Cuevas, Adrianna. Ghosts of Rancho Espanto, The. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 04/2023. 304pp. Fiction. GRADES 4 – 7. $17.99. 978-0-374-39043-3. ADDITIONAL.
Cuban American Rafa and his friends planned to end sixth grade with an epic prank based on their fantasy role-playing game. What Rafa got was an epic fail and a one-way ticket to spend the summer working on a ranch in New Mexico. There, amidst the horse poop, dust, and spiders, he teams up with Korean American Jennie, whose vibrant energy matches Rafa’s colorful imagination. Can the pair get to the bottom of the supernatural changes afflicting the aptly named terror ranch? The friendship feels real and the pair’s connection to the African American disabled vet who runs the stable is affecting. What doesn’t work well is the goofy mishmash of supernatural occurrences that feels more Scooby Doo than middle grade. Equally unbelievable is a pivotal fifty-two-year-old character who behaves and sounds like a twelve-year-old, and adults who unquestioningly believe serious allegations from a random stranger. Reviewed from an ARC.
Melissa McAvoy—Retired