On Sale April 7
This Never Happened by Mempo Giardinelli | Translated by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan | FICTION
In this autobiographical novel, a journalist witnesses the hot-off-the -presses editions of his own books thrown onto a bonfire of books. The date is March 24th, 1976, the day of the coup d'etat that led to the overthrow of the Isabel Peron presidency in Argentina and 18 years of terror known as "La Guerra sucia" or " The Dirty Wars" in which 30,000 plus are still unaccounted for.
Fearful for his life and those of his wife and children, the narrator must find a way to navigate the highly volatile and murderous world under the boot of La Junta, in hopes of saving himself and his family; but first he has more important business to attend to--his mistress, with whom he's been having a scorching love affair-- and finds himself grappling with several major dilemmas and very real dangers confronting him as he works his way out of this lethal maze.
Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón | NONFICTION
Ada Limón—celebrated poet laureate and 2023 MacArthur fellow—takes us on an inspiring journey into a world where poetry is both a soothing balm for the soul and a spark for transformation. With her blend of accessible yet profound prose, Limón delivers a powerful message: poetry has the ability to heal, connect, and remind us of our shared humanity.
Limón’s mission to make poetry approachable shines brightly in this slim but impactful book. Recognized as a 2024 Time magazine Woman of the Year for her commitment to bringing poetry into everyday lives, Limón passionately argues that poetry is essential to understanding ourselves—our tenderness, courage, imperfections, and our deep, unshakable worthiness of love.
Drawing from her own experiences as the 24th US poet laureate, Limón shares how poetry connects us not only to each other but to the natural world. This theme is at the heart of her project You Are Here, which celebrates the beauty of our environment and our place in it. Her prose, like her poetry, feels like an open invitation—welcoming readers of all backgrounds to explore the richness of human experience through verse.
Lucía's Goals / Los Goles de Lucía by Angela Quezada Padron | Illustrated by Christina Barragan Forshay | CHILDREN”S
Whenever Lucía played soccer, she imagined herself as a professional futbolista. She sprinted and dribbled, headed and juggled, zigged and zagged, kicked her best kicks, and scored "Goal!" after "Goal!" After finally getting the chance to join an all-female soccer team, Lucía set her sights on becoming the best goal scorer anyone had ever seen.
Told in English and Spanish, Lucía's Goals / Los goles de Lucía is a rousing story about a young girl's determination to defy gender stereotypes and break through barriers. Lucía's story will inspire readers of all ages to take charge on and off the field to achieve their GOALS!
More Like Enemigas by Stephanie Hope | FICTION
As the daughter of Cuban immigrants, Isabella Valdes knows three things for certain:
her late father's restaurant is thriving
she owns lots of designer things
both of those statements are absolute lies to make her mother happy
Isabella would do anything to keep her father's legacy alive, including attending her estranged cousin's weeklong wedding extravaganza. Because once Sofia's wealthy fiancé tastes the recipes Isa prepares from her father's cherished journal, he's sure to invest.
To Isa's annoyance, she'll be sharing a cabin with Valentina, the former friend turned rival who ruined her quinceañera. But Val is offering an unexpected deal--she'll help Isa unravel an old family secret found in her father's journal in return for help sabotaging the wedding and winning the heart of the bride.
Saying yes is a bad idea. Isa's perfectionism meets its match in Val's carefree demeanor, but as they work together, the usually responsible Isa can't seem to say no to Val's shenanigans. There's no hiding from Val, no ignoring this complicated but undeniable connection that's changing Isa's beliefs about love, loyalty and just how much she owes to her family--and to herself...
Fruitcake: A Graphic Novel by Rex Ogle | Illustrated by Dave Valeza | YOUNG ADULT
Eighth grade isn't off to a great start. Everyone but Rex seems to be coupling up, and he's starting to feel like an outsider... until he meets Charlotte. She's fearless, smart, pretty, and she likes him back. But as great as Charlotte is, there's someone else Rex can't stop thinking about.
