When Anya and I started Alpabeto ng Kalikasan more than five years ago, we had such simple goals.
In her own words, Anya was a frustrated writer who wanted to write Children’s books, and I was frustrated with the lack of high-quality Filipino children’s books. We asked ourselves, “surely we can do better?” or at the very least give more options to Filipino parents.
We were also partly annoyed that we had to teach our kids about lions, tigers, and other animals that don’t exist in the Philippines because that was the only choice. Those were the only alphabet books readily and easily available to us.
We just wanted to fix our problems. However, as it turns out, many Filipino parents shared our problems! What started out as one random afternoon conversation soon turned into a partnership five years strong, with three titles under our belts.
The Pure Joy of Creation
It wasn’t all fun and games, though.
We knew we had something good. We knew we were on the verge of creating something magical. But like all authors, the rejection came one after the other. The bigger and more traditional publishers said there was no market for yet another alphabet book. So we went all in and decided to independently publish. It was a scary proposition, but looking back, it was one of our best decisions. It put us on a path of creating something that was truly ours.
Nothing quite prepares you for the feeling of holding your own book in your hands for the first time, and it’s a feeling we’ve been trying to recapture ever since. But more than that giddy feeling that comes from opening a fresh set of newly-printed books, nothing quite prepares you for the joyful praise we get from parents.
Parents would message us saying, “Finally! A book I can read to my child in Filipino that makes sense!” or “My daughter now knows what a dolphin is called in Filipino!”
It’s in moments like those that we often feel we’re looking at something bigger. Something deeper.
Rituals, Seeds, and Representation
As more parents bought our books and as we got more feedback, we realized that Children’s books aren’t just about ABCs or bedtime rituals. They’re cultural seeds. They’re tiny vessels of language, values, and identity.
And when those vessels reflect your world—your plants, your animals, your stories—they do something powerful: they tell your child that their world matters. That they matter. In a country and a culture that encourages our kids to leave and migrate as soon as possible, we realized that in our own little way, we were helping preserve our cultural identity.
A child in Manila should grow up recognizing a tamaraw as much as a cow.
A kid in Bulacan should know the difference between a maya and a common Eurasian sparrow.
A toddler in Davao should be excited to live so close to the Philippine Eagle Center. After all, the haring ibon is our national bird.
These aren’t just facts, they’re memory-makers and cultural seeds that they’ll remember the most.
You’re Part of This
Whether it’s through a book, a game, a song, or a silly little rhyme, we believe there’s magic in the everyday. It just so happens that children’s books are our way to capture it.
This is why we keep creating.
We keep finding playful, joyful ways to reflect our world through stories. Even if it’s a simple alphabet book.
Thankfully, we’re not alone. You’re part of this, too.
Every time you choose a Filipino book, every time you read aloud, every time you say, “Let’s learn about our own animals first”, you’re making space for something beautiful to grow.
So why not join the conversation?
What stories did you grow up with, and what stories do you want the next generation to know by heart?
Share your favorites in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!