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Title details for Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa by Julian Randall - Wait list

Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa

#1 in series

by Julian Randall
Amanda Alcántara
Audiobook
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
The Land of Stories meets Dominican myths and legends come to life in Pilar Ramirez and the Prison of Zafa, a blockbuster contemporary middle-grade fantasy duology starter from Julian Randall. Fans of Tristan Strong and The Storm Runner, here is your next obsession.

"A breathtaking journey . . . readers better hold on tight." ―Kwame Mbalia, New York Times bestselling author of the Tristan Strong series

Everything in twelve-year-old Pilar Violeta “Purp” Ramirez’s world is changing, and Pilar doesn’t care for it one bit. Her Chicago neighborhood is gentrifying and her chores have doubled since her sister, Lorena, left for college. The only constant is Abuela and Mami’s code of silence around her cousin Natasha―who disappeared in the Dominican Republic fifty years ago during the Trujillo dictatorship.
So when Pilar hears that one of Lorena's professor's studies disappearances under the Trujillato, she hops on the next train. After snooping around the professor's empty office, she finds a folder with her cousin’s name on it . . . and Pilar literally falls into the blank page within. She lands on Zafa, an island swarming with coconut-shaped demons, butterfly shapeshifters, and a sinister magical prison where her cousin is being held captive. Pilar will have to go toe-to-toe with the fearsome Dominican boogeyman if she has any hope of freeing Natasha and getting back home.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Pilar Ramirez Duology

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 1, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593555903
      • File size: 207074 KB
      • Duration: 07:11:24

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 880
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from January 31, 2022
      Vividly built Dominican mythology distinguishes Randall’s (Refuse, for adults) middle grade debut, an epic adventure that effectively interweaves historical and current affairs. Pilar Violeta Ramirez, 12, lives with her Dominican Mami and Abuela in a quickly gentrifying Chicago neighborhood. Dreaming of becoming an Oscar-winning filmmaker, the rising eighth grader wants to capture untold stories—for a summer project, she’s making a documentary about her mother’s cousin, Natasha, who disappeared as a young teen in 1957 during Trujillo’s dictatorship. When her university student sister encounters a visiting sociology professor who studies Trujillo-era disappearances, Pilar hops on the chance to meet with him. But when he’s nowhere to be found, she enters his office, finding a folder with Natasha’s name on it that sucks her into an alternate island realm, Zafa, where her Abuela’s stories come to life. As Pilar meets its inhabitants, she learns that El Cuco, the Dominican bogeyman, is not only powerfully real and menacing, but may hold the answer to Natasha’s disappearance. Fusing a vibrant, self-assured narrative voice; subtly wrought intergenerational concerns; and rich, Dominican-inspired worldbuilding, Randall creates an undeniable page-turner. Ages 8–12. Agent: Patrice Caldwell, Howard Morhaim Literary.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Amanda Alc�ntara's vivacious narration embodies the sarcastic voice of 12-year-old Pilar Ramirez in an audiobook that blends the poetry of images and the music of language. Growing up in a rapidly gentrifying Chicago, Pilar has heard stories of the horrors of Dominican dictator Trujillo and myths of the fictional boogeyman called El Cuco. Listening to her mother's and abuela's stories, Pilar dreams of finding her missing cousin, Natasha, and recording that story as a documentary. She never imagines being magically transported to Zafa, a supernatural world where she discovers Natasha, teams up with fantastical creatures to take on El Cuco, and saves the enchanted island. Alc�ntara makes dialogue sparkle, humor warm, action speedy, villains threatening, and Pilar an unforgettable, bighearted heroine. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • School Library Journal

      August 1, 2022

      Gr 3-7-Escaping the Dominican Republic's murderous Trujillo regime is how Randall's own family arrived in the United States two generations ago. His debut novel seamlessly combines that history-political and personal-with Dominican mythology for his Pilar Ramirez duology (book two publishes February 2023). Dominican American Amanda Alc�ntara-her Spanish audiobook experience a superb asset here-is an expert cipher channeling all the whip-smart snark of the eponymous 12-year-old Chicagoan filmmaker-in-the-making. Pilar's intended documentary centers on Mami's cousin Natasha's 1957 disappearance-a tragedy no one will talk about. When older sister Lorena alerts Pilar to a sociology professor researching the Trujillo era's missing persons, Pilar heads to his office, camera in backpack. He's not there, but Pilar discovers a folder marked with Natasha's name that becomes a magic portal to Zafa, an enchanted island in need of her daring. VERDICT Alc�ntara deftly, undeniably boosts Randall's empowering adventure with empathy and energy.

      Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:880
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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