Mateo Lands on Front Page

A front page item on July 12 (encircled above) was an early Sunday morning grace. It also made me flush like an over-ripe tomato.

Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), one of the biggest daily broadsheet newspapers in Manila introduced Mateo, the main character in my book series “Oh, Mateo!” to some 100 children at the Inquirer Read-along session. The affair, which was an advance celebration of National Children’s Book Day on July 21, featured television news personalities Pinky Webb, Winnie Cordero, and Anthony Taberna.

The first book that was read in the program was “The Money Mystery” (Oh, Mateo! Book 4 in the series) by guests. The story is about Teo who solves the town’s money mystery by being brave. In the process, he also learns about honesty, especially when it comes to money.

Webb, Cordero and Taberna, hosts of the popular morning show “Umagang Kay Ganda,” also read “Teo’s Trash Can” (Oh, Mateo! Book 8). It’s about hard-working Teo discovering antique artifacts in an old, rundown shack. These turn out to be valuable historical treasures.

Webb acted as the narrator, while Taberna read role of Teo’s father. Cordero, a familiar voice on radio and TV children’s shows, voiced Teo! (Photo shows Teo, the character, on the left; the two books read, on the right, all illustrated by Beth Parrocha-Doctolero.)


Nine-year-old Andrea Nicole Valerio, a Grade 4 student, said, “I really enjoyed it, especially Tita Winnie [Cordero]’s segment! She’s really good, especially with her voice. I learned how important it is to work hard,” she added.

A news item in PDI a few weeks ago reads: “Launched in May 2007, the Inquirer Read-along project received an award for excellence this year from the Philippine Quill, the country’s most prestigious award-giving body for business communicators, for spreading the passion for reading to more than 4,000 children.”

More than landing on the front page, I am happy that my books are partnering with Inquirer Read-Along in igniting passion among children to read.