August 2025 Latinx Releases

ON SALE AUGUST 5

Menudo Sunday: A Spanglish Counting Book by María Dolores Águila | Illustrated by Erika Meza | PICTURE BOOK
Sundays are the best: that’s when a little girl and her mamá, abuelitos, tías and primos all gather together to eat yummy menudo, a traditional Mexican soup. But when playtime with the cousins and family dogs gets out of hand and Abuelito Esteban’s special bowl of menudo breaks, everyone has to pitch in to make a new batch! Through all the menudo mishaps and sneaky snacks for perritos with wagging tails, young readers will giggle as they learn to count from 1-15 in Spanish and English. Bonus materials at the back of the book include a glossary of Spanish words, a note from the author, and tips for hosting your very own Menudo Sunday!

Rosa by Any Other Name by Hailey Alcaraz | YOUNG ADULT

Rosa Capistrano has been attending posh North Phoenix High School to boost her chances of a college education and a career in journalism, thanks to the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education verdict for desegregation. But though she’s legally allowed to be there, it’s still unsafe for Mexican Americans. That’s why she’s secretly passing as Rosie, a white girl. All she has to do to secure her future is make sure her Mexican home life and her white school experience never intersect.

However, Rosa’s two worlds collide when her best friend Ramon and classmate Julianne meet and find themselves entangled in a star-crossed romance. Rosa is terrified about what their relationship could mean for her and them . . . and her worst fears are soon realized in an unspeakable tragedy. Rosa is thrown into the center of a town-wide scandal and her true identity is put in the spotlight. With the help of Marco, Ramon's brooding and volatile brother whose passion ignites hers, Rosa must choose what is more important to her—protecting her fragile future, or risking everything to help her friends find justice.

The Island of Forgotten Gods by Victor Piñeiro | MIDDLE GRADE

Nico wants to be a famous film director. He's pretty sure if he can make the right movie, and soon, his life will completely change. The catch? His parents are sending him to Puerto Rico for the summer to stay with his iconic, but old-school, Abuela Luciana, and his awesome, but unpredictable cousins. Still, the show must go on.

Until Nico and his cousins awaken a monster. A monster that looks an awful lot like the infamous Chupacabra. And it turns out this isn't a chance encounter. The creature begins stalking them all over Puerto Rico, turning up on every dark corner, sandy beach, and moonlit night. To make matters worse, a shadowy cult enters the chase, intent on capturing them before the Chupacabra can.

Soon they are thrown into an adventure that brings them face-to-face with the ancient Taino people, even more ancient Taino gods, and the mysterious Chupacabra, who is somehow linked to everything. Nico keeps his camera rolling, hoping the epic documentary will catapult him to stardom. But in the end, it's the island's fate that hangs in the balance, as they face down the very gods that created Puerto Rico.

Day of the Dead ABC / Día de Los Muertos ABC by Gabriela Orozco Belt | Illustrated by Estelí Meza | PICTURE BOOK

In this beautifully illustrated bilingual book, readers aged 7 to 11 will delight in discovering the rich traditions and customs of Day of the Dead. From decorating colorful altars to enjoying delicious pan de muerto, this heartwarming book captures the essence of this special celebration.

English and Spanish alphabet books often provide one set of text in English with a Spanish translation. This book weights both English and Spanish equally for our bilingual readers--providing different entry text for many letters of the alphabet. Both English and Spanish have translations underneath to help readers understand and connect to the illustrations.

Bebé AMA a Abuelita / Baby Loves Grandma by Chela de la Vega | Illustrated by Teresa Martínez | CHILDREN’S

Bebé Ama a Abuelita / Baby Loves Grandma is a sweet and charming exploration of grandmotherly love, creating a rich and engaging experience for babies and toddlers. Through charming illustrations and simple, expressive text, the book celebrates the special bond between babies and their grandmothers and features a diverse group of grandmas from various backgrounds throughout Latin America and the United States. From playful moments to exploring the city to mealtime, Bebé Ama a Abuelita / Baby Loves Grandma captures the joy that abuelas/grandmas have when spending time with their grandkids, making it a perfect read for families looking to embrace both English and Spanish in their little one's early learning journey.

Sundust by Zeke Peña | PICTURE BOOK

Where the rock wall ends, the desert beyond begins.

Following a blazing trail of sundust, two curious siblings hop the wall into a place that’s endless and free. Here, prickly old nopal trees beg to be climbed, empty turtle shells invite a closer look, enormous rocks model how to sit still and listen, and a colibrí offers an unexpected ride. In the desert, where life revolves around the Sun, brother and sister explore, imagine, and wonder, What if Sun’s power was inside me? until their mom’s whistle calls them back home again.

With spare, lyrical text, Pura Belpré Honor and Ezra Jack Keats Honor recipient Zeke Peña has created a fantastical tale that suspends moments in time with his radiant art and celebrates the bonds between the sun, the desert, and its people.

Solitaria by Eliana Alvez Cruz | Translated by Benjamin Brooks | ADULT FICTION

Mabel has been staying in the Golden Plate—the most expensive building on the block, in an unnamed city in Brazil—for almost her entire life. Yet her presence there is merely tolerated: she inhabits a miniscule room with her mother, Eunice, who alongside Mabel provides round-the-clock attention and care for the wealthy family who lives there. As Mabel grows up, her dissatisfaction with the forced smallness of her life becomes difficult to bear, and she is driven to work toward new possibilities for herself.

Eunice does the best that she can—uneducated, and with a daughter and ailing mother both depending solely on her, her life is a series of limitations. She moves through the rooms of the penthouse suite in silent servitude, and though Mabel is ashamed of this invisibility act they've both perfected, the era of slavery is still fresh in the country's consciousness, and Eunice thinks it best not to dwell too hard on such things. But when tragedy strikes, and a little boy dies, Eunice must decide if she can face the indifference and injustices of the ruling class she has spent so long orbiting.

Someone's Gotta Give by Alisha Fernandez Miranda | ADULT FICTION

Lucia thought she had it all figured out-until life in London as a new mom and expat turned everything upside down. She's barely holding it together when she unexpectedly lands a glamorous job as a philanthropic adviser at London's poshest private bank. But is the world of the über-wealthy everything that it's cracked up to be?

At work, she's rubbing elbows with royals; at home, her teething one-year-old is up at all hours of the night, and her husband's growing connection to his ex-girlfriend is raising suspicions.

Can Lucia juggle Buckingham Palace visits, private island getaways, and late-night cocktails at secret clubs while keeping her family intact and staying true to herself?

ON SALE AUGUST 12

Marisol Acts the Part by Elle Gonzalez Rose | MIDDLE GRADE

Actress Marisol Polly-Rodriguez might be entering her flop era. After wrapping up a hit show, she’s neither booked nor busy. Not to mention, her former costar turned boyfriend, Miles, recently dumped her for being an “unserious” performer. Can you imagine?

To prove to Miles—and online trolls—that she takes her craft very seriously, Marisol lands a role on the same upcoming drama series he does. But with the eccentric director constantly rewriting her lines and a snobby castmate trying to upstage her, Marisol quickly realizes that her hope of nabbing an award nomination might be a pipe dream.

The only person she doesn’t have to put on a performance for is the show’s leading lady, Jamila. Marisol hasn’t been able to look away from her since their first audition. Falling for Jamila wasn’t part of Marisol’s plan, but even the most dedicated actors go off script sometimes, right?

My Abuela Is a Bruja by Mayra Cuevas | Illustrated by Lorena Alvarez Gómez | PICTURE BOOK

My abuela is a bruja.
There is magic in everything she does.

There is nothing more magical than a grandmother's love. But one lucky girl suspects her grandmother has actual magic. It's in the tun-tun-tun of the way she dances salsa, in the warmth of her hugs, and the delicious smell of her cooking. The granddaughter wonders: will I have magic of my own one day?

Follow the magic in this heartfelt picture book that features extensive backmatter that includes two special recipes from Mayra Cuevas and uplifiting illustrations from Lorena Alvarez Gómez.

The New Lesbian Pulp by Sarah Fonseca & Octavia Saenz | SHORT STORIES
esbian pulp fiction thrived in the oppressive 1950s, telling subversive stories of lonely sapphic women who find connection, passion, and revenge. In The New Lesbian Pulp, editors Sarah Fonseca and Octavia Saenz revive the genre for today, layering nuance into classic tropes while dialing up the melodrama, romantic peril, and collateral damage.

In these pages--which pair revived classics from Lorraine Hansberry and Alice Dunbar Nelson with new stories from Sarah Schulman, Grace Byron, Shamim Sharif, and more--vigilante lesbians gather roadkill for revenge, a woman and her former high school bully hook up and commit murder, Brooklyn witches cruise kink parties for human sacrifice, and a sinister kidnapping goes horribly wrong (or horribly right).

Here, gathered just for you, are some of today's best lesbian pulp stories. Don't be afraid. Pick them up.

Vera La Valiente Is Scared by Ana Siqueira | Illustrated by Teresa Martinez | PICTURE BOOK

Meet Vera the Brave--La Valiente! She dives like a dolphin, climbs like a mountain goat, and defends her amigos like un león. But she trembles when she hears her teacher say, "We're going to Rocking Roller Coasters!" Oh no! Vera tries to convince the teacher her plan is not the best, but Ms. Rodríguez does not change her mind about the field trip. Now if Vera can't face her fears, everyone will discover she's not that brave after all! But what if being brave is much more than she expected?

Vera La Valiente Is Scared redefines what it means to be brave. It's okay to show your feelings and fears! And maybe, with some help, you can even face some of them.

Tia Sofia and the Giant Tortilla by Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz | Illustrated by Carlos Vélez Aguilera | PICTURE BOOK

special magic with the power to be a cape, a placemat, a scarf, a blanket, and even more importantly--a way to bring back the memory of someone special.

Meet Tia Sofia -- the "cool aunt" who creates wild art and loves dancing in her cozy California bungalow. One day, while babysitting her niece and nephew, things get out of control while preparing fresh tortillas in her colorful kitchen.

