This was a sweet story of kids from different backgrounds who become fast friends. I enjoyed the story of their friendship, but I did feel the story dragged a bit.

Another beautiful and haunting book by Laura Resau, one of my favorite authors. I love the magic elements, combined with historical and cultural details of two previously maligned cultures.

Hmmm... This was a nice, simple little story. Very heart-warming, good writing, cool themes. But there wasn't much in characterization. I really love me some good, complex, real characters, and maybe I'm a bit too picky about it, but I just feel like the book ended and I still didn't know a lot about any of the characters. There wasn't much in plot but I do think the writing was lovely, the story was sweet, it's definitely something to read with your kids or if you need a little reminder of the world's goodness. Overall nice read but it could've used a little... more, in general. I may change this rating later but for now we're at a very hesitant 4 stars.

Magical! Not at all what I first thought this book would be. Beautiful story about friendship.

I picked up this book because the school library bought it from the book fair and I thought the cover looked interesting. (Can you sense a pattern?) After reading the inside cover, I thought it sounded similar to The Little House on the Prairie books, which I loved as a kid. I felt nostalgic.

And then I read it in less than a week. I breezed through it. The Lightning Queen was nothing like The Little House on the Prairie books. But it was a fast read, and enchanting.

On the first page I could tell that Laura Resau did not rehash Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. The narrator, Mateo, is like the boys at the school I got the book from. He likes his after school activities and his phone. But he feels the tug of old tradition—of magic. And as he is describing the tug of magic pulling him towards his vacation to Mexico to see his grandpa, I felt it too. And that tug never went away throughout the book.

I don’t (normally) care for books written in First Person—I don’t (normally) like being that submerged in the narrator’s head. There are exceptions. And The Lightning Queen is one of those exceptions. One reason it works for me in this book is that the story is broken down into different parts—different narrators. Mateo is our connection to the modern world. His parts are shorter, and like coming up for fresh air in between the longer parts narrated by his grandfather, Teo. (Not that you really need a breath of fresh air. I could have stayed in Mexico long, long ago with Teo for the entire book.)

Teo is the real main character. He needs his grandson’s help finding Esma, Queen of Lightning. She is a gypsy girl whose caravan visits his village. After her grandmother reads Teo’s true fortune, they become fast friends. I don’t want to reveal too much about Esma’s magic, but she is inspiring.

There are so many elements of this story that I love. I love that at its core it’s a story about family—about grandfathers passing on traditions. It’s a love story, too. It’s a story about friendship that stretches over years and miles. It’s about growing up, and facing life and death. It’s beautiful.

The Lightning Queen is not a genre that I would normally choose for myself. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I would recommend it to anyone.

The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau is a book of emotion. This book is about not giving up, even when death seems more inviting than life. It is about the richness of a long life, and the serendipity (read: fate) that waits until life's last moments to bestow joy upon you. It depicts intergenerational relationships and praises the virtues of old and young relatives sharing their experiences and abilities with one another. Another important theme this novel discusses is the resurgence of cultural pride in the face of racism, poverty, and shame. The Mixtec Indigenous people of Mexico and Romani immigrants were seen as lesser citizens. Members of both groups were bigoted toward each other, but this novel is embraces both cultures and advocates for understanding and empathy for other marginalized groups. The Lightning Queen is moving -- hilarious in moments, and at other points, heartbreaking. It explores themes of culture, fate, friendship, the struggle to make something of a simple life when others don't believe it is possible, patience, and most of all, everlasting hope for something more, something better, something impossible yet promised.
It also depicts struggles and triumphs with mental illness, disability, and prejudice in an approachable and tasteful way for ages 8 and up.
Historical with a touch of modern, Resau pulled the story together in the final portion. A delight to read.