Lobizona
A Novel
Download image
ISBN10: 1250239133
ISBN13: 9781250239136
Trade Paperback
416 Pages
$13.00
CA$17.00
Some people ARE illegal. Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.
Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who's on the run from her father's Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.
Until Manu's protective bubble is shattered.
Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past—a mysterious "Z" emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.
As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it's not just her U.S. residency that's illegal . . . it’s her entire existence.
Reviews
Praise for Lobizona
"A politically exigent #ownvoices novel . . . with a rich exploration of hybrid identities, it's an astute and absorbing piece of magical realism."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Lobizona somehow loves its genre while simultaneously tearing it apart with werewolf claws, reveling in earthy magic and righteous anger."—NPR
"Steeped in Argentine folklore of lobizónas (werewolves) and brujas (witches), this is such an important story to tell, and it’s also an engrossing read."—Buzzfeed
"Romina Garber's Lobizona is a young-adult fantasy novel of Argentinian folklore that doesn’t pull punches highlighting the plight of many undocumented immigrants in the United States."—USA Today
"Lobizona by Romina Garber is the kind of book that digs its claws into you and leaves marks so you don’t forget what you just experienced . . . With Lobizona, Romina Garber is poised to become a strong literary voice of this era."—The Nerd Daily
"This genre-bending mashup will win over fans of swoon-y, suspenseful paranormal dramas."—Kirkus Reviews
"Garber’s gorgeous novel combines the wonder of a Hogwarts-style magic school with the Twilight-esque dynamics of a hidden magical species that has strict rules about interacting with the human world."—Booklist (starred review)
"In a timely work of magical realism featuring references to Borges and Garcia Márquez, Garber tackles issues of nationalism, identity, and belonging . . . This layered novel blends languages and cultures to create a narrative that celebrates perseverance."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
BOOK EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
1
I always bleed on the full moon.
Ma blames the lunar cycle for hijacking my menstrual cycle, so she calls my condition lunaritis—a made-up diagnosis that depending upon inflection can sound like English or Spanish.
“Comé...
Listen to an Excerpt from the Audiobook
Download MP3About the author
Romina Garber
