Cocuyos Never Say Die

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega is a Caribbean gothic tale wrapped up in a Florida mystery adventure. The mix of complex and straight forward language, Dominican culture, and 1980s movie references make it a delightful read for children and parents alike. Lucely Luna and her best friend Syd Faires find themselves up against a giant mist monster and evil spirits roaming the town of St. Augustine, Florida. Ortega’s narrative use of ghosts and magic shapes the world of a twelve-year-old Dominican geek, who loves playing Nintendo and staying close to her abuela and presents a supernatural fantasy that middle school readers are sure to enjoy.

The child as medium is a common trope in gothic fiction. Lucely is able to see the ghosts of her relatives, who are tethered to a willow tree in the family’s backyard and take the form of fireflies, or cocuyos. Her father, Simon, hasn’t been able to see the family’s ghosts for a while. “Sometimes, when your heart is too heavy and sad,” he had told her, “you lose that part of you — that connection.” Lucely maintains her family’s connection to the ancestors. Later in the book when the girls finally tell Syd’s grandmother, Babette, about Lucely’s secret, it’s revealed that Lucely is a seer. What I like about Ghost Squad is that is very much a Caribbean/Dominican story that shows how the gothic child is not only present in British children’s literature.

With Babette’s Spectral Master 4000 and Razzle-Dazzlers — ghost fighting devices imbued with magic — Ghost Squad enters the genre of Caribbean diasporic Science Fiction and Fantasy, such as Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in The Ring (1998).

Ghost Squad is a fun mystery story that has a lot of nostalgic value but is very much set in the 2010s. Lucely and Syd search for clues to a missing spell in an old cemetery and use their cell phone lights to illuminate their path. The technology of the time shapes the story. However, Ortega fully grounds technology in Caribbean tradition. When the kids call Babette a Ghostbuster, she responds: “Humph. I am not a Ghostbuster, or scientist. I’m a witch. It might have a techy name, but the Spectral Master is very much tied to magic.”

Like many children’s adventure stories, Lucely is faced with saving her family’s home and the connection to her ancestors: a similar predicament like in the 1985 cult classic movie, The Goonies. And sure enough, when we meet Babette and her many cats, we find out they are all named after characters from The Goonies. Don’t worry, Chunk does make an appearance. Babette’s fat cat that seems to understand what Lucely and Syd say is named after Jeff Cohen’s character Chunk. Refences to ’80s pop culture throughout Ghost Squad will engage any Millennial/Generation X parents reading along with their child.

The spirits of the Lunas use Spanish and English when talking to Lucely. The Spanish is not italicized. Which I think this offers familiarity to any Spanish-speaking kids reading the book, and at the same time, shows monolingual English-speaking children that Spanish is just as ordinary as English to use.

Ortega uses dynamic language when describing scenes. She includes both straightforward description and specific references (such as comparing the sky to a Van Gogh painting) that I believe will engross both younger and older readers in the eight to twelve-year-old range.

Children are so often relegated to a sort of non-person status. They are treated as if they do not have a complex understanding of the world. Adults lie or hide the truth from children, even though they are highly sensitive beings. Mr. Vincent, who is from the bank, visits the Lunas’ house to tell Lucely’s father that if he isn’t prompt with the next mortgage payment that the bank has no problem foreclosing...