Days of the Dead

August 15, 2018
A blended family learns to cope and have compassion for each other.Mexican-American Glorieta Magdalena Davis Espinosa takes her obligations to her family very seriously. Her mother's family, the Espinosas, has lived in the same house for 400 years, and her aunts are the matriarchs of the town of Puerto de la Luna, which was swallowed up by Epoch, New Mexico, when it became a part of the United States but kept much of its magic and Mexicanness. But no magic can soothe Glorieta's grief over losing her mother to suicide years ago. Her great-aunt, la Doña Diosonita, forbade a burial in consecrated ground because they believed her death to be a mortal sin, and since her father remarried six weeks ago, her mother's ashes have been socked away in a drawer. Glorieta has about a month before Día de los Muertos, and she wants to use that time to convince her aunt that her mother deserves to be honored and not forgotten. But she also has to deal with a cruel new stepsister, an out-of-work father, and political disagreements among neighbors, some of whom call the town's many undocumented immigrants "aliens" and others who say "refugees." Although the plot grows too busy at times, the combination of magical realism, syncretism, and Catholicism is thoughtful and realistic, not preachy, and is accessible to believers and nonbelievers alike. Perhaps most important, Glorieta's desperation is affecting and wrenching.The complex, layered plot pulls no punches. (Fiction. 10-14)

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September 1, 2018
Grades 6-8 From the author of Tyger Tyger? (2010) comes an emotional coming-of-age story about family and loss. Glorieta's family has found happiness again with Alice, Papi's new wife, but Glorieta's mom's urn has been placed out of sight in a drawer. Tia Diosonita says that, because of her suicide, she can't be buried with the other Espinosas. But Glorieta doesn't want her mother to disappear forever, and with her two best friends at her side, she fights to keep her mother's memory alive. Hamilton takes an honest look at several serious topics, including suicide, bullying, grief, loss, and immigration. In a story about culture and staying true to your heart, Glorieta goes on a journey to understand her mother's suicide, all while dealing with her grief. With a touch of magic and lots of heart, this is a story about real situations and issues that looks poignantly at immigration and humanity. This is a story that needs to be read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)