The Curse of La Llorona (Chupacarter 4) by George Lopez and Ryan Calejo

What worked:

Jorge is the main character, and the narrative is told from his point of view. He joins his two friends and chupacabra pal to solve a mystery of disappearing movie workers. Ernie is obsessed with Star Trek, and he tends to be the most skittish. Liza is the brains of the group, as she creates a plan to sneak off to Los Angeles. Carter is a seven-foot-tall, hairy creature, and he sometimes forgets to hide his identity from other humans. He was separated from his family in the first book of the series, and Jorge is now his best friend. Carter is the wild card in the story, since his impulsive actions are hard to anticipate.

The gang travels to Los Angeles to help save the natural home of a large group of chupacabras (no relation to Carter). Their land will be bulldozed to build new stores if a producer’s movie, The Curse of La Llorona, isn’t successful. Jorge and his friends suspect someone is trying to sabotage the movie’s production by kidnapping different workers. One of the missing people will be Jorge’s dad. Jorge is still angry that the man abandoned him and his mom, and he doesn’t have any fond memories of his father. Jorge has dormant feelings deep, deep inside. This creates a nice little subplot for readers.

Carter has a bigger role than in the previous two books, and that’s a big plus. He accompanies Jorge as his support animal, although Carter frequently slips out of character by speaking or walking on two legs. However, an unexpected exchange with an agent will open new possibilities. Chupacabras come from Mexican folklore, so the author includes Spanish phrases in the narrative. These terms aren’t defined, but readers can use the context to understand most of them. Illustrations will help visualize the characters, and these pictures often replace paragraphs to keep the story moving.

What didn’t work as well:

The narrative is fairly straightforward, and the villain is predictable. Even though it’s a mystery, the plot doesn’t require much mental energy. However, the author saves a couple of surprises for the climax.

The final verdict:

Young people looking for a fun, humorous ghost story will be pleased with this book. Jorge’s character is forced to deal with a range of emotions, and it’s nice to see Carter become a star. I don’t know if more books are planned for the series, but it can easily end with this one. I recommend you give the book a shot.