With it being Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th-October 15th), our teen book spotlight this week is on books that are authored by Latino and Latina authors!!! These books are amazing and so many of these authors have written more than just the titles that are being featured--so if you like this one there are others you can read as well. Most of the titles featured are standalones so if you want a book that has a beginning, middle, and end these may be a perfect choice! These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #yahispanicheritage as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new teen book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo--Camino Rios, a talented swimmer and midwife assistant, lives in the Dominican Republic and wants to go to Columbia University in New York City, where her father works most of the year. Her very different half-sister, Yahaira Rios, a dark-skinned, lesbian, chess champion, lives in Manhattan but quit speaking to their father when she learned he had another wife in the Dominican Republic. The lives of the two girls collide when their father dies in an airplane crash. In alternating voices, the girls grieve their father and begin to uncover the family secrets he kept for decades. Then, despite their differences, the girls begin to bond over--and forgive--their imperfect father.
Indivisible by Daniel Aleman--Mexican American high school junior and aspiring actor Mateo Garcia's life is turned upside down when his undocumented parents are arrested by ICE. Feeling pressure to run his family's New York bodega and care for his younger sister, Mateo suddenly doesn't know where he fits in as an American, while the stress of surviving and worry threaten to overwhelm him.
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera--As the daughter of prominent scientists, twelve-year-old Petra Peñs is among the select few boarding a spaceship to another planet before Earth is decimated by a comet. Petra doesn't take after her parents though, she wants to be a professional storyteller like her grandmother. When she wakes centuries later, she realizes that her family and other passengers have no recollections of Earth or what life was like there. After learning that a dangerous cult known as the Collective is responsible, Petra knows it's up to her to preserve the memories of the past.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez--Julia refuses to conform to her Mexican family's expectations of her, wanting to become a writer instead of following her older sister Olga on the path of community college, part-time job, and taking care of their parents. Then, Olga dies mysteriously, and her best friend Angie hints to Julia that there may have been more to Olga than everyone thought. Julia and her best friend, Lorena, investigate, and in the meantime Julia has to figure out how to fall in love with Connor, a white boy whom she is sure could never understand her family.
Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laeken Zea Kemp--Penelope Prado is supposed to be taking classes to become a nurse, but she secretly longs to open a bakery and eventually take over her father's popular Austin-based Tex-Mex restaurant, Nacho's Tacos. When she finally confides to her parents that she's been skipping classes, they fire her from the restaurant and issue an ultimatum: go back to school or leave home. On her last day of work, she meets new employee Xander Amaro, who is in the United States searching for his father and the pair develop a connection. As an undocumented citizen, Xander fears for his safety, but slowly builds a sense of normalcy the longer he works for Penelope's father and builds ties with his grandmother. Penelope is uncertain about what she should do with her future, while navigating her new relationship with Xander and daring to fulfill her passions in the culinary arts.
Ballad and Dagger by Daniel José Olden--Since his island home sank in the ocean fifteen years ago, Mateo Matisse has been living in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Little Madrigal with other survivors of the hurricane. He aspires to be a musician, but on the night of a large festival where he hopes to make his debut, he instead learns that he is a descendant of the god Galanika and he and another god descendant, Chela Hidalgo, are destined to bring back the island. Amidst political infighting and violence in his neighborhood, he and Chela learn the truth about their homeland and work to restore it.