INTERVIEW: ADRIANNA CUEVAS

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT Adrianna Cuevas

Soren Henderson

A first-generation Cuban American from Austin, Texas, Adrianna Cuevas’ middle-grade debut was a Pura Belpré honor book last year. Her follow-up, Cuba in My Pocket (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Sept. 21), follows a 12-year-old boy who flees Castro’s Cuba for Miami; our critic called it a “compassionate, emotionally astute portrait of a young Cuban in exile.” Cuevas answered our questions by email.

What was the inspiration to write Cuba in My Pocket? Cuba in My Pocket began from a small scene in The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez where Nestor complains about a bad day at school and tells his abuela she doesn’t understand what it’s like to continually start over as a military kid. She tells him her immigration story in response—moving by herself from Cuba to the U.S. as a child without knowing any English. My father’s immigration experience was the inspiration behind her story, but I didn’t want to leave my father’s legacy to one chapter in a fantasy book. I knew I wanted to tell it completely, and thus began my research and writing for Cuba in My Pocket. I didn’t know at the time that chronicling my father’s history would take on even greater importance after he passed away in November 2020 before the book’s publication.

Who is the ideal reader for your book, and where would they be reading it? The ideal reader for Cuba in My Pocket is anyone interested in exciting stories filled with moments of humor, emotion, and adventure; young readers who are curious about time periods not often addressed in history class; Cuban American kids who wonder about the experiences of their ancestors. And finally, it’s for readers who have strong opinions about the best way to cook picadillo.

As for where Cuba in My Pocket’s ideal reader would be reading the story? Perhaps they’re reading their copy hidden behind their science notebook so their teacher doesn’t catch them. And maybe the pages are just a little sticky from having eaten too many pastelitos de guayaba. If so, they would be just like the author at a young age.

What do you hope readers take away from Cuba in My Pocket? While this story recounts an experience from a specific time in history, I hope it provides a springboard for conversations regarding current issues surrounding immigration and the need for empathy and understanding. It is also my wish that through Cumba’s journey, young readers will understand it’s completely acceptable to have messy emotions, to ask for help, and to rely on other people, just like the book’s main character.

Most of all, I hope readers finish this book understanding that the stories of our elders are worth preserving, if we are willing to listen.

What children’s book most dazzled you this year? It would be impossible to pick a single book, particularly considering what little restraint I have in reading stories! Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi belongs in every single classroom in the United States. Lotería by Karla Arenas Valenti is an exciting story with one of the most daring endings I’ve ever read in middle grade. And How To Win a Slime War by Mae Respicio is the perfect example of a fun, engaging middle grade that also tackles topics of identity and family masterfully. My bookshelf is exactly two books away from collapsing under the weight of all the great stories out there.

Interview by Tom Beer.

THE LAST CUENTISTA

Higuera, Donna Barba Levine Querido (336 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 12, 2021 978-1-64614-089-3

With Halley’s comet barreling toward Earth, humanity’s last hope—including a young Latinx storyteller—retreats into the stars. Only a select few have the opportunity to vacate Earth in the year 2061, travel for 380 years in stasis, and start a new life on the planet of Sagan. Tearing herself away from her grandma and her cuentos, or stories, Petra Peña follows her family aboard one of three fleeing spaceships. One ship—reserved for leaders and politicians—is lost. Petra awakens years later to find that the ominous Collective has taken over her ship. Along the way to Sagan, the Collective has ensured the eradication of any Earthassociated memories, reprogramming everyone onboard—and purging some—for the so-called greater good. Petra, however, eludes reprogramming. To survive the Collective’s fanaticism, Petra must play her part and participate in scouting missions on Sagan to help the Collective prepare for colonization. As she shares cuentos with other child passengers to stir their Earth memories, Petra concocts a plan to escape, seeking a rumored Collective-free colony of First Arrivers on Sagan. With poetic use of startling imagery and unabashed nostalgia, Higuera spins a tale that crosses the depths of space, interweaving Mexican folklore with a mystical strand of science fiction. It all works thanks to the author’s keen appreciation of storytelling’s role in shaping cultures, dreams, and lives. An overall slow burner, this tale packs a wallop.

