April 30, 2024 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Netgalley
The Ramírez family moves from Los Angeles, where the father is a movie producer, to Miami, after Benny's abuelo, the famous Latin Grammy winning trumpet player Ignacio Ramírez, dies of a heart attack. Benny's siblings, dancer Cristina and actor Manny, are glad to be attending the South Miami Performing Arts School, where both parents will be working, but Benny is not artistically inclined, and worried about what he will do there. The family inherits the mansion where Ignacio lived, which is filled with memorabilia celebrating his career. Not only there, but the house also has... Ignacio himself, who was turned away from an intriguing party after his death and told that he had to spend more time on Earth. Ignacio encourages Benny to make questionable fashion choices, and even inhabits his body long enough to earn Benny a place in the band at school, playing trumpet, after he showed no talent on his own. Cristina and Manny are struggling a bit at the new school, but the parents seem to be doing okay even though they need to clean out the house. To help, Benny's abuela Gloria comes with her food truck. Ignacio isn't thrilled about this, since the two were divorced because Ignacio spent more time on his work than with his family. Benny discovers that he has quite a knack for cooking. He doesn't do too badly at school, even after wearing his grandfather's clothes, and makes friends with Andrea, a budding playwright, who is interested in ghosts and tries to help him figure out why his grandfather is a ghost. When the Ramírez family decides to hold a New Year's Eve party in the house, a tradition the grandfather ignored, everyone must work together to plan the celebration. Will Benny and his abuelo be able to figure out what is keeping Ignacio tethered to the house and his family?
Strengths: The family dynamics in this book, even without the grandfather, were interesting. Benny thinks his father was fired, and that's why they moved, when his father really quit because he was worried he wasn't spending enough time with his family. Manny wants Benny's attention, but Benny is so involved with trying to learn to play the trumpet that he ignores his younger sibling. Abuela Gloria isn't fond of Ignacio, but is glad to see the rest of her family. Everyone gets along, and the tension comes from other areas, which gave this a very nice feel. The Miami setting is interesting, and Ignacio's mansion is something else. I also enjoyed Benny's sequined wardrobe! This was a well constructed novel with some enticing cooking thrown in.
Weaknesses: For some reason, the idea of dead grandparents coming back as ghosts creeps me out more than it should, maybe because I have a recurring nightmare that my grandparents are still alive and living in a small house in the country, and I have just... forgotten about them for the last fifty years. Never mind that they would both be over 130 years old. This is completely a me problem.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy visiting with grandparents who are visiting from beyond the grave in books like Jones' Sauerkraut, Meriano's A Sprinkle of Spirits, or Badua's Freddie vs. The Family Curse.
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