Tehlor Kay Mejia

Tehlor Kay Mejia is the author of the young adult fantasy novel We Set the Dark on Fire, as well as its sequel, We Unleash the Merciless Storm, and Miss Meteor (co-written with National Book Award nominee Anna-Marie McLemore). Her work has been featured in Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and O by Oprah Magazine’s. Paola Santiago and the River of Tears (Rick Riordan Presents) is a thrilling fantasy adventure based on the Mexican legend of La Llorona (the Crying Woman). Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola “Pao” 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. Paola 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. Pao hates her mother’s humiliating superstitions and knows that she and her friends would never venture into the water, so she organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the river, 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 science to face the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which include mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend. Booklist, in a starred review, said “This fast-paced journey into Latinx folklore, with its clever protagonist, is sure to keep readers turning pages into the night.”