Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Ever since I was a kid. I've loved to read fantasy books and I had always wanted to write one of my own. I used to write short stories as a kid, and then I thought that Belize could really have like a fantasy series of its own, like its own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or Percy Jackson."

"So that's how it came to be. And I work as an illustrator, so I've been illustrating other stories and really wanted the opportunity to illustrate my own. It's a fantasy book about a girl, a maya girl who she goes to visit her grandmother who lives in this remote village in the Highlands, and she and her grandmother passes away, but her grandmother left her this very special, mysterious necklace that grants Itzel access to the underworld."

"So she falls into the underworld, trying to search for her grandmother. And along the way, she meets all these Maya gods and folklore characters like Tata Duende and Lady X'tabay"

And he wrote this novel with a specific age group in mind.

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"I feel like there are a lot of books out there for teenagers and a lot of books out there for like, really young kids. But there aren't that many for like pre-teens, like 10 to 13 year olds. So that was that was the age group I have in mind. But but really, there's no upper age limit. You can enjoy it as a teenager or an adult."

"I try to make it as entertaining as possible. it's, I guess, ultimately a serious story because it's about a girl who's coping with the death of her grandmother. But despite that, there's a tons of jokes and it's like it's a really funny story, and I hope that the illustrations give it a lot of extra character and really grabs your attention."

And it did. The students at St Mary's who got the preview of the novel can't wait to read it.

Kaylie Castillo, Standard 6 Student, St. Mary's Primary School
"I actually love the book, especially how they described it because I personally like writing and I also like reading too, especially comics. And this book actually inspired me to like save up and go buy one of these books. I actually like the adventures that the girl actually went on. So it's very inspiring because me, myself, I actually like going on adventures myself."

"This book, it actually like it describes how Belize... It describes the animals, the gods, the people in Belize, especially, how the girl. She's actually like adventurous and it's good that she goes on adventures like these. Reading books actually strengthens your mentality. So I. I actually personally think that everybody should go and buy this book."

And this is just book one of the trilogy. Gibson has planned.

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Tree of Life. It's basically, so this trilogy, I would say is as if it was Lord of the Rings The Tree of Life would be The Hobbit. So it's like its own separate shorter story set in the same world, but in the distant past and has completely different characters except for the same gods because they're still around."

Reporter:
"So it's kind of like a prequel."

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Yeah, it's like a prequel kind of. I feel this project I started like in late 2020 and finished, I guess, end of 2021, early 2022, so about a year and a half or so."

Reporter:
"But you also mentioned that one day you decided, I'm going to write this book, but you had the idea for the book long before?"

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Yeah, for ten years. It was just like, I mean, there's like a really rough idea. I had it still as a character, I'd say didn't even have a name at that time. But I just like this idea of of this girl that goes to the underworld and meets a coyote, and she's looking for her grandmother. And so that and I that was basically all I had to work with for, for several years until I finally got serious about writing it."

Reporter:
"Any plans to put this into some sort of, I don't know motion picture movie."

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"No, no plans of my own. But if I'm approached by some animation studio, yeah, I'd definitely be up for that."

For today, only the book was sold at $25, but for students the cost would only be $20.