Distracted by dancing with her niece and nephew in the kitchen, Tía Sofía makes a giant tortilla so big that Luna sees an opportunity for an adventure. Exhausted by a day of laughing, coloring, ghosts, and broomsticks, Luna and Sol finally enjoy lunch with their favorite aunt and her little dog, Tamayo.

This sweet semi-bilingual story includes a seek-and-find of animals commonly found in traditional Mexican folk art and includes a recipe for Tía Sofía's flour tortillas!

On Earth as It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia | Translated by Padma Viswanathan | ADULT FICTION

On land where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down. But in the prison's waning days, a new horror is unleashed: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the warden is armed with rifles, and the hunt begins. Every man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond the prison walls. Ana Paula Maia has once again delivered a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witness.

The Día de Los Muertos Story: Celebrating the Never-Ending Bonds of Family by Andrea Jáuregui de la Torre | Illustrated by Laura González | PICTURE BOOK

Through detailed stories told by Little Andrea's beloved abuela, The Dia de Los Muertos Story reveals to young readers the origins of Dia de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, what it means to Mexican families, and how it has grown and expanded to other parts of the world, specifically north into the United States.

This enchanting picture book follows Little Andrea as she discovers how what began as ceremonies practiced by the ancient Aztecs has evolved into a holiday recognized far beyond the borders of Mexico. As the story unfolds, Little Andrea explores significant moments in history and historical figures that demonstrate the endurance of the holiday through the ages.

The Darién Gap: A Reporter's Journey Through the Deadly Crossroads of the Americas by Belén Fernández | NONFICTION

The narrow Darién Gap, the only land bridge connecting South and Central America, encompasses a spectacularly hostile jungle, covered in steep mountains, dense rainforests, and flood-prone marshes. Known in Spanish as el infierno verde, or "the green hell," it is one of the most inhospitable places in the world. Its terrain is too treacherous for roads, yet hundreds of thousands of refuge seekers contend with its horrors every year in the hopes of reaching the United States, still some three thousand miles away. And of the countless who set out for the border, an untold number never arrive.

In this book, journalist Belén Fernández visits the Darién Gap to report on the dehumanizing and deadly stretch of land that has become a mass graveyard for migrants. Fernández's travels bring her into contact with refuge seekers, people smugglers, law enforcement officials, and many more whose stories bring life to a place overwhelmingly associated with death. Combining history, on-the-ground reporting, travelogue, memoir, and searing politico-economic analysis, she shines light on a largely made-in-the-USA crisis that has come to define our modern era.

ON SALE AUGUST 19

From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides: A Latinx Comics Anthology by Frederick Luis Aldama & Angela M Sánchez | NONFICTION

In this comics anthology full of humor and heart, writers and artists from across the US pay tribute to the ways food and sports endure as touchstones in the Latin American diaspora. In the vein of Frederick Luis Aldama's bestselling anthology Tales from la Vida, creators offer slice-of-life comics in an array of styles to capture common threads that bind this dizzyingly diverse community. From a simple quesadilla eaten hot on the way to school, to a Puerto Rican grandmother's offering of guineitos en escabeche, to a homesick Chicano punk's reverse-engineered tamales, food is a gift from elders to children, a marker of continuity and togetherness amid a dominant culture that may dismiss its flavors. Sports, too, provide a path to friendship and connection across national and language barriers, anchoring fans and participants in a sense of identity and place, whether through the perseverance of the Mayan game pok ta' pok, the unifying surge of lucha libre or soccer fandom, or a father and daughter's shared love of horse racing.

The Unlikely Aventuras of Ramón and El Cucuy by Donna Barba Higuera |Illustrated by Juliana Perdomo | CHILDREN’S

It's a monster's ancient duty to inflict unimaginable horrors on misbehaving kids.

But when a young cucuy who's anxious to prove himself is sent to the human world to terrorize his first child, the naughty niño isn't scared by glowing eyes, sharp talons, or even disgusting breath. Instead, he's preoccupied with worries about his first day at a new school. Can the little cucuy prove himself as a fierce boogeyman? As he soon learns from his human, maybe some things are scarier than creatures under the bed . . . and maybe even a monster could use a friend.

Of the Sun: A Poem for the Land's First Peoples by Xelena González | Illustrated by Emily Kewageshig | PICTURE BOOK

Indigenous. Native. On this land, you may roam.
Child of the sun, on this land, you are home.

Of the Sun is an uplifting and mighty poem that wraps the Indigenous children of the Americas in reassuring words filled with hope for a brighter future and reminders of their bond and importance to the land. Each page fills them with pride and awe of their cultural heritage and invites them to unite and inspire change in the world.

Paired with powerful art reflecting cultures of various Indigenous Nations and Tribes, the poem offers all readers a sense of the history and majesty of the land we live on and how we can better care for ourselves and the world when we recognize our connection to the land and to each other.

Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe by Amy S. Hansen & Wanda Díaz Merced | Illustrated by Rocio Arreola Mendoza | CHILDREN’S

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Wanda Díaz Merced wanted to learn everything she could about the stars. But in college she started losing her sight. How could she study what she couldn't see?

Wanda found a way. She learned to hear the stars using sonification, which converts data into sounds. Listening to those chimes and drumbeats, she made new discoveries about the universe.

Today Wanda is a leading advocate for inclusive science. She and her friend Amy S. Hansen collaborated on this book to inspire children to follow their curiosity no matter the challenges. As Wanda urges, "Never give up!" 

Popo the Xolo by Paloma Angelina Lopez| Illustrated by Abraham Matias | PICTURE BOOK

Nana is surrounded by family and takes joy in her many grandchildren. She's also tired and feels pain. Soon she begins her transition from life into death, accompanied by her beloved Xolo dog, Popo.

Together they go on Nana’s journey, and by the end of the story, Nana's family celebrates the many years of love they shared with her. And a grandchild will now care for Popo.

An unforgettable picture book that's grounded in the importance of the 9 levels of Mictlān and the role Xolo (show-low) dogs play in Indigenous cultural understandings of present-day Mexico.

Popo the Xolo is available in both English and Spanish language editions.

The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas | HORROR

in 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong.  

Elías, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family’s legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin’s betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he can’t help but notice the growing tension between them every time she enters the room…and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon’s thirst for blood gets stronger. 

In the fight for her life, Alba and Elías become entangled with the occult, the Church, long-kept secrets, and each other… not knowing that one of these things will spell their doom.

ON SALE AUGUST 26

Perla and the Pirate by Isabel Allende | Illustrated by Sandy Rodríguez | PICTURE BOOK

Perla is a mighty dog who has two superpowers—making people love her and roaring like a lion.

When she finds out her human brother, Nico Rico, got lost on the way home from school, she knows she has to step in! But what will Perla do?

In a charming and poignant story, Isabel Allende continues her series about the bond between a child and a beloved pet.

Hello, Tobi! by Andrea Cáceres | PICTURE BOOK

Every day, Tobi goes for walks with his family. At the park, he likes to say hello to everyone—small families with big dogs, big families with small dogs, tall families with tall dogs, short families with short dogs. There are families who look alike and families where everyone is different; families who are quiet, some who yell or sing loudly, and some who like to play together or create. Even when there are so many people and dogs at the park that Tobi can’t tell which dog belongs to which family, he still loves them all! But there’s always one family he loves the best . . . With welcoming, childlike illustrations and a breezy text, Andrea Cáceres invites us on a walk through the park that celebrates all kinds of families, with an endearing pup whose world is a friendly place indeed. Hello, Tobi!

Leyendas/Legends: 60 Latine People Who Changed the World by Mónica Mancillas | Illustrated by Isadora Zeferino | CHILDREN’S

Discover the stories of sixty inspiring figures—including celebrities and icons like Frida Kahlo, Roberto Clemente, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sonia Sotomayor, Shakira, Walter Mercado, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Jharrel Jerome—in this beautifully illustrated, celebratory collection showcasing the multitude of talent within the Latine community.

Each extraordinary person has a unique story—from artists who have shaped pop culture to athletes who have won championships to activists who have changed laws and so many more—Vand this empowering book shows that anyone can make a difference in the world if they set to their mind to it!

Gabriela and His Grace by Liana De la Rosa | ADULT FICTION

As the youngest and most rebellious daughter of the overly protective Luna family, Gabriela Luna Valdés claws after her freedom in any way she can. This time, her hunger for adventure has led her aboard a windswept ship bearing for her homeland, away from a mob of fumbling British suitors. But Gabby can’t escape her father’s expectation that she settle down to find a proper husband—a compromise she’s unwilling to make.

For Sebastian Brooks, Duke of Whitfield, the trip to Mexico is his last chance. His last chance to rectify his family’s estate and refill their dwindling coffers. And his last chance to match wits with the sharp-tongued but deliciously tempting Gabriela.

When Gabby finds herself in need of a hasty escape, Sebastian agrees to assist her…but their close proximity sparks a red-hot passion that could ruin all their plans. With scandal looming, can Sebastian convince Gabby his regard is sincere or will she sail away with his heart?

Rise Up or Die!: The Struggle Against the Genocide of Black People in Brazil by Andreia Beatriz Silva Dos Santos & Hamilton Borges Dos Santos | Translated by João H Costa Vargas | NONFICTION

Rise Up or Die! describes the origins, main concepts, distinct phases, and visions of the future of one of the most innovative, daring, and militant Black organizations in Brazil. Firmly rooted in that country's long tradition of resistance and rebellion against a nation that depends on the continued hyper-exploitation, dehumanization, abandonment, and social and physical death of Black people, the organization invented what it refers to as "bad manners in Black politics." If bad manners mean a refusal to abide by expectations of decorum, analysis, collective organization—and indeed the Brazilian genocidal model of racial democracy—then Rise Up certainly fits the description. The organization invented a new political vocabulary, led to the formation of an autonomous Black School in Salvador (the Winnie Mandela School), and constantly attracts people from the most marginalized Black spaces of the largest Black nation in the world, second only to Nigeria.

Drawing on a constantly replenished matrix of Black radical traditions, the activists of Rise Up or Die relentlessly pursue invention as the necessary alternative to a social formation that simply hates Black people.

