The newly released ChupaCarter is a middle-grade adventure story set in rural New Mexico and authored by comedian George Lopez and Ryan Calejo.

To south Florida native Calejo, New Mexico’s beautiful and diverse landscapes make it the perfect setting for kids to let their imaginations run free.

“It just felt like there was a magic in the earth and in the air out there,” said Calejo. “It was palpable, which I guess is why New Mexico is aptly called the Land of Enchantment. It’s not just the landscape that makes New Mexico so great, at least why we wanted to set the story there, it’s also its cultural diversity.”

The book features comedic illustrations by Santy Gutierrez and stars a character, Jorge, who has more than a little in common with George Lopez.

The story follows 12-year-old Jorge, who is unhappy about being sent to live with his grandparents in a fictional New Mexico town. But Jorge quickly makes friends with a lost chupacabra, Carter. The converse-clad chupacabra and Jorge face dangerous mythical creatures and an even more frightening middle school principal.

“George and I are super excited just to really inspire kids to believe anything’s possible. One of the most important messages of the book is we didn’t want kids to feel like people’s opinions about them really had any power over them,” said Calejo.

The book focuses on the life-changing power of friendship and the ways friends can help you feel rooted in a new school or a new town. It also encourages kids to realize they’re bigger than their doubters.

“Jorge feels like a lot of the adults he encounters only see him as a troublemaker and sometimes that makes him act out as a troublemaker and for Carter the chupacabra, who’s our other main character, he knows that the whole world sees him as a monster,” said Calejo.

“He’s worried that the opinions of others have slowly begun to shape the opinions of himself. The message we want kids to take away is don’t live down to people’s expectations of you, instead live up to your own expectations. We wanted kids to realize that they’re bigger than their doubters. They can come from anywhere and rise above anything.”

George Lopez’s voice comes through clearly in the dialogue, and no wonder, as many of the stories come straight from his childhood.

“A lot of times George will recall a hilarious story from his childhood, and we’ll run with that. So, a lot of the different funny situations or stuff that his grandparents tell him are actual things that his grandparents told him or situations that he recalls from when he was little. He has a lot of George in there.”

Along with creating good jokes, the book also took a lot of research online and at the library.

“For me a lot of those stories are like cultural time capsules,” said Calejo. “They’re like culture wrapped up in story and they give us amazing insight into what our ancestors believe and stuff like that, so I like to be as authentic as I can with those.”

Lopez was one of Calejo’s heroes growing up. Seeing him telling jokes on TV made Calejo want to get up and tell jokes in class when he was in middle school, and sometimes his teachers even let him.

“I wanted to be a comedian and it was George who actually inspired that. It kind of comes back to that representation thing, watching him on TV was sort of like watching one of my family members and his success really inspired me to dream bigger.”

ChupaCarter is the first in a four-book series that follows the adventures of Jorge and his friends. The next book will feature a town mystery that revolves around a pinata.

Calejo is also the author of the Charlie Hernández series.

Cathy Cook | El Defensor Chieftain Editor