When I noticed this book was by Donna Barba Higuera I couldn't resist it. The cover and the title are amazing and after her previous work, this author is an auto-buy. I even collect the Spanish version.
This one won't disappoint us again. The author's style is courageous and creative, she's a Frida Khalo of middle grades when it comes to combining symbolism, magic realism, modernism, and surrealism.
We're presented with a future Earth where children are far from being safe and protected in this upper middle-grade dystopian story. Without presenting many spoilers, we have a brother and a sister who want to escape the lies and laws of those ruling Pocatel who punish the citizens for lying, stealing and cheating, but it goes wrong. The book has a slower start, but when we reach chapter 10 about 30% it just picks up in a way that we can't put down because the siblings are facing ordeals that will keep you turning the pages.
All of it is infused with a lot of Latino culture and heritage, including the alebrijes, the dances, the cascabels and that is just the very first chapters. We're in for a physical and spiritual journey.
Explores themes like survival, migration, resources, justice, family, heritage, memory, and history.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this Arc. My opinions are honest and my own.