Lotera

In the hottest hour of the hottest day of the year, a fateful wind blows into Oaxaca City. It whistles down cobbled streets and rustles the jacaranda trees before slipping into the window of an eleven-year-old girl named Clara. Unbeknownst to her, Clara has been marked for la Lotera.

Life and Death deal the Lotera cards but once a year, and the stakes could not be higher. Every card reveals a new twist in Claras fateascorpion, an arrow, a blood-red rose. If Life wins, Clara will live to a ripe old age. If Death prevails, shell flicker out like a candle.

But Clara knows none of this. All she knows is that her young cousin Esteban has vanished, and shell do whatever it takes to save him, traveling to themythicalKingdomofLasPozas, where every action has a price, and every choice has consequences. And though it seems her fate is sealed, Clara just might have what it takes to shatter the game and choose a new path.

Karla Arenas Valenti weaves an adventure steeped in magic and mythologygorgeously illustrated by Dana Sanmarexploring the notion of free will in a world where fate holds all the cards.