The Last Cuentista

Written by Donna Barba Higuera

Narrated by Frankie Corzo

Winner of the John Newbery Medal
Winner of the Pura Belpré Award
A Junior Library Guild Selection

Había una vez …

A girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita.

But Petra’s world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children—among them Petra and her family—have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet—and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity’s past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard—or purged them altogether.

Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?

Pura Belpré Honor–winning author Donna Barba Higuera presents us with a brilliant journey through the stars, to the very heart of what makes us human.

* "Gripping, euphonious, and full of storytelling magic."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705044322

Donna Barba Higuera

Donna Barba Higuera grew up dodging dust devils in the oilfields of Central California. She has spent her entire life blending folklore with her experiences into stories that fill her imagination. Now she weaves them to write picture books and novels. She currently resides with her husband, four children, three dogs, and two frogs in the mists of the Pacific Northwest. For more information, visit dbhiguera.com.

Reviews for The Last Cuentista

[chayah8lichtig · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. Although it is intense, it pleasantly keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has a complex plot as well as detailed characters and it kept me entertained the whole time.?

[DHEERAJ SINDHI · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great Sci-if. Kinda creepy and cool at the same time about the monitors. A LOT of plot twists but it made the book even better. I get why it got an award.

[raylynnesh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera, is such a good book. Strong characters, fascinating family dynamics, storytelling…And a run for the stars as the world crumbles around the characters. And that’s just the beginning.Seriously, this is a fabulous story that makes me think about the importance of stories, of imagination, and of differences in culture. And it does all of that without ever once getting didactic. The Last Cuentista just lives her story–and tells her stories–and brings hope.Hope, and a way forward through the darkness. I think that’s woven into all the best stories.If you like science fiction for young people, I’d strongly recommend reading this one.

[Benjamin Bernstein · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

No one is too old for this book. I'm 62 years old, and was completely enraptured by the extraordinary writing, plotting and characterization. Highly recommended!

[fionaanne · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Maybe its because I have so many other books to read but I can't get into this story at all. I could care less what happens to Petra and the flashbacks to her earlier life do nothing but interrupt the narrative for me.

[albaarango · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Petra loves nothing more than to listen to her abuelita tell stories, stories of their ancestors and stories of the past. But that will soon end. The Earth is about to be destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children (including Petra and her brother) are chosen to leave and inhabit a new planet. But when Petra is awakened out of stasis, hundreds of years after the Earth has been destroyed, she discovers that an evil group known as the Collective has taken over the ship and purged everyone’s memory of Earth. Only Petra remembers. She alone carries the stories of our past, and with them, the hope for our future.What I liked: great plot and premise, semi reminiscent of The Giver. I love how the author interweaves stories from her grandmother into the character’s present circumstances. The book is beautifully written and has a great message of the importance of the stories of our past to our future.What I didn’t like: for me, the book dragged on through the middle. The beginning and ending were great, but I got a little antsy for the story to move forward toward the middle. I am glad I stuck it out, the ending was great!4 out of 5 stars

[fromthecomfychair · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Family leaves on the last spaceship before Halley's Comet strikes Earth. Three hundred eighty years later, Petra, a 13 yr. old, is awakened from statis to discover that her parents have been purged, killed by members of The Collective, who were supposed to be taking care of those in stasis on their way to a new planet, Sagan. The Collective wants everyone to be the same, see Communism, also the Borg from Star Trek. Petra's job is to get away from them. Along the way she discovers a very old scientist who turns out to be her younger brother Javier, who had been removed from stasis years earlier to perform scientific experiments. It was pretty thought-provoking as a middle grade science fiction.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Petra loves stories and storytelling. It is hard for her to leave Lita, her grandma, when Petra's scientist parents take the family into space for a settlement. They are put into sleep statis and her minder slips her a whole library of stories from a huge range of cultures. Several hundred years later when Petra wakes, she is shocked what she finds. There seems to have been some sort of revolution and a collective no longer quite human have taken over the ship. They try to wipe her memory, it doesn't work but she plays along. Her group of people, set up to be guinea pigs to explore the planet, are a group of kids to whom Petra feels affinity and wants to help escape from the Collective. Scifi, storytelling, family, and friendship in this intergalactic tale.

