The Diary of Raquel Reyes

Raquel Reyes #.5

by Angela Cervantes, Fatima Anaya (Illustrator)

Raquel Reyes™ loves DJing, taste-testing paletas at her family’s shop in Kansas City, and spending time with her lovable rescue pup, Luzita™. For the summer, she’s heading to the East Coast for a big family reunion and wedding. Amid the fun-in-the-sun days with her cousins, she encounters a few surprises—including her great-great-grandmother’s diary.

79 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2025

About the author

Angela Cervantes is the award-winning author of several popular children's novels including Lety Out Loud, which won the Pura Belpré Honor Award in 2020.

Her other novels include The Cursed Moon, which won Florida's Sunshine State Young Readers Award. Angela's other middle grade novels include the Frida Kahlo-inspired mystery, Me, Frida and The Secret of the Peacock Ring; Allie, First At Last; and Gaby, Lost and Found.

Her latest children’s novel is Anomalies 53: Into the Shadows which is book 1 of a two-book series published by Harper Collins.

Additionally, Angela authored the junior novelization for Disney/Pixar's animated-film, Coco and Disney's animated film, Encanto. She also collaborated with American Girl Dolls for the novel Maritza: Lead With Your Heart.

Angela’s short stories have been featured in Chicken Soup for The Latino Soul and the Young Adult anthology Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America.

Angela is a daughter of a retired elementary-school teacher who instilled in her a love for reading and storytelling. Angela writes from her home in Kansas City. When she's not writing, Angela enjoys reading, running, gazing up at clouds, and taking advantage of Taco Tuesdays.

To learn more about Angela and her books, visit her website at angelacervantes.com.

Reviews

[Laura Jerrolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much! As a millennial AG girl, this touched my heart tremendously!

[Hannah]

Here af for a Samantha Parkington tie-in OF COURSE, but boy do I not at all like how adoption was handled, and no I will not spoiler tag this discussion because it's not necessary and I want people who don't know about adoption to see how fucked AG/Mattel's choices were here. And knowing how they build characters and storylines, I do not blame Angela Cervantes at all for that; I put the blame on Mattel and the advisor they chose, and I'm not surprised, since I know from an insider that they started using a white woman with some DEI company where she is the only visible and named staff member as their main advisor for racial sensitivity stuff (*rolls eyes, because what else is new?*) instead of, y'know, actual people of color, and if you don't even have the wherewithal to select good advisors, you won't get good advice, so why not also pick as your adoption advisor a woman who works at an organization that NEVER listens to adoptees, sponsors studies by conservative and/or religious freaks who adopt for creepy reasons and treat adoptive children like objects, pets, or projects instead of people, and in other ways promotes child trafficking and a pathologizing view of adoption instead of fucking listening to adoptees and birthparents*. Anyway, as an adoptee, I think this is a fucked and weirdly shoehorned storyline with gross things about "real family" and "not related" and shit that I was yelling at people not to do when EYE was a kid back in the 90s, so why the fuck is it happening to this 2026 kid? Extremely bad move. Fuck the many advisor choices AG has made in the last five years fr.

*NCFA is a lot like Autism Speaks, which is to say it is an organization purportedly about and for people united by a Thing but that actually spends all its time, money, and advocacy refusing to listen to the people who are The Thing and instead just steamrolls over them in favor of their martyr ass parents or people who know nothing about The Thing at all.

[Hannah Carter]

Soooo…my Samantha-loving heart had to read this when I heard Raquel was Samantha’s great-great-granddaughter. If you don’t know this, “Samantha Learns a Lesson” is the first book I remember reading by myself and is the reason why I wanted to become an author. :) All in all, Samantha is super important to me. <3

I’m not the age group for this, which is why I’m not leaving a starred review, but I will say, man do I miss the old AG historical books. I re-read a lot of them (Samantha, Kit, Molly, Felicity) last year, and plan to re-read Addy this year.

The diary format didn’t exactly thrill me, and I felt like some of the Samantha stuff was shoehorned in, but I’m intrigued enough to buy Raquel’s full length book, at least.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep. I was 100% sold when I heard that Raquel Reyes is the great-great-granddaughter of Samantha Parkington. Since I got a Samantha doll for Christmas as a kid, naturally, I asked for Raquel for Christmas as well and immediately read the book that came with her.

As an adult, I'm not a huge fan of the diary setup, but I'm sure kids enjoy it more. The story was sweet, and I loved all the nods to Samantha and her belongings. Initially, I was disappointed that it didn't go deeper, but then I realized there's a full book as well (which I'll review separately).

[Jessna Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely cute! Just got this doll and loved the lore behind her being related to Samantha and how her collection fits in the story with promise of more books! It was interesting how they navigated the history and tradition of American Girl with present day and then mixed her two family cultures together. My daughter is next in line to read it. While it says 4th grade level it might be a little on the young side for that rating just for parents to be aware of as I think my 4th grader will enjoy it but fly through it.

[Colleen Siemann · Rating 2 out of 5]

For an AG book, this wasn’t good at all. Raquel (the main character) has no personality traits whatsoever. You learn she wants to be a DJ and that she’s Samantha Parkington’s great-great granddaughter, which is cool, but nothing comes from those attributes. The plot is also inexistent, and what little plot there is revolves around her cousin, not Raquel. Would not read again or recommend it to anyone.

[Colton Knott · Rating 4 out of 5]

first time reading the new diary goty books and i hope they return to the old format. the way of it being a diary left me with wanting to know more about what was happening. samantha mentions are fun and cool.

[Charlie - disableddaydreamer | itsbarbieparis (looking for mutuals) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am a major fan of raquel and can’t wait for the new book!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, to be a 10 year old and have generational wealth in this economy.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute and a simple read with a good message, loved the illustrations.

[Kaylee Willgruber · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ 3 stars | cutie little American Girl Doll book I just had to jump into. the 2026 girl of the year, Raquel, is the great-great-granddaughter to the historical doll, Samantha, who was my first doll. Cute little diary style story about finding her great-great- grandmother’s heirlooms and story. perfect way to end the year!