{"id":38741,"date":"2021-01-27T23:45:33","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T03:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38741"},"modified":"2021-01-27T23:45:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T03:45:33","slug":"review-of-cemetery-boys-by-aiden-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38741","title":{"rendered":"Review of Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cemetery Boys<\/em><\/p>\n

by Aiden Thomas<\/p>\n

Swoon Reads (Feiwel and Friends, Macmillan), 2020. 344 pages.
\nReview written December 18, 2020, from a library book
\nStarred Review
\n2020 National Book Award Finalist
\n2020 Cybils Finalist
\n2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>:
\n#8 Teen Speculative Fiction<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll confess right up front that I was predisposed to like this book because it features a transgender main character in a paranormal fantasy. But as I read, it\u2019s also a well-written paranormal fantasy even if that weren\u2019t true.<\/p>\n

Yadriel has grown up in a Latinx culture in East Los Angeles where his family trains to become brujos and brujas. But when he got to be fifteen years old and refused to become a bruja, his family wasn\u2019t ready to take him through the ceremony to make him become a brujo.<\/p>\n

So the book begins with Yadriel and his friend Maritza going through the ceremony on their own. Lady Death indeed blesses him and bonds him to his portaje, the ritual dagger of a brujo.<\/p>\n

As soon as the ceremony finishes, though, all the brujx sense the sudden death of one of their own, Yadriel\u2019s cousin Miguel. But no one can find his body. So, to prove himself, Yadriel summons Miguel\u2019s spirit \u2013 and ends up summoning someone else entirely \u2013 a kid from his school named Julian. Still trying to prove himself, Yadriel unsuccessfully tries to help Julian pass on to the other side, but Yadriel\u2019s portaje won\u2019t cut Julian\u2019s tether to an object he cares about.<\/p>\n

Still Julian agrees to go nicely if Yadriel will first help him check on his friends. It looks like there might be a connection between Miguel and Yadriel, because both their bodies are missing. But there\u2019s a deadline \u2013 Dia de Muerte is coming, and Yadriel wants to prove himself by then and join with the other brujos.<\/p>\n

Most of the book is the complications of hanging out with an irrepressible spirit and trying to solve the mystery of what happened. And of course trying to keep the spirit hidden from the other brujos who won\u2019t like that Yadriel summoned him on his own. It\u2019s all told in a compelling way, and the reader cares more and more about Yadriel and Maritza and Julian \u2013 and more sorry that Julian\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n

This is an own voices book, coming from a queer trans Latinx author who shows us both the beauty and frustrations of being part of this culture. They don\u2019t tell us how much of the magical part is based on truth.<\/p>\n

aiden-thomas.com<\/a>
\nswoonreads.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/cemetery_boys.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a>