Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~13 hours, 48 minutes. Read by Avi Roque. Macmillan Audio, September, 2020. 9781250619129. (Review of downloadable e-audiobook borrowed from the public library.)
Teen Tuesday features Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Sixteen-year-old Yadriel is a transgender boy who lives in a cemetery with his extended family of brujas and brujos. He is determined to become a brujo, even though his father does not acknowledge him as his son. He held a secret initiation ceremony with his best friend, Maritza. After his cousin is brutally murdered, the brujos set out to find his ghost in order to set him free. Yadriel hopes to find his cousin in order to prove himself to his father. Instead, he accidentally summons Julian, a bad-boy classmate who was also murdered around the same time. Julian has unfinished business and no idea who killed him. He teams up with Yadriel and Maritza to find out.
This deeply nuanced and sparkling debut was such a surprise to me - suspenseful and laugh-out-loud funny as well as tear-inducing! I loved this book and highly recommend it to mature teen readers. The East LA Latinx community is vividly drawn. The magic is oh-so-believable. The characters are unique and memorable. I really did not want this story to end. I was happy to learn that the author might be working on a sequel of sorts.
I must admit that I had to get used to the narrator's staccato delivery. I thought that I inadvertently upped the speed of audiobook. I soon got used to it. There's an absolutely adorable interview/ love fest between the narrator and the author at the end of the audiobook.
The Cemetery Boys is a first-purchase for any collection serving teen readers.
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