Men in Black meets Fablehaven in this exciting, new middle-grade fantasy-adventure about magic, identity, and the worlds we cannot see.

ANOMALIES 53 #1: INTO THE SHADOWS
by Angela Cervantes
HarperCollins Children’s Books, April 2025

Next door to the notorious Area 51 sits Area 53, the underground lab where the government secretly holds what they call “the anomalies.” These are the Earth-born mythical- and magical creatures – fairies, wyverns, manticores, and more – that have been captured and brought in for study. It’s also where eleven-year-old Oliver Robles, the only son of Area 53’s lead researcher, has grown up. He’s lived his whole life safely within these cement-and-steel halls … That is, until the day he accidentally freed seven anomalies. Now it’s up to Oliver and his best (and only) friend Garen Jackson to round-up these magical beings before they can escape back into The Shadows they came from. But along the way, the truths the two kids discover about the world, and themselves, will change everything, forever.

Angela Cervantes is the Mexican American author of several children’s novels, such as 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Book Lety Out Loud. In addition to her original novels, Angela authored the junior novelizations for Disney/Pixar’s animated film Coco and Disney’s animated film Encanto.