Drew is Rex's childhood best friend, so when he kisses Rex, all kinds of new feelings begin to stir. Though at school, Drew acts like he doesn't even know Rex, making those feelings turn really confusing really fast. And with all the strong opinions Rex hears from friends and at church, he questions his own worth and what his affections actually mean. Rex wants to be more like his new friend, Nina, and not care what others think, but being himself seems impossible. When did middle school get so confusing?!
How to Fake a Southern Gentleman by Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt | FICTION
Proud single mom Holly Simmons and ambitious journalist Luisa Martín Moreno have nothing in common—until Atlanta’s most powerful man, Griggs Caldecott Johnson III, turns both their lives upside down. Griggs is threatening Holly’s job as the events manager at the hoity-toity Dogwood Hills Country Club, while Luisa gets fired for trying to expose his scheme to defraud an immigrant family and snatch up their land for a luxury development.
Determined to fight back, the women team up to infiltrate Griggs’s inner circle. Their secret weapon? Elijah Denvil Sweet, a sexy hustler with a knack for reinvention. With a makeover, etiquette lessons, and a little help from Professor Pridmore—a charming, handsome, and single linguistics professor—Eli transforms into “Tripp,” the kind of Southern gentleman Griggs might just trust.
But as the plan takes shape, so do tender and unexpected feelings neither woman saw coming—with the very men helping them get justice.
For the Love of Soccer! / ¡Por Amor Al Fútbol! by Pelé | Illustrated by Frank Morrison | CHILDREN’S
What does the world's greatest soccer player love about soccer? The same things that you do! Speed, teamwork, dribbling, passing, taking your best shot--and making a G-O-O-A-A-A-L!
Award-winning artist Frank Morrison sets up the play by weaving together two dynamic visual stories: Pelé's inspiring rise to fame and a young athlete's efforts to follow in his hero's speedy footsteps―told joyfully in both English and Spanish. Together, words and pictures deliver all the fun and excitement of a closely matched game.
Mixed Feelings: A Graphic Novel by Sara Amini | Illustrated by Shadia Amin | GRAPHIC NOVEL
Things are getting hairy!
What could go wrong on the first day of sixth grade?
A: You wake up with leg hair out of nowhere.
B: You have zero classes with your BFF and watch her run off with her new (annoying) friend.
C:You struggle to decide which school club to join because being mixed race makes you feel like you don't belong anywhere.
D:All of the above. SERIOUSLY?!
At first, Sara's got mixed feelings about middle school. But she finds comfort in TV -- whether she's watching it, performing her favorite scenes, or imagining her life is a show itself. So when she joins drama club, Sara discovers a community where she can be anything she wants -- including herself. Has Sara finally found a place to fit in? Or will she instead find herself buried under her growing leg hair and off-stage friendship drama?
Imagine Breaking Everything by Lina Munar Guevara | Translated by Ellen Jones | FICTION
It's a rainy weekend in Bogotá, and eighteen-year-old Melissa is about to graduate from school. If, that is, she can scrape together the money to pay for the printer she broke. Melissa used to break a lot of things, but after five years of living with her aunt Anahí, she has become much better at controlling her anger. Then, out of the blue and for the first time in six months, Melissa's mother calls her and invites her to spend the weekend together in their old neighbourhood. Melissa is excited to spend time with her, but nervous about returning to the scene of her troubled early adolescence. Will she make it to Monday morning without jeopardising her future - or being swallowed up by her past?
Devil of the Deep by Falencia Jean-Francois | FICTION
Five years later, Lieutenant "Lu" Ortega, dutiful fleet officer, embarks on a mission to hunt down a powerful talisman now in the hands of a runaway mermaid. On his quest, he discovers the impossible: Nnenna is still alive. Fierce and cunning, and as breathtaking as ever, Nnenna 's won enough bloody sword fights as a pirate captain to earn the nickname "Devil of the Deep." She has come to reject the system of order that Lu clings to, and worse, she's protecting the very quarry he's tracking: Pearl Highwater, who has defied the all-powerful sea god and might hold a valuable key to finding her people's lost island.
