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Title details for The Making of Yolanda la Bruja by Lorraine Avila - Available

The Making of Yolanda la Bruja

by Lorraine Avila
Lorraine Avila
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Elizabeth Acevedo has said that reading Lorraine Avila feels like an "UPPERCUT to the senses." We couldn't agree more. We have never encountered an author with prose of this sensitivity and fire.
Yolanda Alvarez is having a good year. She's starting to feel at home at Julia De Burgos High, her school in the Bronx. She has her best friend Victory, and maybe something with José, a senior boy she's getting to know. She's confident her initiation into her family's bruja tradition will happen soon.
But then a white boy, the son of a politician, appears at Julia De Burgos, and his vibes are off. And Yolanda's initiation begins with a series of troubling visions of the violence this boy threatens. How can Yolanda protect her community, in a world that doesn't listen? Only with the wisdom and love of
her family, friends, and community—and the Brujas Diosas, her ancestors and guides.
The Making of Yolanda La Bruja is the book this country, struggling with the plague of gun violence, so desperately needs–but which few could write. Here Lorraine Avila brings a story born from the intersection of race, justice, education, and spirituality that will capture readers everywhere.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 27, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781705099308
      • File size: 306176 KB
      • Duration: 10:37:51

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from February 13, 2023
      Black Dominican high school sophomore Yolanda Nuelis Alvarez, a budding bruja, contends with dangerous visions surrounding gun violence at her Bronx school in Avila’s suspenseful debut. After Yolanda is tasked with guiding white new student Ben around Julia De Burgos High, she begins to have alarming visions about him and his racist reaction to being classmates with students of color. Fearful of his intentions and eager to prevent any harm from coming to her peers and their school, Yolanda relies on her best friend Victory; her bruja grandmother and spiritual mentor, Mamá Teté; and her ancestors, the Bruja Diosas, to investigate Ben’s past and uncover his true motives. Alongside her inquiry, Yolanda balances overwhelm surrounding her father’s prison release, her imminent bruja initiation, and a burgeoning romance with a senior basketball player. Avila skillfully cultivates a unique and magical spin on a grounded, socially conscious plot that is rich in Afro-Latinx cultural detail. Yolanda is a boldly characterized protagonist whose intersectional identities as a queer and Deaf person of color informs her sharp-witted narrative voice and conviction around combatting racism within her community. Ages 12–up. Agent: Patrice Caldwell, New Leaf Literary & Media.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Lorraine Avila's familiarity with the world she describes and facility with code-switching are strong pluses in her narration of this story. In school 16-year-old Yolanda Alvarez leads courageous discussions about race, deals with her hearing difficulties, falls in love for the first time, and worries about the violent visions she's recently had. Her frightening perceptions are related to Ben, the rich newly enrolled white son of a progressive politician. Outside school Mama Tete, her grandmother, teaches Yolanda Afro-Dominican ancestral practices and supports her developing bruja gifts. Though Avila's character differentiation is not particularly strong, she renders the strength of Yolanda's community and the support of her diverse school in a way that balances the anxiety she feels about the racism and threat Ben poses. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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