Visiting Author: Robert Liu-Trujillo

This week, we had the wonderful opportunity of getting to know a local, visiting author and illustrator, Robert Liu-Trujillo.

Robert is the author-illustrator of Fresh Juice, Furqan's First Flat Top and the illustrator of many picture books, including Alejandria Fights Back. His work is gorgeous.

When he was a kid, his dad made fresh wheatgrass juice and his stepfather juiced fruits and vegetables. Now as a husband and father, Robert makes fresh juice for his family. He lives in Oakland, California, with his wife and two kids.

On his visit, Robert met with the Garnet & Aquamarine bands and then with Lapis & Quartz.

Karin sat in on the Youngest Gems session recounted a sweet conversation. He shared that he was from Oakland.

The conversation went as follows:

Garnet (Kindergartener): What’s Oakland?
Robert: It’s a city that was covered in oak trees which is how it got its name.
Another Garnet: That sounds beautiful. I like the name, Oakland.

During our session, he fielded questions about his life as an author+illustrator, shared his drawing notebook, and read his latest book Fresh Juice.

The storyline follows a boy and his dad, who is catching a cold. They visited the farmers market in their community, saw friends who grew fruits and vegetables and made juice to fend off the cold.

It’s a story about community care, food as medicine, and taking care of our loved ones. The following day, the Lapis band made carrot, apple, ginger, and lemon juice with a juicer.