Staff Picks
YA Reads for Hispanic Heritage Month
- Kenyanah B.
- Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Collection
National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) recognizes the histories, cultures, and contributions of Hispanic and Latinx Americans. Celebrate by checking out these teen titles.
Looking for more great reads to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month? Check out this list or use our request Personalized Recommendations form to find your next great read!
Indivisible
Published in 2021
New York City high school student Mateo dreams of becoming a Broadway star, but his life is transformed after his parents are deported to Mexico.
Muted
Published in 2021
"For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown. So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean Mercury Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it. Until they're not."-- Publisher's description.
Your Heart, My Sky
Love in a Time of Hunger
Published in 2021
In Cuba's "special period in times of peace" of 1991, Liana and Amado find love after their severe hunger gives both courage to risk government retribution by skipping a summer of labor to seek food. Told in their two voices plus that of the stray dog that brought them together.
Diamond City
Published in 2020
Pulled from the streets at age twelve and trained to become one of the most powerful assassins in Sumerand, Aina Solís discovers a conspiracy that could rewrite the kingdom's history and her own future.
Cazadora
A Novel
Published in 2021
After revealing her hybrid nature to Septimus beyond her pack, Manu hopes that superstition and suspicion do not prevent her and her friends from finding allies in their fight for a better future.
Once Upon a Quinceañera
Published in 2021
"Eighteen-year-old Carmen takes on a summer internship that has her reuniting with estranged family for an over-the-top quinceañera, reluctantly reconnecting to a long-lost ex-boyfriend, and finding happiness in the chaos"-- Provided by publisher.
Summer in the City of Roses
Published in 2021
In 1990s Portland, Oregon, seventeen-year-old Iph, aided by George, a modern-day Robin Hood, seeks her sensitive fifteen-year-old brother, Orr, while Orr has escaped wilderness boot camp and is residing with The Furies, an all-girl punk band.
Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet
Published in 2021
I'm Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter meets Emergency Contact in this stunning story of first love, familial expectations, the power of food, and finding where you belong. Penelope Prado has always dreamed of opening her own pastelería next to her father's restaurant, Nacho's Tacos. But her mom and dad have different plans-leaving Pen to choose between disappointing her traditional Mexican American parents or following her own path. When she confesses a secret she's been keeping, her world is sent into a tailspin. But then she meets a cute new hire at Nacho's who sees through her hard exterior and asks the questions she's been too afraid to ask herself. Xander Amaro has been searching for home since he was a little boy. For him, a job at Nacho's is an opportunity for just that-a chance at a normal life, to settle in at his abuelo's, and to find the father who left him behind. But when both the restaurant and Xander's immigrant status are threatened, he will do whatever it takes to protect his newfound family and himself. Together, Pen and Xander must navigate first love and discovering where they belong in order to save the place they all call home. This stunning and poignant novel from debut author Laekan Zea Kemp explores identity, found families and the power of food, all nestled within a courageous and intensely loyal Chicanx community.
Meet Cute Diary
Published in 2021
"Noah Ramirez thinks he's an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There's just one problem; all the stories are fake ... When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah's world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn't have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah's life, and the pieces fall into place"-- Provided by publisher
Miss Meteor
Published in 2020
A teen who secretly arrived with the meteor that gave her small hometown its name discovers that she is turning back into stardust and teams up with her best friend in an effort to secure her human existence by entering a local beauty pageant that has always been won by thin, blonde, white girls.
The Mary Shelley Club
Published in 2021
"A deliciously twisty YA thriller about a mysterious club with an obsession for horror"-- Provided by publisher.
The Immortal Boy
Published in 2021
"Two intertwining stories of Bogotá. One, a family of five children, left to live on their own. The other, a girl in an orphanage who will do anything to befriend the mysterious Immortal Boy"-- Provide by publisher
Nocturna
Published in 2019
Finn Voy, a talented faceshifter, and Prince Alfehr, still grieving the death of his older brother, accidentally unleash an ancient power that will devour the world if it is not contained.
Oculta
Published in 2021
A sequel to Nocturna finds a newly emancipated Finn unexpectedly installed as the new leader of a powerful crime syndicate at the same time Alfie is confronted by the mysterious organization behind his brother's assassination.
One of the Good Ones
Published in 2021
Although distraught, Happi is also unsettled by the way people have idealized the memory of her sister who was killed after attending a social justice rally -- why do people have to be perfect in order to be missed? As a way to honor the memory, however, Happi and her other sister Genny go on a roadtrip using the original "Green Book" -- but the trip reveals secrets neither sister knew about the dead Kezi.
