Children's Literature Legacy Award-winner Pam Muñoz Ryan (Mañanaland) delivers a sweeping, lyrical work of middle-grade magical realism about resilience, nature, and human connection. Ryan crafts a mythical story, illuminating the ways in which El Niño shapes both the environment and personal destinies.
It's the summer before Kai Sosa's eighth grade year, and he has been selected to compete on an elite swim team, the Aquarius Aquatics. He hopes that he will be able to live up to his family's history of powerful swimmers, but Kai, the "heir apparent," is having problems keeping up with the rigorous workouts, and cannot match the skill his sister, Cali, once displayed. But Cali disappeared two years ago, and the Sosa family is still feeling the aftershocks. Kai finds a beloved library book of Cali's that tells the story of Queen Califia, the Amazonian queen for whom Cali (and California) is named. "Her Realm, a labyrinth of cobbled streets bordered by rock houses trimmed in mother-of-pearl, was most famous for its towering mountains encrusted with gold." Through Queen Califia, Kai finds a gateway--both figurative and literal--to processing his grief over Cali's disappearance.
El Niño addresses many issues, including climate change, migration, survival, loss, and hope. Ryan's use of magical realism blends and enhances the story of grief, displaying the author's poetic finesse and skill at developing emotion. Delicate blue-scale illustrations by Joe Cepeda (Sumo Libre) skillfully assist the text in separating Kai's world from Queen Califia's. Fans of The Canyon's Edge by Dusti Bowling and Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate will surely be captivated by this stunning novel. --Shannan Hicks, librarian