October 1, 2019
THE GUMAZING GUM GIRL!, BOOK 4 COVER BLOWN | Middle Grade
by Rhode Montijo (Disney-Hyperion)
Gabby Gomez (a.k.a Gum Girl) and her family visit Mexico where they meet the famous luchador Sol Azteca, who takes them to his wrestling training camp inside an ancient Mayan pyramid. There Gabby (a.k.a Chica Chicle) uncovers hidden connections within herself and her Mexican heritage. She also discovers the chicozapote tree that the Mayans and Aztecs used for GUM! When the infamous luchador the Underhander threatens to steal a sacred artifact, Gabby and Rico quickly slam into trouble. Will Chica Chicle be able to bounce her way to safety-or will she be stuck for good?
WHERE I COME FROM: LIFE LESSONS FROM A LATINO CHEF | Memoir
by Aaron Sanchez (Abrams Press)
Before Chef Aaron Sanchez rose to fame on shows like MasterChef and Chopped, he was a restless Mexican-American son, raised by a fiercely determined and talented woman who was a successful chef and restaurateur in her own right—she is credited with bringing Mexican cuisine to the New York City dining scene. In many ways, Sanchez, who lost his father at a young age, was destined to follow in his mother Zarela’s footsteps. He spent nights as a child in his family’s dining room surrounded by some of the most influential chefs and restaurateurs in New York. At 16, needing direction, he was sent by his mother to work for renowned chef Paul Prudhomme in New Orleans.
In this memoir, Sanchez delves into his formative years with remarkable candor, injecting his story with adrenaline and revealing how he fell in love with cooking and started a career in the fast-paced culinary world. Sanchez shares the invaluable lessons he learned from his upbringing and his training—both inside and outside the kitchen—and offers an intimate look into the chaotic and untraditional life of a professional chef and television personality. This memoir is Sanchez’s highly personal account of a fatherless Latino kid whose talent and passion took him to the top of his profession.
Trinity Sight | Fantasy
by Jennifer Givhan (Blackstone Publishing)
Is the Earth planning her rebirth -- or her revenge?
''Our people are survivors,'' Calliope's great-grandmother once told her of their Puebloan roots -- could Bisabuela's ancient myths be true?
Anthropologist Calliope Santiago awakens to find herself in a strange and sinister wasteland, a shadow of the New Mexico she knew. Empty vehicles litter the road. Everyone has disappeared -- or almost everyone. Calliope, heavy-bellied with the twins she carries inside her, must make her way across this dangerous landscape with a group of fellow survivors, confronting violent inhabitants, in search of answers. Long-dead volcanoes erupt, the ground rattles and splits, and monsters come to ominous life. The impossible suddenly real, Calliope will be forced to reconcile the geological record with the heritage she once denied if she wants to survive and deliver her unborn babies into this uncertain new world.
Rooted in indigenous oral-history traditions and contemporary apocalypse fiction, Trinity Sight asks readers to consider science versus faith and personal identity versus ancestral connection. Lyrically written and utterly original, Trinity Sight brings readers to the precipice of the end-of-times and the hope for redemption.
October 7, 2019
AMERICAN LOVE STORY | Romance
by Adriana Herrera (Carina Press)
Haitian-born professor and activist Patrice Denis is not here for anything that will veer him off the path he’s worked so hard for. One particularly dangerous distraction: Easton Archer, the assistant district attorney who last summer gave Patrice some of the most intense nights of his life, and still makes him all but forget they’re from two completely different worlds.
All-around golden boy Easton forged his own path to success, choosing public service over the comforts of his family’s wealth. With local law enforcement unfairly targeting young men of color, and his career—and conscience—on the line, now is hardly the time to be thirsting after Patrice again. Even if their nights together have turned into so much more.
For the first time, Patrice is tempted to open up and embrace the happiness he’s always denied himself. But as tensions between the community and the sheriff’s office grow by the day, Easton’s personal and professional lives collide. And when the issue at hand hits closer to home than either could imagine, they’ll have to work to forge a path forward…together.
October 8, 2019
THE LIBRARY OF LOST THINGS | Young Adult
by Laura Taylor Namey (Inkyard Press)
From the moment she first learned to read, literary genius Darcy Wells has spent most of her time living in the worlds of her books. There, she can avoid the crushing reality of her mother’s hoarding and pretend her life is simply ordinary. But when a new property manager becomes more active in the upkeep of their apartment complex, the only home Darcy has ever known outside of her books suddenly hangs in the balance.
