Living Beyond Borders: Growing up Mexican in America edited by Margarita Longoria | August 2, 2022
Living Beyond Borders explores what it means to be Mexican American. Using short stories, personal essays, comics, and poems, this celebrated group of authors explores the struggles of navigating two cultures.
Longoria, a south Texas high school librarian, has created a love letter to young readers encouraging them to embrace both their Mexican heritage and their identities as Americans.
Though the target audience is young adults, reading about the lived experiences of fellow Mexican Americans will appeal to adult audiences too.
I love anthologies because you get to hear from authors you might’ve not known about but are present in your community. I love that this anthology includes various types of media such a written pieces but also visual ones such as comics.
Invisible: A Graphic Novel by Christina Diaz Gonzalez | August 2, 2022
Can five overlooked kids make one big difference?
There’s George: the brain
Sara: the loner
Dayara: the tough kid
Nico: the rich kid
And Miguel: the athlete
And they’re stuck together when they’re forced to complete their school’s community service hours. Although they’re sure they have nothing in common with one another, some people see them as all the same . . . just five Spanish-speaking kids.
Then they meet someone who truly needs their help, and they must decide whether they are each willing to expose their own secrets to help . . . or if remaining invisible is the only way to survive middle school.
With text in English and Spanish, Invisible features a groundbreaking format paired with an engaging, accessible, and relatable storyline. This Breakfast Club–inspired story by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, award-winning author of Concealed, and Gabriela Epstein, illustrator of two Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptations, is a must-have graphic novel about unexpected friendships and being seen for who you really are.
I love that this graphic novel gives off “The Breakfast Club” energy with a little bit more spice, since they are all Spanish-speaking. I’m excited to see the blend of English and Spanish as well as the art! The cover looks beautiful.
¡ÁNDALE, PRIETA!: A MEMOIR by Yasmin Ramirez | August 3, 2022
Prieta is a term of endearment. When I tell people who don’t speak Spanish what prieta means―dark or the dark one―their eyes pop open and a small gasp escapes. I see the offense they feel for me sprinkled on their faces like the freckles I will never have.
How do I tell them that when I heard Ita say Prieta, I felt the caress of her strong hands on the top of my head as she braided my hair?
After the passing of her grandmother, Yasmín writes about her family’s history as a way to hold on to their memories. Yasmín does not fit in, she is not “güerita” like her sister nor does she have a conventional family, and her plans never go as expected. Her skin is darker and shows her Mexican heritage, so her grandmother calls her Prieta. While it can be an insult, when it comes from her Ita’s mouth Prieta means love, a love that helps Yasmín accept herself and her history, which is inextricably linked with the strong grandmother that helped raised her while Yasmín’s mother worked as a Customs and Border Protection officer. Yasmín admires the scars that showed who Ita was―scars from breast cancer, scars from breaking up fights, even scars she’s painted on husbands who thought they were stronger than her. The exploration of Ita takes Prieta on a journey of her own past, full of ups and downs. Bars that felt like home, rebel teenage years, trying on different dreams and career paths that eventually lead her to writing. Set in El Paso, Yasmín shares her experience in the border and how that shaped her as a person. The border city has a diversity of cultures and a sense of home she cannot find anywhere else.
¡Ándale, Prieta! shows the bond between a grandmother and granddaughter, and explores the grief of losing it. Yasmín’s experience is something that readers looking for a multicultural book can relate to. Adult and young adult readers alike can identify with her journey to find her identity and the struggle of growing up between two cultures as a Mexican American, with a story that brings comfort through the loving words of a grandmother and characters that feel like your own family. This autobiography presents a story of living on the border, first love, and the connection between women through generations.
I was immediately drawn to the title of this memoir and once I read the synopsis I knew it needed to immediately be added to not only my tbr but my cart as well. It’s clear that this memoir is going to have a personal twist with the application of Prieta. I feel like the definition of Prieta is going to change after reading this memoir.
Gordo by Jaime Cortez | August 17, 2022
Shedding profound natural light on the inner lives of migrant workers, Jaime Cortez’s debut collection ushers in a new era of American literature that gives voice to a marginalized generation of migrant workers in the West.
The first-ever collection of short stories by Jaime Cortez, Gordo is set in a migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California in the 1970s. A young, probably gay, boy named Gordo puts on a wrestler’s mask and throws fists with a boy in the neighborhood, fighting his own tears as he tries to grow into the idea of manhood so imposed on him by his father. As he comes of age, Gordo learns about sex, watches his father’s drunken fights, and discovers even his own documented Mexican-American parents are wary of illegal migrants. Fat Cookie, high schooler and resident artist, uses tiny library pencils to draw huge murals of graffiti flowers along the camp’s blank walls, the words “CHICANO POWER” boldly lettered across, until she runs away from home one day with her mother’s boyfriend, Manny, and steals her mother’s Panasonic radio for a final dance competition among the camp kids before she disappears. And then there are Los Tigres, the perfect pair of twins so dark they look like indios, Pepito and Manuel, who show up at Gyrich Farms every season without fail. Los Tigres, champion drinkers, end up assaulting each other in a drunken brawl, until one of them is rushed to the emergency room still slumped in an upholstered chair tied to the back of a pick-up truck.
These scenes from Steinbeck Country seen so intimately from within are full of humor, family drama, and a sweet frankness about serious matters – who belongs to America and how are they treated? How does one learn decency, when laborers, grown adults, must fear for their lives and livelihoods as they try to do everything to bring home a paycheck? Written with balance and poise, Cortez braids together elegant and inviting stories about life on a California camp, in essence redefining what all-American means.
This cover is stunning and immediately caught my attention! This collection of short stories intrigues me because it covers a wide range of perspectives and experiences in one setting. I am interested in seeing how different each perspective is and if they are somehow tied together. Regardless if intentionally tied or not, it is important to realize that different circumstances will lead to different experiences but one is not more important than another.
This Is Why They Hate Us by Aaron Aceves | August 23, 2022
Enrique “Quique” Luna has one goal this summer—get over his crush on Saleem Kanazi by pursuing his other romantic prospects. Never mind that he’s only out to his best friend, Fabiola. Never mind that he has absolutely zero game. And definitely forget the fact that good and kind and, not to mention, beautiful Saleem is leaving L.A. for the summer to meet a girl his parents are trying to set him up with.
Luckily, Quique’s prospects are each intriguing in their own ways. There’s stoner-jock Tyler Montana, who might be just as interested in Fabiola as he is in Quique; straight-laced senior class president, Ziggy Jackson; and Manny Zuniga, who keeps looking at Quique like he’s carne asada fresh off the grill. With all these choices, Quique is sure to forget about Saleem in no time.
But as the summer heats up and his deep-seated fears and anxieties boil over, Quique soon realizes that getting over one guy by getting under a bunch of others may not have been the best laid plan and living his truth can come at a high cost.
This has been on my TBR since the beginning of the year. I am so excited for this release because I haven’t seen much representation of the intersection of Latinx men, bisexuality, and in a male/male relationship. I love when important intersections get representation in YA settings because it gives younger audiences the opportunity to learn about the diverse world. This is especially important for younger audiences because they might be in the process of discovering themselves and are seeking for resources to better identify themselves. I also believe that adults reading books with representation they resonate with can be a step towards healing one’s inner child.
Mariana Felix-Kim (she/her) lives in Washington, D.C. with her lovely cat, Leo. When she is not working in the environmental science field, Mariana is constantly reading. Her favorite genres include non-fiction, thrillers, and contemporary romances. Mariana is half Mexican and half Korean. You can find her on Instagram: @mariana.reads.books
