Cemetery Boys
Aiden Thomas's debut blends Latinx folk magic, queer YA romance, and a quiet murder mystery into one of the breakout books of 2020. Yadriel, a trans teenage brujo from East Los Angeles, has been refused recognition by his traditionalist family because their gendered magic system insists girls are healers and boys are spirit-guides. Determined to prove he is the boy he says he is, he sneaks into the family cemetery on the night of Dia de los Muertos and tries to summon and release his recently murdered cousin's spirit. He instead snags Julian Diaz, an unrelated dead classmate who refuses to leave. Together they investigate Julian's death and Yadriel's cousin's disappearance while a slow, gentle romance kindles between them. Tender, culturally specific, and deeply affirming for trans readers.
Where Cemetery Boys keeps showing up
Two of our editors' lists feature this novel.
What you might want to know about Cemetery Boys
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Determined to be recognized as a brujo by his Latinx family, trans teen Yadriel performs the rite himself. He summons the wrong ghost: cocky Julian Diaz, a recently-killed classmate who refuses to move on quietly.
Yes. Cemetery Boys was a finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Award and the William C. Morris YA Debut Award. It was also a New York Times bestseller and is widely cited as a milestone in trans YA fantasy.
Cemetery Boys is a standalone, but Aiden Thomas has written companion novels in the same general queer YA fantasy space, including The Sunbearer Trials. The two are independent.
Cemetery Boys was written by Aiden Thomas, published in 2020 by Feiwel & Friends.
Cemetery Boys is 356 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Cemetery Boys takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
Cemetery Boys is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
