CSUB alumna, author Donna Barba Higuera visits campus

Newbery Award winner shares journey to becoming celebrated writer

By California State University, Bakersfield

April 20^th, 2023

Author Donna Barba Higuera grabbed a copy of each of her published books, packed them into a box, dropped in a heartfelt three-page handwritten letter and shipped it off to Harriet Hughes in Taft. She hoped she’d found the right Harriet Hughes.

It had taken some digging to find a first name and address for the woman she only remembered as Mrs. Hughes. Donna remembered her with fondness and admiration as a beacon of encouragement and kindness, the woman who had helped foster Donna’s deep love for reading and discovering the extraordinary in the ordinary through literature.

Donna grew up in Taft, surrounded by dirt devils and oil derricks. There wasn’t much to do besides read and imagine, so Donna’s days were spent with Mrs. Hughes and her hand-puppet sidekick Larry Library at the Kern County Public Library branch in Taft. Donna read books like “A Wrinkle in Time” and “The Chronicles of Narnia,” both building blocks of what would burgeon into inspiration for Donna’s powerful imagination.

She had to thank Mrs. Hughes for setting her on the path that led her to claim the coveted Newbery Award for Children’s Literature.

The stories

It was an overcast day at California State University, Bakersfield on March 20, and the sky outside the university’s Walter Stiern Library was pondering its next bout of rain.

The toddlers made their way to the front of the Dezember Reading Room and sat down, crossing their legs. Donna took her place among them on the floor. She introduced herself and produced her book “El Cucuy is Scared, Too!”

She talked to them about her story, about what it feels like to be scared and what she is afraid of (sharks!) before getting their permission to read to them.

“El Cucuy is Scared, Too!” is about a young boy named Ramón who can’t sleep because he’s nervous about his first day at a new school. El Cucuy is a monster who resides in a cactus pot and is having trouble sleeping because he’s also scared. The story softens the horrifying version of El Cucuy from Mexican folklore and rewrites him into a creature who needs the comfort and encouragement of a friend.

Donna asked the group if they know what the word encourage means. The toddlers shook their heads.

“The word encourage means to be a good helper to others,” she explained.

Donna shared the importance of talking about things we are afraid of because talking about them makes our fears easier to manage and allows us to be brave.

She allowed each child to hold and feel her Newbery Award medal and read them her not-yet-released “The Yellow Handkerchief,” a book about the bond between a granddaughter and her Abuela (grandmother). The children seemed enamored by Donna’s stories and life lessons. One brown-haired and pigtailed child crawled into Donna’s lap during the reading.

Each child left the event with an autographed bookmark and a new sense of what it means to be brave and encourage one another.

Donna admitted that her favorite place to be while on tour as an author is “with the littles.” Her most important focus is to connect with children. She loves the connection she makes with them through her books sprinkled with Spanish phrases and Mexican folklore.

“It’s really important to us to feel seen,” Donna said.

She admitted her proficiency in Spanish is about the same level as that of children she reads to and what’s in her books, but she wants them to be able to see themselves in books and art. She wants children to read her books and think “that could be me.”

Donna’s books are available throughout the world and have been translated in several languages. “The Last Cuentista” is available in about 17 different countries and are offered in languages such as German, Japanese, Lithuanian and Spanish.

One of her goals is to read her books in Spanish to better increase her proficiency and connection to her Spanish-speaking audience.

'Stay curious'

During several events later that day, Donna talked with older audiences about her own story and the path that took a young girl from Taft through the halls of CSUB and then to the heights of the literary world.

Her 2022 Newbery Award-winning novel is the story of a girl who is transported to another world. Her book “The Last Cuentista,” a mix of Mexican folklore and dystopian fiction, intricately interlaces fantasy, sci-fi and cultural tales to create a unique story of a brave young woman who must pass on her cuentos, or stories, to coming generations despite a new world that’s determined to forget them.

“The Last Cuentista” incorporates several Mexican fairytales, from El Cucuy, to the tale of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, and to how the rabbit came to be on the moon. Some are fairytales Donna grew up with, and others she researched on her own to satisfy her own curiosity about her culture.

Donna began her collegiate career attending a UC as a biology major. After a financial discussion with her parents, she realized she would have to transfer to CSUB if she wanted to reach her educational goals, including earning a master’s degree. Once enrolled at CSUB, Donna quickly learned that she was no longer viewed as just another number as she had been at the UC she attended. At CSUB, in a smaller classroom, she knew she would have to work harder.

There were several differences between her brief time at a UC and at CSUB that Donna noted. One of those differences was CSUB’s heavy focus on writing, which allowed her to sharpen her critical thinking and analytical writing.

She also worked as a student assistant in the Chemistry Department. She conducted studies on unique areas of research like bovine saliva’s effects on grass growth. While her research yielded there were none, Donna wondered if she just might be the only one who’s researched this and said that no university other than CSUB would have given her the opportunity to research and conduct an experiment like this.

“Education isn’t about the degree in the end… it’s about the journey,” she said, her thick black curly hair and wide-rimmed black glasses framing her face as her expression gave way into a smile.

Donna graduated from CSUB in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. She would later pursue further education and exploits, taking classes in writing and biology, becoming an eye doctor, raising a blended family and setting up a chicken coop next to the shed where she writes.

Her life has taken an interesting path from CSUB student and graduate, to motherhood, to an optometrist with her own private practice, and finally to a Newberry Award-winning author with several children’s and middle grade books in repertoire. Donna credits her diverse background and willingness to take risks to her belief that exploring new things and wearing multiple hats are an important part of life.

“I’m not brave, just curious,” she said, and then added, “We should always stay curious.”

The letter

Donna pulls out a white envelope from the podium before her and shows it to the audience. The letter inside is from Mrs. Hughes. Donna found the right one.

Mrs. Hughes writes that she was pleasantly surprised to hear from Donna. She remembers Donna as a child; small, freckled and filled with wonder and curiosity. Mrs. Hughes guesses Donna is somewhere in her fifties now.

“Thanks for that, Mrs. Hughes,” Donna says, laughing with the audience.

A large screen just behind the podium she occupies displays a picture of the Kern County Library in Taft.

Donna explains that Mrs. Hughes’s letter recounts that the librarian is now 97 and still very much alive. She is both amazed — and unsurprised — to learn that Donna has become an author and winner of the Newbery Award, the highest awarded honor for children’s authors. She always knew Donna to be special, driven and imaginative.

The image on the display screen shifts to display a photo of Mrs. Hughes, accompanied by her Larry Library hand puppet. Like Mrs. Hughes, he’s still thriving. Mrs. Hughes sits cozily with Larry Library on a couch, both smiling and enjoying their latest read, “The Last Cuentista” by Donna Barba Higuera.