02/27/2023
Ten-year-old Cuban American Rafa Alvarez and his friends Beto and Yesi, who are obsessed with the fantasy tabletop role-playing game The Forgotten Age, take the adventure out of doors and into the real world in this boisterous telling by Cuevas (Cuba in My Pocket). When a prank they pull as part of their game goes wrong, Rafa’s father sends him from Florida to New Mexico, to spend a month helping Marcus Coleman, an old college friend, run Rancho Espanto—Terror Ranch. There, Rafa meets Marcus, a Black Army veteran turned barn manager, and affable Korean American Jennie Kim, the snack-obsessed daughter of the local librarian. Rafa slowly acclimates to the ranch’s sedate lifestyle, which helps him process his mother’s worsening cancer. But a stranger in a green jacket, believing the ranch to be haunted, pressures him to leave, even going so far as to frame Rafa for vandalism around the ranch, which puts the youth at odds with his new friends. Via Rafa’s vulnerable first-person narration, Cuevas crafts a whirlwind mystery populated by a compassionate community of lovable characters with effervescent personalities, to explore themes of grief, healing, and PTSD with tenderness and well-timed humor. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)
10/27/2023
Gr 3–7—In this intriguing paranormal fantasy-mystery, 12-year-old Cuban American Rafael "Rafa" and his best friends' harebrained scheme to steal their school's slushy machine lands them in trouble. Rafa is banished from Miami to a Santa Fe, NM, ranch for the summer that's an artists' retreat, a scientists' research center, and potentially haunted. His first day there Rafa sees cows in the canyon that no one else seems to see, and a strange man who tells Rafa that he shouldn't be there. Assigned to help Black barn manager Marcus, a military vet, Rafa is blamed when the horses escape the corral. With help from his only peer on the ranch—purple-braided, talkative Korean American Jennie Kim, daughter of the ranch librarian—Rafa investigates some very odd and inexplicable incidents. Jennie tells him about the outlaw cattle-rustling brothers who lived in the canyon in the 1800s and reputedly still haunt it. They suspect one of brothers' ghosts is behind these strange occurrences. Their investigation leads them into a dangerous and otherworldly paradox. Beyond the story's scary, mysterious, and humorous aspects, it sensitively explores the characters' invisible scars from illness, PTSD, death, grief, and anxiety. VERDICT The emotional resonance for readers in this appealing story is in how Rafa and other characters come to terms with transformative events in their lives in a very real and relatable way.—Sharon Rawlins
2023-01-12
When Rafa Alvarez and his two best friends decide to bring their favorite role-playing game into the real world, the consequences become just as real.
Between his father’s strict nature and his mother’s worsening illness, Cuban American Rafa has retreated into playing The Forgotten Age with Beto and Yesi. However, after they attempt to steal a slushie machine from the school cafeteria as part of the game, Dad decides Rafa would best learn his lesson by spending a month on a ranch…all the way across the country from Florida in New Mexico. When Rafa arrives at Rancho Espanto, or Terror Ranch, he forms new friendships with Korean American Jennie Kim, the librarian’s daughter, and Black barn manager Marcus Coleman, an army veteran. But when a strange man in a green sweater begins to appear, causing chaos for Rafa, the seemingly sedate ranch becomes the site of an exciting—and slightly terrifying—mystery to solve. Together, Rafa and Jennie work to uncover the strange (possibly paranormal) happenings at Rancho Espanto. While the mystery lies at the core of this novel, the exploration of themes of loss, grief, and identity add complexity. Readers familiar with these subjects will see themselves in Rafa as he struggles to come to terms with and understand his mother’s condition and build his own identity.
An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff. (Mystery. 8-12)
2024 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winner
2025 Rhode Island Middle School Book Award List
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award List
"Adrianna Cuevas deftly weaves together friendship and mystery in a tale that is not just about the ghosts of the departed, but also of love, loss, and lingering grief." —Julie C. Dao, author of Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood Arena
"Another humorous, sensitive, and compelling story." —Horn Book
"[...] readers of all ages will be compelled to reflect upon their own lives and legacies after this gripping read." —Booklist
"Cuevas crafts a whirlwind mystery populated by a compassionate community of lovable characters with effervescent personalities, to explore themes of grief, healing, and PTSD with tenderness and well-timed humor." —PW
"An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff." —Kirkus
Praise for Cuba In My Pocket:
Kirkus Best Book of the Year
2024 Indiana Library Federation Read Aloud
"Cuba in My Pocket is an authentic and moving portrayal of a tragic era in Cuban history, told with empathy and hope." — Margarita Engle, Newbery Honor-winning author and Young People's Poet Laureate Emeritus
"Adrianna Cuevas has written a book that is a beautiful gift to the memory of her father, filled with love and a great respect for the culture and folklore of Cuba. The travails of Cumba Fernandez, a young Cuban wrenched into exile, will make all readers want to root for him, as he finds courage he didn’t know he had, dares to be hopeful when his heart is broken, and learns to always carry Cuba in his pocket."
