Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo
Written by Adrianna Cuevas
Published by HarperCollins
If Mari Feijoo could, she would turn her family’s Peak Cubanity down a notch, just enough so that her snooping neighbor and classmate Mykenzye wouldn’t have anything to tease her about. That’s why this year, there’s no way that Mari’s joining in on one of the big-gest Feijoo family traditions—burning the New Year’s 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, it’s 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 Mari’s mariachi band tryout and Keisha’s fencing tournament, the pair, along with their friend Juan Carlos, are racing against the clock to break the curse. But when Mari discovers her family’s 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 Mari’s 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?
Primary ISBN: 9780063285491
Publication Date: October 2023
Available As: Hardcover, Audiobook, eBook
Middle Grade, Age 08 or older
Community Represented: Cuban/Cuban American
Themes: Cultural Empowerment, Cultural Empowerment & Joy: Celebrations & Traditions, Cultural Empowerment & Joy: Family, Cultural Empowerment & Joy: Identity, Discrimination: Microaggression, Discrimination: Racial, Family Relationship: Extended, Family Relationship: Grandparents, Format: Audiobook, Generational Differences, Genre: Fantasy & Folklore, Identity: Exploration, Multilingual: Spanish Featured Words, Own Voices/Lived Experience, Trauma & Healing, Trauma & Healing: Death of Family or Friend, Trauma & Healing: Intergenerational
Setting: United States
Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Unknown Arrival
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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Engagement Materials:
Listen to the first 5 minutes of Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo‘s audiobook:
Make Cocodrilo Cookies to go along with the book. Check out the video recipe:
Click here for a playlist to go along with Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo
Source: www.adriannacuevas.com