For decades, Greg and Diana Nieto would take long car trips with their children—trips where he would invent funny, creative stories about each child to keep them entertained. As the decades went by, those stories expanded to include the couple’s seven grandchildren. “Pops and DiDi,” as the couple were affectionally known, created a new character for each grandchild, serving as a source of family fun and bonding.
Naturally, over the years, everyone from friends to family told them the stories needed to be published. They agreed, but the busyness of life kept it to a “someday” project.
Fast forward to 2019, and the Nietos finally put their stories on paper, creating the first two books of a planned “Pops & Didi” series, with animal and automobile characters based upon their grandchildren.
Jaylyn and Jaxon: Let the Adventure Begin, was the first to be printed, followed by And Then There Were Three. Named after the two oldest grandchildren, Jaylyn’s character is a jaguar and Jaxon’s is a jalopy. It’s an odd combination, but it actually helps the story along, because with two unlikely companions, “sometimes our differences become our connections,” Diana Nieto said.
What motivated them to finally begin publishing, Diana said, is when she and her husband started noticing that parents weren’t interacting with their young children in a personal way. Instead, they were almost always using phones or tablets or some other technology. The book series is their way of fighting back against that trend, and re-establishing the experience of sharing a book together.
“Parents and grandparents need to make time for young kids to sit in their lap and read to them,” she said. “It’s just such a unique bonding time. That was sort of our legacy, to focus on gathering your kids in your laps and reading to them.”
The Pops & Didi books focus on positive relationships and making friends and are ideal for young children up through about age 8.
“Even infants like the pictures, and I’ve seen older kids reading it as well,” Diana said. “Our goal was to be positive with characters that are inviting. I’ve never yet seen a child who doesn’t like them.”
Incorporated into the stories is an additional important message that Diana learned from her father: “Be something. Do something. Leave something.” So important is that message, that the Nietos trademarked the saying prior to publishing.
Both lifelong Norman residents, the couple had dreamed of writing books, but it took until 2019 before they completed all the necessary steps required to self-publish. They were assisted by Oklahoma City-based artist Koon Vega, who worked closely with the couple to obtain the exact positive “vibe” for the characters.
“If you look at children’s books today, the characters in a lot of the illustrations look unhappy or just odd,” she said. “We worked for over a year with Koon, who was wonderful, and it gave us the exact look we wanted.”
The Pops & Didi books can be purchased through the website, PopsandDidi.com, or at the Press & Plow Café in Norman.
Originally, the books were planned as a series of eight, but unfortunately Greg Nieto passed away suddenly in early 2021. Diane said she isn’t sure yet if she will finish the series or not but hopes that its positive message will live on in the ones already published and in the special memories her family has of their beloved “Pops.”
“We were multifaceted in our intent with these books, and I believe we achieved that,” she said. “He lives on in those memories.”