Most notable are her constant warnings about La Llorona, a ghost who, after drowning her three children, was cursed to wander the banks of the Gila River, forever hunting unsuspecting kids and dragging them down into the river’s murky depths. Much to Pao’s great embarrassment, her mom is superstitious, burns incense to ward off evil spirits, reads tarot cards, and seems to be the opposite of Pao in almost all respects. Twelve-year-old Paola Santiago is obsessed with space, science, and tangible things she can prove. They were just two kids with a shape-shifting house shoe and a useless crocheted shopping bag, and the world was full of kidnappers, and police who didn’t believe you, and, apparently, sinister magical forces. The world seemed suddenly too big and too small all at once. Thankfully, Tehlor Kay Mejia continues that trend with Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, the first in a new series based on aspects of Mexican folklore. And every single title released so far has knocked it out of the park. Using his name as a catapult, Riordan fully embraced the concept of Own Voices. He would invite authors from underrepresented cultures to tell their own stories and shine a spotlight on their heritage. Instead of doing the obvious thing, Rick Riordan instead chose to do the right thing.

The rich tapestry of the world’s mythologies weren’t his stories to tell. And, in fact, his publisher wanted him to do just that.īut that didn’t sit right with him. He could have explored more of the world’s mythologies and made them his own. Rick Riordan was initially propelled to superstardom – and onto bookshelves around the world – by making ancient Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythology relatable and (wonder of wonders) cool for middle schoolers.Īfter the runaway success of Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase, The Kane Chronicles, and plenty of other related books and series, Riordan could literally have written about anything.

If you’ve been paying attention, it should come as no surprise that the Rick Riordan Presents line of books has been absolutely killing it.

Paola santiago rick riordan