Paola Santiago and the River of Tears

Series: Rick Riordan Presents, Paola Santiago, Book 1

By: Tehlor Kay Mejia / Narrated By: Frankie Corzo

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

FINALLY! Our Latinx roots and mythology get some lovin’… and how’d it all turn out…?!

…uhm…

>MEH<

Okay so, like, when Big Sis and I got together to discuss Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, she led off with a: Did you notice the narration?! She DOES speak like THAT! Because, you see, just a wee bit o’ time ago, I reviewed Frankie Corzo’s narration in Everyone Knows You Go Home wherein she has the egregious tendency of being unable to enunciate the middle of words, primarily “t”s in the middle of a word. Martin becomes “Mar’inn”, et cetera et cetera et freaking the whole danged story through cetera. Ms. Corzo does it throughout the entirety here as well.

BUT

At least in this effort the writing by Tehlor Kay Mejia gave her more to work with as Corzo does speak Spanish well, accent exceedingly proper. Our two main characters are firmly and resoundingly Latinx, and their backgrounds draw firmly from the culture. Big Sis and I were thrilled! And then came the less than stellar story-crafting choices…

What we have, Paola Santiago is a girl with her head in the cumulus clouds of All Things Science. As her two besties, Dante and Emma, are scarfing junk food by the river, Paola is thinking of how algae’s properties can be harnessed to save the world. Further? When she’s back at home where it’s just her and her mom, she’s beYONd peeved-off by her mother and her mother’s all-consuming superstitious beliefs. Can’t make supper? Is it because you’re throwing tarot cards for all and sundry? And what’s with all the candles? And by the way, keeping us from the river cuz La Llorona will drag kids beneath the waters to their dooooom is just too much, way too embarrassing.

This is where we’re introduced to Paola’s temper which bites back at every single person around her. Cuz you see things are getting twitchy in their little town with children disappearing, and when Emma goes missing all things chaotic and Mexican folkloric hit the fan. Pao and Dante are determined to find Emma, but then they’re rather unceremoniously chucked outta town by Dante’s grandmother and some bad hoodoo. Science for Pao? Nay, it’s EVERYthing she’s derided and dismissed her entire life.

Out in the desert, they meet lost children. Malevolent Hands. Chupacabras. You name it, and author Mejia has thrown it in. Also, you name it, and Mejia has written Pao as having extreeeeeme reactions to it. One reviewer thought Pao was spunky. Me? I spent a fair amount of time wanting to throttle her. This is NOT the first Middle Grade fiction piece that had a main character who was in a perpetually Knee-Jerk Bad Mood, and it had Big Sis and I querying whether or not kids are getting shorter of temper earlier nowadays. Angst? TOTALLY prepared for it in Teens picks, but in Kids? Yikes! And Jiminy H. Cricket, note to authors: Ya gotta make your heroes/heroines LIKABLE.

But then Sis and I pondered that, actually, these books are written not for women rolling along the downslope of Life but for kids who might be able to relate to the main characters. So p’raps your own children would find Pao to be refreshingly naughty of temper, kinda like their own selves. It’s a thought…

Corzo does okay, but truly, she needs some coaching to work on her enunciation abilities. My biggest quibble would be that she does Pao as written which means m’ ears were blistered by Pao’s tantrums and tirades. Rick Riordan does the Foreword, and I cringed when he went on and on and on about just how turbulent Pao’s emotions were going to be throughout the book. I knew I was in for yet aNOTHer protagonist who I’d be wishing to pop upside the head, to remind her that HEY! Do NOT treat the people who love you that way! Corzo throws the hissy into each of Pao’s hissy fits, and it makes for eye-rolling at best. So there’s that…

All in all, kudos to Mejia for writing her culture and crafting it for Kids (Not for Wayward Adults…), just next time, try not to throw so danged much in (Which, granted, kept the tension factor fairly high throughout, but…), and next time, make Pao a little less Hair-Trigger-Temper(ish).

But to be honest? For me? I’ve seen the sequels and canNOT imagine soooo many more Sinks Being Thrown Into even more fraught and dire circumstances.

For me?

There’s not gonna be a Next Time.

Just sayin’… So there’s that…