

Readers had the questions. Kids were the ones who inspired the third book because kids said, “I wanna know what happens afterwards, after they arrive on Sagan. What was the lifestyle like there?” In The Last Cuentista, there were a lot of chapters that got cut and they were focused on Sagan, so I got to go back and revisit them. But they were all written from Petra’s point-of-view, and Petra is not the main character of Firesnake, therefore I changed up the POV as well. The tone of each book is different because I wanted to give readers different perspectives.

Yvonne Tapia: You’ve highlighted a lot of generational storytelling and how important it is to keep customs, how did you incorporate Petra’s legacy into Itzel?

Donna Barba Higuera: That was so fun to do because I had to ask myself when I started writing this book; what parts of Petra’s storytelling would have survived on Sagan? What parts of her culture would’ve permeated? I wanted to show the power of storytelling and in creating new culture and a new way of thinking. It was a little selfish of me as a writer and I wanted to show how [Petra] who I really grew to love represented something for me. Even the people who weren’t from [Petra’s community], those in new settlements knew of Petra’s stories and the stories that she had created on the planet.

I’d like for readers to think, “Oh! Petra’s culture is on this planet” and then for readers to have it become real to them. I got to create a new planet with my heritage and I love that! That’s the really magical part about being a writer. When I do school visits, students see that they can [be authors as well]. They meet this person in real life and they think, “Oh! She’s a real person who wrote these stories. I can go do that too.” Therefore, it creates that for present and future generations that it is a possibility.

Yvonne Tapia: Beautifully said. Is there a generational custom you’d like to highlight?

Donna Barba Higuera: The time that we spend with our elders is important and the small things that are involved around that. For example, my grandmother and the time I spent with her, where she would just make us Mexican hot chocolate and tell us stories. It’s funny that at first, as a child, I thought it was just my family [that did that], and then to realize – no, this is part of a bigger culture, and these are bigger traditions.

So when I write about those things and then I see people’s reactions, both young and old, stating, “I had those moments with my grandparents too!“ or “I do that with my grandparents too!” and it’s very emotional for people. Those very small things that connect me with someone I love, and you realize that a lot of people have those same moments, and that is so powerful, and it connects us all together. It’s not always a parent, sometimes people just say, “I had that [parent figure] too!”

A lot of Mexican folklore can be weird and [it’s] good to highlight the lessons learned from them.

Yvonne Tapia: I also have that in my family! We bond over a chocolate drink, while learning from the elders. What do you hope readers take away from Firesnake?

Donna Barba Higuera: I thought a lot about the end of the book, and without giving too much, there’s so much that transpires from the very opening chapter of The Last Cuentista to the ending chapter of Firesnake. I was very deliberate about how I ended the book and what I ended it with. It begins with storytelling and it ends with storytelling. At first it began with fear and some hope, and now it is trepidation and also hope. While we may not have all the answers, there is still hope for something better. It was important for me to conclude that series that way.

Yvonne Tapia: Woo! It emphasizes on what we have to do every day as well, continuing to mature from past experiences and pass that onto the next generations. For teachers, librarians, and parent-figures, how do you hope that they elaborate Firesnake into their everyday life?

Donna Barba Higuera: I’d love for my books to have audiences continue to ask questions. For there to be classroom discussions about the questions that arise in all of these books. I’m cautious to not give all the answers in my literature. There are moments in books that can get you wondering about yourself, and oftentimes, kids know better than we do as adults. Youth have the ability to see past the rules of society and sometimes come up with better solutions than older folks can. I’d like for everyone to have discussions about [this series], and for youth to start imagining what and how things can be now and later.

The Cuentista Series in order to read: The Last Cuentista, Alebrijes, Firesnake. For more updates from her recent works, follow author Donna Barba Higuera on:

Website: https://www.dbhiguera.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/donnabarbahiguera

Publisher: Levine Querido

Donna Barba Higuera grew up in Central California surrounded by agricultural and oil fields. As a child, rather than dealing with the regular dust devils, she preferred spending recess squirreled away in the janitor’s closet with a good book. Her favorite hobbies were calling dial-a-story over and over again, and sneaking into a restricted cemetery to weave her own spooky tales using the crumbling headstones as inspiraton. Donna's middle grade and picture books are about kids who find themselves in odd or scary situatons. Donna likes to write about all things funny, but also sad, and creepy, and magical. If you like those things, she hopes you will read her books! Donna lives in Washington State with her family, two dogs and a frog.

Mexican-American professional Yvonne Tapia has an extensive background in marketing, education, and media, supporting both large enterprises and small businesses. Yvonne focuses on raising brand visibility and community engagement, particularly within marginalized sectors. She currently serves as a Senior Instructor at COOP Careers, where she mentors through hands-on marketing training while partnering with businesses from different industries. Outside of work, Yvonne is an avid reader and is involved in supportive causes.