2016 Pura Belpre author finalist
Editorial Reviews
Review
"The Smoking Mirror is realistically embedded in adolescent situations, such as bullying, sibling friendship and rivalry, parental loss, and fear of narcoviolence, while developing fantastical scenarios, such as gaining supernatural abilities, descending into the underworld, and battling creatures from Aztec and Mayan mythologies. Published only in English, the novel includes dialogue, songs and chants in Spanish. The sequel forthcoming in 2016 is eagerly anticipated." --Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature
"Bowles really knows his stuff, being a scholar who translates Nahuatl poetry. He also knows how to tell an exciting story. There are places in the book where I could smell Mexico. Kids will love this Orpheus-like journey of a brother and sister, as they discover their shape-shifting nagual-powers, into an Aztec/Mayan underworld to find their mother. And they have fantastic adventures among places, things, and creatures the likes of which Harry Potter never encountered. And Tezcatlipoca himself showes up. It's cleverly packaged with manga-like art." --La Bloga
"Bowles creates an action-packed story based on Aztec and Mayan mythology while capturing the realities of life in contemporary South Texas and Mexico." --Pura Belpré Award Committee
"Bowles really knows his stuff, being a scholar who translates Nahuatl poetry. He also knows how to tell an exciting story. There are places in the book where I could smell Mexico. Kids will love this Orpheus-like journey of a brother and sister, as they discover their shape-shifting nagual-powers, into an Aztec/Mayan underworld to find their mother. And they have fantastic adventures among places, things, and creatures the likes of which Harry Potter never encountered. And Tezcatlipoca himself showes up. It's cleverly packaged with manga-like art." --La Bloga
"Bowles creates an action-packed story based on Aztec and Mayan mythology while capturing the realities of life in contemporary South Texas and Mexico." --Pura Belpré Award Committee
I read half of this and am giving myself credit for reading it…parts of this book are very good, but overall it's confusing and difficult to read.