Thirty Talks Weird Love
Published in 2021
In Cuidad Juaarez, Mexico in 1999, where kidnapping of girls and women is common, a woman approaches thirteen-year-old Anamaria claiming to be her future self, offering advice and requesting help.
Simone Breaks All the Rules
Published in 2021
At seventeen Simone Thibodeaux is fed up with her over-protective mother's insistence on micro-managing her life, like picking her prom date from a "nice" Haitian immigrant family, and anyway she is determined to attend with Gavin Stackhouse (even if he does not know that yet); so together with her fellow late-bloomer friends Simone comes up with a bucket list of rule-breaking (like cutting classes, and sneaking out of the house)--but soon things get complicated, and Simone has to decide which rules are worth breaking, and which should just be left alone.
B.B. Free. Issue 1
Published in 2019
B.B. free broadcasts her underground radio show from her remote swamp community, and she has no idea she's actually the chosen one. It's been over a hundred years since the Plague That Ate Greed wiped out half the population, and it's the only world that B.B. has ever known. But when B.B. rebels against her overbearing father, she realizes that everything she believes in could be a lie. On the run from her own family, B.B. will learn the truth about the world she lives in, and about the power she never knew she had. Writer Gabby Rivera and debuting artist Royal Dunlap present an adventure for fans of Blackbird and "mysterious destiny" heroic fiction like Naomi about finding your family when the whole world is against you.
Fire with Fire
Published in 2021
Raised to kill dragons along with her sister, Dani Rivera unexpectedly forges a rare and magical bond with one who makes her question everything she thought she knew about dragons, which pits her against her sister.
On the Hook
Published in 2021
"Hector has always worked hard and minded his own business. He wants to be captain of his school's chess team, go to college, and help his family make their way to a better life someday. Until Joey singles him out. Joey, whose older brother, Chavo, is head of the Discípulos gang, tells Hector that he's going to kill him: maybe not today, or tomorrow, but someday. And Hector, frozen with fear, does nothing. From that day forward, Hector's death hangs over his head every time he leaves the house. He tries to fade into the shadows, to drop off Joey's radar, to become no one. But when a fight between Chavo and Hector's brother Fili escalates, Hector is left with no choice but to take a stand. The violent confrontation lands Hector in a reform school where he has to live side-by-side with his enemy, Joey. There, it's up to Hector to choose whether he's going to lose himself to anger and seek revenge, or get back to the hard work of living"--Provided by publisher.
Lost in the Never Woods
Published in 2020
When children start to go missing in the local woods, eighteen-year-old Wendy Darling must face her fears and a past she cannot remember to rescue them in this novel based on Peter Pan.
Spin Me Right Round
Published in 2021
"Luis just wants to go to prom with his boyfriend, but when a hit on the head knocks him back to 1985, he meets his parents' closeted classmate"-- Provided by publisher.
How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe
Published in 2021
When seventeen-year-old Star Fuentez reaches social media stardom, her polar-opposite twin, Moon, becomes "merch girl" on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and the grumpy but attractive Santiago Philips.
Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun
Published in 2021
Julián Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life. Then in one reckless moment, with one impulsive tweet, his plans for a low-key nine months are thrown--literally--out the closet. The downside: the whole world knows, and Jules has to prepare for rejection. The upside: Jules now has the opportunity to be his real self. Then Mat, a cute, empathetic Twitter crush from Los Angeles, slides into Jules's DMs. Jules can tell him anything. Mat makes the world seem conquerable. But when Jules's fears about coming out come true, the person he needs most is fifteen hundred miles away. Jules has to face them alone. Jules accidentally propelled himself into the life he's always dreamed of. And now that he's in control of it, what he does next is up to him."--Amazon.
This Train is Being Held
Published in 2020
Family and class differences threaten the love of two teens in this contemporary YA romance. When private school student Isabelle Warren first meets Dominican-American Alex Rosario on the 1 train, she remembers his green eyes and gentlemanly behavior. He remembers her long ballet dancer's legs and untroubled happiness, something he feels belongs to all rich kids. As the two grow closer in and out of the subway, Isabelle learns of Alex's father, who is hell-bent on Alex being a contender for the major leagues despite Alex's desire to go to college and become a poet. Alex learns about Isabelle's Havana-born mother, Eliza, a woman with a prejudice against Latino men, who pressures her daughter to stay away from him. When Isabelle's father loses his job and her older brother struggles with his mental health, her relationship with Alex falters. But fate-and the 1 train-throw them together when Isabelle needs him the most. Isme'e Williams is a pediatric cardiologist by day and an accomplished author by night. Her first book with Abrams, Water in May, was released in 2017 to critical acclaim. She lives in New York City.