About the Author\
Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black poet from Chicago. His poetry and essays are published in the New York Times Magazine, POETRY, The Atlantic, and Vibe. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. Julian holds an MFA in Poetry from Ole Miss. His first book, Refuse, won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. He was also a contributor to the #1 New York Times-bestseller Black Boy Joy. Julian has previously worked as a youth mentor, teaching writing workshops to children on house arrest. Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa is his debut children's novel. Follow him on Twitter!\
The Land of Stories meets Dominican myths and legends come to life in Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa, a blockbuster contemporary middle-grade fantasy duology starter from Julian Randall. Fans of Tristan Strong and The Storm Runner, here is your next obsession.\
"A breathtaking journey . . . readers better hold on tight." ―Kwame Mbalia, New York Times bestselling author of the Tristan Strong series\
Twelve-year-old Pilar Violeta “Purp” Ramirez’s world is changing, and she doesn’t care for it one bit. Her Chicago neighborhood is gentrifying and her chores have doubled since her sister, Lorena, left for college. The only constant is Abuela and Mami’s code of silence around her cousin Natasha―who vanished in the Dominican Republic fifty years ago during the Trujillo dictatorship.\
When Pilar hears that Lorena’s professor studies such disappearances, she hops on the next train to dig deeper into her family's mystery. After snooping around the professor's empty office, she discovers a folder with her cousin’s name on it . . . and gets sucked into the blank page within.\
She lands on Zafa, an island swarming with coconut-shaped demons, butterfly shapeshifters, and a sinister magical prison where her cousin is being held captive. Pilar will have to go toe-to-toe with the fearsome Dominican boogeyman, El Cuco, if she has any hope of freeing Natasha and getting back home.\
"Magic awaits around every corner in Zafa. Nonstop action and plenty of heart create a story worth escaping into." ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review\
From School Library Journal\
Gr 3–7—Twelve-year-old Domincana Pilar "Purp" Ramirez is going to be an award-winning director some day. So when her older sister lines up the perfect interview for the documentary Pilar's working on—a documentary on Trujillo's dictatorship and the disappearance of her mom's cousin Natasha—she jumps at the opportunity. But when a file with Natasha's name on it sucks Pilar into the mythical world of Zafa, she's faced with a terrifying answer to the mystery she's been investigating. Set partially in a modern, rapidly gentrifying Chicago and partially in a world of Dominican legend, this first title in a new fantasy duology seamlessly intertwines the magic of Spirited Away and the danger of Jumanji with Dominican history and myth. Pilar is fierce, honest, and funny, a heroine readers are sure to love. VERDICT Action-packed and engaging from start to finish, this is a great next read for fans of Rick Riordan and Alane Adams. Recommended first purchase.—Kaitlin Frick

Categories:

• Children's Books
  
  
  • Geography & Cultures
    
    
    • Multicultural Stories
      • Hispanic & Latino