Lost on Doll Island by Cassandra Ramos-Gomez | MIDDLE GRADE

Diego feels trapped. He’s confined in an arm cast, stuck with his tía and tío for a week in Mexico City, and smothered with the sickening fear that he’s the one who really caused his parents’ divorce. But most of all, he’s trapped in his own secret. Because ever since he got to Mexico City, he’s started having strange dreams of a doll calling his name.

Then Diego learns of La Isla de Muñecas, an island full of legendary magic that can make children’s wishes come true. If Diego can harness the power there, maybe he could fix everything that has gone wrong in his life.

So, with the help of two new friends, Diego takes a boat to the legendary island. From the moment the kids step ashore, nothing is as it seems—with dolls disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, Diego is more trapped than ever before, and as the night goes on, he’s not sure he can escape.

Restoration by Ave Barrera | Translated by Ellen Jones & Robin Myers | ADULT FICTION

Propelled by female desire, shaped by the violence of the male gaze, and inspired by the endless vitality of old stories remade anew, Restoration takes on Bluebeard, Salvador Elizondo, Juan Rulfo, Angela Carter, Octavio Paz, Mariana Enriquez, and Amparo Dávila to produce a novel of obsession, reclamation, and romance gone very, very wrong.Jasmina has been hired by her maybe-boyfriend to restore his family home, a grubby, abandoned time capsule where a great artist once lived. As she moves from room to room - scrubbing, scraping, plastering over cracks - the stories inhabiting them awaken, and the lives of the women who came before her begin to overlap with her own. Who is the woman in the photograph? And what secrets linger in that last locked room?Restoration is a ghost story with porous borders, between Jasmina and these forgotten women, between the novel and us. And the questions Barrera asks may be about what's behind our own barred door.

Book Review: Everything She Never Knew by Annette Chavez Macías

Everything She Never Knew by Annette Chavez Macías is about life after betrayal. Readers follow along as Claudia rebuilds herself as infidelity causes her marriage and a childhood friendship to crumble around her. The book motivates you to reflect on the relationship to yourself and others with all too real characters and emotions that pull at your heartstrings.  

Through the dual timeline of the present and the past written in the form of diary entries, readers see that Claudia and Rachel were inseparable childhood best friends. However, the cracks of this friendship are obvious to all, except for Claudia. Why is that? Claudia had gone through many adversities as a child, with an absent mother who frequently ran off with different men and a grandmother who passed away too soon. Rachel had gone through her own respective challenges in life with family, education, and more. These two girls found light in the other and clung on to each other for more than 20 years. At a glance, they were a perfect example of childhood best friends that stuck with each other through anything. With their deep history, these cracks in Claudia’s mind just simply couldn’t exist.   

“[Chavez Macías] doesn’t just write addictive dramas, she writes thought-provoking emotional tales of women finding the love, strength, and support system needed to push through life’s difficulties. ”

In order to fully understand why Claudia couldn’t see the red flags, you have to wonder, “what did this friendship mean to these two women?” first. Claudia always had time and room for love for Rachel. Rachel protected Claudia in a way that no one else was doing. All of these still couldn’t prevent the cracks from forming. In her endless well of love, Claudia lost herself. She was always running to Rachel’s side while disregarding her own wants and needs. Rachel, once a protector, slowly became Claudia’s bully and took advantage of her unwavering love and kindness. In their confrontation, Claudia finally saw through the lies, insults, and betrayal and realized this friendship meant everything to her but was a means to an end for Rachel to get whatever she wanted, no matter the cost. 

Annette Chavez Macías illustrates that sometimes we lose ourselves in our love for other people that we forget to show ourselves that same respect. She doesn’t just write addictive dramas, she writes thought-provoking emotional tales of women finding the love, strength, and support system needed to push through life’s difficulties. What makes her writing remarkable is that readers can relate to and find solace in the perseverance and vulnerabilities of these women. 

Macías also incorporates a plethora of Mexican American history, heritage, identity, and more in her stories and throughout various characters. Each person is attuned to their heritage in different ways, making them relatable to every kind of reader. This cultural enrichment helps the reader feel a deeper connection to the character, which enhances the reading experience of her compelling storytelling. Her well-rounded writing leaves the reader with a positive, long-lasting impression.

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Annette Chavez Macias writes stories about love, family and following your dreams. She is proud of her Mexican-American heritage, culture and traditions. All of which can be found within the pages of her books. For those readers wanting even more love stories and guaranteed happily ever afters, Annette also writes romance under the pen name Sabrina Sol. A Southern California native, Annette lives just outside Los Angeles with her husband, three children and an English Bulldog named Reina.

Melissa Gonzalez (she/her) loves boba, horror movies, and reading. You can spot her in the fiction, horror/mystery/thriller, and fantasy sections of bookstores. Though she is short, she feels as tall as her TBR pile. You can find Melissa on her book Instagram: @floralchapters

Most Anticipated July 2025 Releases

The selection of newly released books is oh so plentiful this month! Here are our most anticipated picks for July—from a summer romance ala Only Murders in the Building to some amazing translations, well be checking out these titles! Which one will you add to your TBR?

Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes Jr. | ADULT FICTION

Cambridge, 2018. Ana and Luis’s relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, and against her best judgement, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is.

Havana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.

Ruben Reyes Jr.’s debut novel is an epic, genre-bending journey through inverted worlds—one where war ends with a peace treaty, and one where it ends with a decisive victory by the Salvadoran government. What unfolds is a stunning story of displacement and belonging, of loss and love. It’s both a daring imagining of what might have been and a powerful reckoning of our past.

Putafeminista: A Manifesto of Sex Worker Feminism by Monique Prada | Translated by Amanda de Lisio | NONFICTION

As long as feminism has existed as a movement in Brazil, sex workers have taken to the streets in solidarity--despite the fact that mainstream feminist discourse positions sex work, and the "putas" who enact it, as detrimental to women's rights. In Putafeminista, activist and sex worker Monique Prada calls for feminists to retire this hypocrisy and embrace putafeminism: a working class women's movement that rejects whorephobia and its classist, colonial dimensions.

Drawing on her firsthand experiences with sex work and movement building, Prada argues for the validity of sex work as feminist labor and tracks the innovations introduced by Brazilian sex workers to feminist internet discourse, street actions, and governmental advocacy. For readers seeking the glimmers of tomorrow's feminism, Prada places that future with putafeminists, naming the brothel a "final frontier" for all women to gather, reform, and revolt.

A Father Is Born by Andrés Neuman | Translated by Robin Myers | ADULT FICTION

"I am delighted that we are together, my son, becoming what we will both be."

A man awaits his son's birth. Captivated, he follows the mother's pregnancy, imagining the child that will transform his house, his language, his relationship, and his family history. For a year, he annotates the memorable first steps leading the three of them into these new existential situations: being a father, a mother, a son; three different characters in a universal story, told in newly born words. A situation further complicated when the child begins speaking and articulating his world.

A Father Is Born is a lyrical tale that resonates both on intimate and collective levels. Its understanding of fatherhood faces masculinity with the miracle of life and its incessant rereading of the present. In a time that redefines traditionally attributed roles, A Father Is Born accepts Anne Waldman's invitation: "Tell the man to give up tumult for the while / To wonder at the sight of baby's beauty." But it is also, and above all, a love statement.

My Train Leaves at Three by Natalie Guerrero | ADULT FICTION

After her sister Nena’s sudden death, Xiomara, an Afro-Latina singer and actress born and raised in Washington Heights, is numb. With her sister gone, Xiomara, painfully close to thirty, is living in a tiny apartment with her ultra-Catholic Puerto Rican mother, and having the same shitty sex with the same shitty men that she’s been entertaining for years. Behind on rent despite two minimum-wage jobs, one of which involves singing show tunes while serving pancakes to tourists at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, Xiomara is bitingly cynical, especially in her grief, and barely treading water.

But when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity falls into her lap—the chance to audition for Manny Santos, the most charismatic director of the moment—Xiomara sees a second chance to pursue the dream she thought she’d lost. Meanwhile, something about Santi, a new co-worker at the print shop where she spends half of her days photocopying other performers’ headshots, starts to tug at the threads of her apathy. Nothing is simple, and soon Xiomara finds herself interacting with the ugliest sides of the industry and the powerful men who control it. Sometimes the closer you are to your dreams, the further away you become from yourself, and as Xiomara grapples with this hard truth, she is forced to ask herself if she has what it takes to build a new shiny life without losing the truth of her old one.

With hopeful spirit and unapologetic energy, My Train Leaves at Three is a coming-of-age story about the balancing act between moving on and moving forward.

Only Lovers in the Building by Nadine Gonzalez | ADULT FICTION

After her legal career comes to a sudden and humiliating end, Liliane Lyon books a restorative summer rental at The Icon, a quintessential Art Deco building in Miami Beach, where her only plan is to bask in the sun, read, and sip cocktails. But soon she's enchanted by the colorful community, including university professor Benedicto Romero--resident tortured poet, whose sole intention for sabbatical is to indulge in brooding introspection.

When they discover a shared passion for romance novels, Lily and Ben are soon spending hours reading together by the pool, the spark between them unwittingly giving the other residents the impression that they're experts in matters of the heart...no matter that IRL their disastrous love lives bear little resemblance to the stories they're reading.

But while Ben and Lily can pinpoint a trope a mile away and give excellent advice to others, they can't make sense of the sizzling chemistry between them, and the suggestion of a professional podcast suddenly forces them to consider the long-term. So what if it means working even closer together! So what if their banter makes Lily's head spin! It's the summer of taking chances, but a word to the wise: Miami isn't the place for growth and rebirth. It's the place to get messy.

The Tilting House by Ivonne Lamazares | ADULT FICTION

In the summer of 1993, Yuri, a teenage orphan, is living with her strict, religious aunt Ruth in a Havana suburb when Mariela, a thirty-four-year-old artist, arrives from the United States with a shocking revelation. She claims to be Yuri's sister, insisting that she and Yuri share a mother, and that Ruth essentially kidnapped her when she sent her into exile against her will through Operation Pedro Pan. Forced to grow up in orphanages, Mariela spent the past three decades in the United States and has returned to Cuba to reclaim her roots, make art, and perhaps seek vengeance on Ruth. Yuri is both fascinated and repulsed by the young, glamorous, and aggrieved Mariela. When Ruth is jailed for unknown charges, Yuri falls further into Mariela’s mercurial orbit.

