Ghoststalking

Grade 3-5-Emilio has grown up in southern California's Coachella Valley with the cautionary tales about La Llorna (the Weeping Woman), who drowned her own children and ever since has wandered at night looking for children to replace them. Emilio and his friend Chuy, seeking a science-fair project, decide to make a nighttime scientific expedition up San Jacinto Mountain in search of La Llorna. The interweaving of the traditional tale with the lives of the two boys just doesn't work, and the promise of a ghost-stalking adventure along a dark mountain trail falls flat. Characters are stereotyped in both the text and illustrations, and the language is awkward. The inclusion of Spanish words and phrases works in some places but not in others.
Carolyn Angus, The Claremont Graduate School, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 3^-6. Young ghosthunters will appreciate Perez's retelling of a Latino ghost story about La Llorona, a young mother who drowned her children and forever mourns for them. In this version, 12-year-old Chuy convinces his friend Emilio that they will produce the most spectacular science fair project of the year if they can stalk La Llorona and document the experience. Camping at night along the San Jacinto trail, they encounter the weeping woman, but the ordeal is more terrifying than they expect. Perez's story is nicely spooky and raises some interesting questions about legends and how they survive and travel from place to place. Softly focused, full-color drawings by Janet Hamlin enhance the eerie mood of the story. Chris Sherman