Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
From Pura Belpré Honor–winning author Adrianna Cuevas comes Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo, a new middle grade novel about a young Cuban American girl who must fight to break a curse of bad luck set upon her by El Cocodrilo when she rejects her family’s traditions.
If Mari Feijoo could, she would turn her family’s Peak Cubanity down a notch, just enough so that her snooping neighbor and classmate Mykenzye wouldn’t have anything to tease her about. That’s why this year, there’s no way that Mari’s joining in on one of the big-gest Feijoo family traditions—burning the New Year’s Eve effigy her abuela makes.
Only Mari never suspects that failing to toss her effigy in the fire would bring something much worse than sneering words at school: a curse of bad luck from El Cocodrilo. At first, it’s just possessed violins and grade sabotaging pencils, but once El Cocodrilo learns that he becomes more powerful with each new misery, her luck goes from bad to nightmarish as the curse spreads to her friend Keisha.
Instead of focusing on Mari’s mariachi band tryout and Keisha’s fencing tournament, the pair, along with their friend Juan Carlos, are racing against the clock to break the curse. But when Mari discovers her family’s gift to call upon their ancestors, she and her friends will have to find a way to work with the unexpected help that arrives from the far corners of Mari’s family tree. Only will it be enough to defeat El Cocodrilo before he makes their last year of elementary school the worst ever and tears their friendship apart?
Perfect for Halloween readingA charming cozy seasonal pick
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this uplifting tale by Cuevas (The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto), a Cuban American 12-year-old must reckon with the mystical consequences of breaking tradition. Maricel Yanet Feijoo's family is proud of its Cuban identity and customs. Sometimes, though, their "Peak Cubanity" embarrasses Mari, and a white classmate's frequent racist remarks add to her discomfort. When she shuns her family's annual New Year's Eve burning of an effigy to expel bad luck, her refusal to participate awakens a powerful ghostly entity called El Cocodrilo. Realizing that feeding off Mari's negative emotions boosts his power, El Cocodrilo engages in disruptive mischief—possessing Mari's belongings and sabotaging her school pursuits—that causes her public humiliation. After El Cocodrilo begins haunting her bestie, Mari must rely on her family, friends, and ancestors to expel the spirit. El Cocodrilo's schemes include humor-laced, unsettling situations starring black lizards and flooded backpacks that add levity to this meditative look at the literalization of how rejecting one's identity can have detrimental ramifications. Strong tween friendships, tight-knit familial bonds, and an emphasis on taking pride in one's roots round out this eerie supernatural adventure. An end note discusses Latin American New Year's celebrations. Ages 8–12.
