Hispanic Heritage Month starts September 15th!
If you are looking for a list of young adult novels to read that are by Hispanic authors with Hispanic leads then this is the blog post for you! I’ve gathered together a list of four books, the first happens to be one of my favorites and then the other three books are on my TBR and maybe you’ll find yourself adding them to yours too.
Happy Reading!
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Starting off the list with a book I’ve read and loved. Clap When You Land is a novel in verse by Elizabeth Acevedo about two very different girls. There is Camino Rios who was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and then Yahaira Rios who was born and raised in NYC. Both girls are trying to live their own life and find themselves along the way.
One thing they have in common is the love they have for their father. Yahaira views him as her hero and Camino longs for the summer when he comes to stay. But everything changes for the girls after a plane crash takes away their guiding light. Things get especially dicey when the girls learn about each other. See, Camino and Yahaira had no idea that the other existed. Mess! Now, both girls are forced to deal with not only the grief of losing their father and coming to terms with the secrets that their father left behind but also a secret sister that may be the one person that can truly understand what they are going through.
A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban
Next up is a book that’s been on my TBR for a while. One very important thing about me is that I love witches and spooky season. This book has the right amount of witchy and spooky season. It’s a generational tale of love, magic, and family. Lela and Delfi are twins that come from a long line of magic users that aren’t allowed to use their magic and are not allowed to fall in love. A curse that brings nothing but trouble to the Sanchez women made sure of it. But when Lela and Delfi start having premonitions of a string of murders with Brujas being targeted they know that they have to bend the rules to try and save innocent lives.
Another book that’s on my list! This a queer mystery thriller about two teenage boys that have to face their deepest fears, confront who they are, and try to solve a mystery. There is an adoptee named Manny that sets out to find his sister Elena, who is still enmeshed in Christ’s Dominion, the community that abandoned him. And then there is Eli who has no memory of his past and starts to question that while living in his secluded community that cherishes obedience. These dual points of view eventually join together when a body is found in the hills of Idyllwild, California.
Finally, we have a graphic novel named Brownstone. This is a contemporary story set in 1995 about a biracial girl named Almudena. She doesn’t know much about her father nor her Spanish side but that changes one summer when her white mother goes on vacation and Almudena gets the chance to stay with her father in an old brownstone that is a major fixer upper. Which should be fine but he expects her to help him on the various projects in the house. Which should also be fine BUT the language barrier between them causes a few issues. Almudena spends her summer fixing up that old brownstone, learning more about the Latin American community she’s found herself in, and trying to learn more about the heritage.