Spanning two countries and three decades, The Tilting House explores identity and family loyalty, the effects of losing one’s mother and motherland, the scars of political and historical upheaval, and an immigrant’s complex quest both to return “home” and to be free from the past. Through her long journey, Yuri comes to understand that the past cannot be fully recovered, or fully escaped, even as she approaches the possibility of compassion for Mariela, for Ruth, for others, and for herself.

The Dance and the Fire by Daniel Saldaña París | Translated by Christina MacSweeney | ADULT FICTION

After years apart, three high school friends return to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where an intense love triangle once left an indelible mark on their adolescence. The city, surrounded by a ring of claustrophobic wildfires, brings out the past and confronts them with their present: they must once again face the entanglement of friendship and desire, the seemingly distant discovery of sexuality, complex parental relationships, and the daunting task of artistic fulfillment. 

In the background, two forces of chaos and destruction are a constant presence. As fires ravage the physical landscape, one of the friends begins choreographing an ecstatic dance inspired by the German expressionist Mary Wigman and medieval Danse Macabre. What starts as a coping mechanism for the anxieties of youth and climate catastrophe becomes an overpowering, all-consuming hysteria. Mysterious powers are awakened, the boundary between reality and myth begins to blur, and the friends find themselves immersed in an increasingly turbulent and uncertain universe.

July 2025 Latinx Releases

On Sale July 1

Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes Jr. | ADULT FICTION

Cambridge, 2018. Ana and Luis’s relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, and against her best judgement, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is.

Havana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.

Cry for Me, Argentina: My Life as a Failed Child Star by Tamara Yajia | NONFICTION

From the day she was born, Tamara Yajia entered the world on a wave of absurdity. She was the newest member of a family no one would call normal, from her grandfather the salami obsessed poppers salesman, to her mother, the OnlyFans model. Not only will her family try anything once, like moving to the United States and opening a food stand named Sexy Chicken; they'll try anything multiple times, like moving back to Argentina, then back to the United States, all while Tamara manages to achieve some success as a preteen child actress after a jaw-dropping performance where she strips down to a garter belt in front of a crowd of rabbis.

The road doesn't get easier for a twelve-year-old Argentinian Jew trying to make it big in Orange County. The disappointment of giving up her childhood career as a performer makes for a rather tumultuous coming of age. But through grit, hustle, and a series of creative endeavors like joining a girl band, and performing her own one-woman show, Cumming of Age, Tam has made it through, and she's ready to spill some shit-figuratively and literally.

Watch Out for Falling Iguanas by Edwidge Danticat | llustrated by Rachel Moss | PICTURE BOOK

On a rare chilly day in Miami, Florida, young Leila sets off for school bundled up in her bright red jacket. But this isn't just any cold day--her grandmother, Grandma Issa, gives her an unusual warning: "Watch out for falling iguanas."

As Leila navigates her morning, she can't stop thinking about Grandma's strange words. From remembering dodging coconuts and seeing her parents' car being held up by chickens crossing the road to admiring roaming peacocks, Leila's day is full of curious encounters. But nothing prepares her for the moment she sees an iguana drop from a tree.

Join Leila, her close friends, and her teacher Ms. Benoit on an unexpected adventure as they discover why these tropical creatures fall from trees during cold snaps. With charming illustrations by acclaimed Jamaican artist Rachel Moss and a truly heartwarming story, Watch Out for Falling Iguanas is a delightful tale about family, friendship, and the surprises nature can bring.

On Sale July 8

Island Creatures by Margarita Engle | YOUNG ADULT

Every day, Vida reads to the creatures at the wildlife rescue center and dreams of her childhood in Cuba, where she and her best friend Adán adventured through the island rescuing animals from harm. Unbeknownst to her, Adán has also moved to Florida and is feeling trapped in his new home, buffeted by the stormy fights between his abuelo and papi. When a chance encounter with a captive fox leads to their reunion, Vida and Adán are able to find refuge from the cruelty that surrounds them in their soaring, rekindled romance.

Their love reaches new heights as they work together at the zoo that rescues rare species, but soon they realize that this peace is only temporary. Much like the wildlife they want to protect, Vida and Adán are caught in a cycle of distrust and heartlessness. As old family grudges and painful memories come to light, can they and their families learn to heal and forgive each other for a brighter, kinder future?

Putafeminista: A Manifesto of Sex Worker Feminism by Monique Prada | Translated by Amanda de Lisio | NONFICTION

As long as feminism has existed as a movement in Brazil, sex workers have taken to the streets in solidarity—despite the fact that mainstream feminist discourse positions sex work, and the "putas" who enact it, as detrimental to women's rights. In Putafeminista, activist and sex worker Monique Prada calls for feminists to retire this hypocrisy and embrace putafeminism: a working class women's movement that rejects whorephobia and its classist, colonial dimensions.

Drawing on her firsthand experiences with sex work and movement building, Prada argues for the validity of sex work as feminist labor and tracks the innovations introduced by Brazilian sex workers to feminist internet discourse, street actions, and governmental advocacy. For readers seeking the glimmers of tomorrow's feminism, Prada places that future with putafeminists, naming the brothel a "final frontier" for all women to gather, reform, and revolt.

A Father Is Born by Andrés Neuman | Translated by Robin Myers | ADULT FICTION

"I am delighted that we are together, my son, becoming what we will both be."

A man awaits his son's birth. Captivated, he follows the mother's pregnancy, imagining the child that will transform his house, his language, his relationship, and his family history. For a year, he annotates the memorable first steps leading the three of them into these new existential situations: being a father, a mother, a son; three different characters in a universal story, told in newly born words. A situation further complicated when the child begins speaking and articulating his world.

A Father Is Born is a lyrical tale that resonates both on intimate and collective levels. Its understanding of fatherhood faces masculinity with the miracle of life and its incessant rereading of the present. In a time that redefines traditionally attributed roles, A Father Is Born accepts Anne Waldman's invitation: "Tell the man to give up tumult for the while / To wonder at the sight of baby's beauty." But it is also, and above all, a love statement.

On Sale July 15

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ADULT FICTION

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Chilco by Daniela Catrileo | Translated by Jacob Edelstein | ADULT FICTION

Chilco is the name of Pascale’s home island. It is also the Mapudungun word for fuchsia: a word that evokes tropical lushness, wetness, the deep greenness of the forest. Pascale's partner, Marina, grew up in the vertical slums of Capital City, a place scarred by centuries of colonialism and now the ravages of feckless developers. Every day the couple fear a sinkhole will open up and take with it another poor neighborhood, another raft of desperate refugees from the hinterlands: the indigenous, the poor, who are toiling for an all-consuming machine that is devouring the earth from beneath their feet.

When they finally flee the collapsing city to live in Chilco, are they escaping from the crushing weight of centuries of colonial repression that have eroded indigenous memories, language, and culture, or are they merely stepping into a twisted, lush new version of it? From her first days in this place where she’s supposed to feel safe and at home, Marina can’t avoid the feeling that everything is decaying around her—there is a smell of putrefaction in the air that no one except her can detect; there are seismic rifts that the political cruelties of the times have opened up in her own relationship with Pascale; and she is haunted by insistent memories of her past.

My Train Leaves at Three by Natalie Guerrero | ADULT FICTION

After her sister Nena’s sudden death, Xiomara, an Afro-Latina singer and actress born and raised in Washington Heights, is numb. With her sister gone, Xiomara, painfully close to thirty, is living in a tiny apartment with her ultra-Catholic Puerto Rican mother, and having the same shitty sex with the same shitty men that she’s been entertaining for years. Behind on rent despite two minimum-wage jobs, one of which involves singing show tunes while serving pancakes to tourists at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, Xiomara is bitingly cynical, especially in her grief, and barely treading water.

But when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity falls into her lap—the chance to audition for Manny Santos, the most charismatic director of the moment—Xiomara sees a second chance to pursue the dream she thought she’d lost. Meanwhile, something about Santi, a new co-worker at the print shop where she spends half of her days photocopying other performers’ headshots, starts to tug at the threads of her apathy. Nothing is simple, and soon Xiomara finds herself interacting with the ugliest sides of the industry and the powerful men who control it. Sometimes the closer you are to your dreams, the further away you become from yourself, and as Xiomara grapples with this hard truth, she is forced to ask herself if she has what it takes to build a new shiny life without losing the truth of her old one.

I Dig / Yo cavo by Joe Cepeda | PICTURE BOOK

When two brothers at the beach find a shovel, they use it to discover all sorts of fun in the sun.

Look.
I dig.
I see a crab.
I see stars.

This story about exploring and discovery is perfect for the toddler who loves digging through the sandbox in search of treasure. Very simple, easy-to-read text appears in English and Spanish, side by side, and accompanies Joe Cepeda’s bold, energetic artwork.

Pancho Conejo Y El Coyote: La Fábula de Un Migrante by Duncan Tonatiuh | PICTURE BOOK

(Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote Spanish Edition)

Papa Rabbit left two years ago to travel far away north to find work in the great carrot and lettuce fields to earn money for his family. When Papa does not return home on the designated day, Pancho sets out to find him.

He packs Papa's favorite meal—mole, rice and beans, a heap of still-warm tortillas, and a jug full of fresh aguamiel—and heads north. Along the way, Pancho crosses a river, climbs a fence, and passes through a tunnel guarded by uniformed, bribe-taking snakes. He soon meets a coyote, who offers to help Pancho in exchange for some of Papa's favorite foods. They travel together until the food is gone and the coyote decides he is still hungry . . . for Pancho!

With tenderness and honesty, Tonatiuh brings to light the trials and tribulations facing families who seek to make better lives for themselves and their children by illegally crossing borders.

Only Lovers in the Building by Nadine Gonzalez | ADULT FICTION

After her legal career comes to a sudden and humiliating end, Liliane Lyon books a restorative summer rental at The Icon, a quintessential Art Deco building in Miami Beach, where her only plan is to bask in the sun, read, and sip cocktails. But soon she's enchanted by the colorful community, including university professor Benedicto Romero—resident tortured poet, whose sole intention for sabbatical is to indulge in brooding introspection.

