Bosque School students curate book celebrating the South Valley

SOUTH VALLEY, N.M. — Bosque School students are putting together a book showcasing the beauty of Albuquerque’s South Valley. “South Valley” will be a collection of art and poems from people with a connection to the area.

The book will feature contributions from Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, former Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver – and fellow classmates as young as nine years old.

“It’s just trying to show the real beauty of our neighborhood,” said freshman Cheyenne Anderson, one of the book’s creators. “With the book, I’m hoping to put it in a lot of schools and give it a lot of access to younger children so they can never feel like that. So that they always know that their community is beautiful and it shouldn’t be looked down on.”

The book is illustrated with the paintings of South Valley artist Bill Mohr, who captures many landmarks like Taqueria El Paisa and Chavez Martial Arts.

Anderson said the final version of the book should be completed by the end of the month. Then, they plan to do readings and get the book into libraries in the South Valley and beyond.