Guiding Souls Home: Abuela Takes Center Stage in Paloma Angelina Lopez's Popo the Xolo

Popo the Xolo (2025), author Paloma Angelina Lopez, and author celebrating Día de Muertos at The Ohio State University

Paloma Angelina Lopez is a Mexican-American author currently living in the US. Her family hails from Jalisco and Guanajuato on her mother's side and Zacatecas and Sinaloa on her father's side. Her debut, Popo the Xolo (2025), grew from the loss of her own abuela a few years prior. Written in Spanglish and Spanish, the book celebrates both modern Mexican culture and its Indigenous Aztec roots.

Abraham Matias' illustrations seem to glow from within, bringing luminous warmth to this picture book about Nana and Popo. Nana, the abuela, anchors her family—cooking meals, watching her favorite novelas with Popo, and caring for her children and grandchildren. Popo is a xoloitzcuintle (or xolo), the national dog of Mexico. When Nana passes away one evening, he guides her through the nine levels of mictlán, the Aztec underworld. Together, they encounter mountains, snow, wind, and different animals before arriving home at Nana's house, where they see her family missing and remembering her.

Although the book centers on a loved one's passing, it focuses on the joyful memories from her life. As Nana regains strength and health during her journey through mictlán, death emerges as neither scary nor painful. Instead, it becomes a celebration—a chance to remember our loved ones and honor the lives they led. Nana herself feels joy and comfort as she recalls the textures of her earthly life: "her favorite novelas, the smell of her pan dulce and cafecito in the morning," and especially her love for her family.

Interview with the Author

Author Paloma Angelina Lopez reads Popo the Xolo at the Ohio State University.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Paloma Angelina Lopez when she came to give a reading at Ohio State University for our Día de los Muertos celebration. We discussed her inspiration for writing the book and what she hopes readers will take away. I also asked her about the abuela figure in Mexican culture and Latinx literature—a conversation that illuminates Nana's journey and her role in the story.

Lopez explained how, in Mexican culture, abuelas often take responsibility for transmitting language and culture to younger generations. While parents may be too busy for this work, abuelas teach grandchildren about cultural heritage and traditions. Lopez recounted growing up separated from her own abuelas, their relationships mediated by the barriers of different countries and languages. Yet she always recognized the centrality of the abuela in many Mexican families, remembering her "friends and their families being so big and so full and

the abuela being at the center of it all, cooking or taking care of people or even getting onto folks. Whatever way she was being, she was still at the center."

In the book, Nana occupies a fairly traditional role—expressing love for her family by cooking, cleaning, and caring for them—and stands central to the family. However, because others also care for her, and because she drives her own story and adventure, the book both honors and subverts the traditional abuela role.

Lopez also shared that she sometimes felt she lacked something "culturally significant." Yet writing this book at the time of her own abuela's passing allowed her to reckon with the sadness she felt at this difference between her family and those around her. She hopes that for families like hers—those experiencing disconnection between generations—Nana can become a "figure in a book that is hopefully helping folks connect with their culture."

"Abuelas are Tradition Keepers"

Abraham Matias' illustrations bring added warmth to Popo the Xolo

What strikes me most about this book is that Nana not only cares for those around her but is also deeply cared for by her family and by Popo. The book shows that "Popo keeps Nana warm and helps heal her aches." Her nietos ask if they can help her, and they care for Popo at the end of the book once Nana's soul settles in mictlán. The care she gives her family flows back to her. When she passes, the focus stays solely on her and her journey—the memories from the life she led. She commands the center of her own story, appearing not merely as a helper or caretaker but as a full individual, transforming and expanding the traditional role of the abuela.

In Latinx literature, abuela characters often serve not just as physical caretakers but as spiritual ones as well. As Nana journeys through mictlán, Popo guides and encourages her—"¡Vámonos!" he tells her again and again. Set predominantly in mictlán, the book reveals that Popo isn't the only spiritual guide; Nana serves as one too. As she explores the nine levels of the Aztec underworld, her character reconnects present-day Mexico with an often-subjugated Indigenous spiritual and cultural legacy.

"Abuelas are tradition keepers."

The book reminds readers of the history of the land they connect to and offers different ways of seeing life, death, and spirituality. The same work Popo does for Nana, Nana does for her readers—reconnecting them to an often-forgotten history. As Lopez puts it, "abuelas are tradition keepers," and Nana plays that role "not just for her nietos in the book but for anyone who picks it up and reads it to their children"—or themselves.