While Darcy is struggling to survive beneath the weight of her mother’s compulsive shopping, Asher Fleet, a former teen pilot with an unexpectedly shattered future, walks into the bookstore where she works…and straight into her heart. For the first time in her life, Darcy can’t seem to find the right words. Fairy tales are one thing, but real love makes her want to hide inside her carefully constructed ink-and-paper bomb shelter.
Still, after spending her whole life keeping people out, something about Asher makes Darcy want to open up. But securing her own happily-ever-after will mean she’ll need to stop hiding and start living her own truth—even if it’s messy.
THE LOVE LETTER | Picture Book
by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illus. JLucy Ruth Cummins (HarperCollins)
Fall in love with this endearing and adorable picture book that illustrates how a little bit of heart goes a long way to making the world a better place.
Hedgehog, Bunny, and Squirrel are best friends. One day, they each find a letter. But not just any letter...
A love letter.
My word!
My whiskers!
Aww, nuts!
Someone loves them. But who? The answer may surprise you!
Celebrated author Anika Aldamuy Denise and beloved illustrator Lucy Ruth Cummins deliver this heartwarming tale about a wonderful mix-up that reminds us of the joys of friendship.
Makes for a perfect Valentine’s Day gift, or for any time you want to tell someone in your life how much you love them!
MEL AND MO’S MARVELOUS BALANCING ACT | Picture Book
by Nicola Winstanley, illus. Marianne Ferrer (Annick Press)
Mel and Mo may look alike, but these twins’ personalities are far from identical. As they grow up, their differences drive them apart . . . which suits them just fine. Mel’s umbrellas fly off the shelves and Mo’s high-wire feats are the talk of their seaside town. But then Theodora Tweedle’s Raincoats and Roller Skates draws Mo’s crowds away, and umbrellas go out of style. Finally, these siblings have something in common. And maybe each twin has just what they need to create something new . . . together.
Mel and Mo’s Marvelous Balancing Act balances complex concepts of compromise and complementary differences with spare language and a simple story structure. The twins are non-binary characters, adding a layer of diverse representation for young readers that can also serve as an entry point for gender fluidity discussions.
THE PEAR TREE | Picture Book
by Luli Gray, illus. by Madelyn Goodnight (Penny Candy Books)
In this retelling of an old folktale, an old woman named Esperanza (originally called Tia Miseria) gives her last pear to a beggar and is rewarded with the best pear crop she’s ever had―and the power to ensnare anyone she wants in her tree. When Señor Death comes for her, Esperanza tricks him into climbing her tree, where he becomes stuck, unable to come down and do his work. From that point on, no one dies. But when Esperanza learns that the end of death doesn’t mean the end of suffering, she agrees to let Señor Death down from her tree. The final work by legendary children’s author Luli Gray. An afterword by the publisher encourages children and adults to consider why the author may have changed the story the way she did.
October 14, 2019
LUSH MONTH | Romance
by Angelina M. Lopez (Carina Press)
As a Latinx woman, Roxanne Medina has conquered small-town bullies, Ivy League snobs and boardrooms full of men. She’s earned the right to mother a princess and feel a little less lonely at the top. The offer she’s made is more than generous, and when the contract’s fulfilled, they’ll both walk away with everything they’ve ever wanted.
Príncipe Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos is one of the top winegrowers in the world, and he’s not marrying and having a baby with a stranger. Even if the millions she’s offering could save his once-legendary wine-producing principality.
But the successful, single-minded beauty uses a weapon prince Mateo hadn’t counted on: his own desire.
THE ACCIDENTAL | Poetry
by Gina Franco (University of Arkansas Press)
Cascading through each of the poems in Gina Franco’s The Accidental is a question: What does it mean to be human in a world where the soul is exalted but the body brutalized? Franco explores the terrain of the borderlands—not just the physical space of the American southwest, but the spaces where lines are drawn between body and soul, God and self, violence and ecstasy. Unfolding along these borders in a torrent of deep contemplation, Franco’s poems bring the reader to the line between accident and choice, delving into the role each plays in creating the lives we are born into and in determining how those lives end. A body caught in a tree after a flood—an accident—calls to mind deliberate violences: crucifixion and lynching.
