September 15th – October 15th

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by checking out books by authors who have influenced and enriched our nation and society. Click the image to view the item in the catalog.

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Fiction

When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, thousands are forced to flee. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

In the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence and the execution of her father, Beatriz accepts Don Rodolfo Solórzano’s proposal of marriage and is whisked away to his remote country estate where she is faced with a malevolent presence linked to his first wife’s death.

When the arrival of Eduardo Lizalde sets in motion a dangerous chain of events, Carlota Moreau finds her carefully constructed world falling down around her as passion is ignited in the sweltering heat of the jungle where a motley group of monstrosities await.

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Olga, the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers, must confront the effects of long-held family secrets when she falls in love with Matteo, while other family members must weather their own storms.

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters.

When she spots her missing sister, Ruthy, who disappeared when she was 13, on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show, Jessica, along with her younger sister, mother, and her mother’s holy roller best friend, set out on a family road trip to find the truth.

The daughter of a Cuban immigrant battles addiction and the fallout of her decision to take in the child of an ICE detainee, while her mother wrestles with displacement trauma and complicated family ties.

A reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel follows the experiences of a courageous socialite in 1950s Mexico who is drawn into the treacherous secrets of an isolated mansion. 

A novel set against the violence of 1990s Columbia follows a sheltered girl and a teen maid, who forge an unlikely friendship as the families of both struggle to maintain stability amidst Bogotâa’s rapidly escalating violence.

Reeling from her beloved husband’s sudden death in the wake of her retirement, an immigrant writer is further derailed by the reappearance of her unstable sister and an entreaty for help by a pregnant undocumented teen. 

Leaving her small Mexico hometown after years of caring for her mother, Juana Garcia embarks on a search for the father who disappeared nineteen years earlier and teams up with Adelina Vasquez, who left her family to pursue forbidden love.

Un relato asombroso y conmovedor de migración, pérdida y hallazgo; de cómo dos mujeres — una nacida en México y la otra en los Estados Unidos — encuentran que sus vidas coinciden de la manera más improbable.

Un respetado empresario mexicano encuentra su idílica vida desmoronándose ante la infidelidad de su esposa con un corrupto director de seguridad nacional, la adoración de su cuñado por un niño predicador y la ruptura de su amante con la realidad.

A 30-year-old living with her Peruvian immigrant mother in a Brooklyn apartment after her father’s passing discovers a weird note under his urn that forces the pair to confront their complicated past. 

Living with an old-world mother and rebellious sister, an urban New Jersey misfit dreams of becoming the next J. R. R. Tolkien and believes that a long-standing family curse is thwarting his efforts to find love and happiness.

Helping a cult horror director shoot the missing scene from his magic film that was never finished to lift a curse, sound editor Montserrat and her best friend Tristán start seeing strange things and must unravel the mystery of this film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city.

A posthumous masterwork by a prize-winning founder of the infrarealist poetry movement finds such characters as an American sportswriter, an elusive German novelist, and a teenage student interacting in an urban community on the U.S.-Mexico border where hundreds of young factory workers have disappeared. Simultaneous.

Cuatro académicos tras la pista de un enigmático escritor alemán; un periodista de Nueva York en su primer trabajo en México; un filósofo viudo; un detective de policía enamorado de una esquiva mujer —estos son algunos de los personajes arrastrados hasta la ciudad fronteriza de Santa Teresa, donde en la última década han desaparecido cientos de mujeres.

In ten chilling stories from an ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers, horror infiltrates the unexpected, taboo regions of the present-day psyche.

When the US attacks Mexico in 1846, Nena, a healer striving to prove her worth, and Néstor, a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros, find their reunion overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

Nonfiction

An unflinching account of growing up as a queer biracial girl searching for home as her family splits apart and her mother struggles with mental illness and addiction. From her own struggles with depression and drug abuse to her experiences of violence to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page vibrates with music and lyricism.

In these essays about everything from sex to white feminism to debilitating depression to the redemptive pursuits of spirituality, art, and travel, Sánchez reveals an interior life that is rich with ideas, self-awareness, and perception—that of a woman who charted a path entirely of her own making. Raunchy, insightful, unapologetic, and brutally honest,

Interweaving spellbinding family stories, resurrected Colombian history and her own deeply personal reckonings with the bounds of reality, the author shares her inheritance of “the secrets”—the power to talk to the dead, tell the future, treat the sick and move the clouds. 

Taking us into the dark recesses of the toxic traditions that plague the U.S. and create the abusers who haunt our books, schools and homes, the author studies the ways in which oppression is collectively enacted and, interweaving her history and identity throughout, argues for a new way of conceptualizing oppression.

In this powerful and deeply felt memoir of translation, storytelling, and borders, Alejandra Oliva, a Mexican-American translator and immigrant justice activist, offers a powerful chronical of her experience interpreting at the US-Mexico border.

This stunning graphic memoir of a childhood in Cuba doubles as the story of the author’s coming-of-age as an artist and activist who, witnessing American’s turn from democracy to extremism, struggled to differentiate his adoptive county from the dictatorship he fled.

