Valentina Salazar is not a Monster Hunter

Zoraida Córdova

Jun 2022 · Sold by Scholastic Inc.

About this ebook

“Monsters, mayhem, and a little family magic will have readers rooting for Valentina!” -- Kwame Mbalia, New York Times bestselling author

It takes a special person to end up in detention on the last day of school.

It takes a REALLY special person to accidentally burn down the school yard while chasing a fire-breathing chipmunk.

But nothing about Valentina Salazar has ever been "normal." The Salazars are protectors, tasked with rescuing the magical creatures who sometimes wander into our world, from grumpy unicorns to chupacabras . . . to the occasional fire-breathing chipmunk.

When Val's father is killed during a rescue mission gone wrong, her mother decides it's time to retire from their life on the road. She moves the family to a boring little town in upstate New York and enrolls Val and her siblings in real school for the first time.

But Val is a protector at heart and she can't give up her calling. So when a mythical egg surfaces in a viral video, Val convinces her reluctant siblings to help her find the egg before it hatches and wreaks havoc. But she has some competition: the dreaded monster hunters who'll stop at nothing to destroy the creature . . . and the Salazar family.

Praise for Valentina Salazar is Not a Monster Hunter:

Middle grade fantasy at its finest, led by a protagonist who has as much spirit and fire as the monsters she’s sworn to protect.” -- Rena Barron, author of Maya and the Rising Dark

“An action-packed, un-put-down-able, adventure filled with fun, family, and fabulous magical creatures! You’re in for a real treat!” -- Sarah Beth Durst, award-winning author of Spark

“A wondrous journey, full of friendship, family, and self-discovery. It has everything I look for in a book—heart, humor, and an innovative magic system.” -- Alex Aster, award-winning author of the Emblem Island series

Ratings and reviews

I really like this book. I am ten years old and this book was the perfect reading level for me. I highly recommend it. The only reason I gave this book four stars was because Ms. Córdova made Valentina act like a nine-year-old. (No offense to nine- year-olds. I mean she was not as smart as her age group sometimes.) Overall, this book is an amazing one filled to the bursting with friendship, adventure, and intrigue.

About the author

Zoraida Córdova is the award-winning author of the Brooklyn Brujas series, The Vicious Deep trilogy, and Star Wars: A Crash of Fate. She has contributed stories to the New York Times bestselling anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, and Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft. Zoraida was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York.