Guided, even so, by a stark hopefulness, The Accidental makes a character of the soul and traces its pilgrimage from suffering toward transcendence. “The soul saw,” Franco writes, “that it saw through the wound.” This book tenders a creation myth steeped in existential philosophy and shimmering with the vernacular of the ecstatic.
October 15, 2019
WARREN THE 13TH AND THE THIRTEEN-YEAR CURSE | Middle Grade
by Tania del Rio, illus. Will Staehle (Quirk Books)
At the end of the second book in the Warren the 13th series, the Warren Hotel had transformed into a giant ship and set sail for the open seas! When Warren the 13th and the 13-Year Curseopens, Warren is adjusting to the demands of running a floating hotel and is planning his 13th birthday party when disaster strikes--the hotel is shipwrecked on a strange island. To make matters worse, his octopus-like friend Sketchy is kidnapped by a traveling circus! Warren and his friends must solve a series of riddles to find the next location of the circus and rescue their friend before it's too late. Along the way, they meet a delightful new cast of characters, including elderly pirates, a sea witch, a talking clam, and a giant sea monster. As Warren pursues Sketchy's kidnappers, he will learn the truth of his friend's mysterious origins--as well as one final secret of the Warren Hotel.
MY SINGING NANA | Picture Book
by Pat Mora, illus. Alyssa Bermudez (Magination Press)
My Singing Nana is a compassionate tribute to families dealing with Alzheimer's Disease. This story celebrates the ideals of family, heritage, and happy memories, showing kids that no matter how their loved one might change they always have ways to maintain their special connection.
SALSA LULLABY | Picture Book
by Jen Arena, illus. Erika Meza
When nighttime falls, it's time for baby to go to sleep. In this household, that means it's also time for mama, papa, and baby to baila/dance, canta/sing, salta/jump, and more all the way to bedtime!
This bouncy bilingual text and gorgeous, inviting illustrations gently wind down to make this a bedtime favorite no matter what language families say "good night" in!
October 22, 2019
FRY BREAD: A NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY | Picture Book
by Kevin Noble Maillard, illus. Juana Martinez-Neal (Roaring Brook Press)
Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern Native American family, vibrantly illustrated by Pura Belpre Award winner and Caldecott Honoree Juana Martinez-Neal.
Fry bread is food.
It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate.
Fry bread is time.
It brings families together for meals and new memories.
Fry bread is nation.
It is shared by many, from coast to coast and beyond.
Fry bread is us.
It is a celebration of old and new, traditional and modern, similarity and difference.
THE READER | Picture Book
by Luciana De Luca, illus. Cynthia Alonso (Crocodile Books)
While their parents are sleeping in, a young bookworm sneaks out of bed with one goal in mind: to spend the day reading.
The Reader is a whimsically illustrated love letter to books. This breathtaking picture book, from two acclaimed Argentinean creators, is a celebration of reading and a child's imagination. Inspire beginning readers to become armchair adventurers by exploring what lies between the pages of a book.
October 28, 2019
¡PA’QUE TU LO SEPAS! | Anthology
edited by Angel Luis Colón (Down & Out Books)
On September 20th, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island of Puerto Rico as a Category 4—a devastatingly powerful storm that left immense suffering in its wake.
The island still hasn’t recovered completely; a victim of continued neglect and the continued efforts of many to demean and frame Puerto Ricans as “other” or “lesser” even though they are citizens of the United States.
Net proceeds from ¡Pa’Que Tu Lo Sepas! will benefit The Hispanic Federation: UNIDOS Disaster Relief & Recovery Program to Support Puerto Rico, a program working to help those still affected by the disaster and ensure continued safety in the face of continued weather-related events that can and will happen again.
With a foreword by editor Angel Luis Colón and 11 stories from veteran and newcomer Latinx authors who need to be on your radar, ¡Pa’Que Tu Lo Sepas! is a loud and proud celebration of Latinx writing, joy, trauma, and most of all, love.
Contributors: Chantel Acevedo, Hector Acosta, David Bowles, Hector Duarte Jr., Carmen Jaramillo, Jessica Laine, Richie Narvaez, Christopher Novas, Cina Pelayo, Alex Segura, and Désirée Zamorano.
October 29, 2019
ORDINARY GIRLS | Memoir
by Jaquira Díaz (Algonquin Books)
In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age.
While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope, to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries, Jaquira Díaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel.