Con un candor e intimidad nunca antes asumidos por un juez en activo, Sonia nos narra el viaje de su vida —desde los proyectos del Bronx hasta la corte federal— en una inspiradora celebración de su extraordinaria determinación y del poder de creer en uno mismo.

The first Hispanic-American on the U.S. Supreme Court shares the story of her life before becoming a judge, describing such experiences as her youth in a Bronx housing project, her relationship with a passionately spiritual grandparent, the ambition that fueled her ivy-league education and the individuals who helped shaped her career.

A Princeton University salutatorian describes his experiences as an undocumented immigrant youth in New York City, relating his efforts as a scholarship student in a private school that sharply contrasted with his street life in East Harlem.

Redemptive and painful, poignant and real, this memoir from one of the most recognizable, prolific and beloved character actors traces his journey from crime, prison, addiction and loss to unexpected fame as Hollywood’s favorite bad guy with a heart of gold. 

A trailblazing women’s health advocate and former Obama aide discusses her experiences as Mexican American woman raised by an immigrant single mother in Los Angeles and the challenges of navigating social mobility as a first-generation Latina.

A noted Hispanic journalist sheds new light on the history of Latinos in America, ranging from the first sixteenth century colonies in the New World through the 1998 presidential election, and offers closeup portraits of distinguished Americans of Hispanic descent who have played a key role in the ever evolving face of American life.

This wide-ranging overview of the turbulent and little-known history of the diverse Latino experience in America is based on hundreds of interviews and research about the fastest-growing minority in America.

A memoir of the Cuban Revolution from the perspective of a Batista-era child describes his carefree early days, the harrowing legal changes that occurred with the ascension of Fidel Castro, his witness to the disappearance of numerous peers, and his eventual relocation to the United States during Operation Pedro Pan. 

These portraits are from the collection of gallerist and specialist in Latin American photographs, Spencer Throckmorton. This dynamic collection was initiated more than two decades ago and includes more than one hundred images of Frida Kahlo.

The story of how, with the help of two inspiring science teachers, four undocumented Mexican immigrants in Arizona put together an underwater robot from scavenged parts and went on to win the National Underwater Robotics Competition at UC Santa Barbara.

History of the United States from the viewpoint of black and brown people. The result is simultaneously invigorating, embarrassing, and essential to anyone interested in what the revolutionaries of years past can teach us about struggles for freedom, equality, and democracy today

The author fills in the details of young Ernesto’s upbringing in Argentina and his work as a physician in a number of Latin American countries. While giving ample coverage of Guevara’s role in Cuba’s revolution, Caistor also examines his activities from the end of that revolution to the abortive guerilla campaign in Bolivia that led to Guevara’s death in 1967.

Young Adult

Follows the experiences of two grieving sisters who navigate the loss of their father and the impact of his death on their relationship.

A story based on actual events evokes the horror of the Dominican Republic under dictator General Trujillo, as three sisters die in a jeep “accident.”

Born into a family of hunters sworn to protect humans from interdimensional parasites, 16-year-old Prudence Perry, a former legacy Ladybird Scout, falls back into the fold when her town is hit with a mysterious wave of demons.

When seventeen-year-old Virginia discovers her love interest’s younger sister is being groomed by her childhood abuser, she must find the courage to finally speak up.

Nonbinary teen Ander is ready to leave their family’s taquerâia and focus on their art, but when Santi, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, begins to work at the restaurant, the two teens spark a romance made complicated by immigration police.

In an ancient Mesoamerican world, Indir, a Dreamer able to see beyond reality, must carefully guard her secrets from the new king, who plans to see the Dreamers destroyed, while Saya, a seer, risks everything to find the truth about her gifts. 

Set in 1884, nineteen-year-old Inez travels to Egypt after the sudden death of her parents to uncover the truth about their deaths, and as she attempts to unravel the mysteries her parents sought, she becomes a pawn in a larger game that threatens to kill her.

An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities.

Escaping to her beloved childhood soccer camp after a fight with her long-time rival Leticia, Vale discovers she and Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts, compelling the two to form a shaky alliance that turns into something neither of them expected.

On the Texas-Mexico border, eighteen-year-old Grace’s relationship with her older sister Mercy is fractured when Mercy’s two-year-old son dies in an accident, bringing to the surface old family traumas and literal ghosts as the family struggles to heal.

Three teens chase their own versions of the American Dream during the Roaring 20s in this reimagining of The Great Gatsby.

One girl caught between the freedom she always wanted and a sister she can’t bear to leave behind. Under the cover of the Night Forest, will Lucha be able to step into her own power…or will she be consumed by it?

In need of a date for her sister’s quinceaänera, Maggie Gonzalez confronts new and old feelings for her best friend Amanda, her ex-boyfriend Matthew, and Dani, a new girl with her own romantic baggage.

While performing for a music legend on the night of the Grand Fete, piano prodigy Mateo witnesses a brutal murder that awakens a power within him, linking him to the killer and possibly unlocking the dark mystery behind his lost homeland.

