Celebrating Puerto Rico's History

September 15 launches National Hispanic Heritage Month, and new book celebrates the culture and its rich history.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – A celebration of the Latino and Hispanic cultures  and contributions to the USA and the world began September 15 through October 15 to highlight diversity, culture, and traditions. The new book Queen of the Flowers – Memories of a Puerto Rican Girl released just in time to recognize the island’s culture and history through author Delia Cerpa’s deft storytelling about her childhood memories growing up in this tropical paradise.

“National Hispanic Heritage Month gives all people of Latin and Hispanic cultures an opportunity to share their unique experiences to enrich society’s knowledge about who they are their traditions and contributions ,” said Cerpa. “My book offers readers an insight into my childhood years during the 1940s-1950s to talk about my experiences, family life, and culture from a bygone era.” Schools all over the USA will be celebrating it by integrating it to their Spanish classes as well as their general curriculum.

Queen of the Flowers is a charming coming-of-age story about young Garîn  who loses her Papá as an infant. He becomes a haunting figure in her life even though she has no memory of him. The loss and impact put Mamá, now a widow, in charge of her 10 children’s upbringing. Garín though has an incredible childhood surrounded by her brothers and sisters. Readers learn about the culture and experience growing up in an agrarian society full of natural wonders, and the deep bonds created through the people so closely connected to the land.

“Over the years, I told my son and nieces and nephews so much about the island and my childhood,” said Cerpa. “They  were so fascinated and kept asking me to write it down. Just as I began writing Queen of the Flowers, Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the islands and created so much devastation in the islands, threatening to destroy so much of its history. Then I realized I needed to write this book to tell people about how it used to be. I wanted others to see the island and its people through my eyes as a child. I wanted to share about my family, their resiliency and most especially my remarkable Mamá, who became a young widow and skillfully raised 10 children on her own.”

Cerpa’s storytelling allows readers to discover this bygone era through the eyes of a child and preteen. As she grows and changes, readers vicariously enjoy seeing that world as Garín viewed it. From playing a game of Shazam to learning to sew her own gorgeous dress to her charming singing and dancing that wins her the title Queen of the Flowers. Written much like best-selling author Laura Ingalls Wilder, who recounts life as a pioneer child on the prairie, Cerpa takes readers into a new kind of pioneer world, a tropical paradise full of rich family history and tight relationships that shape the rest of her life.

Queen of the Flowers is available in print on 3L Publishing’s website (www.3LPublishing.com). It is available on Amazon in print (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=queen+of+the+flowers+delia+cerpa&crid=3PW5V0WCCB1JL&sprefix=Queen+of+the+Flowers+by+delia%2Caps%2C302&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_29) and eBook coming in Oct. For more information or to set up an interview, please contact 3L Publishing at 916-300-8012.