Why Did a Brazilian Author Living in Switzerland Write a Book About American Culture?

The short answer: because nobody is better placed to see a culture clearly than someone who learned it from the outside.

It is a fair question and I get it often. A Brazilian author, based in Switzerland, writing a coloring book about everyday life in the United States for toddlers. Why? How? And why should that perspective carry any weight at all?

The answer is not despite the outsider perspective. It is because of it.

WHAT THE OUTSIDER SEES THAT THE INSIDER MISSES

When you grow up inside a culture, most of it becomes invisible.

The yellow school bus. The Thanksgiving turkey. The way mailboxes look like. A Halloween pumpkin carved in October. Mac and cheese as a staple. The pledge of allegiance. For someone who grew up in the United States, these things are simply life — unremarkable, background, assumed.

For someone who arrived from somewhere else — who had to learn these things as an adult, who watched their child encounter them for the first time without context — none of them are invisible. Every single one is specific, notable, worth naming.

That is precisely what makes an outsider the right person to write this book. Not someone for whom American childhood is wallpaper, but someone for whom it was once entirely new and who remembers, clearly, what needed explaining.

The best guide to a place is not always the person who has lived there longest. It is often the person who arrived curious, paid attention, and never stopped noticing what everyone else stopped seeing years ago.

THE GLOBAL NOMAD PERSPECTIVE

This book was written for a world that is increasingly in motion.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, there were 304 million international migrants in the world as of mid-2024 — a figure that has nearly doubled since 1990. Millions of families are raising children between cultures, between languages, between the country they came from and the country they are building a life in. These families do not need books that assume a single cultural context. They need books that treat cultural learning as something active, intentional, and valuable.

My First American Coloring Book: Everyday Life in the U.S. for Little Hands was written from inside that experience — by an author who has lived it, is living it, and understands what it costs and what it offers.

👶 WHO THIS PERSPECTIVE SERVES

🌎 Immigrant and expat families in the US - Parents who are navigating American culture themselves while trying to give their children a head start on the world they are growing up in. An outsider wrote this for them — because an outsider understands exactly what needs explaining.

✈️ Families relocating to the United States - For children who are about to encounter American daily life for the first time, the book provides visual, gentle, toddler-friendly introduction — made by someone who knows what it is like to arrive without context.

🏡 American families living abroad - Parents who want to keep American culture present for their children while living somewhere else. The outsider who documented it carefully is exactly who they need.

🌍 Global nomad families everywhere - Families who move between countries, who raise children between identities, who know that cultural literacy is not an accident — it is something you build, page by page.

WHY BRAZIL + SWITZERLAND + AMERICA MAKES SENSE

The biography is the credential.

Jessica Gabrielzyk was born in São Paulo, Brazil. She lives in Switzerland. She writes in English. She is a member of SiETAR — the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research — and her work has been recognised by intercultural researchers, educators and organisations across Europe and beyond.

She did not write about American culture because she grew up there. She wrote about it because she had to learn it, the way millions of families around the world have to learn it — from the outside, with curiosity, paying attention to the details that everyone who grew up there long ago stopped noticing.

That is the book. 101 illustrations of everyday American life, made by someone who never took any of it for granted. Designed for little hands and big questions. For toddlers from age two. For families in motion. For the world as it actually is.

❓ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why did a Brazilian author write a book about American culture?

Because the outsider perspective is the most valuable one. Someone who learned American culture as an adult remembers exactly what needed explaining — and wrote it down for the families who need it most.

Is this book only for children living in the United States?

No. It is for any family navigating American culture — whether they are moving to the US, living abroad and raising American children, or simply want their toddler to develop early cultural literacy and English vocabulary.

What makes this coloring book different from others?

It was designed by someone who came to American culture from the outside, which means nothing was assumed and nothing was left out. Every illustration represents something a toddler in the US actually encounters — chosen deliberately, not by habit.

Who is the target audience for My First American Coloring Book?

Toddlers from age two, and the families raising them — particularly immigrant families, expat families, globally mobile families, and anyone who wants screen-free early cultural learning for young children.

My First American Coloring Book: Everyday Life in the U.S. for Little Hands is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Saxo in Denmark, Yes24 in South Korea, Morawa in Austria, and Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis.

Written by a Brazilian living in Switzerland. Illustrated by a Brazilian illustrator. Made for every family, everywhere, that is figuring out the world one page at a time.

The outsider who paid attention,

Jessica Gabrielzyk

✦ MY FIRST AMERICAN COLORING BOOK · GLOBAL NOMAD · EXPAT CHILDREN'S BOOKS · CULTURAL LITERACY FOR TODDLERS ✦