Graciela in the Abyss

Gr 4-7–Once upon a time, Graciela was an ordinary girl who fell to a tragic death. But her story didn’t end there: 100 years later, she awoke on the seafloor as a ghost, becoming part of the ocean’s vast ecosystem of spirits. On land, 12-year-old Jorge works for his awful parents in their forge, and he’s heard stories of the sea spirits. When he discovers a long-buried, ghost-killing harpoon near the forge and tries to destroy it, he unwittingly reunites the weapon with its wrathful owner. Graciela grudgingly accepts Jorge’s help in racing to stop the old sailor from using the harpoon to create chaos and destruction in the worlds of both the living and the dead. Medina is a masterful storyteller, and this novel is no exception. The writing style feels reminiscent of old forms of oral storytelling, and readers might imagine themselves sitting around a fire near the ocean, hearing tales of old. The underwater world is complex and layered, mirroring the dynamics of real civilizations while having its own social rules and eccentricities. Frequent illustrations add to the mysticism and magic of the story. While Jorge and Graciela are fully realized characters with their own growth arcs, readers may find themselves wishing for more complex secondary characters, as they get only a taste of some of their personalities and stories.