Eric Ortiz and two of his children, Emilia, left, and Calum, right, wrote a book last year together to promote positive virtues amid a difficult time in their community and world. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Last year was a challenging time for the world and the Twin Cities — first with the pandemic and then with the Minneapolis police-involved death of George Floyd. While adults have struggled with the turmoil, children have also grappled with understanding the unrest going on around them.

To help bring love and light to dark issues such as systemic racism and social injustice in a way that children can understand, Eric Ortiz, 47, worked with his 8-year-old daughter, Emilia, and 5-year-old son, Calum, students at Risen Christ Catholic School in Minneapolis, to publish a children’s book.

“Risen Christ is a few blocks from where Floyd was killed on Memorial Day,” Ortiz said. “Our kids saw and heard the rioting that followed in Minneapolis. They are aware of the trauma that is impacting communities in the city. But these things are all heavy issues, even for adults.”

The book, titled “How the Zookalex Saved the Village,” is about someone who is different and mistreated by others because of those differences. But instead of responding with hate, the mistreated one responds with love, and something wonderful happens.

“We wanted to create a story about fairness, acceptance and working together to build community. I wanted to show my kids the power of giving, empathy and peace,” Ortiz said. “We hope that our story can provide an uplifting message for everyone who reads it, children and adults alike.”

The idea of creating a book as a family came before the social unrest and before COVID-19 hit Minnesota hard in March 2020. Those events simply inspired them more to tell a good story.

“We wanted our story to relate to some issues of this moment and help our kids (and other kids) better understand what is happening in Minneapolis and beyond,” Ortiz said. “Even though I wrote the book with my two younger kids, it was a family project, with the full support of my wife (Maria, 38) and oldest daughter” Eva, 13, who is graduating from Risen Christ in June and plans to attend DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis.

It took about nine months to complete the book. Ortiz developed the story idea with his son early last year and shared it with Emilia. They talked about the story, Ortiz typed everything up and shared the results with his children for feedback and suggestions.

“We had our first draft of the story in April. The story evolved over time and went through many revisions and rewrites. We finished the written copy in November and I put it into book format,” Ortiz said. “That’s when we started doing the illustrations. My daughter created the Zookalex drawing and made the cover. Then, my son drew a picture, I drew a few pictures, and my daughter drew the rest.”

The book was self-published and is available for $11.99 on Amazon.

Faith played a big role for the Ortiz family, members of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

“The Catholic Church has a history of social teaching that challenges us to live responsibly and build a just society. Social justice is an important part of Catholic tradition, and is at the heart of our family’s faith,” said Ortiz, who attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles.

“I was taught the Ignatian ideal of ‘being a man for others,’ based on the life and teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola,” he said. “This ideal says that every decision and every action should be done for the greater glory of God. I strive to live my life like this and put St. Ignatius’ important teaching into practice.”

Being unselfish and putting the needs of others before their own is how Ortiz and his wife are raising their kids. They reinforce the concept that all people are one human family, whatever national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences there might be.

Ortiz and his kids spoke about the book to Calum’s kindergarten class at Risen Christ, a preschool class in Minneapolis and a second-grade class in New York. Students and teachers loved the book, and the Ortiz family enjoyed the experience of talking about the story and its themes.

“We would love to continue these book readings and discussions with students and the community here in Minneapolis or anywhere,” Ortiz said.

The Ortiz family near their south Minneapolis home. From left, Emilia, Calum, Maria, Eric and Eva Ortiz. In 2020, Eric wrote a book with Emilia and Calum as a way to respond to the challenges their community was facing during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the death of George Floyd. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Giving back

A board member of the family’s neighborhood association, the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association, Ortiz is helping lead a community mentorship fundraising effort for Brothers EMpowered, which provides programming and services for youth in north Minneapolis, encouraging them to be positive contributors to their community and excel in life. The Ortiz family is giving half of the proceeds from selling “How the Zookalex Saved the Village” to Brothers EMpowered. The goal is to split $10,000; they are more than halfway there.

Once they reach that goal, the family will give 50% of book sales to Risen Christ Catholic School, the only Catholic dual immersion school in Minnesota. It provides a bilingual education in Spanish and English to a diverse community of learners.

“The fact that the family has chosen Risen Christ as a beneficiary of what they earn from this book is very meaningful,” said Michael Rogers, president of Risen Christ School. “Their donation really means that they are supporting other families. The Ortiz children are supporting their friends. Their support tells me that they believe in our desire to make Catholic education affordable to all Risen Christ families.”

Giving his children the first royalty payments from the book was wonderful, Ortiz said.

“It showed them the results and rewards of their work,” he said. “They will continue to get royalty payments from this book as the book continues to sell. But from here on out, everything is gravy. We didn’t make this book to get rich. The whole point of this book project was to provide a simple, real-life lesson for my kids about the value of hard work and turning your imagination into a reward.”

It’s also about giving back to the community, Ortiz said.

“Instead of just helping my kids learn some valuable life lessons, we have an opportunity to help many more people,” he said. “We are thinking about this book as a vehicle for a greater good beyond our family.”

— Maura Keller