An exquisite tonic for storytellers far and wide, young

and old. (Science fiction. 10-14)

HOW TO FIND WHAT YOU’RE NOT LOOKING FOR

Hiranandani, Veera Kokila (384 pp.) $17.99 | Sept. 14, 2021 978-0-525-55503-2

It’s 1967, and Ariel Goldberg’s adored older sister, Leah, has fallen for Raj, an immigrant college student from Bombay. Their parents disapprove: To them, it’s bad enough that Leah wants to marry someone of a different race, even worse that he isn’t Jewish. After Leah elopes without even a letter to her sister, 11-year-old Ari is forced to reckon with a new understanding of her place within her family as the daughter who is now expected to take on the good-girl role. But that’s not her only problem. Her parents dreamed of a better life, yet they can’t afford to keep their beloved bakery running. Her mother sees Ari’s struggle with dysgraphia as laziness, and

as the only Jewish kid in sixth grade, she faces antisemitism that goes unrecognized by her teachers. Her strained relationship with her parents and their beliefs rings heartbreakingly true alongside her struggle to find her own voice through poetry. As she and her best friend set out in secret to find Leah and repair her broken family, Ari must decide what she believes is right in an increasingly tumultuous world. Hiranandani captures with great nuance the details of Ari’s life. Sacrifices in the service of assimilation, the lies we tell the people we love most, and how we go about forgiving them are given specificity in Ari’s matterof-fact and observant second-person present point of view.

A powerful blend of important themes and everyday tri-

umphs and sorrows. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)

THE WAY OF THE HIVE

Hosler, Jay HarperAlley (160 pp.) $21.99 | $12.99 paper | April 20, 2021 978-0-06-300736-9 978-0-06-300735-2 paper

This graphic novel swarms with facts, all conveyed with smooth storytelling. In the natural cycle of the beehive, worker bee Nyuki (Swahili for bee) learns about the history of the universe and the way of her hive from her older sister Dvorah (Hebrew for bee). Through Dvorah’s tutelage (and many of her own mistakes), Nyuki learns what it means to truly be a honeybee, her ignorance an effective means of eliciting information that readers will lap up thanks to ample humor in the wry dialogue. As she ages, Nyuki is able to pass along these lessons to a young worker named Melissa (Greek for bee), who will overwinter with the hive and help prepare it for spring’s return. Although it takes place over only a few seasons, the sweet story is rich with both information about honeybees and character development. Hives may have thousands of workers, but the art and the plot create three unique personalities that will have readers invested in learning more about this all-too-important insect—a feat made even more impressive by realistic illustrations that never anthropomorphize the characters and factual details that are far from honey-coated. Graphic novel fans, lovers of nonfiction, budding ecologists, and readers looking for their next great obsession will be buzzing around this title for years to come. Caregivers and educators will too, especially once they’ve seen the packed, excellent backmatter.

Sublime. (Graphic fiction/nonfiction. 9-12)

RECOGNIZE! An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life

Ed. by Hudson, Wade & Cheryl Willis Hudson Crown (208 pp.) $16.99 | Oct. 12, 2021 978-0-593-38159-5

A multifaceted, sometimes disheartening, yet consistently enriching primer on the unyielding necessity of those three words: Black Lives Matter.

Husband-wife duo Wade and Cheryl Willis Hudson curate and contribute to this collection of varied perspectives on the mattering of Black lives and how the fact of the infamous three-word call to action has been most put into question by America’s long White supremacist history, traumatic present, and potential future. Award-winning poets such as Carole Boston Weatherford and Nikki Grimes, children’s-book authors including Kelly Starling Lyons and Ibi Zoboi, visual artists like Keith Knight and Don Tate, and historic Black American figures like Frederick Douglass and Daisy Bates provide potent responses to incidents of anti-Black violence, mis- or underrepresentation of Black identities, and personal challenges in parenting or just existing while Black. They also reflect on the movement for Black lives that activists have codified recently with #BLM but nonetheless has an extensive, hard-fought history. When, for example, kid journalist Adedayo Perkovich recounts her learning about Seneca Village, the community of mostly Black Americans that were displaced to make way for New York’s Central Park, the threads that link the 19th-century village, a coastal Ghanaian site of centuries of enslavement and commerce of Black bodies, and the contemporary reminders that Black Lives Matter are poignantly presented for readers of all ages.

