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Books at Piedmont Middle School library
Cemetery Boys

by Aiden Thomas, 344 pages, Grades 7 and up.

Yadriel is growing up in a traditional Latine family; that is, his family is traditionally gifted with magical abilities of the Brujx who are “bestowed with powers by the ancient gods.” In this culture, when a Brujx turns 15 they are given a “portaje” object that holds their magical powers. Yadriel’s portaje is a dagger made by his cousin, Maritza and he is learning how to use it to release souls lingering on earth so they can enjoy the afterlife. Yadriel’s family is not supportive of his decision to practice this type of magic for complicated reasons and so he has to practice without any formal training. This mucking about with magic without supervision and training might seem dangerous, right? In fact, one of the first little problems Yadriel has is rather than sending a spirit to the afterlife, he accidentally summons the ghost of a troubled teen who had been one of his classmates before he died. In addition to his personal struggles there have been some horrible murders in their community as well. While they are in the midst of learning about being Brujx, Yadriel and Martiza find themselves in a very dangerous situation. Can they survive to become full blown Brujx and will their family accept them if they do?

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If you enjoy books about magic or the afterlife you might also like: Sabriel, by Garth Nix, Akata Wtich, by Nnedi Okorafor, The Infinity Courts, by Akemi Dawn Bowman, or Days of the Dead, by Kersten Hamilton.

 

TAGS: “Day of the Dead,” Latine, Latinx, Latin Americans, LGBTQ+, Family Problems, Adventure, Witches, Spirits, gender roles 


 

 

 

 

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