Rafael Herrera
The Talking Cups
Rafael Herrera is the grandfather and storyteller behind The Talking Cups, a picture book series about diversity, belonging, and the lessons that live in a family kitchen.
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The thesis
A children's picture book series featuring a cast of talking cups - each from a different country, with a distinct shape, voice, and personality - who live on grandfather's kitchen shelf and teach Aiden (age 7) and his cousins about diversity, self-acceptance, respect, belonging, and the natural world. The cups serve as a safe, magical classroom before the real world begins, with lessons rooted in three generations of real family values. Only children (and grandfather) can hear the cups speak, making the magic exclusive to the young and the wise.