‘Ella and the Very Hungry Man’ is about a young girl’s grief, intended to honor her father’s memory

By Debora Gordon for Ashland.news

A locally-based travel intensive care unit nurse since 2015, Sonia (Munoz) Santiago is also a self-published writer.

Originally from Chicago, and now based in Ashland, she is self-described as “a Renaissance woman; I wear many hats.”

In 2022, the mother of three published “Ella and the Very Hungry Man,” a children’s book about a young girl’s grief “to honor and uphold her father’s memory,” after his early passing.

A healer from the start

Santiago graduated from Chamberlain University in Chicago, with a B.S. of Science in Nursing.

Early on, there were signs that her life’s work would be in health care.

“I think I had this nurturing, healing quality from childhood,” she said, adding she went as far as keeping Band Aids handy when on the elementary school playground if someone got hurt.

She is currently attending online classes at Capella University in Washington as she works toward her masters in nurse practitioner studies.

“My desire was to work with people on the mental/emotional plane,” Santiago said. “I also work with them in a very physical way, in the hospital, and I would like to move into working with people on the mental, emotional and even spiritual plane, really helping people help themselves. If you listen to people long enough, and you’re there with them, they solve their own problems.” 

Santiago won a national level DAISY Award in 2017, which she described as similar to a “Hall of Fame of Nursing,” award where finalists are nominated by patients and their families. 

“Since 1999, DAISY has been honoring nurses who provide above-and-beyond compassionate care to patients and families,” the DAISY Award website reads.

A budding writer

The healer qualities seen early in Santiago’s childhood existed alongside her budding talent as a writer.

It first manifested with “Copycat,” a story Santiago wrote in the fifth grade. A classmate’s older sister illustrated it in a style reminiscent of the children’s show “Caillou.”

“Copycat” was about a girl who was bullied, particularly about her hairdo, though the bullies would also imitate the hairstyles they scorned. So the girl shaved her head, and the other kids who had made fun of her showed up at school with their heads shaved, too.

Santiago submitted the book to her teacher, who asked to keep it to share with other students, but never returned it.

About 15 years later, Santiago discovered a book called “Stephanie’s Ponytail,” after her daughter’s second grade teacher read it to her class.  It had numerous similarities to her own elementary school tale.

“They changed some things; the illustrations were almost the same, and also interesting that the original was called ‘Copycat,’” Santiago said. “When I heard that, it inspired me to write again, because I was writing lots of poetry and other things.”

A mode of inspiration

That inspiration led to “Ella and the Very Hungry Man.”

The story is about a little girl who endures the grief of losing her father. Part of it is motivated by a real experience, as Santiago’s father was not there after her parents’ divorce. It’s also informed by her nursing career, where she has seen a lot of people pass away and witnessed the effect it can have on children.

The drawings in the book were inspired by the drawings of Santiago’s daughter, Isabelle, and illustrator Jesus Gallardo mimicked her style. Fig Factor media helped Santiago publish, providing an editing team and guidance through the publishing process.

The book’s target audience is primarily elementary- and middle school-aged children. It’s a true convergence of her nursing career and her writing journey: a story about navigating grief based on life experiences she’s endured and witnessed.

“People will open up to me, and I think I have a way of being able to not take that on, but transform the energy into something like this, like a book,” Santiago said. “So I think some of doing that really deep work with people. I feel like over time, I’ve given some people some tools to help deal with grief and help try to accept it, and use it…depending on where they’re at in their grief process, because I meet everyone at totally different times, to help them gain some tools, some insight, accept it and maybe even turn it into a mode of inspiration.”

Works in progress

There are two pieces Santiago is working on: a book and a screenplay.

“The Wickedest Weirdest Wizard of Weirdston” is a story that came about when a friend told her about visiting a city called “Weirdston,” and nothing made sense. The book will rhyme.

The screenplay, “Louie Louer and the Coral of Truth,” is  “a cross between ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Finding Nemo,’” Santiago said, adding a lot of it will reflect Oregon.

When it comes to writing, Santiago has one piece of advice: “Like Nike said: ‘Just do it.'”

Debora Gordon is a writer, artist, educator and non-violence activist who moved to Ashland from Oakland, California. Email her at debora.ashlandnews@gmail.com.