We Light Up the Sky
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Should you save a world that doesn't want to save you?
Award-winning author Lilliam Rivera explores the haunting story of an alien invasion from the perspective of three Latinx teens.
Pedro, Luna, and Rafa may attend Fairfax High School together in Los Angeles, but they run in separate spheres. Pedro is often told that he's "too much" and seeks refuge from his home life in a local drag bar. Luna is pretending to go along with the popular crowd but is still grieving the unexpected passing of her beloved cousin Tasha. Then there's Rafa, the quiet new kid who is hiding the fact that his family is homeless.
But Pedro, Luna, and Rafa find themselves thrown together when an extraterrestrial visitor lands in their city and takes the form of Luna's cousin Tasha. As the Visitor causes destruction wherever it goes, the three teens struggle to survive and warn others of what's coming--because this Visitor is only the first of many. But who is their true enemy--this alien, or their fellow humans?
Pura Belpré Honor-winning author Lilliam Rivera examines the days before a War of the Worlds-inspired alien invasion in this captivating and chilling new novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Three Latinx teens must team up to protect Earth and stop an alien invasion converging on a post-Covid-19 Los Angeles in Rivera's (Never Look Back) thought-provoking, genre-savvy work of speculative fiction. When a cadre of aliens known as the Visitors lands on Earth, Fairfax High students Pedro, Luna, and Rafa barely exist in each other's orbits. Well-dressed Pedro appears self-assured but struggles with a difficult home life; bright and popular Luna carries deep, still-raw grief; and quiet transfer student Rafa tries not to reveal that his family is unhoused. But when one of the Visitors takes on the likeness of Luna's dead cousin, the three must work together to warn their city of the latent alien threat and keep each other safe. Told in the third person and following the three teens' perspectives, Rivera grounds the novel in its setting—a vivid, fully realized alternate version of Los Angeles—and in the precision of her young protagonists' struggles and truths. Sharp social commentary, on-point humor ("I'm not mentally prepared for this part of the dystopia"), and a tender exploration of grief add heart and depth to a novel that's just right for fans of Attack the Block. Ages 13–up.
