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Book details

Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa

Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa

Published in
2022
3.82
on Goodreads (352)

Description

Twelve-year-old Pilar Violeta “Purp” Ramirez’s world is changing, and she doesn’t care for it one bit. Her Chicago neighborhood is gentrifying and her chores have doubled since her sister, Lorena, left for college. The only constant is Abuela and Mami’s code of silence around her cousin Natasha—who vanished in the Dominican Republic fifty years ago during the Trujillo dictatorship. When Pilar hears that Lorena’s professor studies such disappearances, she hops on the next train to take matters into her own hands. After snooping around the professor's empty office, she discovers a folder with her cousin’s name on it . . . and gets sucked into the blank page within. She lands on Zafa, an island swarming with coconut-shaped demons, butterfly shapeshifters, and a sinister magical prison where her cousin is being held captive. Pilar will have to go toe-to-toe with the fearsome Dominican boogeyman, El Cuco, if she has any hope of freeing Natasha and getting back home.
Age
8-12
Text complexity
proficient
Length
304 pages
Book in series
#1

Why to read

  • Explores Dominican culture and mythology
  • Exciting adventure with magical elements
  • Themes of family bonds and self-discovery
  • Promotes understanding of diversity and heritage