Tia Lugo Speaks No Evil

by Danette Vigilante

Overview

Tia Lugo has a deadly secret.

Tia Lugo considers herself an ordinary thirteen-year-old girl. She just wants to enjoy the end of summer, which means hanging out with her best friend and neighbor, Julius, and ignoring her Puerto Rican grandmother’s embarrassing reliance on creepy candles, weird-smelling herb bundles, and eerie statues—all available for sale at the nearby botanica. But when Tia witnesses a murder late one night from her bedroom window, everything changes in an instant.

Now, Tia is terrified to tell anyone what she’s seen. What if the killer comes after her too? He knows where she lives. Even worse, Tia believes he’s sending her secret messages, reminding her to stay quiet. Desperate to keep herself and her family safe, Tia turns to the last place she ever thought she’d go: her grandmother's favorite shopping spot, the botanica.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631635755
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	08/17/2021
Pages:	209
Sales rank:	1,080,265
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	10 - 15 Years

About the Author

Danette Vigilante grew up in the Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, New York. She now resides in Staten Island with her family, sweet pup, and an elderly cat who has just learned to meow. Danette is the author of The Trouble with a Half Moon, a 2012-2013 Sunshine State Young Readers Award nominee, and Saving Baby Doe, a 2014 pick for the New York Public Library 100 titles for Reading and Sharing list. Danette encourages literacy in her community via a Little Free Library installed on her front lawn.

Editorial Reviews

08/09/2021

As summer draws to a close, 13-year-old Tia Lugo, who is Puerto Rican, looks forward to attending Camp Troy, sponsored by the New York City Parks Department. The night before sleepaway camp, however, her asthma flares; as Tia reaches for her inhaler, she witnesses a murder outside her bedroom window. When the murderer threatens her into silence, Tia gives up camp to ensure her family’s safety. Though Tia and her family don’t believe in her grandmother’s reliance on Puerto Rican traditions and remedies, she can’t help but visit the botanica for extra protection. While her best friend, Julius, who has green eyes and brown skin, searches for clues and suspects, Tia struggles with the guilt of not assisting the police and tries to make amends with the victim’s close friends. But tensions rise as the killer starts sending more messages and Tia feels him drawing closer. Vigilante (Saving Baby Doe) crafts a fast-paced thriller that takes place within a single week, while keeping the murder mystery thoroughly age-appropriate; a warm emphasis on community, integrity, and preserving individual histories rounds out the suspenseful narrative. Ages 10–14. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"The ever-escalating suspense will keep the pages turning throughout this thrilling upper-middle-grade mystery."—Booklist

"Peppered with enriching, thoughtful touches." —Kirkus Reviews

"[A] warm emphasis on community, integrity, and preserving individual histories rounds out the suspenseful narrative." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2021-07-14
A girl witnesses a terrible crime in this upper–middle-grade thriller.

Thirteen-year-old Tia Lugo is ready for the summer and to go on a much-anticipated stay at sleepaway camp trip. But on the eve of her departure Tia wakes up with an asthma attack and, when reaching for her inhaler, becomes the only eyewitness to a murder just outside her window—and the killer looks right back at her. Terrified for her life since the killer knows where she lives, Tia keeps it all a secret bottled inside. As the guilt over her silence and the fear eat at her, Tia finds support in her best friend, Julius, and in her loving grandmother’s weird and embarrassing mystical beliefs. A trip to the eerie botanica where Gram shops for her curandera supplies gives Tia much-needed relief, but threatening text messages from the killer show her the danger she is really in. The novel weaves together a lot of different threads in a short span of time in addition to Tia’s terrifying ordeal and mounting fear of the killer. Apart from one unconvincing subplot when another boy shows an interest in Tia with unexpected consequences, the story is peppered with enriching, thoughtful touches like Tia’s father’s difficult relationship with Gram’s beliefs, Tia’s romantic interest in Julius, and a range of complex neighborhood dynamics with other kids. Tia and her family are Puerto Rican, and Julius has brown skin.

A slightly uneven but overall convincing thriller. (Thriller. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews