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Informationen zum Autor Diana López is the author of the adult novella Sofia's Saints and numerous middle grade novels, including Confetti Girl , Nothing Up My Sleeve , and Lucky Luna . Her debut picture book, Sing With Me: The Story of Selena Quintanilla , is available in English and Spanish. She also wrote the novel adaptation for the Disney/Pixar film Coco . Diana retired after a 28-year career in education at both the middle grade and college levels, but she still enjoys meeting with students when she visits schools to chat about books and writing. She lives in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas. Klappentext "The twelve-year-old daughter of La Llorona vows to free her mother and reverse the curses that have plagued the magical town of Tres Leches"-- Leseprobe Prologue Today, the students ofTres Leches Middle School in Tejas would rather eat dirt than go on a field trip. This field trip, to be exact. They’d rather stay inside and take pop quizzes. They’d rather eat raw broccoli for lunch and do 1,153 jumping jacks for PE. Instead, they move slowly, double--knotting their shoelaces and topping off their water bottles as Mr. Tercero hurries them along. “¡Ándenle!” he says. They’ve heard of other schools in other towns with field trips to museums, or firehouses, or historic sites like the Alamo. They’ve heard that instead of hiking to their destinations, the students travel by bus. They’ve even heard—-and this one’s hard to believe—-that the field trips often include tour guides who know everything and then some, and gift shops—-yes, gift shops!—-where visitors can buy postcards or refrigerator magnets or tiny spoons. But for the pobrecitos of Tres Leches, there were no buses, tour guides, or gift shops. They went to only three places, and they went to these places every year—-El Camarón Dance Hall & Arcade in the fall, the mud expanse in the winter, and La Llorona Park in the spring. The “park” part was always said tongue--in--cheek, and if anyone knew what the opposite of a park was, they would have used that word instead. “Come on. Let’s go!” Ms. Peters calls out. And so the students start their trek, not bothering to look around or make jokes. They pass the playground and the library and the vacant lot. They march right out of town, crossing the soon--to--be bluebonnet field and a small, dark forest, and on the other side of it, a clearing of mostly dead grass. They gulp warm water from their bottles and swat at mosquitoes, the humid air thick around them, until finally arriving at a wooden marker—-like a tombstone—-nearly hidden by webs and vines. “Stop!” Mr. Tercero demands. The students freeze, not daring to go farther. The teachers pull out hedge shears and pruners, and they start cutting away, little by little revealing a sign. beware the river, for here haunts la llorona. in life, she was a fool for love. then she drowned her children out of spite, and now her ghost wants to drown you, too. The teachers and the students take a moment to read. Some of the braver souls speak the words aloud, while others can only manage to mouth them silently. Then the principal, Ms. Cavasos, says, “Any volunteers?” After a moment of silence, she asks again, this time with a “Hmm?” The students look at their double--knotted shoelaces and the burrs clinging to their socks. “Very well, then,” Ms. Cavasos says, opening a bag. One by one, the students utter a prayer and reach in. They pull out folded bits of paper. “Don’t look till I say,” Ms. Cavasos reminds them. The last student reaches into the bag. She has no choice but to take the remaining paper. At that, the principal says, “Okay. You can look now.” The students unfold the papers, most sighing with relief except for Ignacio, whose paper is marked with an X . The poor boy shivers and asks his friends, “Want to tra...
