Read Through Hispanic Heritage Month

The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta [eAudiobook link]
Indir is a Dreamer, descended from a long line of seers; able to see beyond reality, she carries the rare gift of Dreaming truth. But when the beloved King Anz dies, his son and heir has no respect for this time-honored tradition. Newly crowned Alcan wants an opportunity to bring the Dreamers to a permanent end–an opportunity Indir will give him if he discovers the two secrets she is struggling to keep. As violent change shakes Indir’s world to its core, she is forced to make an impossible choice: fight for her home or fight to survive.

 

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera [eComic book link]
Juliet, a self-identified queer, Bronx-born Puerto Rican-American, comes out to her family to disastrous results the night before flying to Portland to intern with her feminist author icon–whom Juliet soon realizes has a problematic definition of feminism that excludes women of color.

 

 

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too.

 

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro [eAudiobook link]
Xochitl is destined to wander the desert alone, speaking her troubled village’s stories into its arid winds. Her only companions are the blessed stars above and enigmatic lines of poetry magically strewn across dusty dunes. Her one desire: to share her heart with a kindred spirit. One night, Xo’s wish is granted–in the form of Emilia, the cold and beautiful daughter of the town’s murderous conqueror. But when the two set out on a magical journey across the desert, they find their hearts could be a match–if only they can survive the nightmare-like terrors that arise when the sun goes down.

 

We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
Pulga has his dreams. Chico has his grief. Pequeña has her pride. And these three teens have one another. But, none of them have illusions about the town they’ve grown up in and the dangers that surround them. Even with the love of family, threats lurk around every corner. And when those threats become all too real, the trio knows they have no choice but to run: from their country, from their families, from their beloved home. Crossing from Guatemala through Mexico, they follow the route of La Bestia, the perilous train system that might deliver them to a better life–if they are lucky enough to survive the journey.

 

Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
Rosario, Argentina. At home Camila Hassan lives within her mother’s narrow expectations, her soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father. On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill and talent. When her team qualifies for the South American tournament, Camila dreams of getting an athletic scholarship to a North American university. But her parents wouldn’t allow a girl to play fúbol– and she needs their permission to go any farther. Can she make her way in a world with no place for the dreams and ambition of a girl like her?

 

Charlie Hernández & the League of Shadows by Ryan Calejo
Steeped in Hispanic folklore since childhood, middle schooler Charlie Hernández learns the stories are true when, shortly after his parents disappearance, he grows horns and feathers and finds himself at the heart of a battle to save the world.

 

 

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
Alex is a bruja and 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 Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
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.

 

 

Inheritance: A Visual Poem by Elizabeth Acevedo
In her most famous spoken-word poem, author of the Pura Belpré-winning novel-in-verse The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo embraces all the complexities of Black hair and Afro-Latinidad–the history, pain, pride, and powerful love of that inheritance.

 

 

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
Loosely based on a school explosion that took place in New London, Texas in 1937, this is the story of two teenagers: Naomi, who is Mexican, and Wash, who is black, and their dealings with race, segregation, love, and the forces that destroy people.

 

 

Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
Sixteen-year-old 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 own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

 

 

Abuela, Don’t Forget Me by Rex Ogle [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
Rex Ogle’s companion to Free Lunch and Punching Bag weaves humor, heartbreak, and hope into life-affirming poems that honor his grandmother’s legacy. In his award-winning memoir Free Lunch, Rex Ogle’s abuela features as a source of love and support. In this companion-in-verse, Rex captures and celebrates the powerful presence a woman he could always count on-to give him warm hugs and ear kisses, to teach him precious words in Spanish, to bring him to the library where he could take out as many books as he wanted, and to offer safety when darkness closed in. Throughout a coming of age marked by violence and dysfunction, Abuela’s red-brick house in Abilene, Texas, offered Rex the possibility of home, and Abuela herself the possibility for a better life.

 

Our Shadows Have Claws by Various Authors [eBook link]
Fifteen original short stories from YA superstars featuring the monsters of Latine myths and legends.

 

 

 

This is Why They Hate Us by Aaron Aceves [eBook link | eAudiobook link]
Seventeen-year-old Enrique “Quique” Luna decides to get over his crush on Saleem Kanazi before the end of summer by pursuing other romantic prospects, but he ends up discovering heartfelt truths about friendship, family, and himself.