LOVITO is a series of 13 children’s stories that build on character and life skills. The main thread throughout the series is teaching responsible behavior by emphasizing the balance between firmness and cariño (love). The LOVITO topics include: Respect, Responsibility, Generosity, Love and Truth, Trustworthiness, Confidence, Citizenship, Humor, Communication, Patience, Goals, Fairness, and Family Love. All stories are based on old cultural dichos (proverbs) and are bilingual (Spanish and English). The main concept in each story is reinforced by a bilingual song, available here. The series can be of benefit to children from pre-school to third grade, parents and teachers, and mental health workers.
A Labor of Love
Ed’s heart had always driven him to work with children and youth. In graduate school, it was his emphasis. But the story of Lovito did not begin until 1999, when Ed developed heart disease. With a poor prognosis his cardiologist told him “only love can save you.”
Knowing the source of such life-sustaining love, Ed traveled to Denver to spend two weeks with his grandchildren. When he returned, his heart full and inspired, he sat down at his kitchen table, prayed, and began writing. In two weeks of non-stop dedication, he had written 13 books. Lovito was born.
As a young boy, Antonio is inspired by his Abuelito’s “Libros de Dichos” (Book of Proverbs), and by his family’s generations-long connections to their beanfield in Peñasco, New Mexico. But when his Abuelito dies, Antonio, now an angry teenager living in Denver, feels compelled to return to the fields of his boyhood to search for his grandfather’s book. When he arrives in Peñasco, Antonio finds more than he imagined. El Legado (The Legacy) is a story of love and family, of land and roots, and about the importance of cultural heritage in discovering the road to healing.