 Beth Spinner | Welcome to the second Weekend Picks for March 2025, brought to us by Beth Spinner from Grand Valley State University! This Weekend Pick features a dystopian YA novel with storytelling at its core: The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. Take a look at what Beth has to say about this YA Weekend Pick. But first, a word about Beth: Professor Spinner taught middle and high school English before obtaining her PhD in English Education from Western Michigan University. She is currently a teacher educator at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Her research focuses on fostering social justice in the English classroom using reading and writing. |
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
 | This dystopian novel centers the power of storytelling. Petra Peña is a twelve year old girl facing the end of the world. She wants to be a storyteller, like her grandmother, when she grows up, but her plans are disrupted. A comet is coming towards Earth but Petra and her family are selected to escape on ships because her parents are scientists. The plan is for the people selected to survive to sleep on board the ship for hundreds of years and then set up a society on another planet. Other people were also selected to board the ship with the task of keeping the ship running for those who were sleeping. Those keepers would not survive the trip, but would live out their lives in space. Petra and her family board the ship and go to sleep, expecting to wake up several hundred years later and be ready to live on another planet. When Petra wakes up, however, she realizes that plan did not happen the way they expected. |
When Petra awoke, she quickly learned that a group known as the Collective took over the ship and was implementing its own agenda. The Collective believed those on Earth made grave mistakes because people were always competing. The Collective brainwashed people into serving the Collective. They felt this would solve conflicts. Petra realizes that unlike those around her, she still has all of her memories. She quickly sets about gathering other young people who have had their memories wiped, but Petra hopes to help them remember.
| Remembering the power of her grandmother’s stories, Petra tells the others stories with hidden meanings in them. She uses story as a way to help them realize the dangers of the Collective and eventually to give them the bravery and confidence to not follow the Collective. She leads them in a plan to land on the new planet and get away from the dangerous Collective. Readers of The Last Cuentista will encourage readers to think about the importance of the past, even a difficult past, and learn from it. Blindly following isn’t the best way, but rather thinking about what got us here and making changes for the future is a better choice. Storytelling is an essential component to this process of remembering and moving forward with better choices. Author Donna Barba Higuera reminds us that stories help us remember, learn, and love. Petra’s bravery will encourage readers to face difficult histories but rather than dwell on what went wrong, move forward with others and work together to create a better world for everyone. |  Donna Barba Higuera |
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