Both brilliant and bristling in its purpose. (artists’ notes,

contributor biographies, editors’ note) (Anthology. 10-18)

BLACK ARTISTS SHAPING THE WORLD

Jackson, Sharna Thames & Hudson (144 pp.) $19.95 | Nov. 23, 2021 978-0-500-65259-6

Author and curator Jackson invites young readers to learn about the global legacies of 26 Black artists leaving their signature innovative marks on the world. Set against bright colors and in accessible language, this collection catalogs artists at different stages of their careers who are creating exciting and important work. Jackson curates the roster with the support of Dr. Zoé Whitley, co-curator of the landmark “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age

“A story about showing great courage and perseverance when life gets shuffled.”

playing the cards you’re dealt

of Black Power” exhibition that highlighted Black American art created between 1963 and 1983. What makes this volume unique is that it’s all about revealing the power of the arts through the lenses of creators from across the global African diaspora. Recognizing that “Black artists have often been denied the recognition they deserve,” Jackson offers a concise biography of each artist, explores the methods they utilize, and presents a full-color reproduction of one (or more) of their signature works. These artists, of different generations as well as different national origins, together represent the breadth of artistic practices, including photography, painting, performance, textiles, and more. In its fullest life, this book should travel much further than a niche museum gift shop offering into classrooms and community spaces filled with Black youth as a platform for, and a celebration of, Black artistic innovation.

Delivers a magnificent assemblage of Black artists we all need to know and cherish. (glossary, list of illustrations, bib-

liography, index) (Collective biography. 8-adult)

AMBUSHED! The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield

Jarrow, Gail Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills (240 pp.) $18.99 | Oct. 12, 2021 978-1-68437-814-2 Series: Medical Fiascoes

The latest installment of Jarrow’s Medical Fiascoes series dissects the assassination of President James Garfield.

A dark horse presidential candidate selected on the 36th ballot of the Republican convention as a compromise between warring factions of the party, Garfield nonetheless came from a solid background: The last president born in a log cabin, into a hardscrabble Ohio farming family, he rose to graduate from Williams College, served as an officer in the Civil War, and spent 17 years in the House of Representatives. In his first months as president, he deplored the political patronage system that left him responsible for filling thousands of jobs. One of those who was convinced Garfield owed him an appointment was Charles Guiteau, an itinerant swindler with grandiose delusions. On July 2, 1880, Guiteau shot Garfield in a D.C. train station—but it took 80 days of medical mismanagement for Garfield to die. With characteristic thoroughness, Jarrow tells the entire story, including details from Garfield’s children’s diaries and numerous other firsthand sources as well as many illustrations. The volume’s attractive design and clear, accessible text make it eminently readable. Garfield’s illness united the country, and his death led to civil service reform and the advancement of germ theory—but readers are left mourning his loss.

Invites appreciation of and affection for a president nearly everyone has forgotten. (glossary, timeline, websites, author’s note, source notes, bibliography, index, picture

credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

PLAYING THE CARDS YOU’RE DEALT

Johnson, Varian Scholastic (320 pp.) $16.99 | Oct. 5, 2021 978-1-338-34853-8

Spades is as much a game of partnership and trust as it is about cunning and trash talk, but when the deck seems stacked against Anthony, he’s forced to consider what it means to be a good card player as well as a good (young) man. Ten-year-old South Carolina native Anthony Arnold Joplin prefers Ant; to his chagrin, however, the nickname “little man” has stuck. He’s short. He gets it. But when his spades partner and best friend Jamal’s constant ribbing leads even to Shirley, the cute new girl from Texas, teasing Ant about his height, he starts questioning his skills, his relationships, and how his so-called best friend makes him feel. Eventually, Ant and Shirley hit it off despite Ant’s being too shy to admit it, but issues in the Joplin household and Jamal’s own volatility put a lot of stress on this budding relationship. Ant’s father is an alcoholic and gambler with a lot of reductive opinions on masculinity that confuse the naturally compassionate and thoughtful Ant. Spades becomes a way for Ant to prove himself to his father and hopefully mend some familial wounds, as well as a compelling allegory for the ways he must navigate some uniquely thorny setbacks. A charismatic omniscient narrator explains the intricacies of the game and its venerable position in Black American culture. Realistic character and community portrayals give a difficult story a great amount of heart. Main characters are Black.

A story about showing great courage and perseverance

when life gets shuffled. (Fiction. 10-14)

LIVING GHOSTS & MISCHIEVOUS MONSTERS Chilling American Indian Stories

Ed. by Jones, Dan SaSuWeh Illus. by Weshoyot Alvitre Scholastic Nonfiction (176 pp.) $9.99 paper | Sept. 7, 2021 978-1-338-68160-4

A mix of 32 timeless chillers and personal encounters with the supernatural gathered from Native American storytellers and traditions. Carefully acknowledging his oral, online, and print sources (and appending lists of additional ones), Jones (Ponca) intersperses his own anecdotes and retellings with accounts by others collected in his travels. The generally brief entries are gathered into types, from brushes with ghosts or spirits (the latter distinguished by having “more complex agendas” than the former) to witches and monsters. In them, the tone ranges from mild