When the tides and fates bring them together, Nnenna, Lu, and Pearl must choose their loyalties, find their courage, and race to protect the island from false gods and forces of evil--or risk unleashing an ancient curse that could destroy them all.
Vitamina T: Your Daily Dose of Tacos, Tortas, Tamales, and More Mexican Street Food Classics by Jorge Gaviria & Fermín Núñez with Allegra Ben-Amotz | NONFICTION
Tacos, tostadas, tamales, and other vitamin T favorites represent the culinary experience of street foods across Mexican foodways. In Vitamina T, celebrated chef Fermín Núñez and masa-purveyor-to-the-stars Jorge Gaviria take us on a journey through the sizzling streets of Mexico to show us how we can capture some of the magic of this cuisine in our home kitchens. Explore the beautiful sights and bold flavors of a late-night taqueria, a charcoal-burning clay comal teeming with hoja-santa-wrapped tetelas, and all of the tamales at all of the times. Vitamina T features over 100 mouthwatering Mexican staples as well as contemporary twists.
On Sale April 14
The Violence: My Family's Colombian War by Adriana E. Ramírez | NONFICTION
When presumed president-elect Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, champion of the working class and harbinger of a new era of progressive social change, is assassinated on the eve of Colombia’s 1948 presidential election, the capital is plunged into bloodshed. So begins a singularly brutal period of Colombia’s history known simply as la violencia—a bloody civil war that spawned decades of turmoil and splintered the country into ever-shifting factions.
The Violence is an intimate history of this conflict—told not from the political center of the war but from the mountainous finca that Adriana E. Ramírez’s family tended to for generations, and through the eyes of her formidable grandmother, Esther. With startling lyricism, Ramírez illuminates the specter of violence—from guerilla warfare to the brutalities found so often in romantic relationships to the spontaneous and senseless violence steeped into everyday Colombian life during this period—and the threat that it poses to a country, and a family, that is trying to stay whole. Gracefully braiding together macrohistory, family history, and personal narrative, Adriana E. Ramírez traces these parallel stories of upheaval in a sweeping portrait of a country and family in flux.
Death to Pachuco by Henry Barajas | Art by Rachel Merrill & Lee Loughridge | GRAPHIC NOVEL
During the summer of 1943, Los Angeles became a hotbed of tension and conflict as a series of fierce clashes erupted between U.S. Navy members and Mexican American youth stemming from the murder of Carlos Urbano. Private eye Ricardo "Ricky" Tellez needs to find the Sleep Lagoon Killer before the racist mob kills him in the Zoot Suit Riots.
The clock is ticking—and it’s a bad time to be a Mexican.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Latinx Top Cow series La Voz De M.A.Y.O, and Helm Greycastle returns with a thrilling graphic novel, perfect for fans of true crime noir.
These Spaceships Weren't Built for Us: Poems by Alan Chazaro | POETRY
In his newest poetry collection, These Spaceships Weren't Built For Us, Alan Chazaro reconsiders the possibilities of space travel as the son of Mexican immigrants while navigating daily life across rapidly shifting social spaces. From barren gas stations in Central California during the height of the pandemic to faraway jungle planets governed by paleteros, Chazaro imagines the present and future in ways that are simultaneously bleak and dire, hopeful and beautiful, and seemingly, impossibly unrealized.
Axl the Axolotl Is Not a Frog by John Paul Brammer | Illustrated by Vanessa Morales | CHILDREN’S
It was the first day of school in Flower Bed Lake, and every little creature knew exactly where to go. Everyone, that is, except Axl. The fish, lizards, and frogs all headed to their own schools to learn how to glub glub and ribbit, but there was only one of Axl. Will he ever find where he belongs?