When they discover a shared passion for romance novels, Lily and Ben are soon spending hours reading together by the pool, the spark between them unwittingly giving the other residents the impression that they're experts in matters of the heart...no matter that IRL their disastrous love lives bear little resemblance to the stories they're reading.

But while Ben and Lily can pinpoint a trope a mile away and give excellent advice to others, they can't make sense of the sizzling chemistry between them, and the suggestion of a professional podcast suddenly forces them to consider the long-term. So what if it means working even closer together! So what if their banter makes Lily's head spin! It's the summer of taking chances, but a word to the wise: Miami isn't the place for growth and rebirth. It's the place to get messy.

Echoes and Embers: Speculative Stories by Pedro Iniguez | ADULT FICTION

From Bram Stoker Award finalist Pedro Iniguez, Echoes and Embers: Speculative Stories weaves fantasy and science fiction, Latinx themes, and traditional pulp stylings. This book collects 21 tales of outsiders, explorers, renegades, and dreamers as they navigate the mysteries and perils of the vast sandbox that is the universe.

Some of the stories you'll read: A boy and his grandmother witness the spectacle of a magical lucha libre match; amidst the Robot Apocalypse, an expectant mother's only hope for survival may just be a robot; a convict finds himself torn asunder and reassembled into a facsimile as he is teleported to a distant battlefield; plagued by ghosts, a young girl finds the source of her hauntings may be tied to time travel; after the Earth is destroyed, three astronauts stranded on Mars may hold the key to humanity's future.

From magical realism to military science fiction, Lovecraftian cyberpunk yarns to swashbuckling tales in space, this collection spans the frontiers of the imagination and the vastness of the cosmos.

On Sale July 22

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez | ADULT FICTION

It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighborhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.

From the moment Ingrid sets out, danger looms: The directions are difficult, she’s out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she remembers—with her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.

Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each other’s company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayra’s new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.

So What If I'm a Puta: Diaries of Transness, Sex Work, Desire by Amara Moira | Edited by Amanda de Lisio | Translated by Bruna Dantas Lobato | NONFICTION

So What If I'm a Puta, originally published on author Amara Moira's popular blog of the same name, consists of 44 crônicas that wryly portray her experiences as a trans sex worker in Brazil. In a brazen, funny, and at times heartbreaking voice, Moira explores the political and personal textures of her encounters with the men who buy sex from her, and the complex reality of her labor of a sort of love.

Woven through Moira's essays are reflections on transition, safe sex, desire, whorephobia, consent—in the grim context of Brazil's record rates of violence against trans women. Ultimately, Moira writes to "give a voice to us prostitutes" and center trans sex workers in Brazil's putafeminist movement, modeling a feminism that envisions inclusivity, safety, self-determination, and joy for us all.

The Tilting House by Ivonne Lamazares | ADULT FICTION

In the summer of 1993, Yuri, a teenage orphan, is living with her strict, religious aunt Ruth in a Havana suburb when Mariela, a thirty-four-year-old artist, arrives from the United States with a shocking revelation. She claims to be Yuri's sister, insisting that she and Yuri share a mother, and that Ruth essentially kidnapped her when she sent her into exile against her will through Operation Pedro Pan. Forced to grow up in orphanages, Mariela spent the past three decades in the United States and has returned to Cuba to reclaim her roots, make art, and perhaps seek vengeance on Ruth. Yuri is both fascinated and repulsed by the young, glamorous, and aggrieved Mariela. When Ruth is jailed for unknown charges, Yuri falls further into Mariela’s mercurial orbit.

Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan | ADULT FICTION

At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting. . .

Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle. Here, Mal has done her best to build a good life: She's raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare. As a desperate Mal hunts for answers, her search becomes increasingly tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow. Mal's perspective is joined by the voices of her two daughters, all three of whom must work to uncover the truth about the missing girls in their community before it's too late.

Diego Fuego the Firefighting Dragon by Allison Rozo & Rafael Rozo |Illustrated by Vanessa Morales | PICTURE BOOK

Diego Fuego lives on the southernmost tip of South America in Tierra del Fuego with his dragon family. Even though the rest of the dragons can powerfully roar fire, Diego is allergic to smoke and can't create even the tiniest flame. His allergies lead to sneezes…and those sneezes produce ice flurries instead of flames! When a fire grows out of control, Diego soon finds that this weakness can actually be his superpower.

Diego Fuego the Firefighting Dragon is a heartwarming tale that celebrates individuality, courage, and the power of embracing one's true self.

On Sale July 29

The Dance and the Fire by Daniel Saldaña París | Translated by Christina MacSweeney | ADULT FICTION

After years apart, three high school friends return to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where an intense love triangle once left an indelible mark on their adolescence. The city, surrounded by a ring of claustrophobic wildfires, brings out the past and confronts them with their present: they must once again face the entanglement of friendship and desire, the seemingly distant discovery of sexuality, complex parental relationships, and the daunting task of artistic fulfillment. 

In the background, two forces of chaos and destruction are a constant presence. As fires ravage the physical landscape, one of the friends begins choreographing an ecstatic dance inspired by the German expressionist Mary Wigman and medieval Danse Macabre. What starts as a coping mechanism for the anxieties of youth and climate catastrophe becomes an overpowering, all-consuming hysteria. Mysterious powers are awakened, the boundary between reality and myth begins to blur, and the friends find themselves immersed in an increasingly turbulent and uncertain universe.

Beasts of Carnaval by Rosália Rodrigo | ADULT FICTION

Within the shores of Isla Bestia, guests from around the world discover a utopia of ever-changing performances, sumptuous feasts and beautiful monsters. Many enter, but few ever leave—the wine is simply too sweet, the music too fine and the revelry endless.

Sofía, a freedwoman from a nearby colonized island, cares little for this revelry. Born an enslaved mestiza on a tobacco plantation, she has neither wealth nor title, only a scholarly pragmatism and a hunger for answers. She travels to el Carnaval de Bestias in search of her twin brother, who disappeared five years ago.

There's a world of wonder waiting for her on the shores of this legendary island, one wherein conquerors profit from Sofia's ancestral lands and her people's labor. But surrounded by her former enslavers, she finds something familiar in the performances—whispers of the island's native tongue, music and stories from her Taike'ri ancestors...a culture long hidden in the shadows, thrust into the light.

As the nights pass, her mind begins unraveling, drowning in the unnatural, almost sentient thrall of Carnaval. And the sense that someone is watching her grows. To find her brother and break free, Sofia must peel back the glamorous curtain and face those behind Carnaval, before she too loses herself to the island...

Most Anticipated June 2025 Releases

2025 has brought us some wonderful books—June's newest releases are no exception! Here are some of the titles we are most excited to get our hands on this month.

We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara | Translated by Robin Myers | ADULT FICTION

Deep in the wilds of the New World, Antonio de Erauso begins to write a letter to his aunt, the prioress of the Basque convent he escaped as a young girl. Since fleeing a dead-end life as a nun, he's become Antonio and undertaken monumental adventures: he has been a mule driver, shopkeeper, soldier, cabin boy, and conquistador; he has wielded his sword and slashed with his dagger. Now, caring for two Guaraní girls he rescued from enslavement, and hounded by the army he deserted, this protean protagonist contemplates one more metamorphosis, which just might save the new world from extinction...

Based on the life of Antonio de Erauso, a real figure of the Spanish conquest, We Are Green and Trembling is a queer baroque satire and a historical novel that blends elements of the picaresque with surreal storytelling. Its rich and wildly imaginative language forms a searing criticism of conquest and colonialism, religious tyranny, and the treatment of women and indigenous people. It is a masterful subversion of Latin American history with a trans character at its center, finding in the rainforest a magical, surreal space where transformation is not only possible but necessary.

The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez by Jasminne Paulino | YOUNG ADULT

Seventh grader Alex's favorite things to do are watching YouTube videos of rocket launches with his Papi and spending hours on the NASA website reading about astronauts and planets. He even dreams of going to space one day himself, and knows he'll have to study hard in order to get there.

But Alex is in his grade's SC (self-contained) classroom, which means doing the same dull worksheets every day and reading books his sister read back in the third grade. Worst of all, being in SC means nobody thinks he's ready to join Ms. Rosef's mainstream science class—the class Alex knows will be the first step on his path to NASA.

When his teacher says "not yet" for the millionth time, Alex decides it's time to make a change. Now he's ready to try everything he can to get the people in his life—his teachers, his parents, and the kids at school—to understand that he, Alex Ramirez, is capable of the extraordinary.

Dan in Green Gables: A Modern Reimagining of Anne of Green Gables by Rey Terciero | Illustrated by Claudia Aguirre | GRAPHIC NOVEL

Despite a life on the road with his free-spirited mother, fifteen-year-old Dan Stewart-Álvarez has always wanted to settle down. He just didn’t think it’d be like this: with his mother abandoning him in rural Tennessee with two strangers—his gentle grandmother and conservative, rough-around-the-edges grandfather. Here, he is forced to adjust to working the farm, entering high school, and hardest yet—reckoning with his queerness in a severe Southern Baptist community.

But even as Dan grows closer to his mawmaw, befriends fellow outsiders at school, and tries to make a new life for himself in Green Gables, he has to discover whether he can contend with intolerance and adapt to change without losing himself in the process.

The Cost of Being Undocumented: One Woman's Reckoning with America's Inhumane Math by Antero Garcia & Alix Dick | NONFICTION

An inhumane math pervades this country: even as our government extracts labor and often taxes from undocumented workers, it excludes these same workers from its social safety net. As a result, these essential workers struggle to get their own basic needs met, from healthcare to education, from freedom of association to the ability to drive to work without looking for ICE in the rearview mirror.

When Alix Dick's family found themselves in the crosshairs of cartel violence in Sinaloa, Mexico, she and her siblings were forced to flee to the U.S. Many of the scenes that she shares are difficult and unforgettable: escaping from a relationship in which her partner threatened to report her to immigration; getting root canals done in an underground dental clinic. But there are moments of triumph, too: founding her own nonprofit; working on films that tell important stories; and working with her co-author Dr. Garcia to tell her story in a framework that lays bare the realities of structural oppression.

