Category: Middle Grade

Happy Book Birthday to The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía

2/27/2023

Join us in celebrating THE ENCHANTED LIFE OF VALENTINA MEJIA book birthday! We sat down with debut Musa Alexandra Alessandri to learn all about the inspiration behind this book.

But first, a little bit about The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía:

Twelve-year-old Valentina wants to focus on drawing the real world around her and hopefully get into art school in Bogotá one day, but Papi has spent his life studying Colombia’s legendary creatures and searching for proof of their existence. So when Papi hears that a patasola—a vampire woman with one leg—has been sighted in the Andes, Valentina and her younger brother Julián get dragged along on another magical creature hunt.While they’re in the Andes, a powerful earthquake hits. Valentina and Julián fall through the earth…and find an alternate Colombia where, to Valentina’s shock, all the legends are real.

To get home, Valentina and Julián must make a treacherous journey to reach this land’s ruler: the madremonte, mother and protector of the earth. She controls the only portal back to the human world—but she absolutely hates humans, and she’ll do anything to defend her land.

Cover Reveal: Lourdes Heuer's translation of Martha Riva Palacio Obón's Secrets We Tell the Sea!

2/13/2023

We are excited to share the stunning cover for Lourdes Heuer's translation of Martha Riva Palacio Obón's award-winning middle-grade novel about family, grief, and the sea. Secrets We Tell the Sea, published by Bloomsbury Children's Books, will be released on October 24, 2023.

But first, a little bit about the book:

The only good thing about Sofia's mom sending her to live with her abuela is that finally Sofia and the sea will meet face-to-face.

The sea has always called to Sofia. That's how she knows she’s a mermaid—that, and the fact that the ocean and its creatures are much easier to understand than people. Sofia longs to meet another mermaid, someone who understands her and the sea completely. And when she meets Luisa, it seems like she's found just that—until the sea betrays them both in one irreversible moment. Soon their town is overtaken by hurricanes and floods and emotions and questions so big Sofia doesn't know what to do with them. Like, how do you make friends with the sea again? And how do you calm the rough waters within yourself?

Book cover designed by John Candell and illustrated by Dana SanMar.

Lourdes Heuer is a children's book author, poet, translator, and college professor. Her debut picture book, On this Airplane, illustrated by Pura Belpré Award Honoree Sara Palacios, was selected in 2023 for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The first book in the Esme! early chapter book series, Esme's Birthday Conga Line, with art by #1 New York Times Bestselling illustrator Marissa Valdez, was named a 2022 Chicago Public Library Best Fiction Book for Younger Readers and one of Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids of 2022.

The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Lourdes was born in Spain and immigrated to the United States in 1984. She currently resides in South Florida.
Find her on Instagram and Twitter.

Pre-order Secrets We Tell the Sea today!
Add Secrets We Tell the Sea to your Goodreads!

Introducing Sincerely Sicily!

1/3/2023

Join us in celebrating SINCERELY SICILY'S book birthday! We sat down with debut Musa Tamika Burgess to learn all about the inspiration behind this book.

But first, a little bit about Sincerely Sicily:

From debut author Tamika Burgess comes the captivating and empowering story of Sicily Jordan--a Black Panamanian fashionista who rocks her braids with pride--who learns to use her voice and take pride in who she is while confronting prejudice in the most unexpected of places.

Sicily Jordan's worst nightmare has come true! She's been enrolled in a new school, with zero of her friends and stuck wearing a fashion catastrophe of a uniform. But however bad Sicily thought sixth grade was going to be, it only gets worse when she does her class presentation.

While all her classmates breezed through theirs, Sicily is bombarded with questions on how she can be both Black and Panamanian. She wants people to understand, but it doesn't feel like anyone is ready to listen--first at school and then at home.

Because when her abuela starts talking mess about her braids, Sicily's the only one whose heart is being crumpled for a second time.

Staying quiet may no longer be an option, but that doesn't mean Sicily has the words to show the world just what it means to be a proud Black Panamanian either. Even though she hasn't written in her journal since her abuelo passed, it's time to pick up her pen again--but will it be enough to prove to herself and everyone else exactly who she is?

And now to our interview with Tamika!

Anika Fajardo: MEET ME HALFWAY

9/13/2022

Today on the blog, we're here with an interview between Musa Rebecca Balcárcel and Musa Anika Fajardo, author of Meet Me Halfway.

About MEET ME HALFWAY:
When new classmates Mattie and Mercedes meet and realize they have the same Colombian dad, the two team up in a Parent Trap–inspired misadventure to meet him for the first time in this sharp and poignant middle grade novel about the bonds that make a family.

Celebrating the release of Lupe Wong Won’t Dance!

9/9/2020

If you love to cheer for budding activists and to laugh at on-the-nail humor, read Lupe Wong Won’t Dance! I blew through this book in two days, carried by funny lines like “with the stealth of a rhinoceros” and suspense about how Lupe’s efforts to change her world would turn out.

If you’re looking for Lupe, try the principal’s office. She spends a lot of time in there, but not for the reason you’re thinking. Sassy, athletic Lupe jumps at any chance to bring justice to her corner of the world. Whether it’s the unfair dress code or the narrow choices offered on forms for reporting one’s race, she’s your girl! So it’s natural for Lupe to go right to the person in charge when she gets an idea to improve a terrible school tradition.

