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4.0 

The Prince and the Coyote

By David Bowles & Amanda Mijangos
The Prince and the Coyote by David Bowles & Amanda Mijangos digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

PURA BELPRÉ HONOR WINNER

BOOKPAGE TOP 10 BEST BOOK OF 2023
KIRKUS BEST OF THE YEAR


Mexico. 1418.

Meet Prince Acolmiztli. Puma of the Acolhua People. Heir to his father’s throne. Half Acolhuan, half Mexica. Singer. Warrior. Poet. Sixteen years old.

And now, betrayed. A palace plot, placed by the deadly Tepaneca Empire, kills his mother and siblings, puts his father’s army into retreat, and sends Prince Acolmiztli into a treacherous exile. Battling hunger, snow-swept mountains, and the machinations of the city-states all around him, Prince Acolmiztli vows revenge. It will take years, but he will return to seek justice. And he'll do it with a new name:

Nezahualcoyotl. Fasting Coyote. One of the most legendary figures in history.

From the award-winning David Bowles comes a heart-pounding historical epic that is Gladiator meets the Song of Achilles -- The Count of Monte Cristo set in pre-Columbian Mexico. Illustrated throughout gorgeously by Amanda Mijangos, The Prince & the Coyote brings to life one of Mexico’s most treasured heroes – Nezahualcoyotl – in a story that will thrill readers far and wide.

P R A I S E

★ “Riveting…A maelstrom of oscillating joy and tragedy.”
Kirkus (starred)

★ “Bowles adeptly crafts a complex, multi-format, and genre-bending novel for teens.”
School Library Journal (starred)

★ “Weaving history and fiction together, David Bowles fashions a rich story of political intrigue, ferocious battles, beautiful landscapes and the enduring hope of humanity.”
BookPage (starred)

“The pre-Columbian world comes brilliantly alive… Striking four-color illustrations by Amanda Mijangos enhance the sense that this is a glimpse into a complex world as it once existed.”
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Once again, Bowles expertly builds on Nahuatl heritage through the historical life of the sapient Acolmiztli (Nezahualcoyotl).”
Booklist

“Sophisticated… Bowles’s immersive prose makes this a mature novel that never shies away from the ferocious realities of war and death.”
Publishers Weekly

“A stunning historical epic set in pre-Columbian Mexico based on the life of Nezahualcoyotl. Not only are there beautiful illustrations from Amanda Mijangos, but David Bowles incorporates Nezahualcoyotl's surviving poetry into the novel as well. The Prince and the Coyote is a rich and layered story about one of the Americas’ greatest heroes. I was mesmerized from beginning to end!”
—Jen Steele, Boswell Book Company

10 Reviews

4.0
“I normally love fiction that isn’t quite like anything else I’ve read, but disappointingly, this was exactly like other terrible books. The infodumping and the narrative are both entirely too self aware, which wrecks the feel of the novel. The author wants to tell a story from a largely unexplored piece of history, but ruins any immersion with the use of very modern terms like “transgender.” To top it all off, he falls into that common pitfall of male writers, making a female character die to advance the plot of the male main character. “Flowers in the heart” do not make one female, and the way women are just discarded along the story disgusted me. This book was a nope in so many ways.”
“i’m SUCH a fan of this”
Surprised Face with Open Mouth“If you grew up with a Western history curriculum that spent maybe two paragraphs on the indigenous of ancient Central America, pick up this amazing book. A sweeping, dramatic epic comparable to Hamlet. This is not only a fascinating story, but a treasure tribe of well-researched information about pre-Columbian indigenous culture and life. You'll never underestimate the power and prowess of ancient indigenous civilization ever again. Also THIS GUY DID SO MUCH. A poet-warrior-king, highly educated, fleeing for his life after a coup destroyed his family and propped up a dictator. His story is told in both prose and poetry, and the illustrations are truly amazing. Nexahualcoyotl has captured my imagination and my awe.”
“This is historical fiction you can really sink your teeth into. Nezahualcoyotl was king of Texcoco in later life but the book details his adolescence; there was much war and his father was killed so the young prince fled into the wilderness where he befriended a coyote. When he returns to civilization he’s taken in by a farmer and his family, falling in love with the daughter. Eventually, he reunites with his extended family and wins his way back to power. The tone is semi-mythological, Neza being presented as a multi-talented young man who is beloved by his people. It’s quite beautifully told and the poetry he wrote is worked into the narrative.”

About David Bowles

David Bowles is the award-winning author and translator of more than two dozen books for children and teens, among them They Call Me Güero, My Two Border Towns, and The Sea-Ringed World. His work has been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as The New York Times, School Library Journal, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children's Literature. In 2019, David co-founded the activist movement Dignidad Literaria to fight for the literary and cultural dignity of Latinx people in US publishing and education.

Amanda Mijangos

Amanda Mijangos was born in Mexico City and is the founder of the illustration studio Cuarto para las 3. Her work has been recognized with awards several times and in 2017 she was the winner of the VIII Iberoamerica Illustra Catalog.

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