With a creative twist to mythology and meteorology, El Nino is a gentle tale of processing grief and not losing hope when all feels lost. A story of friendship and competition with some mythos thrown in, El Nino was a really fast, enjoyable read.

I received an ARC; this is my honest review.

Kai is still grieving over the loss of his sister, Cali, two years after she disappears while surfing. Although he makes it onto the town’s prestigious swim team, his times suffer and as hard as he tries he can’t get into the groove. Then one day while swimming in the ocean he enters a magical underwater kingdom ruled by a queen who looks exactly like his sister and he is told it is up to him to protect the kingdom from Los Lobos, the evil underwater villains determined to defeat the kingdom. Ryan has done a fantastic job of melding realistic fiction with a bit of magic realism and mythology, resulting in a middle grade read that should be on everyone’s list. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-ARC of El Nino by Pam Munoz Ryan.
El Nino is a book about grief, a book about hope, and a book about finding yourself after a loss. In El Nino, Ryan mixes fantasy with realism creating two worlds that entangle the character. She does a great job melding the two that it leaves the reader wondering what is real. This is a good book to recommend to kids that need to read fantasy, but love realistic fiction.

Kai misses his sister, Cali who disappeared while surfing. Kia must navigate his grief while also working on becoming better on his competitive swimming team. There are dolphins and legends and adventure.

This is a cute story and I think kids will enjoy it. I expected there to be more of the adventure part and was left wanting but I can see how kids will enjoy this.

I will add it to my library as I can see several of my students getting really into this story.

Thanks to Net Galley and Scholastic for the DRC. All opinions are my own.

This was a beautiful story about grief and perseverance: I love the way Pam Munoz Ryan blends myths and legends into this narrative about Kai who is grieving his sister after her disappearance two years ago. This book was filled with beautiful illustrations and I think would be a good companion to Esperanza Rising as reading in elementary schools since it talks about marine animals.