The offensive tradition? Teaching every 7th grader to square dance. Sounds innocent enough you say? Au contraire. While promenading and do-si-do-ing is fun to the grown-ups around her (in fact, Lupe’s mom remembers the moves and busts them out at the most embarrassing times), Lupe disagrees. Number one, square dancing isn’t cool. Number two, it’s not as athletic as climbing ropes or playing a sport. And what about the weird songs and lyrics? Lupe Wong is about to investigate!

Cover Reveal and Excerpt: Shaking Up the House by Yamile Mendez

6/12/2020

Las Musas is thrilled to announce the cover reveal of Yamile Mendez's Shaking Up the House!

But first, a little about Shaking Up the House...

Ingrid and Winnie Lopez have lived there for eight years, but a new family is moving in, and the Lopez girls are determined to combine Ingrid’s comedic timing and Winnie’s quick thinking to give the new First Kids a proper White House welcome.

Skylar and Zora know a lot of things about the White House—Zora loves history, and Skylar’s thrilled to begin her new A-list lifestyle. What the sisters don’t know is that incoming presidents’ families are often pranked by the folks they’re replacing, and Ingrid and Winnie take that tradition very seriously.
When what is meant to be a friendly goof sets off an epic prank war, though, it’s only a matter of time before things spiral out of control. Can the four girls call a truce before an innocent trick sparks an international incident? Or will their battle go down in American history?

Book cover illustrator: Kat Fajardo Designer: Christopher Kwon

From acclaimed author Yamile Saied Mendez comes a laugh-a-minute friendship story full of hijinks, misunderstandings, and loads of glitter.

Coming January 5, 2021! Pre-order now!

And now, read an excerpt...

REVIEW: THE DREAM WEAVER by Reina Luz Alegre

5/4/2020

In THE DREAM WEAVER by Reina Luz Alegre, Zoey lives in the land of in-between. She’s spent nearly her whole life moving from city to city, following the whimsical dreams of her father, not staying anywhere quite long enough to call it home. She speaks mostly English, though her grandfather, Poppy, would love for her to improve her Spanish. And she’s just moved to a new town, where she knows almost no one well enough to call friend.

Though in-between places, languages and friends, Zoey is a grounded and compassionate character who knows that where she belongs—where she has always belonged—is with her family. But now her brother, José, is going to college in just a couple of months. And then her father announces he is starting yet another new dream-job in New York City.

Without her.

Book Birthday Interview: Kim Baker, author of The Water Bears

4/22/2020

Las Musas wishes Kim Baker the happiest of book birthdays for her release of the middle-grade novel, The Water Bears.

About The Water Bears

Newt Gomez has a thing with bears.

Last year, he survived a bear attack. Now he finds an unusual bear statue that just might grant wishes. Newt’s best friend, Ethan, notices a wishbone on the statue and decides to make a wish. When it comes true, Newt thinks it’s a coincidence. Even as more people wish on the bear and their wishes come true, Newt is not convinced. But Newt has a wish too: while he loves his home on eccentric Murphy Island, he wants to go to middle school on the mainland where his extended family lives. There, he’s not the only Latinx kid, he won’t have to drive the former taco truck— a gift from his parents— and he won’t have to perform in the vaudeville festival. Most importantly, on the mainland, he can escape memories of the attack. Newt is almost ready to make a wish when everything changes.

Tackling themes of survival and self-acceptance, Newt’s story illuminates the magic in our world, where reality is often uncertain but always full of salvageable wonders.

Book Birthday Interview: Loriel Ryon

4/9/2020

We couldn’t be more thrilled to share Raquel Vasquez Gilliland’s interview with Loriel Ryon, author of INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS.
But first, here’s a description of this magical, middle grade novel:

A girl journeys across her family’s land to save her grandmother’s life.

Yolanda Rodríguez-O’Connell has a secret. All the members of her family have a magical gift—all, that is, except for Yolanda. Still, it’s something she can never talk about, or the townsfolk will call her family brujas—witches. When her grandmother, Wela, falls into an unexplained sleep, Yolanda is scared. Her father is off fighting in a faraway war, her mother died long ago, and Yolanda has isolated herself from her best friend and twin sister. If she loses her grandmother, who will she have left?

When a strange grass emerges in the desert behind their house, Wela miraculously wakes, begging Yolanda to take her to the lone pecan tree left on their land. Determined not to lose her, Yolanda sets out on this journey with her sister, her ex-best friend, and a boy who has a crush on her. But what is the mysterious box that her grandmother needs to find? And how will going to the pecan tree make everything all right?

Interview: Claribel Ortega

4/8/2020

Las Musas is thrilled to share Karla Valenti's interview with Claribel Orgeta about her upcoming novel Ghost Squad (Scholastic, 4/7/20), which Kirkus called a “warmly-spooky middle grade debut.”

Before we dig in, here’s a teaser of this phantasmagoric adventure: For Lucely Luna, ghosts are more than just the family business. Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join forces with Syd's witch grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby, Chunk, to fight the haunting head-on and reverse the curse to save the town and Lucely's firefly spirits before it's too late.