Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Starred Review Bastián and Lore are the only people who know what's really under the lake magical world where Bastián's alebrijes, or animal sculptures, have actually come to life. The two nonbinary, neurodivergent teens (Bastián has ADHD, and Lore has dyslexia) are quickly pulled into a world that begins to invade their lives above the surface, just as Bastián always feared it might. But Lore is running from the trauma of abuse, and the lake has become a lifeline for them, and although the two have not spoken to each other in seven years, they now must work together to figure out what is happening to them and how to keep their world intact. McLemore's latest is a strongly character-driven work of magical realism, with the setting acting as a character of its own. The lake's magic responds to both Bastián and Lore, creating a world that honors who they both are, including the strengths of their dyslexia and ADHD. The story encourages these characters, whose relationships with others are also complex and incredibly real, to explore their past experiences and trauma with gentleness and to come into the confidence to show the world their real colors. An astonishingly beautiful love letter to neurodivergent and nonbinary teens cast amid a magical lake setting that will pull you in right along with the characters.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

The rising waters of a hidden world threaten to drown Bastián and Lore, two trans nonbinary Mexican American teens, in the truths and pasts they've tried to cast away.No one believes the legends about the world beneath the lake anymore. No one has seen it except Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia. The world wouldn't open when Bastián tried to show it to anyone else-not until Lore needed a place to hide on a day long before they knew one another's names. Now, a mistake Lore desperately wants to leave behind has moved their family to the lakeshore, but the underwater world is not the same quiet refuge. It's filled with living papier-mâché alebrijes, each one a representation of Bastián's anxieties. As the once-secluded world swells above the surface, the lake's seiches pull Bastián and Lore together again. In characteristically majestic prose, McLemore crafts vivid magic that balances scenes of overwhelming, unregulated emotions given life by the lake with soothing, sincere moments of love, self-affirmation, and gentle humor. The primary characters, Bastián (who has ADHD), and Lore (who is dyslexic), have family and friends who truly see them even as they confront trauma and internalized shame. Affinity draws them to one another, helping them toward growth that is significant because it does not erase their neurodivergence and because it is personal, not reliant on codependence.A beauty both bright and deep. (author's note) (Fantasy. 14-18)

Horn Book (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Two teens -- both brown, trans, and neurodivergent -- reunite years after a chance meeting and find themselves bound together by their most personal experiences and by the magic of a local lake. Bastian copes with ADHD and the next step of their gender transition by creating alebrijes -- brightly painted, fantastical, papier-mache creatures -- and sending them into the lake. Lore, who is dyslexic and was bullied at their old school, moved to town after a devastating fight. As the lake's magic breaks its usual boundaries, seeping into Bastian's and Lore's lives on dry land, they realize that it is responding to the painful emotions they've released into the water (Bastian via alebrijes, Lore through cans of paint) and that they can't reject their own pain or imperfections. The book is committed to its characters' gender, racial, and neurodivergent identities; while this focus can feel overworked at points, the intimacy and seriousness with which it addresses neurodivergence in particular is welcome. McLemore (The Mirror Season, rev. 5/21) successfully binds the novel's fantasy elements to the inner lives of their characters, strengthening the narrative effects of both the mundane and the magical. Readers with identities in common with the protagonists will find relief and recognition in this impassioned book, and teens in general should feel welcomed by its warmly open storytelling. Alex Schaffner

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

The rising waters of a hidden world threaten to drown Bastián and Lore, two trans nonbinary Mexican American teens, in the truths and pasts they've tried to cast away.No one believes the legends about the world beneath the lake anymore. No one has seen it except Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia. The world wouldn't open when Bastián tried to show it to anyone else-not until Lore needed a place to hide on a day long before they knew one another's names. Now, a mistake Lore desperately wants to leave behind has moved their family to the lakeshore, but the underwater world is not the same quiet refuge. It's filled with living papier-mâché alebrijes, each one a representation of Bastián's anxieties. As the once-secluded world swells above the surface, the lake's seiches pull Bastián and Lore together again. In characteristically majestic prose, McLemore crafts vivid magic that balances scenes of overwhelming, unregulated emotions given life by the lake with soothing, sincere moments of love, self-affirmation, and gentle humor. The primary characters, Bastián (who has ADHD), and Lore (who is dyslexic), have family and friends who truly see them even as they confront trauma and internalized shame. Affinity draws them to one another, helping them toward growth that is significant because it does not erase their neurodivergence and because it is personal, not reliant on codependence.A beauty both bright and deep. (author's note) (Fantasy. 14-18)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Seven years after their first meeting took them to a mystical world under body of water Lakelore, 16-year-old trans nonbinary, neurodivergent teens Lore Garcia and Bastián Silvano, both Mexican American, meet again when Lore-s family relocates to Bastián-s town to avoid dyslexic Lore-s difficult past. Bastián, who has ADHD, learned from their brother to emotionally regulate by creating alebrijes-papier-mâché sculptures of mythical creatures-that Bastián releases into Lakelore, where the sculptures come to life. But freeing them cost Bastián the world below, since returning would reunite them and their anxieties. When the world under Lakelore begins to rise above the surface, and the reunited teens- feelings for each other grow, their attempts at normalcy are jeopardized. In this sumptuous tale of magical realism told via alternating perspectives, McLemore (The Mirror Season) holds up realities of being neurodivergent while otherwise marginalized alongside strong friendships and vital family relationships that ground the protagonists. Bastián and Lore are deeply empathetic, loving characters embodying each facet of their intersecting identities with anxiety, hope, and pride that binds them to each other as much as to the loving community that surrounds them. Ages 13-up. Agent: Taylor Martindale Kean, Full Circle Literary. (Mar.)

School Library Journal (Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2022)

Gr 7 Up Although many people no longer remember the lore of the nearby lake, Bastián has always been privy to its secrets. A transmasculine nonbinary boy with ADHD, they are able to manage their symptoms by creating alebrijos, papier-mâché sculptures of fantastical creatures, and releasing them into the lake. Only one other person knows the secrets of the lakeLore, a genderfluid nonbinary teen with dyslexia who has just moved to Bastián's town after an event they refuse to speak about. Although Bastián and Lore share feelings of anxiety and shame around their neurodivergence, they find themselves revealing more of that part of themselves as they attempt to calm the magic of the lake. The intricacies of identity and intersectionality, and the fantastical manifestations of both teens' insecurities, are exquisitely painted in flowing prose. McLemore does not shy away from the realities of being nonbinary, neurodivergent, and brown, but the focus remains on Bastián and Lore's growing acceptance of who they are, as well as the depiction of Bastián's ADHD ventures into realities beyond the typical descriptions of hyperactivity and impulsivity. Refreshingly, the teens both have supportive families and the conflict does not center on gender identity. VERDICT An especially important purchase for school libraries, but a strong candidate for inclusion in most collections serving teens. Austin Ferraro