Akli'e' the Celebrity

 


2025 was the 10th year of existence for the Guam Bus, a creative company that my brother and I started to publish Chamoru language books, comics, flash cards and other products for learning the Chamoru language and telling Chamoru stories. 
 
Our first book released in 2015, written by me and illustrated by Jack was "Sumåhi and the Karabao" featured my oldest Sumåhi hearing karabao stories everytime she rides Siñot Aguon's karabao at the Chamorro Village. Although it wasn't the plan to always have the children of the Guam Bus be the stars of the books, that is how things have evolved in the decade since. 
 
"The Adventures of Akli'e'" followed in 2017, and featured my second oldest Akli'e' as the star of the book, learning about traditional Chamoru tools from his great-grandfather and Chamoru legends and history from his great-grandmother. 
 
Sumåhi, Akli'e' and then my third oldest Lulai would be the main characters in "An Tåya' Elektrisidåt" which we released in 2024, where the three kids are trying to find things to do on an island that has no electricity and no internet after a deadly typhoon. 
 
Early next year, Lulai and Makåhna is number four in the filan famagu'on, will be getting their own books. They have been printed and are literally on a slow boat from China to Guam right now. Lulai's will be a board book called "I Lina'la' Lulai" highlighting a fun day in the life of a young neni. Makåhna's will be a Chamoru alphabet book. I'll be posting updates once those books are on island and ready to be sold. 
 
Even Jack's son Ziggy will eventually appear in his own book. I write up a story just for him, which we are still editing and working on, where he is preparing to visit his cousins in Guam, and thinking about how things are different in Germany versus Guam. 
 
When we looked back at how many books we've sold so far, it is well over 10,000, since both the Sumåhi and Akli'e' book are in their third printings already. One of the things that Sumåhi and Akli'e' in particular have had to prepare for is the fact that every semester at least one student will do a book report on them or do a project that will feature them, and for a moment they are a mini-local-literary celebrity. 
 
Here is a case in point, one of librarians at the elementary schools on island sent me this picture. For a project students had to take a character from a book and then turn a gingerbread man into that character. One student had worked with their family to turn Akli'e', i lahi-hu, from Adventures in Akli'e' into a gingerbread man. 
 
For me, seeing the little gingerbread Akli'e' is the height of cuteness, Akli'e' responded differently. When I sent him a screenshot and images of the project, he responded with.
"HÅFA!? MÅTAI YU!" (What!? I'm dead!)

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