Author McCall creates a wonderful fantasy-laced tale about five sisters who happen upon a dead man floating in a swimming hole by their house in Texas. With much conflict between the girls, they decide to do the right thing and return the body to the family in Mexico. In doing so, they end up as missing children, being hunted by the FBI, interacting with La Llorona via a magical earring, searching for their long-lost grandmother, being attacked by vicious barn owls and a chupacabras...all the while being seemingly watched over by beautiful butterflys.
Summer of the Mariposas is a fantasy fiction that weaves Mexican folklore with modern realities of being Mexican American in today's world. The situations that lead the sisters to repeatedly seek assistance from - and be challenged by - fantastical creatures and beings are real, which makes this a nice blend of reality and fantasy. McCall is also the author of the award-winning book Under the Mesquite, which I have yet to read. Knowing it has won awards means it is above-average, and if I saw it at the library I would definitely give it a try.
Mariposas is a good story, and a few years old, but the 8th graders were reading it here at school, so I thought I should read it, too! At times it was a little prescriptive, meaning the story followed in a too-obvious pattern, or the conversations between characters was a little too stiff. But as a wonderful weaving of Mexican culture and real life events and situations, it was a good read! 3 paws and a wag! It reminded me of other good Latinx writers, like Alexandra Diaz, who are helping to shed light on the experiences of Latinx people, especially children. A good book!
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