Latinx lives told by Latinx voices, these books all tell the unique stories of a people and culture.
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín
Celeste Marconi’s life on beautiful Butterfly Hill in Valparaíso, Chile is disrupted by political events which force her parents to flee for their lives. Soon after, Celeste is sent to stay with an aunt she barely knows in Maine. Will she ever see her parents, her friends, or the soaring pelicans of Butterfly Hill again?
How Tia Lola Came to Visit Stay by Julia Alvarez
At first, Miguel is embarrassed by his colorful aunt, Tia Lola, when she comes to Vermont from the Dominican Republic. She’s come to take care of Miguel and his sister after his parents’ divorce. Eventually, Miguel and Tia Lola become friends. Their story continues in How Tia Lola Learned to Teach, How Tia Lola Saved the Summer, and How Tia Lola Ended Up Starting Over.
Allie, First at Last by Angela Cervantes
Born into a family of over-achievers, Allie Velasco has never finished first in anything, but now she is determined to win the Trailblazer contest with a project honoring her great-grandfather, the first Congressional Medal of Honor winner from their town.
Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
While spending a summer in New Mexico with her grandmother, Izzy makes new friends, learns to cook, and for the first time hears stories about her father, who died before she was born.
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in her family. But she's hated magic ever since it made her father disappear into thin air. When a curse she performs to rid herself of magic backfires and her family vanishes, she must travel to Los Lagos, a land in-between as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland, to get her family back.
The Living by Matt De La Peña
After an earthquake destroys California and a tsunami wrecks the luxury cruise ship where he is a summer employee, high schooler Shy confronts another deadly surprise. The story continues in The Hunted.
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt De La Peña
Danny searches for his identity amidst the confusion of being half-Mexican and half-white while spending a summer with his cousin and new friends on the baseball fields and back alleys of San Diego County, California.
Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle
When his mother is sent to jail in Los Angeles, Tony goes to live with his great-uncle in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There, Tony experiences unconditional love for the first time through his friendship with a rescue dog.
Even If the Sky Falls by Maria García
When Julie takes a break from helping her youth group rebuild houses in New Orleans, she meets and falls in love with Miles and together they must survive a hurricane.
Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel by Xavier Garza
Maximilian is a big fan of lucha libre style wrestling. Max begins to suspect that he has a close connection with his favorite luchador, El Angel de La Guardia, the Guardian Angel. This dual language adventure continues in Maximilian & the Bingo Rematch.
The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez
It’s early morning in a Mexican border town, a father holds open a hole in a wire fence as his wife and two small boys crawl through. So begins life near the border for many people every day. And so begins this collection of autobiographical stories by Santa Clara University professor Francisco Jiménez, who at the age of four illegally crossed the border with his family in 1947. The story continues in Breaking Through, Reaching Out, and Taking Hold.
Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel by Diana López
When Erica "Chia" Montenegro finds out her mother has breast cancer, she makes a promise to God to raise money for breast cancer awareness and discovers that when family and friends work together, miracles can happen.
The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano
It is 1969 in Spanish Harlem, and Evelyn Serrano is trying hard to break free from her conservative Puerto Rican surroundings. When her activist grandmother comes to stay and the neighborhood protests start, things get a lot more complicated--and dangerous.
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
It’s only the first month of school, and already, Yaqui Delgado wants to kick Piddy Sanchez’s ass. She doesn't even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she's done to upset her. At first Piddy doesn’t take the threats seriously. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy's life.
Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
When the murals painted on the walls of her Brooklyn neighborhood start to change and fade in front of her, Sierra Santiago realizes that something strange is going on--then she discovers her Puerto Rican family are shadowshapers and finds herself in a battle with an evil anthropologist for the lives of her family and friends.
Out of Darkness by Ashley Pérez
Interwoven with the true story of the New London school explosion, this star-crossed romance between Naomi, a Mexican-American teen, and Wash, a black teen, lays bare the brutal and unrelenting racism of the East Texas oilfields of 1937.
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy's pregnancy, friend Sebastian's coming out, her father's meth habit, her cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.
When Reason Breaks by Cindy Rodriguez
Elizabeth Davis and Emily Delgado seem to have little in common except Ms. Diaz's English class and the solace they find in the words of Emily Dickinson, but both are struggling to cope with monumental secrets and tumultuous emotions that will lead one to attempt suicide.
Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan
When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother to search for her father.
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Aristotle is angry because his brother is in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship -- the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime.
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork
As someone with Asperger’s Syndrome, Marcelo doesn’t see the world as others do. But Marcelo’s father, a successful lawyer, doesn’t see Marcelo as different. He proposes that Marcelo spend the summer “in the real world,” working in the mail room at his law firm. Given little choice, Marcelo goes to work. But the real world is not what it seems.
Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Struggling to come to terms with the suicide of her crush, Andy Cooper, Frenchie obsessively retraces each step of their tumultuous final encounter and looks to the poetry of Emily Dickinson for guidance.
I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
The story of Juan de Pareja, the half-African slave of the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. Born into slavery in the 1600s, Juan served as a model for several of Velazquez’ most famous paintings and later became an artist in his own right.
What is LATINX?
Latinx is a gender-inclusive way of referring to people of Latin American descent. Used by activists and some academics, the term is gaining traction among the general public, after having been featured in publications such as NPR to Latina.
Spanish is a gendered language, which means that every noun has a gender…While some nouns keep their gender when they become plural, others change based on the gender composition of a given group of people…By dismantling some of the gendering within Spanish, Latinx helped modernize the idea of a pan-Latin American experience—or Latinidad—one that reflects what it means to be of Latin American descent in today’s world.
--Yesenia Padilla, Complex.com