If We Survive This by Racquel Marie | YOUNG ADULT

Flora Braddock Paz is not the girl who survives. A colorful creative who spends as much time fearing death as she does trying to hide that fear from her loved ones, she’s always considered herself weak. But half a year into the global outbreak of a rabies mutation that transforms people into violent, zombielike "rabids," she and her older brother, Cain, are still alive. With their mom dead, their dad missing, and their Los Angeles suburb left desolate, they form a new plan: venture out to the secluded Northern California cabin they vacationed in growing up—their best chance at a safe haven and maybe even seeing their dad again.

The dangers of the world have changed, but so has Flora. Still, their journey up the state is complicated by encounters with familiar faces, hidden truths, new allies, and painful memories of the whole family’s final time making this trip the previous year. And for Flora, one thing inevitably remains: No matter how far you run, death is never far behind.

All Roads Lead to Rome by Yamile Saied Méndez | ADULT FICTION

All Stevie Choi ever wanted was a cozy life in suburbia—a loving husband, adorable kids, a dog. That simple dream shattered into a million pieces when she was only seventeen. She’s spent the years since trying to outrun the pain and make something of herself, if only to prove to her estranged family that she’s happy and successful—even though she’s secretly yearning for another chance at love. If only she believed she deserved it . . .

So, Stevie drowns herself in her job, and in the low season, “dates” new countries, leaving her Utah home-base to circle the globe, from Paris to Cairo to Cabo San Lucas, curating a gorgeous Instagram feed—while spending every New Year alone. Then one frigid January day in Rome she meets Cristian. He would be her perfect match—if they weren’t separated by continents and obligations. Unable to say goodbye, they agree that if they’re both single at seventy, they’ll marry each other if only to have a fun companion to travel with. . . . But through the years, their friendship grows into something more, and suddenly it’s up to Stevie to choose happiness…

Sparkling with hope, All Roads Lead to Rome soulfully examines all the ways a tender heart can be broken—and how faith in the future—and in oneself—can make it whole again . . .

Most Anticipated May 2025 Releases

So many books to pick up this May! Here’s a list of the latest additions to our most anticipated reads. We hope you enjoy and please let us know if any of these are on your TBR!

Fridays Are for Churros by Jenny Alvarado | PICTURE BOOK

Every Friday, Emi and her Papi made churros for the entire familia. Now in their new apartment in the big city, Papi is always working, and there are no churros, and no familia, on Fridays. Until, Emi smells something sweet and delicious coming from her neighbor Señora Luisa’s apartment.

Emi has an idea! Maybe she can make churros after all, with a little help. From Señora Luisa, she can borrow flour. Tomas in 312 has sugar. Marisol in 512 has a piping tip. Soon Emi’s apartment is filled with the scent of fresh churros, new foods, and new friends! 

A story of food and community, Fridays Are for Churros celebrates old traditions becoming new, and strangers becoming friends.

The Lost Nostalgias by Esteban Rodriguez | POETRY

With a narrative voice that translates the unforgettable into something lyrical and magical, The Lost Nostalgias demonstrates Esteban Rodríguez's exploration of familial moments that move between the tragic, the trivial, and the triumphant. A mother's decaying teeth lead to questions of self-care and beauty; a quinceañera becomes a meditation on masculinity; a visit to the bank illuminates a father's existential fears; and a rave suddenly becomes a reflection on migration and survival. Because nothing is off the table under Rodríguez's tender lens, everything and everyone becomes deserving of admiration, dignity, and love.

In Theory, Darling: Searching for José Esteban Muñoz and the Queer Imagination by Marcos Gonsalez | NONFICTION

Marcos Gonsalez found his greatest source of joy when he encountered queer theory in college. As they put it, "queers and college go together like peanut butter and jelly," and for them, this was especially true. Seeing himself reflected in the work José Esteban Muñoz was life-changing: Muñoz's theory of disidentification empowered Gonsalez to reclaim their Latinx and queer identities--and inspired him to push back against the largely-white monolith of queer theory.

In the sophisticated yet intimately disarming prose of In Theory, Darling, Gonsalez takes his copy of Disidentifications to the gay bar, to the classroom, to their childhome and beyond, inviting us to go along with him as he limns the queerness of reality TV, mourns the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre, searches for their uncle in Paris Is Burning, looks for Muñoz's legacy in the streets of New York, and situates themself in the lineage of the queer elders who have come before him.

Conversational yet deeply analytical, intimate yet wide-ranging, youthful yet sophisticated, Gonsalez's essays crackle with intellectual energy--and remind us just how life-giving theory can be.

Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria | ADULT FICTION

No strings

After Ava Rodriguez’s now-ex-husband declares he wants to “follow his dreams”—which no longer include her—she’s left questioning everything she thought she wanted. So when a handsome hotelier flirts with her, Ava vows to stop overthinking and embrace the opportunity for an epic one-night-stand.

No feelings 

Roman Vázquez’s sole focus is the empire he built from the ground up. He lives and dies by his schedule, but the gorgeous stranger grimacing into her cocktail inspires him to change his plans for the evening. At first, it’s easy for Roman to agree to Ava’s rules: no strings, no feelings. But one night isn’t enough, and the more they meet, the more he wants.

No falling in love

Roman is the perfect fling, until Ava sees him at her cousin’s engagement party—as the groom’s best man, no less! Maintaining her boundaries becomes a lot more complicated as she tries to hide their relationship from her family, but Roman isn’t content being her dirty little secret. With her future uncertain and her family pressuring her from all sides, Ava will have to decide if love is worth the risk—again.

Day of the Dead Girl, Volume 1 by A. J. Mendez & Aimee Garcia | Art by Belén Culebras |GRAPHIC NOVEL

Death is never the end of the story. Coroner Sam Castillo will learn this the hard way, when a supernatural serial killer targets her hometown just as she moves back. A skeptical woman of science, Sam butts heads with her spiritual mother Ana, a leader of a witch coven specializing in Brujeria. But when the coven's Brujas start turning up murdered, Sam and Ana must work together to find the killer and save their town's Day of the Dead festival from turning into an occult bloodbath. As if sharing a bathroom with her mom wasn't hard enough.

The writing team of New York Times bestselling author and retired professional wrestler A.J. Mendez (Crazy Is My Superpower) & writer and actress Aimee Garcia (Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World) and Spanish artist Belén Culebras take you on the journey of a skeptic coming to grips with her supernatural heritage.

May 2025 Latinx Releases

On Sale May 6

Bloodletting by Kimberly Reyes | POETRY

This is a collection of poems about how we find and cultivate love amid wars, including wars that often go ignored. Throughout Bloodletting, Kimberly Reyes considers how we define love and who gets to experience it, paying special attention to the ways that race and sex influence how we are perceived and valued by society. Through the voice of a Black woman coming to terms with her own perspectives on relationship-building, Reyes shows the damage that contemporary culture can do to women, and Black women in particular. Resisting passivity, Reyes's poetry cuts through pervasive doom scrolling, virtue signaling, and parasocial relationships, inviting readers to remember what care is really supposed to feel like.

Kiss Me, Maybe by Gabriella Gamez | ADULT FICTION

Librarian Angela Gutierrez has never been kissed. But after posting a video about her late bloomer status and ace identity, she's finally ready to get some firsts out of the way. Using her new influencer status to come up with a scavenger hunt idea in which the winner earns her first kiss, Angela realizes she may need some help to pull off the event.

Enter Krystal Ramirez, hot bartender and Angela's unrequited crush of five years. Despite vowing that romantic love isn't for her, Krystal seems awfully determined to help Angela pull off the scavenger hunt and find true love.

There's just one problem: the connection between Angela and Krystal is getting stronger and stronger the more they hang out, until Angela isn't sure she wants to go through with the scavenger hunt after all. But Krystal is convinced that she isn't capable of love and before long, Angela realizes she's falling head over heels for a woman who may never love her back.

Fridays Are for Churros by Jenny Alvarado | PICTURE BOOK

Every Friday, Emi and her Papi made churros for the entire familia. Now in their new apartment in the big city, Papi is always working, and there are no churros, and no familia, on Fridays. Until, Emi smells something sweet and delicious coming from her neighbor Señora Luisa’s apartment.

Emi has an idea! Maybe she can make churros after all, with a little help. From Señora Luisa, she can borrow flour. Tomas in 312 has sugar. Marisol in 512 has a piping tip. Soon Emi’s apartment is filled with the scent of fresh churros, new foods, and new friends! 

A story of food and community, Fridays Are for Churros celebrates old traditions becoming new, and strangers becoming friends.

The Lost Nostalgias by Esteban Rodriguez | POETRY

With a narrative voice that translates the unforgettable into something lyrical and magical, The Lost Nostalgias demonstrates Esteban Rodríguez's exploration of familial moments that move between the tragic, the trivial, and the triumphant. A mother's decaying teeth lead to questions of self-care and beauty; a quinceañera becomes a meditation on masculinity; a visit to the bank illuminates a father's existential fears; and a rave suddenly becomes a reflection on migration and survival. Because nothing is off the table under Rodríguez's tender lens, everything and everyone becomes deserving of admiration, dignity, and love.

On Sale May 13

So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro de Robertis | NONFICTION

So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and two-spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world. This singular project collects the testimonies of twenty elders, each a glimmering thread in a luminous tapestry, preserving their words for future generations--who can more fully exist in the world today because of these very trailblazers.

De Robertis creates a collective coming-of-age story based on hundreds of hours of interviews, offering rare snapshots of ordinary life: kids growing up, navigating family issues and finding community, coming out and changing how they identify over the years, building movements and weathering the AIDS crisis, and sharing wisdom for future generations. Often narrating experiences that took place before they had the array of language that exists today to self-identify beyond the gender binary, this generation lived through remarkable changes in American culture, shaped American culture, and yet rarely takes center stage in the history books. Their stories feel particularly urgent in the current political moment, but also remind readers that their experiences are not new, and that young trans and nonbinary people today belong to a long lineage.

Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man by Jose Hernandez Diaz | POETRY

The collection opens with odes to everyday images and symbols of the Latinx community. In an age of elevated racism, these odes seek to celebrate Latinx culture in the face of constant scapegoating, ridicule, and surveillance. Also, this collection explores surreal prose poetry both in the suburbs and barrios of Los Angeles and the larger American landscape. "A future prizewinner," according to former US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, this collection seeks to celebrate the Mexican American experience while also exploring how surrealism and absurdism can lead to wondrous discoveries about the self, community, and the imagination.

Get Real, Chloe Torres by Crystal Maldonado | YOUNG ADULT

Chloe Torres’ birthday has always marked the end of summer—but as she turns eighteen and prepares to leave for her freshman year of art school, it feels like the end of more than that. It’s the end of her adolescence, which means it’s time to leave the past behind… but can she really let go of the two estranged best friends she left there?

NOPE. Chloe decides to take one more shot at healing the friend breakup she’s always regretted: planning the bucket-list trip neither girl can say no to. She’s taken care of everything: the car, the hotels, and concert tickets to see their favorite boy band’s reunion show in Las Vegas—stage seats, so close they can fangirl right in front of the boys’ faces. But first, her ex-BFFs have to say yes.

And to say yes, they’d all have to be talking… which they haven’t done since Ramona kissed Chloe, and everything imploded. 

But with some clever finagling (and some undignified begging) Chloe gets them all on board. Of course, being in a car together for two weeks brings back old feelings… a lot of old feelings… and soon enough, Chloe wants Sienna, Ramona wants Chloe, and everything is on fireeeee. 

Bochica by Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro | ADULT FICTION

In 1923 Soacha, Colombia, La Casona—an opulent mansion perched above the legendary Salto del Tequendama waterfall—was once home to Antonia and her family, who settle in despite their constant nightmares and the house’s malevolent spirit. But tragedy strikes when Antonia’s mother takes a fatal fall into El Salto and her father, consumed by grief, attempts to burn the house down with Antonia still inside.

Three years later, haunted by disturbing dreams and cryptic journal entries from her late mother, Antonia is drawn back to her childhood home when it is converted into a luxurious hotel. As Antonia confronts her fragmented memories and the dark history of the estate, she wrestles with unsettling questions she can no longer ignore: Was her mother’s death by her own hands, or was it by someone else’s?

In a riveting quest for answers, Antonia must navigate the shadows of La Casona, unearthing its darkest secrets and confronting a legacy that threatens to swallow her whole.

Welcome Home, Esmerelda by Daniela Ramirez | Illustrated by Maribel Lechuga | PICTURE BOOK

Papa's job in the military has taken Esmerelda and her family all over the world—and yet she's never lived in the United States. Now she and her family are moving to San Antonio, Texas.

Although many of her extended family members live there, Esmerelda is unsure it'll feel like home. Even more, she's unsure she will fit in. Gradually, music and her sweet abuela spark bravery and the realization that home is not always a place—it's familia.

Heartwarming and hopeful, Welcome Home, Esmerelda will provide reassurance to any kid that while moving and change are difficult, you have the support of loved ones to help you through it.

Detained: A boy's journal of survival and resilience by D. Esperanza & Gerardo Iván Morales | NONFICTION

D Esperanza was just thirteen years old when he lost his caregivers, his beloved grandmother and uncle. Since both of his parents were working and living in the United States, D was left on his own in a small town in Honduras. He quickly realized he simply could not make enough money to survive so he made the difficult decision to head north with his cousins and hopefully reunite with his parents in el norte.

Together, the boys struggled to survive a long and treacherous journey through Central America and Mexico. Along the way, D and his cousins formed a deep bond, only for the four to be brutally separated at the border of the United States. When he is captured and processed at a facility, neither D nor his family are given an update on when he will be released or where he’ll go next. Over the next five months, he kept a journal of his experience. The pages tell a story of pain, cruelty, friendship, and resilience, a living testament to the reality of the border. Amidst the senseless inhumanity and violence of US immigration policy, D found hope in the friendship he and his fellow companions forged, and mentorship from one intrepid advocate who fought on his behalf named Gerardo Iván Morales.

Timely, powerful, and unforgettable, Detained brings the border crisis to vivid life.

On Sale May 20

Salvación by Sandra Proudman | YOUNG ADULT

Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja (red salt), a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with, and about the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. So when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it’s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule—all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn’t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn't seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro—who she doesn’t fully trust but can’t help but fall in love with.

The Bi Book by A. J. Irving | Illustrated by Cynthia Alonso | PICTURE BOOK

Many words that start with ‘bi’ mean two.

Bicycle. Bilingual. Binoculars. Biracial.

Sometimes, it can mean more than two. Like when it comes to people who identify as 'bi.'

Because some hearts love in a rainbow of ways.

This sweet, bold picture book is a gentle introduction to bisexual identity, by way of many different words that share the root "bi," that will become a staple for LGBTQ+ readers, parents, and educators for years to come.

In Theory, Darling: Searching for José Esteban Muñoz and the Queer Imagination by Marcos Gonsalez | NONFICTION

Marcos Gonsalez found his greatest source of joy when he encountered queer theory in college. As they put it, "queers and college go together like peanut butter and jelly," and for them, this was especially true. Seeing himself reflected in the work José Esteban Muñoz was life-changing: Muñoz's theory of disidentification empowered Gonsalez to reclaim their Latinx and queer identities--and inspired him to push back against the largely-white monolith of queer theory.

In the sophisticated yet intimately disarming prose of In Theory, Darling, Gonsalez takes his copy of Disidentifications to the gay bar, to the classroom, to their childhome and beyond, inviting us to go along with him as he limns the queerness of reality TV, mourns the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre, searches for their uncle in Paris Is Burning, looks for Muñoz's legacy in the streets of New York, and situates themself in the lineage of the queer elders who have come before him.

Conversational yet deeply analytical, intimate yet wide-ranging, youthful yet sophisticated, Gonsalez's essays crackle with intellectual energy--and remind us just how life-giving theory can be.

Edie for Equality: Edie Windsor Stands Up for Love by Michael Genhart |Illustrated by Cheryl Thuesday | PICTURE BOOK

Growing up in the 1930s, Edie Windsor hadn't always been bold. In fact, she was someone who played by the rules and loved math. Numbers added up right every time and equal meant equal. But when the US government refused to acknowledge the loving relationship of over forty years between her and her spouse Thea Spyer, Edie made a bold move and sued the US government!

In this comprehensive picture book biography, acclaimed author Michael Genhart shares the story of LGBTQ icon Edie Windsor and the pivotal case that set the stage to take down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In United States v. Windsor, Edie's tenacious spirit proved to the Supreme Court and the world that love is love and equal means equal.

Crocodiles at Night by Gisela Heffes | Translated by Grady Wray | ADULT FICTION

Dad died today. It was foretold, but I didn't see it coming."

Although the outcome of Crocodiles at Night does not remain a surprise beyond the first paragraph, it expands outwards in philosophical, heartfelt reverberations true to Heffes's style. Crocodiles at Night explores familial ties, memories and images of places that are no longer the same, the vagaries of the medical system, and social critique in this heartfelt, excruciating view of death and how it affects all who experience it.

On Sale May 27

A Gift of Dust: How Saharan Plumes Feed the Planet by Martha Brockenbrough | Illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal | PICTURE BOOK

This dust . . .
of what lived once
sustains what lives today
and what will be born . . .
tomorrow.

An ancient catfish becomes a fossil, and as the lake where it lived dries up, the fossil turns to dust--but this isn't ordinary dust. This dust begins in Chad, West Africa, but winds carry it across the continent, over the Atlantic ocean, to nourish and replenish the Amazon rain forest and beyond. 

A Gift of Dust takes readers on a journey that shows just how interconnected our planet is, and how something so small can have such a huge impact. With lyrical, awe-inspiring verse based in fact, and stunning art from a Caldecott honoree, this is a story for our times.

The Obscene Madame D by Hilda Hilst | Translated by Nathanaël & Rachel Gontijo Araujo | ADULT FICTION

Every month I ingested the body of God, not in the way one swallows green peas or agrostis, or swallows swords, I ingested the body of God the way people do when they know they are swallowing the More, the All, the Incommensurable, for not believing in finitude I would lose myself in absolute infinity…

The Obscene Madame D tells the story of Hillé, a sixty-year-old woman who has decided to abandon conventional life and spend the rest of her days in contemplation in a recess under the stairs. There, she is haunted by the perplexity of her recently deceased lover, Ehud, who cannot understand her rejection of common sense, sex and a simple life in favour of metaphysical speculations that he considers delusional and vain.

In a stream-of-consciousness monologue that’s part James Joyce, part Clarice Lispector, and part de Sade, Hillé speaks of her search for spiritual fulfilment from a space of dereliction, as she searches for answers to great questions of life, death and the relationship between body and soul.

Letters from a Seducer by Hilda Hilst | Translated by John Keene | ADULT FICTION

This epistolary novel tells the story of Karl, a wealthy, amoral and erudite man who records his daily life in a series of 20 letters to his sister Cordelia. She is cloistered and chaste, but the letters are wildly promiscuous – not just in their explicit sexual content, which have earned the novel the epithet ‘pornographic’, but in their form. Ranging in style and register from modernist fragments worthy of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, to letters that could have been penned by Enlightenment libertines like Choderlos de Laclos and the Marquis de Sade, the letters make up a polyphonic text that pushes the boundaries both of fiction and of decency.

The novel – a standalone masterpiece which originally appeared as part of a Brazilian tetralogy – changes form again partway through, when the indigent poet Stamatius finds Karl’s record of his erotic adventures in a trash can, and begins to write stories based on what he reads, and then to break down those stories into even briefer fragments. Karl’s letters inspire Stamatius’ writing, and their narratives and identities become ever more fragmented, until we begin to doubt whether they are truly separate people. What unites them is an abundantly lewd imagination and a fantastically creative relationship to the greatest seducer of all: language.

Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change by Cristina Jiménez | NONFICTION

Cristina Jiménez’s family fought to stay afloat as Ecuador fell into a political and economic crisis. When she was thirteen, her family came to the US seeking a better life, landing in an overcrowded one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York. She lived in fear of deportation and ashamed of being undocumented, but eventually, Cristina discovered she was not alone. She made it into college when students and advocates won a change in the law, allowing undocumented students to access higher education. She was proud to be the first one in her family to go to college, but she felt out of place until she met professors and student activists who opened a new world where she found her calling within a community of social justice organizers.