From EGOT-winning songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, the songwriters behind The Greatest Showman and Dear Evan Hansen, and author JP Brammer comes a story of a brave and curious axolotl who is determined to find where he belongs. Brought to life by Vanessa Morales, this is a funny and affirming story about loving the things that make you unique and that finding the place you belong might look different than you expected. Complete with fascinating, kid-friendly facts about axolotls!
Forgive-Me-Not by Mari Costa | Graphic Novel
Aisling is many things to many people: princess, heir to the throne, teenage daughter of two loving parents… She’s also about to learn a lot more about herself: changeling. Fey creature. Hunted. Feared. Loved?
Forgive-Me-Not is the name given to the true princess — the lost teenage biological daughter to the king and queen, who’s grown up in the chaotic and untrustworthy realm of Faerie. When Forgive-Me-Not breaks into Aisling’s room the night before their 18 th birthday looking for revenge, the two embark on a long and arduous journey. And what starts as a confrontational and adversarial pairing grows into a bond of mutual understanding, friendship, and maybe something more…
Nature's Partners: How Plants, Animals and Insects Team Up by Eugenia Perrella | Illustrated by Lucilla Tubaro | CHILDREN’S
Could you imagine a small bird cleaning a crocodile's teeth?
Or a venomous scorpion guarding a lizard? What about a sea anemone hitching a ride on the back of a hermit crab? In Nature's Partners, readers learn about eleven unique cross-species teams that rely on each other for survival. Despite their differences in size and species, these plants, animals and insects are fast friends that each benefit from the other!
The Froggy Library by Julie Fiveash | CHILDREN’S
Anura is a young frog spending the summer back home with their grandmother. With some...er...gentle prodding from Grandma, they get a job working at the local library. It's about 11 minutes in when they're tasked with a big project: create an archive that captures what makes Soggy Stump so special.
What the heck is even an archive?! And so begins a summer full of fry bread, weaving, zines, community gardens, manga, and (maybe) an answer to the question of: how do we preserve the knowledge, wisdom, and memories of the ones we love?
On Sale April 21
Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez | FICTION
SPRING, 2007
At twenty-six, Alicia Canales Forten feels smothered by her future. She’s in a long-distance relationship, living at home with her mother’s beliefs, saving up for her wedding to a future doctor. But after Alicia ventures out one night in the neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, she finds herself lured by the siren song of youth and possibility that the striving crowd of creatives holds, and moves in.
No one embodies this milieu more than La Garza, a larger-than-life, up-and-coming fashion designer whose epic house parties fuel neighborhood lore. La Garza’s life, observed by Alicia from her apartment across the street, seems to hold the allure and fearlessness Alicia has never dared to imagine for herself.
But when Alicia’s wealthy banker cousin moves to the neighborhood, she finds herself increasingly drawn into both his and La Garza’s precarious lives.
The Selected Poems of José Emilio Pacheco by José Emilio Pacheco | Edited by George McWhirter | POETRY
José Emilio Pacheco's Selected Poems is a major bilingual retrospective of the poetry of one of Mexico's foremost writers. Born in 1939, Pacheco achieved recognition early, and while still in his twenties, he was already keeping company with the most important writers of his generation. A prolific poet and perfectionist, Pacheco published many volumes of poetry, including his famous 1969 collection No me preguntes como pasa el tiempo (Don't Ask Me How the Time Goes By). This edition is edited by George McWhirter of The University of British Columbia, who worked closely with Pacheco himself in choosing the poems and their English translations. Besides McWhirter's own versions are those by Edward Dorn, Alastair Reid, Katherine Silver, and others.
As McWhirter writes: "In his singularity of vision and multiplicity of poetic forms, traditional and modern, Pacheco spans past and present in both Latin American and peninsular Spanish poetry. It is a glittering and giant technical achievement, as brilliant and instantly visible as Hart Crane's The Bridge."
Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rivals! by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo & Pat Zietlow Miller | Illustrated by Joe Cepeda | CHILDREN’S
As Héctor P. Garcia Elementary’s resident rock star, Lupe Lopez has it all. Friends. Fans. An all-girl band. Not to mention several shiny stars on the Reading Wall of Fame. But to officially claim the title of First-Grade Rock Star Supreme, Lupe needs to beam the brightest at Friday’s class talent show, and to her surprise, there’s a new girl in town. Radiant Reynosa can roll her arms into a wave, pop her hips and sway, stomp the court, jump kick, and forward flip. She can bounce beats and drum like nobody’s business, and before Lupe knows it, her own star seems to be dimming in Radiant’s shadow, and her attitude is driving her friends and fans away. Can Lupe find a sure way to shine—with friends by her side? Vibrant illustrations and taut, rhythmic text spiced with Spanish words ensure that three’s a charm in this upbeat sequel to Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules! and Lupe Lopez: Reading Rock Star!
Hold by Randy Ribay | Illustrated by Zeke Peña | CHILDREN’S
It's time to leave the house, but...where are the keys?? As Daddy rummages through the mess, he hands a water bottle to his toddler and says, "Hold, please." This accidental request turns into an adventure when the child decides holding is fun and wants to hold EVERYTHING!
Before long, the toddler has their arms full with their favorite stuffie, toy plane, even the family pet, and has set their sights on more ambitious items—the rain, a tree, and more—until it becomes too much to hold. Luckily, Daddy's always there to hold them.
Exemplary Humans by Juliana Leite | Translated by Zoë Perry | FICTION
Ever since the unnamed threat took over, 100-year-old Natália has been stuck inside her Rio de Janeiro apartment, alone. Well, not entirely alone--her loved ones may be gone but they never really left her, plus she's pretty sure there's a spy watching her every move through the window.
As she waits for the daily call from her daughter who lives halfway across the world, the old woman revisits scenes from her life. There's her husband Vicente who obsessively erased maps of Brazil; her best friend Sarah, the cookie seller; Jorge who gave tarot readings for both humans and birds; and the comrades who joined her in resisting Brazil's dictatorship, at least until they were forced into hiding. Exemplary Humans is an ambitious novel about the quirks of memory and the delights and horror of aging.
On Sale April 28
What Kind of Queen? A Royal Biography of Drag Queen and Activist José Sarria by Kyle Casey Chu & Andrew W Shaffer | Illustrated by Cindy Lozito | CHILDREN’S
Once upon a time, there lived a boy named José who dreamed of becoming royalty--and of a queendom where everyone would be treated fairly and with respect.
A child of immigrants from Colombia, José Sarria was born in San Francisco in 1922. With the support of his family, he grew up to discover what it means to be a queen: he fought against evil by serving in WWII, helping to liberate a Nazi concentration camp; he inspired others to be their authentic selves by performing at San Francisco's Black Cat Café, a haven for artists and activists; and he cared for his community through his LGBTQ] advocacy work, including the establishment of the Imperial Court System, a global charitable organization that still thrives today.
Sarria led by example, joyfully giving back to his community while challenging the status quo. With a fairy-tale feel and radiant illustrations, this picture book biography celebrates his legacy of seeing the world not as it is but as it could be.
We the People Is All the People: A Picture Book by Howard W Reeves | Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh | CHILDREN’S
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union . . .
Who are the "we the people" mentioned in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution? They are our neighbors next door, down the street, or across the country. They live in different places, worship in different ways, come from different backgrounds and histories. They struggle, achieve, and overcome. They are you, and me, and us.
Because, as we strive to create a more perfect union, "we" should mean "all."
This beautiful picture book celebration of the best of America includes the preamble to the United States Constitution as well as notes from the author and artist.
Higher! by Patricia Fitti | CHILDREN’S
Oliver the cat wants to climb higher. From the chair to the table, from the table to the cupboard, from the cupboard to the tree, from the tree to the roof . . . Being up high is the perfect place to be . . . right?
A playful and heartwarming story full of humor and a touch of magic. For children ages 4 years and up who love challenges and surprises.
