Cemetery Boys

Cemetery Boys
Aiden Thomas
Swoon Reads, 2020
352 pages
Grades 9-Up
Fantasy/Romance

Yadriel has a lot to prove. His Latinex community won't accept him as a boy and his brujo family won't accept him as a ghost hunter. The women of the community become healers and the men become ghost hunters, helping spirits pass onto the afterlife. As a trans teenager, Yadriel knows his true self to be male and longs for the ceremony allowing him into the ranks of brujoes. When his father stubbornly refuses to acknowledge his true self, Yadriel takes matters into his own hands and performs the ceremony with the help of his cousin Maritza, a vegan bruja-who can't receive her own ceremony because of a reluctance to use the required chicken blood. Almost immediately a displaced ghost is summoned by the surprised Yadriel. It is a teen boy named Julian, who refuses to continue to the afterlife without checking on his friends and discovering the cause of his death. This leads the three teenagers to a mystery. How and why did Julian die and by who's hand? As the days leading to Dia de Muertos pass and truth behind Julian's death becomes clear, so do the feelings that begin to grow between him and Yadriel. Can a real-life boy have a relationship with a ghost?

Debut author, Thomas, hits teen gold with this critically acclaimed best-seller. The book ticks a lot of boxes currently trending in teen literature. It features trans and gay characters of color, veganism, immigration and deportation of the Latinex community, and the plight of the working poor, all within the cultural context of Dia de Muetos with the addition of a paranormal romance. A lot is going on and being said, yet none of this bogs down the plot, which is truly fresh and interesting. The mystery behind Julian's death propels the story forward and surprised me in the end with a satisfying Scooby-Doo reveal. Yes, the book ends happily with the mystery solved, gifting readers with closure and relief. The characters are well developed and the romance is believable. I instantly fell into Yadriel's fully realized world and enjoyed the pageantry of preparing for Dia de Muertos, a holiday I have always found fascinating. A great piece of escapism, marrying supernatural romance with a well developed mystery all within the culture of a urban California Latinex community.