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Hi everyone! I'm excited to announce that I've joined the Creator Accountability Network. I've posted about it several times recently as part of the onboarding process, and a quick version of the details about CAN will be at the end of all my posts from now on (including this one).  CAN is a nonprofit dedicated to reducing harassment and abuse through ethical education and a system of restorative accountability. I joined because I care about the safety and well being of my community members. If you feel my behavior or content has harmed someone, please report it to CAN, either via the reporting form on their website, CreatorAccountabilityNetwork.org, or via their hotline at (617-249-4255). They’ll help me make it right, and avoid repeating that mistake in the future. CAN also needs volunteers from our communities to help with their work, so if you have skills you think would be helpful, or time and a desire to help, please visit their website to find out how you ...

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia (Paola Santiago, #1)

Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola Santiago and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know the rule: Stay away from the river. It's all they've heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned a year ago. Pao is embarrassed to admit that she has been told to stay away for even longer than that, because her mother is constantly warning her about La Llorona, the wailing ghost woman who wanders the banks of the Gila at night, looking for young people to drag into its murky depths.

Hating her mother's humiliating superstitions and knowing that she and her friends would never venture into the water, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the Gila, since it's the best stargazing spot. But when Emma never arrives and Pao sees a shadowy figure in the reeds, it seems like maybe her mom was right. . . .

Pao has always relied on hard science to make sense of the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which includes unnatural mist, mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend.

TITLE: Paola Santiago and the River of Tears
AUTHOR: Tehlor Kay Mejia
PUBLISHER: Rick Riordan Presents
YEAR: 2020
LENGTH: 368 pages
AGE: Middle Grade
GENRE: Fantasy, Horror
RECOMMENDED: N/A

Partial Queer Rep Summary: No canon queer rep.

DNF 113 pages in (31%)

I wasn't liking it much and then I got to the bit with the former classmate and I got really frustrated so I stopped. I didn't like the combination of how long it took for the main character to get what was going on, plus how little the people with actual answers were willing to tell her. I don't know whether I would have liked this as a kid or not, but it's definitely not for me now.

CW for ableist language (unchallenged), racism, kidnapping, child death (backstory).

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A young girl in a purple t-shirt is on the edge of a rocky riverbed, looking down into glowing green water, where a large green hand made of water is reaching up as if to grab her.


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