[deslivres5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully heartbreaking YA science fiction tale with culture and storytelling at it heart.Earth is hit by a comet and only a small segment of the population is saved in order to colonize a new planet many centuries in the future. How the original grand plan unravels and is corrupted is seen through the eyes of one of the original survivors, a 13 year old girl, who is the last cuentista (keeper of the stories/histories).

[acargile-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel is the 2022 Newbery winner.Petra Pena leaves Earth with her parents and brother to travel to a new planet. Her scientist parents help create a sustainable plan for most of the new inhabitants to be in stasis for 300 years. Some people will take care of all of the people in stasis, never seeing the final plant, Sagan. Food, energy, and plans have been carefully rationed to last throughout the voyage and enable them to plant food upon arrival. Petra, however, has trouble with the implant that puts everyone to sleep. She hears things and knows a bit of what's going on until finally succumbing. She's awakens only to discover that The Collective are now in charge. Many of the scientists and others have been reprogrammed or killed. Everything is for the Collective, not for individuals. Everyone sacrifices for the whole. Petra wonders if they have anything from the original plan, concerning food and sustainability on a new planet.Petra hears enough to know how to answer questions so that no one knows that she remembers everything. She becomes the only person who remembers Earth. The Collective have re-programmed everyone to believe that the humans of Earth ruined everything for mankind, and now the Collective is creating a better society. Petra, renamed Zeta 1, works with the other Zetas to analyze the flora and fauna of Sagan. Can the Collective live here? They've never been outside the ship, so the humans of Earth are the ones who descend to find out if the planet is liveable. Petra determines to get away from the Collective and save the Zetas. Petra listened to all of the stories her Grandmother told her about Mexican folklore. Petra befriends the Zetas and a few others with her stories. The stories of Earth are lost if anything happens to Petra, for she is the last storyteller. As the novel progresses, the tension builds as we worry Petra will be discovered and re-programmed. We also worry that the planet isn't inhabitable. Petra possesses great courage and intelligence. She also knows that a ship left before them and wonders if she can find them--hoping they haven't been affected by the Collective. It's a stressful ride with Petra as you see if humanity can survive.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Petra Peña and her family are leaving Earth behind in 2061, joining one of three spaceships going to a new planet, Sagan, before a comet hits and destroys life as we know it. She dreams of becoming a cuentista, a storyteller, but her parents want more practical things for her. However, when things go drastically wrong and the Collective - a group that wants everyone to be the same and forces harmony - takes over the ship, Petra will have to use all her creativity to thwart their plans.This was an excellent read, and I'm so glad that its Newbery win put it on my radar. Petra was a great character, and I enjoyed watching her story unfold as she puts together what's happening on the ship and what she's going to do about it. It's a celebration of the importance of stories in processing our world, and hoping for a better future.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Dystopian science fiction flavored with Mexican folklore. Petra and her family are among the privileged few to escape Earth before Hailey's comet hits. Petra's parents are scientists whose skills and knowledge will help establish a viable life on another planet. Petra would rather be a storyteller like Lita, her grandmother. The journey will take over 300 years, and passengers like Petra's family are put into stasis until they arrive. When Petra is at last taken out of stasis, she finds that the Collective has taken over the ship, their mission to create an egalitarian society that does not account for diversity or differences. Petra however, can still remember life on Earth and the stories that Lita told her. She is now one of the Zetas, a group of four youths who are assigned the sacrificial job of exploring the planet Sagan for viability. Petra suspects the Collective has other plans that don't involve Sagan, and she determines to escape their autocratic system. It's a bit like "The Giver," in which Petra holds most of the memories. It also conveys how stories are necessary to connect to others. What didn't work for me is that given how advanced the ship technology was and how all-powerful the Collective, there was no surveillance aboard the ship. Petra was able to sneak about without detection. Hmmm. The open ending hints at a sequel.

