I've never wanted anything like a lizard as a pet before, nor have I ever envisioned them being cuddly creatures... but you better believe I need a Chupacabra baby after reading this sweet story!

The illustrations really brought this story to life. I enjoyed both the friendship and family dynamics explored in this cultural, adventure story. I have no doubt that everyone will fall in love with Chupie. This is one you don't want to miss!

The colors of the cover is what drew me in, but I stayed because of the story. It is a very cute middle grade novel that I cannot wait to order for my children's room! The children will love this new addition!

Words cannot begin to express how this great graphic novel made me feel. Seeing my island on these pages the use of our language, our food? Was just sublime. I texted the author numerous times through instagram to let her know how much i was ugly crying out of happiness.

Violeta and her family visit Puerto Rico to help her abuelita reopen her restaurant, damaged in a hurricane. Violeta quickly gets frustrated with not being allowed to help, until she makes friends with Diego and Lorena. But all is not well - something is draining animals of blood. When helping investigate, a baby chupacabra saves Violeta from stepping on a snare. The girls name it Chupie and take it home with them.

The vibrant, fun illustration style is the perfect accompaniment for a story about friendship, family, facing fears, and standing up for what you believe in. Chupie is adorable and the human characters are well-developed and interesting. This is a fun read perfect for kids, whether they are into fantasy or not.

My favorite graphic novel I’ve read this year! A delightfully chaotic main character with a heart of gold, vibrant illustrations, and an action-packed story all make for the perfect book. Highly recommend!

My Rating: 4.5
A charming Puerto Rican adventure full of new friendships, creatures from Latine folklore, and those wanting to help those in need.
Thank you HarperAlley for providing an e-book copy through NetGalley.

Synopsis:
Violeta Rubio is visiting Puerto Rico for the first time, and she has one goal: To help her abuela move back home and reopen her beloved restaurant. After hurricane Maria destroyed much of the island, her abuela was always sad, missing her home country and wishing she could return. Violeta hates seeing her abuela like this and is determined to make her smile. There is one setback: Her parents and abuela herself refuse to let her help. Not with moving, painting, getting supplies, nothing. Bored out of her mind, Violeta runs into two best friends: Diego and Lorena, who have their own mission. The meat supply farm that provides for the restaurant keeps getting attacked by a legendary Chupacabra, and they need to find it before it does more damage. Skeptical of the make-believe monster but excited to do anything, Violeta agrees to help, and, as if by fate, she finds the baby Chupacabra alone in the forest. Unable to bring it to harm's way, Violeta hides the newly named “Chupie” in her abuela’s shed, hoping to keep the creature out of sight. But how long can she keep this secret from her new friends? And who are these more nefarious people who want Chupie for themselves?


What I Liked: Saving Chupie is a charming graphic novel full of Puerto Rican culture, legendary animals of Latine folklore, and budding friendships. Violeta is a strong main character, making both smart decisions and mistakes on her path to finding her voice, defending her reasoning, and sticking up for herself and others. She tries to help her family, friends, Chupie, and island as much as she can, making her an empathic and likable protagonist. Diego and Lorena are great supporting characters, each with a mind of their own who are not afraid to speak up and do the right thing, even if it takes them a while to figure out what that means. The parents and especially the abuela are nuanced and have their own past stories that help shape who they are and how they interact with Violeta. The story is set in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, and the story portrays much of the devastation to the island, but also the people’s hope to rebuild and bring their island back on its feet. The illustrations are fun, colorful, and lighthearted, giving the characters, landscape, and creatures a warmth that you can feel through the page. All characters, except for Violeta’s white dad, are Puerto Rican, coming in many shades of skin colors and families.

What I Didn’t Like: Nothing!

Who Would I Recommend This To: Kids who like graphic novels and want to read about folklore creatures and/or Puerto Rico.

Review Date: 5/30/2023

This middle-grade graphic novel was so heartwarming and sweet! Violeta was such a loveable character and it was so great to see her grow out of her shell and make new best friends along the way, including Chupie! Chupie was so cute and puppy-like and my only regret is not seeing more of him in this book. Definitely highly recommend this to everyone, and the art was so amazing and vibrant as well! 4.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the e-ARC!

