APRIL 23, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A15
LIFE
Local artist creates dual
language children’s book
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Dago Benavidez has always been pas-
sionate about his artwork.
The 67-year old, who graduated from
McNary in 1973, has a variety of his unique
paintings all over his home — with several
more in his garage.
Benavidez has some
Local artist, Dago Benavidez,
of his award-winning
created a dual language children's
paintings
displayed
book to help kids learn about
at
Primo
Barbershop
the five stages of grief.
in Keizer. He has also
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
hosted
several
art
shows and his own web-
site, where he can put some of his favorite
artwork on display.
“I have been painting, drawing and
sketching ever since I can remember. I
have always been into it,” Benavidez said.
Most of Benavidez’s work comes from
visual inspiration — such as when he sees
a beautiful bird or fl ower. However, his
most recent project came with a diff erent
motivation.
With the COVID-19 pandemic dis-
rupting the normal way of life, Benavidez
wanted to make a children’s book (ages
5-10) to attempt to help kids understand
the grief they might be feeling. The
unique aspect of the book, which is called
Rusty and Me, is that it is written in both
English and Spanish — the title in Spanish
is called Rusty y yo.
Benavidez used to be a project manager
for the CASA (Court Appointed Special
Advocate) program in Salem, recruiting
to help advocate for Latino children going
through the court system, which played a
big role in his inspiration for the story.
“I feel like children kind of get left
behind sometimes and Latino kids get left
behind even more. That's what gave me
the inspiration,” Benavidez said.
The book explains the fi ve stages of
grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depres-
sion and acceptance). The story follows
a child growing up with their dog, and
then having to deal with the sadness that
occurs when the dog has to be put down.
“Letting kids know about the fi ve
stages of grief is the focus of the whole
book,” Benavidez said.
Under each stage of grief in the book, a
section is left blank so that kids can write
what they may be feeling.
Before Benavidez and his family moved
to Keizer when he was 12 years old, he
struggled in school while living in Texas
and even had to repeat fi rst grade twice
because his family only spoke Spanish in
the house.
While he speaks near-perfect English
now, Benavidez still remembers how dif-
fi cult it was to learn a new language as a
child, which is one of the main reasons he
wanted to have his book be in both English
and Spanish — the Spanish version was
translated by the Mexican consulate.
“It is not hard to speak English any-
more. It comes natural now. But it wasn’t
like that when I was a kid. That is the
reason I feel a need for children to see a
book in both English and Spanish with the
same picture in both pages. We are all the
same,” Benavidez said. “It will also help
the children learn the story in both ways.”
Just by looking at some of his work, it’s
easy to tell that Benavidez’s paintings are
incredibly exquisite and detail-oriented.
But with Rusty and Me, Benavidez made
his colored pencil drawings especially
simplistic, with the animals not drawn to
scale and coloring outside of the lines.
“I approached it from how a child
would draw,” Benavidez said.
Another aspect that makes Benavidez’s
story unique is that the main character
is not gender specifi c, so that the story
would apply to both boys and girls.
“The same things that aff ect adults,
they aff ect children too,” Benavidez said.
“I wanted for it to be gender-neutral so
that nobody gets hurt. It applies to both
boys and girls.”
The book was published earlier this
year at ABC Printers in Salem. Benavidez
is working on having the story available at
multiple local outlets. Until then, people
interested in purchasing a book can email
Benavidez at dagobenavidez@gmail.com.
Cost is $10 plus shipping.
“Children need to know that it's not
just them experiencing stuff . And with
COVID and hearing about people dying
left and right, I felt that kids needed to
understand that everything is going to be
ok and this too shall pass,” Benavidez said.
“What I want them to see is that what they
are feeling is not unusual.”
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