Hispanic Heritage Month Booklist

 

“I’ve put up with too much, too long, and now I’m just too intelligent, too powerful, too beautiful, too sure of who I am finally to deserve anything less.”— Sandra Cisneros

Did you know that National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed every year in the U.S. from September 15 to October 15? Why? To "celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America." 

Below are ten awesome books written by Hispanic American writers with Hispanic American main characters you can read in honor of this special occasion!

1. Ander & Santi Were Here: A Novel by Jonny Garza Villa: When their parents hire Santiago Garcia, a hot new waiter, nonbinary teen Ander Lopez immediately falls in love, and through Santi’s eyes, understands everything they are and want to be as an artist, until the outside world creeps in, threatening everything.

2. Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester: Verónica, a Peruvian‑American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body.

3. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo: Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people. In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance -- and Papi's secrets -- the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

4. Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno: Rosa Santos, a Cuban American teen, works to save her Florida town, seeks admittance to study abroad in her homeland, and wonders if love can break her family's curse.

5. Into the Light by Mark Oshiro: Seventeen-year-old queer adoptee Manny, now homeless, sets out to find his sister Elena, who is still enmeshed in Christ's Dominion, the community that abandoned him, but the journey is fraught with danger, as he is forced to confront the religious trauma from his past.

6. Northranger by Rey Terciero, illustrated by Bre Indigo: In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muänoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner's mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret. 

7. Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho: To save her family's bakery, Salt, which as been at war with the Molinas' bakery, Sugar, across the street, Lari Ramires does the unthinkable by teaming up with Pedro Molinas to save both their bakeries, falling in love in the process.

8. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes: Sixteen-year-old Mexican American Yami Flores starts Catholic school, determined to keep her brother out of trouble and keep herself closeted, but her priorities shift when Yami discovers that her openly gay classmate Bo is also annoyingly cute.

9. The Making of Yolanda La Bruja by Lorraine Avila: Yolanda Alvarez is having a good year. She's starting to feel at home at Julia De Burgos High, her school in the Bronx. She has her best friend Victory, and maybe something with Josâe, a senior boy she's getting to know. She's cofbraznfident her initiation into her family's bruja tradition will happen soon. But then a white boy, the son of a politician, appears at Julia De Burgos High, and his vibes are off. And Yolanda's initiation begins with a series of troubling visions of the violence this boy threatens. How can Yolanda protect her community, in a world that doesn't listen? Only with the wisdom and love of her family, friends, and community--and the Brujas Diosas, her ancestors and guides. 

10. The Turning Pointe by Vanessa L. Torres: In 1980s Minnesota, when auditions for a concert with Prince are announced, 16-year-old Rosa Dominguez, the daughter of a tyrant ballet master, is desperate to escape her pointe shoes and show everyone what she can do.