Scavenging and selling elf corpses to support her family, seventeen-year-old goth Sevim finds a chance encounter with an elf prince setting her revenge in motion and must enter the magical elven realm where her fate is linked to someone she least expected.

Transferred to a Catholic school, 16-year-old Yami Flores finds it hard to fake being straight when she falls for Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, but refuses to follow her heart until she learns to live her full truth out loud. 

When the sister who delighted their parents by her faithful embrace of Mexican culture dies in a tragic accident, Julia, who longs to go to college and move into a home of her own, discovers from mutual friends that her sister may not have been as perfect as believed. 

Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents and his family that he has never asked before.

Receiving word from Death-Cast that they are about to die, Mateo and Rufus meet for the first time via an End Day friendship app that facilitates their meeting and a final grand adventure that triggers unexpected changes. 

Seventeen-year-old Garfield Logan finally impresses the social elite at his high school, but popularity comes at a price when he undergoes sudden physical changes as the dares from his new friends escalate.

Jessica is a dedicated student and part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but as xenophobia in Coast City increases and her father is detained by I.C.E. Jessica must fight her fears and become a voice for her community.

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.

Children’s

Lola was just a baby when her family left the Island, so when she has to draw it for a school assignment, she asks her family, friends, and neighbors about their memories of her homeland and in the process, comes up with a new way of understanding her own heritage

Describes the life and accomplishments of Pura Belpré, a Puerto Rican librarian who introduced the folk tales of her native island first to the children of New York and afterwards throughout the country.

When Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela asks her father why she has so many names, she hears the story of her name and learns about her grandparents.

Corina’s Abuela helps her select flowers that mean something to Corina from the garden for her Mexican flower crown that she will wear on her birthday, and explains the symbolic meaning of a birthday crown.

Encountering each other on a deserted island, two children who are lost at sea quickly realize there is a language barrier between them and must figure out a way to communicate despite their differences if they ever want to be rescued. 

The coquí frogs sing to Elena from her family’s beloved mango tree their calls so familiar that they might as well be singing, “You are home, you are safe.” But home is suddenly not safe when a hurricane threatens to destroy everything that Elena knows.

When just before Halloween, Lucely Luna and her friend Syd accidentally awaken evil spirits, who proceed to wreak havoc throughout St. Augustine, they are forced to enlist the help of Babette, Syd’s witch grandmother, and her overweight cat, Chunk, to defeat the demons and save the city.

Growing up on legends about a mythical gatekeeper who assists worthy travelers, a young fútbol enthusiast from Santa Maria wonders about the mother he never met before uncovering a long-buried family secret involving an underground network that guides people to safety.

While visiting her grandfather, a singing street vendor in Cuba, a little girl helps him sell his frutas, in this lively, rhythmic picture book that celebrates the special bond between a child and grandparent. 

Rising star Kat Fajardo’s debut middle-grade graphic novel about a girl who would rather do anything other than celebrate her quinceañera! A funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about navigating the expectations of family and cultural tradition.

Desperate to return home while staying with her aunt, Laura finds a puppy and decides that if she can train the puppy to become a therapy dog, she might be allowed to visit her parents and then maybe things will go back to the way they should be.

When five overlooked students are forced to complete their school’s community service hours, they meet someone in need but must decide if they are each willing to expose their own secrets to help… or if remaining invisible is the only way to survive middle school.

A meteorite falls into the desert near Vega’s family store while her cousin Mila is staying with them, turning the girls’ summer upside down and leading to surprising discoveries and friendships.

After a devastating earthquake hits, a little girl and her neighbors help each other rebuild their city. 

Privately questioning her remote community’s superstitions about dangerous powerful spirits in their Devil’s Alley home, Cecelia Rios experiments with the forbidden art of brujería to rescue her kidnapped sister. 

A shy ghost who can walk through walls and glow in the dark pursues a secret love for playing the violin while trying to bond with monster friends who cannot see him, before the Day of the Dead inspires him to share something he loves. 

Eleven-year-old injured soccer player Luz has a hard enough time reframing her identity as a computer programmer, but when her Guatemalan half-sister moves in, she learns what it truly means to start over.

Two best friends, one athletically gifted and one academically gifted, have more in common than they realize when their goals intersect, forcing them to find a way to support each other so they don’t fall short. 

While trying to make a life-changing decision, 12-year-old Adela Ramirez searches for her birth father, which leads her to the legendary Bravos, professional wrestlers who teach her what it really means to be part of a family. 

Pedro Martin’s grown up in the U.S. hearing stories about his legendary abuelito, but during a family road trip to Mexico, he connects with his grandfather and learns more about his own Mexican identity in this moving and hilarious graphic memoir

Petra’s world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet. A few scientists and their children, among them Petra and her family have been chosen to journey to a new planet. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. 

A novel-in-verse about a 12-year-old Dominican American girl who must keep her love of swimming a secret from her mother, is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis, and is forced to reimagine the person she is to become.