The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto

Cuba in My Pocket

Darkness Over Daerland

The Tannenbaum Tailors and the Brethren of the Saints

Clutch

Curse of the Night Witch: Emblem Island

The Chaos Curse: Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond

The Poison Boy

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 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? 

Discover Your Child's Next Read

The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto

Adrianna Cuevas, 2023

Cuba in My Pocket

Adrianna Cuevas, 2021

Darkness Over Daerland

Amanda M. Preisler, 2023

The Tannenbaum Tailors and the Brethren of the Saints

J.B. Michaels, JB Michaels, 2016

Clutch

M.G. Leonard, 2023

Curse of the Night Witch: Emblem Island

Alex Aster, 2020

The Chaos Curse: Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond

Sayantani Dasgupta, 2020

The Poison Boy

Fletcher Moss, 2013