This retelling of a Pre-Columbian myth follows a boy so full of energy he is able to stir up the sky!
Magaly Morales is the illustrator of several picture books, including What Can You Do with a Paleta?, a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award winner; The Courage of the Little Hummingbird: A Tale Told Around the World; and Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, which received starred reviews in Booklist, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly. She was born and lives in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. You can learn more about her at her website.
TAJIN AND THE TWELVE THUNDERS: A PRE-COLUMBIAN MYTH is a picture book that retells a well known Mexican folktale. In this version Tajín is a boy full of joy and energy and chaos. He gets put into a time out after the animals have a little too much of his antics. He is sent to the pyramid of Los Nichos where the twelve thunders live. These grumpy old men give him plenty of chores to keep him busy, but oh my! Antics cannot remain restrained forever. This book is Magaly’s debut as BOTH writer and illustrator and it is glorious!
Welcome Magaly!
Me: Can you share about your creative journey? When did you start creating art professionally? How did that bring you to being the author-illustrator of this book?
Magaly: When I was about ten or eleven years old, I watched a movie about a group of young people creating graffiti, and something exploded inside me. Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming desire to create, paint, and design. From that moment on, I spent countless hours imagining and making things simply for the joy of it.
Many years later, my sister, Yuyi Morales, encouraged me to put together a portfolio of my artwork. Among the illustrations I created for that portfolio were two inspired by the myth of Tajín. That portfolio eventually led me into the world of children’s book illustration under the representation of Charlotte Sheedy.
In 2010, I illustrated my first published book, What Can You Do with a Paleta? by Carmen Tafolla, and that marked the beginning of my professional career.
But throughout all those years, Tajín never left my mind. Those first illustrations sparked something in me, and I always dreamed of one day telling the complete story and honoring it through both words and images. Over time, that dream became Tajín and the Twelve Thunders.
Me: I love that Taijin is so full of energy and never once changes who he is. What gave you the idea to tell this story in a picture book that you both wrote and illustrated?
Magaly: As you mentioned, Tajín is full of energy, and that is an essential part of who he is. Personally, I feel that Tajín represents a part of myself—intense, mischievous, curious, and a little wild. Perhaps that is why I have always been so fascinated by this story.
For many years, Tajín kept calling to me. The character and the myth stayed in my imagination long after I first encountered them as a child. No matter what other projects I worked on, I found myself returning to this story again and again.
Eventually, I realized that I wanted to tell it through my own eyes, combining both words and illustrations. Creating it as an author-illustrator allowed me to shape not only the visual world of the book but also the particular version of the story that had been growing inside me for so many years.
Me: I understand you grew up hearing the story of Taijin over and over as a child. Does your version have any differences from the original you heard? Or did you decide to stay as true to the original version as possible?
Magaly: One of the fascinating things about this myth is that there is no single definitive version of it.
According to the Mexican ethnologist and anthropologist Roberto Williams García, who documented oral traditions in the mid-twentieth century, there were already many different versions being told by Totonac elders. Like many oral traditions, the story changed from one community to another and from one storyteller to the next, adapting to explain natural phenomena and reflect local beliefs.
The version that most strongly influenced my book comes from a version Williams García recorded in 1954. In it, an orphan boy follows a mysterious bundle of firewood into the Pyramid of the Niches, where twelve elders are responsible for bringing rain. While they are away, he uses their powerful tools and garments, ascends into the clouds, and creates such chaos that he nearly causes a great flood.
My goal was not to reproduce that version word for word, but to remain faithful to its spirit while adapting it into a picture book. I wanted to preserve the heart of the myth, its wonder, humor, and connection to the natural world, while creating a story that would resonate with today’s young readers.
Me: I noticed that you had a list of references in the back matter for your book. Did you have to do research on the story, even though you’d heard it so many times? How long did it take you to research what you needed? Can you tell us a bit about your research process?
Magaly: Yes, absolutely. Even though I had known the story since childhood, I felt that if I was going to retell it, I needed to understand much more than the plot itself. I wanted to learn about its origins, symbolism, cultural context, and the ancient world from which it emerged.
My research began online, but eventually led me to the Museum of Anthropology of Xalapa, one of the most important archaeological museums in Mexico and a remarkable source of information about the civilizations that inhabited the region where I was born. I also visited the archaeological site of El Tajín itself and consulted the work of archaeologists, anthropologists, and other researchers.
The research process stretched over many years—not because I was researching continuously the entire time, but because Tajín stayed with me for so long. Every time I returned to the project, I would learn something new. Little by little, those discoveries helped me build a deeper understanding of both the myth and the world that inspired it.
Me: I love the way you illustrated this book. The textures are fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about your illustrations for the book? Did you work with traditional media or digital or both?
Magaly: Thank you! The illustrations were created entirely digitally using Procreate on a tablet. I spent a lot of time experimenting with brushes, textures, and color to create the atmosphere I wanted for the story.
Many of the textures in the book were actually created from photographs that I took myself of different objects and surfaces. I incorporated those images into the artwork and combined them with digital painting techniques to give the illustrations more richness and depth.
Although the process was digital, I approached it much the same way I would approach traditional media—through experimentation, play, and intuition. I wanted the images to feel vibrant, energetic, and full of movement, just like Tajín himself.
Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing and/or illustrating this story?
Magaly: What surprised me most was how intuitive the entire process felt.
As I mentioned before, I have always felt a very personal connection to Tajín and to this story. Because of that, creating the book often felt less like constructing something and more like listening to something that was already there.
Many of the images seemed to arrive on their own. I often had the feeling that the story knew where it wanted to go and that my role was simply to pay attention. There were moments when I felt as though someone else was quietly guiding me, showing me what needed to happen next.
Of course, there was plenty of hard work, revision, and conscious decision-making involved. But what surprised me was how often intuition led the way and how naturally the visual world of the book seemed to emerge.
Me: Any advice for other new picture book writers and/or illustrators?
Magaly: I’m not sure I have advice to give, because I think every writer and illustrator has their own unique magic and their own path to follow.
What I can share is what has been important for me: learning to listen to my inner voice. Over time, I have tried to understand what truly moves me, what I connect with emotionally, and what I want to communicate through my work.
For me, the message being shared and the emotions being created matter deeply. Those things have become both my compass and my anchor. Whenever I feel uncertain, I return to them, and they help guide my creative decisions.
I think every artist eventually discovers their own version of that compass.
I love that. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today Magaly.
Dear readers, this book published at the beginning of the month. It’s a delightful folktale that doesn’t try to punish or change its main character, but instead embraces him the way he is (while also showing us how weather could possibly be created). Trust me when I say, this is a story you won’t want to miss!