step into Zora's world
The Aves invites readers to follow young protagonist, Zora Hunter, as she tackles the trials and treasures the triumphs, of girlhood, sisterhood, absentee fatherhood, and most often the power of the Aves, a u-shaped borough that is her neighborhood.
Plenty of things in Zora’s youth would seem strange to others, but they’re perfectly normal to her. Her mother’s fixation with germs, and parties, and the power of names. Her father, who Zora rarely sees, disappearing among the stars as his biggest claim to fame. Her role in explaining things to her younger sister, even as Zora works to discover her own philosophies of life. And her neighborhood, a one-way street with an entrance but no exit, where her world is transformed by the vibrant residents of the Aves.
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In the late 1980s, a preteen Zora thinks she wants more. More than an honorable name. More than glimpses of glory captured in window frames. More than her own anecdotal tales that lay bare the lesson: surviving childhood can be as intricate as the intertwined streets of Los Angeles. But as Zora grows, so does her story. Her desire for more is transformed into tribute: the Aves – a mapping project of a magnificent people.
PRAISE & REVIEWS
Winner of the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize
“THE AVES is really extraordinary and well worth the prize. The author has that ineffable thing so hard to teach but wonderful to read—an original voice. Some really wonderful passages, characters, humor, and cultural insights. I really enjoyed reading it.”
– Brenda Peterson, Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize judge and bestselling author
“Twelve-year old Zora holds our hands tightly on this walk around The Aves by Ryane Nicole Granados, but not because she’s afraid - no, she wants to make sure we don’t miss anything. With each page we find ourselves immersed in the sights and smells of her community as well as the fears and the futures of the people who live and love there. This coming-of-age story is full of the rituals, routines, and rites of Black girlhood all while paying homage to Los Angeles neighborhoods that may not be trimmed in lights but always manage to shine rainbow bright.”
– bridgette bianca, author of be/trouble.
“'Big sisters lead the way,' author Ryane Nicole Granados writes late in her beautifully evocative novella The Aves. 'With long legs making shadows for little sisters to play in.' The story lovingly lays out episodes from The Aves, a horseshoe neighborhood and the entire world in the eyes of its gifted, watchful one-girl Greek chorus, the nobly named Zora. We follow Zora at the moment in her life when she departs her childhood for one that is older, more fraught, filled with wonder, and by its poignant end, we come to understand that the shadows she’s played in were cast by the Aves themselves, by its Mercys and Peacocks, and Zora emerges a voiced, wiser young woman, ready to take hold of her life and cast her own shadow for the next Zoras to play in. A triumph of character and place. Not to be missed.”
– David Rocklin, author of The Luminist, The Night Language, and The Electric Love Song of Fleischl Berger
"The Aves is an eloquent illustration of what family and friendship look like in South Central Los Angeles. Zora meanders through The Aves, learning about love and loss and how to live with no regrets. Ryane Nicole Granados invokes childhood in the eighties, juxtaposes joy with realities that corrupt young girls' innocence. This book takes me back and makes me want to hopscotch, jump rope, and dance my way through the rest of my life."
– Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, author of Breaking Pattern and Stories All Our Own
"The Aves. by Ryane Nicole Granados: The Voice LA Has Been Waiting For
Ryane Nicole Granados is the voice of The Aves. She is Zora who invites us to the Los Angeles neighborhood where she lives with her little sister, Prose, and their mother, Mercy in the 1980s. Twelve-year-old Zora takes us by the hand and introduces us to all of the characters living and dying in this South LA neighborhood. These vignettes dance in the light of a Southern California dusk where we look into Prose’s penny-colored eyes, dream of love with Roxanne and Tony, dance Sauda’s choreography, and walk home from school with Jeanine and Janet. Later, Zora writes for Peacock, and after an evening of window watching with Prose, she holds her sister’s hand tight, and races home to tiptoe around vacuum lines in Mercy’s carpet. Zora Neale Hurston is the voice of the American South, but in The Aves., Granados is the voice of Zora, a young girl with a voice we all need to hear. Granados navigates these tender years page after beautiful page, so we can dance through Lisa’s anger, search for love and identity, dodge tragedy, and gaze toward the sun setting over the 405. In this stunning debut, Granados captures the lives in South LA’s blue but smoggy skies."
– Noriko Nakada is the author of the Through Eyes Like Mine YA memoir series.
"The Aves, by Ryane Nicole Granados, will draw you in like a warm, sparkling wave- the truth of a young Black girl receiving her first pressing comb. The removal of her pigtails, her barrettes casting “huge shadows on the ground. Shadows that resembled airplanes or birds in flight..." announces her, Zora, spirit. This warm, sparkling wave will bring you to a brilliant coming-of-age story. What will develop of Zora’s life journey? Where will these birds take her? This sparkling wave of words is well worth the ride! BRAVA!"
– Alma Luz Villanueva, author of Song of The Golden Scorpion and Gracias
Specs
Genres and themes: middle grade, coming of age, growing up in South Los Angeles, Black communities, sisterhood, family, urban communities
Publisher: Leapfrog Press
Publication date: October 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781948585989
eISBN: 9781948585743
Cover by Sevan Kouzouian and Jim Shannon
Palm tree images by SlauCienega