Bronx author C.G. Esperanza’s latest book, “Kicks in the Sky,” might be getting glowing reviews and flying off the shelves at local libraries and bookstores, but you wouldn’t know it by how hard he’s working on his next project.
Mainstream success is encouraging, but Esperanza’s mind is as full of ideas as his paintings are of color. In-progress illustrations for “My Daddy’s a Cowboy,” a debut from Stephanie Seales coming out next spring, litter the Fordham studio where Esperanza has done most of his work since 2018.
Esperanza is also brainstorming for his next book – the third in a Bronx-based trilogy that contains “Boogie, Boogie, Y’all” and “Kicks in the Sky.”
“Kicks in the Sky” follows local children as they discover that wearing sneakers found hanging from telephone wires gives them magical powers. Vivid illustrations and lyrical writing tell the story of Bronx children becoming neighborhood superheroes as they wonder where the sneakers come from.
It’s a subversion of the long term association of sneakers on the wire with drug deals, and connects to Esperanza’s broader mission: changing and expanding the image of South Bronx culture and the people who live there. If that expanded image can reach new audiences and change how others feel about the Bronx, that’s great, too – but it isn’t the point.
“I tried to be as specific to myself as possible and I hope, in doing that, the kids who also grew up in the same environment that I grew up in will connect to it,” Esperanza said. “And hopefully people who don’t know this environment will learn something new and connect to it as well in their own way.”
Through his books, Esperanza wants to reach the children from the Bronx that he’s writing about and help them be proud of who they are and where they come from. Studies have shown that representation is deeply influential for Black and brown children’s self esteem, and children’s literature is a major avenue for them to see themselves and their peers represented positively.
Lit Bar event coordinator Tenaja Smith-Butler said that it’s incredibly valuable for children, particularly for Black and brown children, to see themselves represented in books and art, as well as to find authors with similar backgrounds. “For kids to be able to say ‘they look like me, they’re from where I’m from,’ that opens up a new world,” Smith-Butler said.
The Lit Bar, the South Bronx’s only brick-and-mortar bookstore, hosted the launch for “Kicks in the Sky” in early September. Smith-Butler said that they had been long time admirers of Esperanza’s work.
“Kicks in the Sky” was inspired by a 2020 art project Esperanza led as artist-in-residence at Concourse House, a Bronx non-profit that provides transitional housing for women and children experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Children painted sneakers and hung them around the neighborhood surrounding the shelter. Students in the art classes that Esperanza taught, both at Concourse House and Amistad Dual Language School in Manhattan, served as models and inspiration for characters in the book.
Esperanza says that writing about kids from the Bronx is personal, because he was one. He was born in Soundview and went to a Catholic school in Throggs Neck, where he channeled his artistic talents through the school’s literary magazine, publishing written work and illustrating covers. Despite academic struggles, Esperanza was admitted to the Fashion Institute of Technology through SUNY’s Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program.
At FIT, Esperanza met Eric Velasquez, an award-winning picture book author and illustrator, mostly known for illustrating picture books based on the lives of Black historical figures. Velasquez was one of the first Black teachers Esperanza had ever had, and seeing him navigate the world of children’s books made it seem like a possibility. He also opened up Esperanza’s mind to the power of picture books as a medium.
“A children’s book could be so many things, from a playful fictional story to a personal memoir, to historical non-fiction to historical fiction and everything in between and more,” said Velasquez. “But above and beyond everything else a children’s book is an educational tool that enhances a child’s ability to think and can also fuel their imagination.”
It was in Velasquez’s class that Esperanza made the first iteration of “Red, Yellow, Blue, and a Dash of White,” which would eventually become his first self-authored and illustrated book.
As Esperanza spoke about his artistic life, he continuously circled back to his teachers and mentors who both encouraged and discouraged his chosen career. It isn’t hard to imagine why becoming a teaching artist was important to him, or why his chosen medium is picture books. The first person who ever told him he should be an artist was his kindergarten teacher, complimenting a doodle of a movie character.
“That’s why you’ve got to be really careful about encouraging children and what you say to them,” Esperanza said. “It might just blow over, or it might be their first memory that they can recall as an adult.”
Esperanza currently has an exhibition at the Bronx Childrens Museum, a recreation of his working studio. He will be hosting in-person workshops and presenting “Kicks in the Sky” there on October 21.
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