Review Detail

El Niño New

Middle Grade Fiction 38

Magical Kingdoms Below the Reef

January 01, 2025

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

It has been two years since Kai Sosa's older sister Cali was lost at sea while surfing during a rogue fog, and even though he feels that everyone expects him to be back to normal, he's not. He still thinks about his sister, and even thinks he sees or hears her when he is near the ocean. He's also having trouble getting back into swimming. He and his friend, Spinner, are picked for an elite team by Coach Dominie, but Kai's times don't seem to improve no matter how hard he works. His parents, who had him talk to a school counselor for a bit, seem to be doing okay, although 8 year old sister Abby still talks about Cali. Neighbor Ray, whose grandson Aaron was a friend of Cali's, seems to understand where Kai is. While working hard to practice and make connections with his teammates, Kai also becomes absorbed by a book he finds in Cali's swim bag, telling the story of Queen Califia and he underwater realm, and thinks that it holds clues to a missing gold cuff bracelet that Cali wanted his assistance to find. The coaches are very demanding, and the parents even meet to discuss if new coaches should be found, but ultimately, the team tries to embrace the "one pod" philosophy. While on an open water swim, which is frightening to some of the team because of what happened to Cali, Kai hits his head and hallucinates that he and his teammates visit Cali in an underwater kingdom, where she gives them clues to help find the bracelet. Kai also has to deal with seeing a dolphin, whom Cali had named Luna, who shows up with a calf who later dies. Will Kai and his family be able to process their emotions and make enough peace with Cali's loss to honor her legacy?

Good Points

Ryan does a great job at addressing Latine history and concerns, and El Niño also bears some semblance to her epic Echo and Mañanaland in its exploration of folklore. Cepeda's illustrations (not all of which appeared in the advanced copy), text in blue ink, and intricate designs on the side of the pages of Queen Califia's story all add to the fairy tale feel of this novel.

This will appeal to readers who want tales of swimming, like Binn's Courage, Morrison's Up For Air, and Mendez' Aniana del Mar Jumps In, and the cover reminds me strongly of George's Shark Beneath the Reef, a 1989 title that also had a Latine main character Tomás Torres, although George herself was not Latine. It is also has themes of processing grief similar to Faruqi's Call Me Adnan or Morris and Brown's Willa and the Whale.

While much of the story centers around Kai's processing of what happened to his sister, his struggles with getting better times and staying on the swim team address concerns that many middle grade readers have and keep the pace of the story lively. The coaches somewhat outrageous training methods add a bit of humor, and Kai's teammates react to him in realistic ways. Spinner is an especially great character, and I enjoyed seeing how Kai interacted with Abby. The fact that the mother paid for Cali's library book after her death was a nice touch and a departure from the middle grade trope of showing grieving parents as unable to cope.

Ryan's books are lyrical, heart print tales that are as close as middle grade books come to literary fiction, which is evident in the number of awards her writing has accrued. El Niño is a swimmingly good tale for readers who want to immerse themselves in the story of Queen Califia and join Kai as he uses the tale to navigate his way forward after his sister's death.