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How Characters from Aiden Thomas’s Books Would Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month: An Exclusive Guest Post from Aiden Thomas, Author of The Sunbearer Trials
The beloved author of The Cemetery Boys is back with the first installment of a Mexican-inspired fantasy duology that will have readers on the edge of their seats through a series of trials with the highest of stakes with fame, glory, and survival on the line. Keep reading to hear from Aiden Thomas about how their beloved characters would celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!
The characters in Cemetery Boys are from many Latinx cultures. Yadriel is Mexican and Cuban, Maritza is Haitian and Puerto Rican, and Julian is Colombian. Likewise, the Hispanic community is incredibly diverse but often treated as a homogenous group by the media. In reality, we have our own unique heritage and cultural backgrounds, and celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month is a way for them to come together to honor and celebrate those differences as a community.
The East L.A. brujx are equally diverse, coming from many different Latin American countries. To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Yadriel would absolutely organize a big celebration! He would throw a huge party at the cemetery where brujx would come together to share food and drinks from their respective cultures. There would be live bands playing music from their home countries, colorful folklorico dancers giving dance lessons, and lots of people debating which traditional dish is best (Yadriel being very partial to his Lita’s ropa vieja).
Maritza, on the other hand, would be more interested in stories. She would ask anyone who made eye contact to tell her about the scariest, creepiest stories they were told as kids. With that, Maritza would put them together into a Latinx folklore zine filled with stories about the Acalica (Bolivian weather fairies), El Culebrón (the enormous, hairy snake with a calf-like head from Chile) and, of course, El Cucuy (the Mexican boogeyman). Maritza would then spend all day daydreaming about what weapons she would forge to battle them!
And then we have Julian! Our agent of chaos would celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month the best way he knew how — saving up his money and taking his best friends (Omar, Flaca, Luca and Rocky) to King Taco to see how many $1.89 tacos they could eat before they closed at 2am. Julian would have so much fun bonding with his friends over stomach aches, staying up too late, and once again hashing out the age-old debate: Which is better, Takis or Red Hot Cheetos?
Book Recommendations:
Yadriel would recommend The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta
Ships in 1-2 days.
Inspired by ancient Mesoamerica, this book introduces us to a lineage of seers defiantly resisting the shifting patriarchal state that would see them destroyed. With a detailed, supernaturally-charged setting and topical themes of patriarchal power and female strength, Lizz Huerta’s The Lost Dreamer brings an ancient world to life, mirroring the challenges of our modern one. Since Yadriel actively pushes back against the patriarchy and toxic masculinity within his own community of brujx, while still honoring their ancestors and traditions, he would love this book and recommend it to anyone who likes their fantasy novels with a healthy dose of activism.
Maritza would recommend Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia
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This thrilling middle grade fantasy adventure book is based on the Mexican legend of La Llorona. It’s a fast-paced journey into Latinx folklore, touching on chupacabras, nightmares and myths. With a clever and smart female protagonist who is interested in STEM, Maritza would be obsessed with this series! She loves a strong-willed girl lead, and, as an undercover weapons forger herself, she’d be keenly interested in all the tools Paola receives during the story that are based on Mexican folklore.
Julian would recommend Miles Morales: Shock Waves by Justin A. Reynolds and illustrated by Pablo Leon
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This action-packed graphic novel stars Miles Morales, also known on the streets of Brooklyn as Spider-man. After a disastrous earthquake strikes his mother’s birthplace of Puerto Rico, Miles springs into action to help set up a fundraiser for the devastated island. But when a new student’s father goes missing, Miles begins to make connections between the disappearance and a giant corporation sponsoring Miles’ fundraiser. Since his ADHD makes it hard for Julian to read books, he’d find graphic novels much more approachable. He’d be completely obsessed with Miles Morales, loving that an Afro-Latinx boy from a big city is a superhero saving his friends, family and community.