Singer-father Ricky Martin writes a children’s book

Ricky Martin is a Grammy-winning singer — and the father of 5-year-old twin boys, Matteo and Valentino. Martin, who wrote the best-selling memoir “Me,” makes his children’s book debut with “Santiago the Dreamer in ‘Land Among the Stars’ ” (Celebra, illustrated by Patricia Castelao, for ages 5-9). It’s about a young performer who learns to overcome rejection and follow his dreams.

Martin, 41, spoke about his inspiration, the writing process and how fatherhood is a whole new vida loca. How are you like the book’s star, Santiago?

To be quite honest, when I was 12 years old, I did my first audition to become a member of this music band, and I was not accepted. I had my father next to me the entire time saying, “If this is what you really want, you just have to believe it in your heart and start getting ready.” He helped me a lot emotionally and spiritually, and I eventually got the part. So this is a little bit inspired by my personal life, with fantasy added to it. Now that I have my kids, I want to be constantly feeding them love and security so they can be themselves. Have you read the book to your sons?

They tend to be very jealous. I keep talking about Santiago, and it’s funny because today, my son asked me, “So where does Santiago live? What city?” And I said Santiago lives in our hearts and he’s always with us. So, yes, I’ve read it to them, and they love it, and now

12I’m doing the music for Santiago, so he’s really becoming a celebrity in our house. They are a very big part of his whole project, obviously. Music? What do you have planned for Santiago?

First, let me tell you that this is the first of a five-book series. This is the first story, and it’s the introduction. Hopefully we’ll be releasing one book every year for the next five years. It sounds like the books will be growing up with your kids.

Yes, that’s the point. Santiago’s best friends are going to be very important in the next couple of stories, and obviously Santiago’s father — I’m creating a whole little world of Santiago. The book is coming out simultaneously in both Spanish and English. Can you talk about that? The first book that I wrote ... was translated into nine languages. I’m from Puerto Rico and we live in the U.S., so there’s that duality, and we speak Spanish in the house, so my kids are bilingual — well, trilingual because they go to a French school ... this book will also hopefully be translated into many other languages.

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