YA National Hispanic Heritage Month

YA National Hispanic Heritage Month

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by reading books by contemporary Hispanic authors!

 


Compiled by:
Macklin & Lizzy S.
Ballad & Dagger

Daniel José Older
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Older)

Mateo and Chela discover each other and their powers during a political battle between neighborhood factions. They must learn to set aside their differences in order to unravel the mystery behind their sunken homeland and stop a dangerous political operative who is trying to harness their gifts and unleash terror on the world.


Blazewrath Games

Amparo Ortiz
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ortiz)

Lana Torres has always preferred dragons to people. In a few weeks, 16 countries will compete in the Blazewrath World Cup, a tournament where dragons and their riders fight for glory in a dangerous relay.


Cemetery Boys

Aiden Thomas
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Thomas)

Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school's bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.


Clap When You Land

Elizabeth Acevedo
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Acevedo)

In the raw and emotional verse novel, Acevedo's exploration of loss packs an effective double punch, unraveling the aftermath of losing a parent alongside the realities of familial inheritance.


A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

Laura Taylor Namey
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Namey)

Part romance, part foodie heaven, the warm atmosphere of this novel will make readers want to cook, dance, and love.


Don't Ask Me Where I'm From

Jennifer De Leon
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Deleon)

Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new, nearly all-white school, but when family secrets come out and racism at school gets worse than ever, she must decide what she believes in and take a stand.


Each of Us a Desert

Mark Oshiro
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Oshiro)

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.


Echoes of Grace

Guadalupe García McCall
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Garcia)

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


Fire with Fire

Destiny Soria
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Soria)

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.


The First Rule of Punk

Celia C. Pérez
(Juvenile Fiction - J Perez)

Twelve-year-old Malú reluctantly moves with her Mexican American mother to Chicago and starts seventh grade with a bang–violating the dress code with her punk rock aesthetic and spurning the middle school's most popular girl in favor of starting a band with a group of like-minded weirdos.


Furia

Yamile Saied Méndez
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mendez)

Camila Hassan, a rising soccer star in Rosario, Argentina, dreams of playing professionally–in defiance of her father's wishes and at the risk of her budding romance with Diego.


A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic

Debbie Rigaud
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Rigaud)

Cicely is excited to celebrate the West Indian Day Parade with her aunt and voodoo dabbler, Mimose, but when Mimose's dabbling goes awry and she becomes possessed by a spirit, Cicely, Renee, and Kwame, her crush, must find a way to set things right.


How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe

Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Vasquez)

As Star Fuentez reaches social media stardom, her polar-opposite twin, Moon, becomes the "merch girl" on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and the grumpy but attractive Santiago Philips.


I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Erika L. Sánchez
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Sanchez)

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.


Juliet Takes a Breath

Gabby Rivera
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Rivera)

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.


Lakelore

Anna-Marie McLemore
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mclemor)

Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it–an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who've been there.


The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

Sonora Reyes
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Reyes)

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.


Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America

Margarita Longoria
- Editor
(Adult Nonfiction - 810.9868 Liv)

An anthology of short stories, essays, poetry, and comics about the Mexican American experience.


Lobizona

Romina Garber
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Garber)

Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who's on the run from her father's Argentine crime family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.


The Lost Dreamer

Lizz Huerta
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Huerta)

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 dies, his son has no respect for this time-honored tradition.


Never Look Back

Lilliam Rivera
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Rivera)

A modern retelling of the myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Eury leaves Puerto Rico for the Bronx. Haunted by losing everything to Hurricane Maria and by the evil spirit Ato, Eury meets a bachata-singing charmer, Pheus.


No Filter and Other Lies

Crystal Maldonado
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Maldona)

Kat Sanchez uses photos of a friend to create a fake Instagram account, but when one of her posts goes viral and exposes Kat's duplicity, her entire world–both real and pretend–comes crashing down around her.


Once Upon A Quinceañera

Monica Gomez-Hira
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Gomezhi)

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.


Ophelia After All

Racquel Marie
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Marie)

Ophelia, well known for her rose garden and her dramatic crushes on every boy in sight, begins to question her sexuality and sense of self when she starts to fall for cute, quiet Talia Sanchez in the weeks leading up to their high school prom and graduation.


Our Way Back to Always

Nina Moreno
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Moreno)

Lou Patterson reconnects with her neighbor and ex-best friend Sam Alvarez, now seniors in high school, after they rediscover their childhood bucket list.


Sanctuary

Paola Mendoza, Abby Sher
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mendoza)

In 2032, when sixteen-year-old Vali's mother is detained by the Deportation Forces, Vali must flee Vermont with her little brother, Ernie, hoping to reach their Tía Luna in the sanctuary state of California.


This Is Why They Hate Us

Aaron H. Aceves
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Aceves)

Quique decides to get over his crush on Saleem before the end of summer by pursuing other romantic prospects, but he ends up discovering heartfelt truths about friendship, family, and himself.


Tigers, Not Daughters

Samantha Mabry
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mabry)

Three sisters in San Antonio are shadowed by guilt and grief over the loss of their oldest sister, who still haunts their house.


The Turning Pointe

Vanessa L. Torres
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Torres)

In 1980s Minnesota, when auditions for a concert with Prince are announced, Rosa, the daughter of a tyrant ballet master, is desperate to escape her pointe shoes and show everyone what she can do.


We Are Not From Here

Jenny Torres Sanchez
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Torres)

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.