#SavingChupie #NetGalley

I am delighted to share my raving review of Saving Chupi by Amparo Ortiz. This charming supernatural island adventure is a must-read for readers of all ages. From the very first page, you'll be swept away by the vivid imagery and endearing characters.
Violeta Rubio is a spunky protagonist determined to help her Abuelita reopen her restaurant in Puerto Rico. But when her plans are put on hold, she joins forces with her friends Diego and Lorena to capture the fabled chupacabra, a creature rumored to roam the island. What they end up discovering is a lovable and loyal creature with "puppy dog energy that will steal your heart.
What makes Saving Chupi truly special is its depiction of Puerto Rican culture, the caliente of its people, and the representation of building up the island after Hurricane María. Amparo Ortiz masterfully incorporates these elements into the story, providing readers with a rich and authentic reading experience. As a writer, Amparo's voice is both engaging and accessible, making it easy to become fully immersed in the story.
Saving Chupi is an adorable and heartwarming tale that will leave you with a smile on your face. It's a story about love, friendship, and the power of resilience in the face of adversity. This book deserves a 5-star rating, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a delightful read.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley.)

After Hurricane Maria touches down in Puerto Rico, Violeta's Abuelita comes to stay with her family in Florida. Although Abuelita's home and business - a restaurant called La Casita - are thankfully left standing, they aren't without damage and are nevertheless uninhabitable without water or electricity. Several months later, as the island is rebuilding, Violeta and her parents accompany Abuelita back to Puerto Rico, to help her get settled - and get La Casita back up and running again.

As excited as Violeta may be, she quickly learns that the adults don't have much use for a pint-sized helper. Luckily, she becomes fast friends with Diego and Lorena, the most delightfully geeky pair of besties you've ever seen: Diego is a mechanical engineer, while Lorena is a computer wiz. Their current project? Building their own bike, called the Direna Cycle. That, and helping the adults hunt down a chupacabra, whether they know it or not.

Complicating the island's recovery is a series of strange livestock attacks - the animals' necks are severed, and their bodies drained of blood - that's hitting Abuelita's meat supplier especially hard. Lorena's uncle, Señor Soto, is the resident monster-hunter on the island - but, naturally, he won't accept any help from his niece, a kid. Tired of watching the adults struggle, the trio vows to find the chupacabra on their own. Never mind that Violeta doesn't believe in chupacabras - that is, until one saves her life!

Chupie is nothing like the savage, blood-thirsty monster of legend. Really, he's more of a puppy than anything else - if a scaly one, at that. Rather than turn him over, Violeta decides to hide him in Abuelita's shed. But, wracked with guilt over lying to her newfound friends, Violeta quickly comes clean - and her secret threatens to tear the trio apart. When Chupie goes missing - a possible victim of mythological creature trafficking - can Violeta, Lorena, and Diego come together to rescue him?

SAVING CHUPIE is an absolute delight - easily one of my favorite reads of 2023. The artwork is adorable AF, and the story line is a real tear jerker. In the advance praise on the inside cover, Yehudi Mercado likens SAVING CHUPIE to "E.T. in Puerto Rico" - but I think HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS might be a more apt comparison, with a touch of Rachel Vincent's MENAGERIE sprinkled on top. (I'm a huge fan of all three, so.)

There are so many threads that pulled at my heart. First and foremost, Chupie: dear, sweet Chupie, loyal to a fault, a boopable lil' guy who just wants to get back to his family, demonized for nothing other than his otherness. (Spoiler alert: Chupie is not the monster in this book.)

One of my favorite parts of HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS is the scene where Harry buries George's hunting "trophies" - along with Grandma's mink stole and the evening's roast - in a shallow grave in the back yard, recognizing that these animals are not that much different from him - and the Hendersons. While there isn't such an explicitly animal-friendly thread in SAVING CHUPIE - for example, the status of the "livestock" is never called into question - hopefully some readers will connect the dots.

(The very end, when ALL the mythical creatures escape into the wild? For me, this underscores the fact that Chupie is not the only nonhuman animal who deserves to live his life free from exploitation. Perhaps some readers will widen that circle of compassion even further.)

Violeta is a compelling protagonist; a bit of an outsider, she arrives in Puerto Rico desperate to make friends - and she finds fellow "weirdos" in Lorena and Diego. While Chupie - or rather, economic anxiety - creates a rift in this friend group, all is right by story's end. Each kid is adorable to a fault, and I love how they lift each other up. Violeta's relationship with her parents and Abuelita is beautiful as well - especially how the whole family (and community, really) rallies around Abuelita.

SAVING CHUPIE is a wholesome story - comfort food, really - about loneliness; family, both found and blood; the power in accepting help when you need it; loyalty and bravery; and compassion, of course.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC!
- this was so cute and wholesome and sweet!! I loved how it didn't feel patronizing while still modeling some incredible social emotional challenges. Some MG books can come off very moralizing and heavy handed, but this one did such a great job of avoided that!
- loved the story!! Any kids who love animals will love this book. If I had read this as a kid, I would've been out in the woods behind my house looking for a lost baby chupacabra to befriend.
-I hope this becomes a series, because the monster hunting plot line ended in a way that would set up sequels well.
- the way the family handled helping the grandma in Puerto Rico was so well done. The transition between Spanish and English was easy to understand as someone who doesn't speak much Spanish at all. The teacher in me thought about how great of a tool those sections could be for teaching the mechanics of context clues.

