The Last Storyteller by Donna Barba Higuera

Pages: 336 

Publisher: Piccadilly Press 

Released: 1st of September 2022 

An unforgettable journey through the stars, to the very heart of what makes us human. The incredible Newbery Medal-winning novel from Donna Barba Higuera.

Habia una vez...

There lived a girl named Petra Pena, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth will soon be destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet - and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard - or purged them altogether. Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?

What I Have to Say 

This book felt important. It presents big ideas about learning from mistakes and dictatorships, showing Petra fighting against brainwashing and a society that would try and erase all differences and it showed the power of stories, as a powerful force that can fight back against such things. Woven with beautiful south American folklore, it was a beautiful story full of power and difference. 

For a story that had so much culture and imagination in it, it actually took place in a small amount of time, in a small space. So much of it happens on the spaceship or on the tiny bit of the planet that they're trying to inhabit, but it really didn't feel like that. It was so bursting with life and stories, that I found it really absorbed me and took me away from reality for a while. 

The folklore was fascinating and the Spanish phrases that were a big part of the stories she told were an important part of that. It was wonderful to see her taking her heritage with her so far from Earth. I enjoyed the stories she told and her relationship with them immensely. 

4.5 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Piccadilly Press for providing me with this copy for review.