The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez
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4.5 • 6 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
2021 Pura Belpré Honor Book
NYPL Best Book of 2020
2020 Evanston Public Library Great Books for Kids
In this magical middle-grade debut novel from Adrianna Cuevas, The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, a Cuban American boy must use his secret ability to communicate with animals to save the inhabitants of his town when they are threatened by a tule vieja, a witch that transforms into animals.
All Nestor Lopez wants is to live in one place for more than a few months and have dinner with his dad.
When he and his mother move to a new town to live with his grandmother after his dad’s latest deployment, Nestor plans to lay low. He definitely doesn’t want to anyone find out his deepest secret: that he can talk to animals.
But when the animals in his new town start disappearing, Nestor's grandmother becomes the prime suspect after she is spotted in the woods where they were last seen. As Nestor investigates the source of the disappearances, he learns that they are being seized by a tule vieja—a witch who can absorb an animal’s powers by biting it during a solar eclipse. And the next eclipse is just around the corner…
Now it’s up to Nestor’s extraordinary ability and his new friends to catch the tule vieja—and save a place he might just call home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When Army brat Nestor Lopez moves to the small town of New Haven, Tex., to live with his abuela while his father is deployed to Afghanistan, he doesn't expect to be there for long. After all, he's only in sixth grade and is already on his 10th first day of school. His plan is to avoid making friends and attachments, and certainly not to let anyone know that he can speak with animals. Despite this, he soon winds up joining the school trivia club with new friends Maria and Talib. And his gift rapidly sucks him into a mystery involving missing animals and the threat of a terrifying shape-shifting tule vieja a witch. With this heartwarming debut, Cuevas draws upon Central American legends and her Cuban heritage to flesh out Nestor's experiences (his feelings of frustration and impermanence are particularly well-rendered), crafting a tense, satisfying tale of magic, family, and finding one's true home. Ages 8 12.