Saving Chupie is a fun and imaginative adventure featuring a young girl struggling with her place between childhood and young adulthood. Violeta and her family are helping her grandmother move back to Puerto Rico after a hurricane, but no one will let Violeta help out. That is until she meets two new friends who need her help saving the island from a monster that’s killing off livestock at an alarming rate. But things aren’t always as they seem, and maybe the monsters aren’t who everyone thinks they are.

This graphic novel is a heartwarming portrait of love between family and friends, especially in the wake of hard times. The art is bright and joyful. It uses vibrant colors to show the life on the island and Chupie has a great design! I loved this! Such a good read for summer!

I'm pretty sure that Saving Chupie became one of my favorite graphic novels of all time, and I preordered my own copy even before finishing the eARC. Let me start by saying that Ronnie Garcia, the illustrator of this adorable gem, is EXCELLENT. They have such a way with colors, I was in awe of every single panel. I truly believe that no other artist would've been able to capture the spirit of this graphic novel as well as they did.

Now, about the story: Violeta Rubio is going to visit Puerto Rico for the very first time in order to help her Abuela reopen her restaurant after everything that happened with Hurricane Maria. The last thing she expected was to encounter a so-called dangerous creature that turns out to be the cutest little thing. The Chupacabra was basically a puppy and I loved it. There's such a beautiful story about the history of Puerto Rico, the importance of community and the appreciation of our island as Puerto Ricans who went through such a massive life changing event. Between the artwork and the message of the story, I might have cried a little tbh.

This is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel with a fabulous story! Violeta is visiting Puerto Rico for the very first time. Her grandmother was from there, but was displaced after a terrible hurricane. Abuelita is heading back to reopen her restaurant and fix up her old home. But animals start getting killed, which affects the opening of the restaurant. The local legend is that a Chupacabra is the one to blame. Violeta is determined to find the Chupacabra and save the restaurant... but he isn't as vicious as everyone imagines. Will Violeta be able to save Chupie and Abuelita's restaurant?

An awesome book that I will definitely add to my library!

Please note that there is one character toward the end of the book that may be scary for young readers.

What an adorable MG graphic novel! Now I want a Chupie of my own! Great story about friendship, fighting your fear and doing what’s right and working together. Violeta has returned to Puerto Rico to help her Abeulita rebuild her restaurant and home. Once there she finds forever friends and an adventure she never expected. I loved the illustration so much. This will be a great addition to my library’s graphic novel collection

This was so lovely, adorable, and heartwarming. I loved the family and friendship elements. The setting and folklore were immersive and accessible, and Chupie himself is so endearing.

This graphic novel was a delightful adventure and I'm so happy it was set in Puerto Rico! Both author and illustrator did wonderful job representing the current sustainability and environmental issues in Puerto Rico in the shadow of Hurricane Maria, while balancing a sweet adventure story.

MG graphic novel that I want everyone to read immediately!
🇵🇷
Violeta Rubio and her family are returning to her Abuelita’s home in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria sent her to the states to live with Vi’s family in Florida. Abuelita was so unhappy there, but is ready to reopen her restaurant. The only problem is the locals are saying a chupacabra is eating the animals Abuelita needs for her restaurant. When Vi and her two new friends go looking for it, she finds Chupie, her new pet chupacabra who saved her life and is the cuddliest animal you ever did see. But when locals take and sell Chupie, it’s up to Vi and her friends to get him back.
🇵🇷
Can this be a movie, please?! OMG it was just too adorable for words! @amparo_ortiz & Ronnie Garcia created the cutest graphic novel ever and I want a Chupie for myself. In addition to this being just too adorable, it also had a strong inclusion of the Spanish language, as well as themes of friendship, being helpful and finding your forever home. Grab this book August 3!

CW: parental separation (animal), violence

Solid story. I like that asking others for help/knowing your own limits is shown as a strength.

The art work was ok. The colors were beautiful and vibrant. This interpretation of Chupacabra was rather unique; I'm not 100% sure if I loved it, but it was certainly cute and memorable.

Can this please be a movie?

Who can resist an adorable fictional animal? Certainly not me, and this was the most heartwarming story. Both the story and art work are absolutely fantastic, and work together so well. Highly recommend for readers of any age!

I remember when Amparo talked to me about this project many moons ago. I am in utter disbelief that I got to read it. This book is lovely. At first, it took some time to pick up the pace, but once it starts getting momentum, it's engaging. I would've liked to see more on the mythology of the other creature. As for the images, they are sweet and convey the story. Thank you for the opportunity to read an eARC!!