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Who Are Zharitta & Qwikwito?

How Two Imaginary Friends Between Siblings Became a Book Series

By Zuqy Cruz MarquezPublished 5 years ago 2 min read
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"Onions Cry Too Ya Know"

When my sisters and I were kids we had a couple of imaginary friends that we always played with. We made our hands take the form of a dinosaur talking, which was Zharitta, and our hand shaped like a toad that talked by making a mouth with our thumb and index finger, which was Qwikwito. When the baby of the family would play with Qwikiwto, she would squash him like a tomato, but one just simply had to blow air at Qwikwito to bring them back to their regular shape. She would also feed him as many marbles as they could eat, but one too many and Qwikwito would throw them up, which was always the funniest thing to witness and act out.

My siblings and I grew older, and for a little while, we placed Zharitta and Qwikwito in our hearts. On February 13, 2013, I decided to start writing 22 short stories and poems to make book one of an eight part series written by Z&Q. That day, I wrote all the 22 vignettes and I began to draw their accompanying illustrations. By September 8, I had the first book of the series, "these twenty-two teeny tomes," getting printed and shipped to our home.

Almost six years later and I am working on the next three Z&Q books. Each with their different style of art. A series in which a t-rex and a toad tell tales through time. Of course all of the books are LGBTQX inclusive, because all of my siblings and I are in the spectrum. Everything we create for kids must remind them that they are not alone, and that there are many hearts that are rainbow just like theirs.

On September 8 of 2016, we created an Instagram page that was dedicated to share everything from the Z&Q world. A collection of illustrations from the books and a mixture of uplifting animations for anyone to enjoy.

The future of Z&Q universe looks better and better with each moment shared with the world. There is a plan to have an animated series based on the books that will expand the Z&Q universe in new and exciting ways. For now, catch Zharitta and Qwikwito on the pages of their first book and on the feed of their magical social media spaces.

"Be Hopy Bunny"

literature
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About the Creator

Zuqy Cruz Marquez

...i am an artifex that creates ABC'z (Albums, Books, Cinema..)

...i am a lover of Film, Literature, Music, TV, Frida Kahlo, Vegantl, Art, & Love...

...#Z_Q...

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