Lakelore, the eighth YA novel by Anna-Marie McLemore (Mirror Season), is an exquisite and impassioned story about two neurodivergent Mexican American teens, both queer and nonbinary, who find solace in a magical lake world.
Sixteen-year-old Bastián Silvano crafts alebrijes (figures of mythical creatures) as an outlet for their ADHD-related anxiety. Bastián pours their "worst moments"--the excessive time spent worrying about telling relatives about taking testosterone; saying "I hate this family" after their abuela's reaction to their name change--into the painted papier-mâché. Then they release the alebrijes into a magical world under the lake, a "sea-foam bubble" of shimmering darkness, glittering stars and towering water star grass. There, the mythical animals come alive and stay beneath the surface. That is, until the day Lore Garcia appears, and the lake world slips into the real world, bringing with it the alebrijes and "proof of how often [Bastián struggles] with the ordinary work of existing."
Lore's family has relocated to Bastián's town after Lore hurt someone at school. As "a brown nonbinary kid... [in] a mostly white town," they need a "sparkling review" from their learning specialist to avoid being labeled "a lost cause." Lore hopes the review will say "no one would ever guess that [they're] dyslexic." The learning disability has earned Lore jeering taunts from classmates and insensitive urging from a teacher that Lore should "just sound it out." These memories haunt Lore as the clatter of the lake world mysteriously floods their home. Only the two teens can see the lake world, so only they can figure out why it's following them to land. But stopping the lake's persistent and triggering reach would mean baring their deepest shames.
Lakelore delivers mesmerizing magical realism, brilliant portrayals of gender transitioning and genderfluidity (the teens devise "daily gender forecasts" such as "a perfectly folded T-shirt" or "my abuelo's dictionary") and sensitive representations of living with ADHD and dyslexia. Bastián and Lore exhibit enduring patience with the other's expression of neurodivergence. The candidness and specificity with which each divulges how they think, how hard they work and how racism affects them stems from McLemore's experience as a nonbinary Mexican American diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Through alternating first-person points of view, this magnificent YA novel urges acceptance and support, reminding readers that different isn't wrong, it's beautiful. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer
Shelf Talker: Two neurodivergent and nonbinary Mexican American teens are the only ones who can see an underwater world that is encroaching on reality in this compassionate YA novel.