A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation by Pablo Cartaya

Author:Pablo Cartaya [Cartaya, Pablo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2025-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

The Thing with Inspiration

My grandfather stops when he gets a call from my mom. I sit and imagine what’s coming in my grandfather’s story. Can it be anything other than a storm? The same storm that Gonzalo the character experiences in the second book? I know how my dad would have seen this—and my drawings. He would have had a scientific explanation for the fog or storms, how moist, warm air evaporates from the ocean and rises to the clouds to form hurricanes. There are explanations for these things. Logical, scientific ones. But what if these natural occurrences are more like monsters terrorizing your thoughts and destroying your dreams? I tap my hand on the window and wait for my grandfather to finish talking. When he hangs up, he waits in silence, adding to the dramatic tension of his story and my own impatience.

“Oh, come on!” I complain. He moves to the door and steps outside, turning around only enough to gesture that he’ll be right back. I can’t believe this is where he’s leaving his story! What is it with him and cliff-hangers? My eye catches my iPad next to The Chronicles of Gonzalo Sanz: The Hurricane Child on the night table. I move the iPad and grab the book, flipping to the next chapter while I wait.

Gonzalo survives the hurricane and ends up on an island with a mysterious sound blasting from the dense trees away from the beach. He’s lost Herrín and Antonia, who couldn’t hold on as the little skiff capsized. He’s all alone.

I close the book. I don’t want to put it down, but I’m also getting hungry, and if I keep reading, I may skip dinner altogether.

Marta takes us to a Japanese restaurant to eat sushi and noodles. The place is small and has bright overhead lights. There are little bowls carved into our table, and Marta says we get to choose what ingredients go into the bowls.

“Oh, they have prawns today!” she says, reading the menu.

“Isn’t Salt Lake City landlocked?” I ask, immediately realizing that sounds kind of rude. She puts her menu down and nods.

“Indeed,” she tells me. “But luckily, we have an airport to deliver fresh seafood to our little landlocked mountain city.” She winks like she wasn’t bothered by the comment. “I love this place because it’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure! You pick whatever dishes you want and, boom, throw it in the pot. Cool, ¿verdad?”

When she says “boom,” it reminds me of the island Gonzalo is stranded on. Marta mixes Spanish and English a lot, like many characters in the book. She seems to take pride in the fact that she can move between two languages easily. My grandfather is watching me, and I start fidgeting because I take Spanish in school and my mom switches between Spanish and English like Marta, but I don’t.

“¿Hablas español, Gonzalo?” Marta asks.

“Yes,” I respond. Even though I understand a little Spanish, it always feels strange, like I’m fumbling. We’re all sitting around in silence until Marta finally speaks.

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