From Pura Belpr Honorwinning 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 familys traditions.If Mari Feijoo could, she would turn her familys Peak Cubanity down a notch, just enough so that her snooping neighbor and classmate Mykenzye wouldnt have anything to tease her about. Thats why this year, theres no way that Maris joining in on one of the big-gest Feijoo family traditionsburning the New Years 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 school: a curse of bad luck from El Cocodrilo. At first, its 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 Maris mariachi band tryout and Keishas fencing tournament, the pair, along with their friend Juan Carlos, are racing against the clock to break the curse. But when Mari discovers her familys 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 Maris 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?
