Alebrijes

Four centuries after Earth was left a wasteland, thirteen-year-old Leandro and his younger sister, Gabi, survive by pickpocketing in Pocatel, a walled city in what was once California. The Spanish-speaking Cascabeles who work its fields are treated harshly by the city's rulers, and even small crimes carry severe punishments. When Gabi is caught stealing fruit, Leandro takes the blame and is exiled beyond the walls, his mind placed inside an old drone shaped like an alebrije, one of the animal-like machines left from an earlier age. Outside, he finds a dangerous land of monsters and scavengers, along with other outcasts and hints of a hidden oasis. Set in the same world as The Last Cuentista, this illustrated middle-grade novel blends science fiction, Mexican folklore and the power of storytelling, with a hero determined to find his way back to his sister.