(2) 4-6 Tween Nat (short for Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago) is all about body positivity­ and female strength. She feels conflicted, however, when her mother's values around feminism clash with her own love of pretty things--lipstick, fashion magazines, and especially the spangles on the swimsuits of the L.A. Mermaids, a synchronized swimming group Nat is desperate to join. She blackmails her older cousin, Sheila, into covering for her and facilitating her participation on the team, but the secrets Nat and Sheila start to come between them and their families and friends. Nat navigates the rough waters of racial bias, fat-shaming, economic class hierarchies, and her own issues with impulse control and anger management, all while wishing (and doubting) her parents could be proud of her choices. By building community with her artistic swimming team, whose training Rivera describes in detail, Nat learns that she can't win every battle, and she reconfigures her concept of winning. Although the book itself sometimes succumbs to Nat's conviction that sometimes "teachable moments have to be forced," ultimately Nat, her mother, and even ultra-feminine Sheila grow into a new understanding of what it means to be a chingona--a fearless Latina.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) YA Latinx teens Pedro, Luna, and Rafa attend the same Los Angeles high school but exist in different social orbits. Pedro is a well-known (but not well-liked) kid who uses social media to get the validation he doesn't receive at home. Luna is a popular girl who hides her feelings of grief and loneliness after the devastating loss of her beloved cousin Tasha to COVID-19. Rafa is a new kid who lives under a highway ramp; he has a fierce love of family but otherwise keeps to himself as a survival mechanism. Their disparate lives merge when an eerie teenager who looks exactly like Tasha arrives and begins wreaking murderous havoc on the city. When the (real) teens learn that "the Visitor's" appearance is the precursor to a wide-scale alien invasion, they must decide how to save a world that never seemed to want to save them. Rivera's (Pura Belpré honoree for Never Look Back, rev. 1/21) complex characterization and artful dialogue bring to life a near-contemporary world on the precipice of annihilation. Issues of racism, homelessness, and policing make this pre-apocalyptic novel feel especially relevant. Third-person narration alternates among the protagonists, providing a variety of perspectives. Fans of alien invasion novels grounded in the real world, such as Dow's The Sound of Stars and Yancey's The 5th Wave (rev. 5/13), will enjoy this engrossing story.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) YA Pheus is an Afro-Dominican, bachata-singing teen whose Bronx world is upended when he meets Eury, a Puerto Rican girl visiting New York after she is forced from her home in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Suddenly, instead of spending his time charming girls and going to the beach, Pheus feels driven to allay the trauma that follows Eury. Eury is hoping the evil spirit Ato, who has haunted her life since childhood, won't follow her to New York, and meeting Pheus distracts her temporarily from her troubles. But eventually, when she is attacked and falls into a coma, Ato finds her and takes her to el Inframundo (the Underworld), and Pheus follows on a quest to save her. This detailed reimagining of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice mixes contemporary realism with fantasy, starting with the backbone of the Greek myth and adding elements of Caribbean mythology alongside realistic issues of identity and trauma, as Eury's loved ones debate the best way to help her in her struggles with anxiety. Though one could enjoy this story without prior knowledge of the myth, knowing the original will likely give readers a unique appreciation for this version's updates.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(2) YA Nalah, a.k.a. Chief Rocka, is the leader of the all-girl gang Las Mal Criadas, which owns the streets of Mega City. Worn out from fighting, she dreams of a different path. Rivera weaves a story of self-discovery, blood relations and chosen families, substance addiction, and race into her sci-fi tale, including details from Afro and Indigenous Caribbean culture and history. A dystopian mixtape of boldness, sisterhood, and questioning the status quo.

Reviewer: Sujei Lugo | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(4) YA Social-climbing Margot uses Papi's credit card to impress her private school friends. Her punishment--a summer of work at her Puerto Rican family's supermarket--sends her back to the Bronx, with petty "cashieristas," the ubiquitous drug trade, and a sexy social activist battling gentrification. Although Margot's snobby attitude is hard to empathize with, Rivera authentically depicts the stress of juggling cultural identities.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald