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Simone Efigenia Perez Bollinger
Jack Lujan Bevacqua
Un Ha'氓ni yan si Ena follows Ena, a young CHamorrita, as she enjoys a day on Guam with her family. The book uses common and simple CHamoru phrases and vocabulary ideal for helping adults and children incorporate the language in their everyday lives
As an English instructor at Guam Community College, Simone Efigenia Perez Bollinger uses a lot of local literature to encourage aspiring local artists.
She hopes to contribute to a growing pool of local literature, especially children鈥檚 books, and the preservation and promotion of the CHamoru language.
As a member of Ta Tuge鈥� Mo鈥檔a, a local nonprofit committed to supporting the creation of literature from the region, Bollinger wants Guam's youth to read and write stories they can relate to.
鈥淭he best compliment that I continue to get from my friends is that their kids say (a character in the book) is them, or their cousin or friend. They鈥檙e able to recognize themselves in books,鈥� she said.
Although Bollinger is not fluent in the CHamoru language, she said it鈥檚 receiving tidbits of CHamoru culture and simple language phrasing that will allow children to learn more about the island鈥檚 native language, especially in households without native speakers.
鈥淲ith children鈥檚 books, if you read the same book to your kids over and over again, it鈥檚 easy to learn simple things at least,鈥� she said.
"Un Ha鈥櫭i yan Si Ena" is published by Taiguini Books, a division of the University of Guam Press that publishes cultural literature for children and adults.
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