2022 Newbery winner, The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera. Petra Peña wants to become a storyteller like her Abuelita, but instead she is leaving her beloved Lita (what she calls her grandmother). Together with her little brother Javier and her scientist parents, Petra is among some of the few people to escape the destruction of the earth from an off course Halley’s Comet in 2061. The plan is for three ships with a few hundred farmers in the first, scientists in the second, and politicians in the third to travel 380 years in stasis, a coma-like suspended animation, to the nearest viable planet and start over. But when Petra wakes up she discovers that something has gone very wrong and to keep her memory and mind she must figure out a way to survive.
What I liked /interesting. I thought that the structure of the book with flashbacks back to earth and Petra’s time with her Lita and her parents were so skillfully done. Beginning the book in medias res allowed for a lot of narrative drive. We want to know if Petra is going to get on the space ship, will the space ship take off, will she get to have her mythology coursework, will she be put in to stasis correctly, what year is it when she wakes up, where are her parents, what has happened to her brother, can she make some of the other children remember their pasts, will the plant be viable, and more. All of those questions are page turners, high tension, with high stakes. But the flashbacks anchor us back to her family; they allow us to not have to deal with the loss of so many characters because we keep getting to be with them in the flashbacks. There is also such a difference in the texture and richness of the flashbacks; they are filled with color and smell and mountains and earth and Mexican folklore and simple family connections. On the other hand, Petra’s present on the ship is cold and sterile, with colorless genetically modified people, no family, and no tastes or smells.
I really enjoy a good sci fi, although I don’t read a lot of them. But I did read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir last year, and loved it (it’s not a children’s book, but there is not too much language in it). Project Hail Mary also has a person wake up in space after years of a coma sleep, alone, needing to save humanity, and figure out what happened. It too relies heavily on flashbacks. They are different in quality; those flashbacks are the protagonist’s memories coming back and they fill the reader in on a lot of very important information and plot. But it does make me wonder if flashbacks in science fiction are a common narrative structure. I think flashbacks done well can make for some of my favorite reading.
What were some limitations. The main thing that I wanted more of in this book was for the author to explore the implications of Petra’s “En Cognito’s downladable cognizance.” While Petra is in stasis, her brain uploads the equivalent of graduate level expertise on geology and botany like her parents. And while she doesn’t get her mythology elective, her monitor Ben gives her a huge number of books from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Norse, Polynesian, Sumerian, Mayan, Incan, Korean, West African, North African and more unnamed mythology from around the world, along with the complete works of RL Stein, Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, Ursula Le Guin, Kurt Vonnegut, Louise Erdrich, Toni Morrison, and at least twenty more. (p. 54). But then after she wakes up and is exploring the ship, there is no direct reference to any of that knowledge or any of those stories. I almost thought that she just didn’t actually get that knowledge, except that at the end of the book she uses that advanced scientific knowledge to create herbicides and destroy toxins. The book was already so full of adventure and stories from Lita that I can see why it would be hard to work in that much material, but I think it was a bit of a lost opportunity. There is a white rabbit that seems like at least a small nod to following the white rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland although that specific book isn’t listed in the books from her download.
Similarity to other Newbery winners. The element of futuristic space travel makes The Last Cuentista very unique among the Newberies, but in indirect ways I found a lot of connections to themes in previous Newberies. There is some space travel in A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, although not in a space ship. A Wrinkle in Time also shares elements of a strong female protagonist, scientist parents, a special relationship with little brother, and a dystopic space society that does not tolerate difference. There aren’t a lot of other dystopias other than The Giver by Lois Lowry, and that takes place on earth.
Structurally, The Last Cuentista is filled with flashbacks. Holes by Louis Sachar is also structured with flashbacks, and a good deal of mystery surrounding them, although those flashbacks aren’t about the protagonist, like they are in The Last Cuentista.
The themes of a long survivor are also explored in Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell, Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George and Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry. I hadn’t noticed before comparing The Last Cuentista to other Newberies, but there have been very few long voyages since the sea voyages in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (1923), The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes (1924), and The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (1974) and The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois (1948) by hot air balloon. The Twenty-One Balloons could also be loosely considered science fiction along with Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien, A Wrinkle in Time and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (2010).
The other big component of The Last Cuentista is its emphasis on story telling, especially within Petra’s latino heritage. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman shares the weaving of many fairytales and with all the ghosts from centuries past almost contains a time-travel element as well. And there is direct reference to Neil Gaiman in the book (specifically his audiobook version of Norse Mythology). And this is the second latina protagonist, following Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina (2019). Also this is the second book that makes explicit mention of openly gay characters, joining last year’s book When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller.
Finally, this book is part of a long legacy of books dealing with (spoiler alert) the death of a mother: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt, Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars, A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal by Joan Blos, Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan, Missing May by Cynthia Rylant, Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo , The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, and Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis.
What it teaches me as a writer. This book has such a great combination of page turning quality, that narrative drive to find out what is going to happen next with the main character (and the fate of humanity!) in so much peril, along with a meditative quality on the beauty of nature and story. Again, I think a lot of that balance is made in the alternating chapter structure of flashbacks. It’s also not crushingly sad even though her parents and Lita (grandmother) are gone, because we get to experience them again in the flashbacks. While I think YA and adult novels could (and do) take advantage of that kind of narrative structure, I think it works especially well for making this novel work for middle grade. It makes the novel feel hopeful and steady even though in non-flashback parts of the book Petra is on her own trying to save herself and humanity.
Have you read The Last Cuentista? What are your favorite science-fiction books, especially ones geared toward younger audiences?
*Note* This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means if you were to buy a book, I’d get a tiny commission at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting Stories & Thyme!*