[the_bubblegum_review · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

SCI-FI FOLKLOREWOW! This was amazing. And reading the acknowledgments at the end of the book serves as kind of an epilogue, as a cuento in itself, how many hands to reach in and people it takes to tell a great story. But not just one story; this is a book of stories within stories within stories. So cool! It's like a griot, Mexican style.Appropriate for both a young adult and adult audience. Very well-developed characters, well-researched; It's cool that while I was reading this and got to the cuento about Blancaflor, I paused and went to the folktale I just also happened to be reading by Toon Graphics about Blancaflor. I'd never heard of her, and wanted to finish the story before Petra's cuento began about Blanca. The book is so colorful, has so much color both figuratively and literally. The way it wove the dream unreality of the rabbit el Conejo, running, to the waking reality and sudden appearance of white little clear shrimp Voxy was magic in and of itself. (just loved him btw) The Last Cuentista is set in the future, taking place in an even more distant future, reaching always back to the past, to the spiritual and the present, always looking forward to a better future. Just amazing. Great and appropriate ending.*I read a review copy of The Last Cuentista via Edelweiss :-)

[sammusher · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Unpopular opinion time... I was prepared to adore this book. Generation ship YA and power of storytelling?? That has "Sam" written all over it! I could not have been more disappointed. I'll try to break down my biggest criticisms with some small spoilers but no major ones:1. The Collective: They borrow from all the classic "make everyone the same" dystopias (Camazotz in Wrinkle in Time, soma in Brave New World, the Pretties in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, etc.) without adding anything new. We never see enough of the destruction allegedly caused by difference on Earth to buy the Collective's motivations or feel any tension about them. Earth is destroyed by a comet, not by human conflict! They're just obvious straw-man Bad Guys, from the very beginning when Petra's dad tells us how bad they are. Not to mention that most of those classic dystopias are Cold War stories commenting on Communism. Presumably the Collective are meant as commentary about a more contemporary concern (white supremacy vs. cultural diversity?), but they needed more nuance to make that work. 2. The nonsense science: Oh my goodness, where to start? Downloading all the Wikipedia facts about botany into your brain does not a scientist make. That's not how learning works; you have to practice using the facts to make anything of that knowledge. Even if we accept that Petra is a brilliant scientist because she knows facts, it's absurd to invent the things they invent and create enough of it for even one small part of a planet in a matter of hours or days. The most absurd is the plan to kill all the plants in the settlement zone and assume that the native animals will survive. The book is full of botanists and no one considers basic ecology?? Real-life current Earth is losing native insects and birds at a prodigious rate because we plant non-native flowers in our gardens. Y'all think you can wipe out the plant life that evolved for this planet, introduce plants humans like, and keep the planet a paradise? That kind of thinking is at least as dangerous as the Collective's, but it's never even addressed. 3. Relatedly, the Occam's Razor of it all: I kept finding myself asking why anyone was doing the things they were doing. Why can't the Collective just make their own scientists? Why do they need the Zetas at all? There's hundreds of Collective people, and they have enough genetic engineering expertise to make their bodies barely recognizable as humans, yet they can't mix Dawn soap and vinegar together to kill a plant? If the goal is a pure society where everyone is the same, why bother with the messiness of a natural planet at all? Why not just stay on the ship? We're given no indication that ship life isn't sustainable. Why do the Collective people have names -- uniqueness! -- but the Zetas have numbers? How did the Collective maintain their ideology over generations with no culture shift? The world-building logic is, frankly, half-assed at best.4. The "big reveals": every one was totally obvious if you've read a book before, and usually facilitated by Petra hiding behind a convenient door and saying "for the good of the Collective" a lot to get out of sticky situations. 5. The "tell don't show" writing felt like dropping a hammer on my head. Just to pick a random example, since there's something like this on almost every other page (the character in this passage is named for the shark, but it's so appropriate): "Hammerhead continues. 'Without the Collective, there would only be war and famine. Our unity and agreement on all things ensures we will never return to the ways of conflict....' How would he know? He's never been to a museum and seen art.... And suddenly, after all this time, I truly understand what the word dogma means." Gah, WE GET IT. That was page 165, we got it a long time ago!Overall it felt like a book written by someone who had never read science fiction or thought about science, but wanted to use the trappings of the genre to put characters in a position to tell us that stories and memory are important. I would have been much more okay with a lot of this if it had leaned into the cuentos woven through the main story as magical realist elements. Petra's connection to stories through Lita and her ancestors was the best part of the book (and the reason for my second star), and I was SO primed to find it beautiful and powerful, but it needed a different context. Once you have your characters spend a lot of time in botany labs and stasis pods and doing genetic engineering, you have signaled that you intend to ground the story in science and world-building. Why do that if you're not invested in telling that part of your story well?