— Ruth Behar, author of Pura Belpré Award-Winning book, Lucky Broken Girl, and Sydney Taylor Notable book, Letters from Cuba
“A harrowing and important read. Cuevas explores an often-hidden moment in Cuban American history with heart, compassion, and authenticity.” — Ernesto Cisneros, author of Pura Belpré Award-Winning book Efrén Divided
"Cuba in My Pocket is beautifully told and vividly realized. Cuevas thoughtfully explores the agonizing loss of home and family and what it means to try and hold onto both from across the sea. Cumba’s journey is specific, deeply personal, and a love letter to the freedom to dream. Heartbreaking but stubbornly hopeful, I will carry this story with me forever." — Nina Moreno, author of Don't Date Rosa Santos
"From the riveting glimpse into 1960s Cuba, to narrator Cumba—beautifully drawn in all his bravery, wit, and spirit—this story is a triumph." — Laura Taylor Namey, New York Times bestselling author of A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow
"Cuba in My Pocket is an expertly written, emotional roller coaster you don't want to miss." — Saadia Faruqi, author of Yusuf Azeem Is Not A Hero
"Inspired by stories from her father’s childhood, Cuevas’ latest is a triumph of the heart...A compassionate, emotionally astute portrait of a young Cuban in exile." — Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW
"Cuevas’ intense and immersive account of a Cuban boy’s experience after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion brings a specific point in history alive ... Drawing from her father’s boyhood experiences, Cuevas does an outstanding job of eliciting the confusing array of emotions Cumba feels as he is thrown into life in a new country." — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
"Cuevas packs this sophomore novel with palpable emotions and themes of friendship, love, longing, and trauma, attentively conveying tumultuous historical events from the lens of one young refugee." — Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Praise for The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez:
2021 Pura Belpré Honor Book
NYPL Best Book of 2020
2020 Evanston Public Library Great Books for Kids
"A marvelous, magical mystery that deftly blends family, friends and folklore." — David Bowles, author of Pura Belpré Honor Book and Walter Dean Myers Honor Book They Call Me Güero
"Mystery, adventure, humor, friendship, and...talking animals—The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez has it all! Readers will love this funny, fast-paced, heartwarming story." — Celia C. Pérez, author of the Pura Belpre Honor book The First Rule of Punk
"A charming and vibrant debut fantasy." — Kirkus Reviews
"Readers will devour this fast-paced adventure as they root for Nestor and his ragtag bunch of friends and animal allies . . . In a unique take on South and Central American folklore, Cuevas brings to life an earthly type of twisted magic that transcends spells and transfiguration, extending into the feelings of belonging and finding a true home." — Booklist
"With this heartwarming debut, Cuevas draws upon Central American legends and her Cuban heritage to flesh out Nestor’s experiences . . . crafting a tense, satisfying tale of magic, family, and finding one’s true home." —Publisher's Weekly
"Cuevas crafts a riveting story based on folktales from Panama and Costa Rica." — School Library Journal
Narrator Anthony Perez does a fine job narrating this juvenile mystery with a lot of heart. Cuban American Rafa Alvarez thought it was funny when he and his friends stole the slushy machine at school. As punishment, Rafa's dad sent him to New Mexico to work at Ranch Espanto (Ghost Ranch) with his father's old friend for a month. In Rafa's defense, home has been tense--his mother has aggressive cancer. Rafa starts to make friends, but then a mysterious man begins to sabotage him. Perez switches seamlessly between English and Spanish. He successfully depicts heavy emotional moments involving grief and fear. Perez shines when he voices Rafa's mother; he narrates her parts with a warmth listeners will surely love. A.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Narrator Anthony Perez does a fine job narrating this juvenile mystery with a lot of heart. Cuban American Rafa Alvarez thought it was funny when he and his friends stole the slushy machine at school. As punishment, Rafa's dad sent him to New Mexico to work at Ranch Espanto (Ghost Ranch) with his father's old friend for a month. In Rafa's defense, home has been tense--his mother has aggressive cancer. Rafa starts to make friends, but then a mysterious man begins to sabotage him. Perez switches seamlessly between English and Spanish. He successfully depicts heavy emotional moments involving grief and fear. Perez shines when he voices Rafa's mother; he narrates her parts with a warmth listeners will surely love. A.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
