Judith Ritschard, a Mexican-American immigrant, former Sopris Sun columnist and mother of two, can add “children’s book author” to her resume with the release of her debut, “Winter Flower: A Story of New Beginnings.” Ritschard hopes to inspire people to learn from one another and to provide children of immigrant families broader representation for their shared stories of uprooting from their homes to move somewhere new. This story was inspired by a moment when Ritschard and her now 16-year-old son were in a library looking for storybooks about the family’s immigration journey.
“We were at the library when he was 4, and I wanted to introduce him to a children’s picture book that had a story similar to my family’s immigration story. I didn’t find one in the public library here, so I looked on Amazon, and the only book at the time I was able to find all those years ago was a book about an Italian family that moved through Ellis Island,” Ritschard recalled.
She continued, “That felt a bit dated to me, and I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I’ll write my own book one day.’ Five years ago, I began to weave words together, trying to get something to work. Many revisions later, I went on to self-publish through IngramSpark and Kindle Direct Publishing through Amazon, and now I have been reading to the elementary schools in the Valley.”
While this feels timely and relevant given current social and political dynamics targeting immigrants across the nation, Ritschard said the story was not written with these challenges in mind. Her intention with the book was to give members of the immigrant community more representation in the media.
“I wasn’t planning for the book to come out during this political turmoil with immigration,” Ritschard said. “I did want the story to come out for my own kids, but also for other kids. As someone who immigrated to Aspen back in 1980, I didn’t have much representation in school. The very first book I read with characters who looked like me was one assigned to me in 10th grade: ‘Bless Me, Ultima.’ I just remember being so moved; I was just hungry for more literature like that.”
Discussing the importance of stories like “Winter Flower,” Ritschard said it reflects her experience of culture shock, lifestyle changes and moments of disconnect. Telling these stories, she hopes to connect people from all backgrounds and offer new perspectives to those looking to know more about the day-to-day lives of immigrant families.
“There weren’t any kind of Latin markets as we have now,” Ritschard said of Aspen in the ‘80s. “Nothing makes you feel more at home than being able to get some of those ingredients from your background. My mother told me that she cried all the time [that first year]. The universal message here is: Regardless of if you’re an immigrant or not, we have all felt lonely at some time,” she explained.
Ritschard hopes her story will also help to dispel stereotypes and misconceptions about Latin American immigrants. “I think my book is important, because so many people can get lost in what the media tells them, and they don’t look at the human side and the fact that people who do come to this country from Latin America, and especially to this Valley, are the backbone of a good portion of our tourism and service industries,” she said. “We get to know each other more on a human level when we tell our personal stories up close. It’s tough to hate people up close, and this book is an up-close look. We need more of that and less of the broad stereotyping of Latinos we see in mass media,”
To keep up with Judith Ritschard’s work and catch a reading of “Winter Flower: A Story of New Beginnings” follow @j.estherweavesstories on Instagram.
A large portion of proceeds from the book’s sale will go to Kids in Need of Defense, a nonprofit that provides legal services for kids stuck in the immigration legal system.