With deep candor and humor, Cristina shows us what it’s like to grow up undocumented and the reality that being a “good” immigrant doesn’t shield you from systemic racism, danger—or even the confusion of falling in love. She invites us to acknowledge the America that never was and to imagine the America that could be when everyday people come together, build power, and fight for change, even when the world around us seems to be crumbling.

Day of the Dead Girl, Volume 1 by A. J. Mendez & Aimee Garcia | Art by Belén Culebras |GRAPHIC NOVEL

Death is never the end of the story. Coroner Sam Castillo will learn this the hard way, when a supernatural serial killer targets her hometown just as she moves back. A skeptical woman of science, Sam butts heads with her spiritual mother Ana, a leader of a witch coven specializing in Brujeria. But when the coven's Brujas start turning up murdered, Sam and Ana must work together to find the killer and save their town's Day of the Dead festival from turning into an occult bloodbath. As if sharing a bathroom with her mom wasn't hard enough.

The writing team of New York Times bestselling author and retired professional wrestler A.J. Mendez (Crazy Is My Superpower) & writer and actress Aimee Garcia (Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World) and Spanish artist Belén Culebras take you on the journey of a skeptic coming to grips with her supernatural heritage.

Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria | ADULT FICTION

No strings

After Ava Rodriguez’s now-ex-husband declares he wants to “follow his dreams”—which no longer include her—she’s left questioning everything she thought she wanted. So when a handsome hotelier flirts with her, Ava vows to stop overthinking and embrace the opportunity for an epic one-night-stand.

No feelings 

Roman Vázquez’s sole focus is the empire he built from the ground up. He lives and dies by his schedule, but the gorgeous stranger grimacing into her cocktail inspires him to change his plans for the evening. At first, it’s easy for Roman to agree to Ava’s rules: no strings, no feelings. But one night isn’t enough, and the more they meet, the more he wants.

No falling in love

Roman is the perfect fling, until Ava sees him at her cousin’s engagement party—as the groom’s best man, no less! Maintaining her boundaries becomes a lot more complicated as she tries to hide their relationship from her family, but Roman isn’t content being her dirty little secret. With her future uncertain and her family pressuring her from all sides, Ava will have to decide if love is worth the risk—again.

Cascarones: An Easter Surprise / Una Sorpresa de Pascuas by Alicia Salazar | Illustrated by Aimee del Valle | PICTURE BOOK

A young girl excitedly anticipates Easter and the confetti-filled eggs, or cascarones, she and her parents make for the holiday. As always, the preparation begins in January, and they collect eggshells for months.

Engaging illustrations by Aimee Del Valle show the family working together as the girl describes the process of making the confetti-filled eggs, from creating a hole in the shell to drain the insides, to covering the hole with colored paper, dying them bright colors, inserting the confetti and decorating the colored shells.

When Easter Sunday arrives, her dad hides the eggs at the neighborhood park, where all her aunts, uncles and cousins gather. Young Nicolás enjoys his first Easter egg hunt and quickly learns how to find the treasures. And when all 100 cascarones have been found, the boy is in for one final surprise! This bilingual picture book for children ages 4-8 is a joyous celebration of family and the Mexican-American holiday tradition of making—and cracking on each other's heads!—-eggs filled with colorful paper. Kids will want to use the recipe included in the book to make their very own cascarones.

Gecko Girl / Lagartijita by Daniel Chacón | Illustrated by Steven James Petruccio | PICTURE BOOK

Young Lizzy fell asleep while her dad was telling her a story. When she wakes up, she's shocked to see she has tiny legs and weird little feet! She looks in the mirror and wonders what she has become. Her father is dancing while brushing his teeth and nearly steps on her! So she crawls into the living room and asks their cat if he knows what she is. The feline decides she must be a fun toy! Running outside, she finds their dog, who thinks she looks like a tasty snack!

As Lizzy continues wandering, she encounters an assortment of animals—spiders, a beautiful butterfly, an army of ants—all of whom have different, confusing opinions about her. Later, when she opens her eyes, she's very happy to see her daddy—and he knows exactly who she is: his "sweet, precious girl!"

This whimsical bilingual picture book for children ages 4-8 contains Steven James Petruccio's beautiful illustrations of the gecko girl and the creatures she meets on her journey of discovery. This lively story is sure to encourage young children to tell—and write—their own tales about identity and the world around them.

¿Qué Es Un Poema? / What Is a Poem? by Jovi de la Jara | PICTURE BOOK

In this playful bilingual picture book for children, the author describes all the things a poem can do, like: “Puppies can be / planets / and flowers / can be kittens” and “the moon can be / square / and rain can be / laughter.”

Simple text describes the endless possibilities available in writing poetry; words can rhyme, run off the page or even be invented! Poems can be very long or super short. Jovi de la Jara’s fun black-and-white illustrations cleverly depict the humorous ideas: a dog’s face looks like a planet with a ring around it, flowers sprout cat faces and a cloud cries laughter. These original and sometimes abstract images will surely ignite kids’ imaginations!

This entertaining book is perfect for sharing the joy of writing poetry with young readers. Kids will be encouraged to explore the world around them and come up with their own inventive creations as they realize, “The poem is a mirror inside your head.”

The Closest Thing to a Normal Life by Michael Méndez Guevara | YOUNG ADULT

There’s nothing remotely normal about seventeen-year-old Ethan-Matthew Cruz Canton’s life. His parents, journalists in Spain, were killed in a terrorist attack and now he’s living with his grandparents in San Antonio, attending his father’s high school for senior year. Narrated in the young man’s perceptive, witty voice, the novel opens with his plan to keep his head down, make it until June and then follow his parents’ footsteps to Northwestern University’s journalism program. But his idea to keep a low profile is quickly blown out of the water.

As Ethan-Matthew deals with incessant questions about his hyphenated name and his grief, he looks forward to the only “normal” thing available: writing for the school newspaper. He was set to be the editor at his high school in Spain, but now his story ideas are being ignored! With the encouragement and help of his new friends, he starts an alternative online newspaper to cover the overlooked students and staff.  Things escalate, though, when he writes about a racist incident—instigated by the school’s mostly white, privileged student body—that turns violent!

Amidst all the drama, Ethan-Matthew suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself romantically involved with another boy, his cross-country teammate and best friend Reid. Author Michael Méndez Guevara, a former high school teacher, writes convincingly about the lives of young adults on the path to self-discovery. This refreshing, intelligent novel dealing with the loss of loved ones, prejudice and the clash of social mores is sure to capture the imagination of teen readers.

Most Anticipated April 2025 Releases

Its a busy month with a ton of new releases. From love stories to a novel that transcends time and place, there’s something for all readers. Check out some of our most anticipated releases for April below!

Gloria by Andrés Felipe Solano | Translated by Will Vanderhyden

It is a bright spring Saturday: April 11, 1970. The famous Argentine singer Sandro is about to become the first Latin American to perform at Madison Square Garden, and Gloria will be one of the lucky attendees at what will be a legendary concert. At just twenty years old, the young woman walks through the electric streets of New York City full of hope and possibility. The disturbing images she recently encountered at her job at a photographic laboratory, the trauma of a father who was murdered when she was a child, and even the long-term prospects of her relationship with Tigre, her irascible boyfriend, are problems for another day. This day should be perfect and should last forever. Which it will, in surprising and unexpected ways.

Five decades later, Gloria’s son reflects on his mother's life and realizes that their formative years—imprinted as they are by sojourns in New York at exactly the same age—are a bridge between generations that draws the pair closer through a shared sense of longing and potential.

A novel of mothers and sons spanning New York City, Colombia, and Miami, Gloria is a sophisticated and daring excavation of a woman's life that asks us to consider how the choices we make in our youth reverberate throughout our possible futures.

Takes One to Know One by Lissette Decos

Daniela is risk-averse, blazer-obsessed, and likes to be taken seriously. So when her record label job is on the line, she's prepared to do anything to keep it. Except for working with the genre of music she hates most: reggaeton. It's supposed to inspire sensual hip-swinging dance moves and Dani's hips do not swing--not like that anyway. Out of desperation, Dani lies and says she loves reggaeton. But not only does Dani get to keep her job, she gets a ticket to Puerto Rico . . . on a mission to clean up the scandalous image of international reggaeton singer Rene 'El Rico' Rodriguez.

Despite her best act, Dani's dislike of his music and Rene's prickly disposition is palpable, resulting in them butting heads at every turn. Yet as the two spend more time together under the island's sizzling sun, Dani realizes there's more to Rene than his rough edges and good looks. The man that many only see as a sex icon actually cares about his music, community, and culture. Against her will, she slowly begins finding him harder to hate. And before she knows it, Rene is teaching Dani how to find the rhythm of the music and learn to let go. But will she ever be ready to acknowledge the heat growing between them and put her heart on the line?

Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa

Gabriel Piña knows who he is: a college goalkeeper, a future Liga MX or MLS star, and definitely straight. He's starting his freshman year with a lot of eyes on him and even more potential, but he's got this. Nothing will have him straying off the path to greatness.

That is, until his philosophy classmate Vale volunteers to tutor him. Vale, the same guy who Gabi, in a moment of history repeating itself, might've kissed very briefly--and only once--just to help him out at a party. Vale, the smart, supportive, compassionate new friend with beautiful brown eyes and a smile that keeps Gabi, for completely inexplicable reasons, constantly in a daydream.

As a friendship blooms and the two spend more and more time together, Gabi finally begins to recognize something about himself: maybe he's not as straight as he thought he was. But a larger and darker realization lingers. Someone like Gabi--a brown, Mexican futbolista with dreams of playing for El Tri--can't also be bisexual. He's seen the way his teammates and community react to queerness in their sport. It would be the exact type of straying off path that destroys his future.

Or, maybe Gabi could be brave enough to embrace all those parts of himself and forge his own path, one that includes a boyfriend and the beautiful game.

Latinx Comics Studies: Critical and Creative Crossings Edited by Fernanda Díaz-Basteris & Maite Urcaregui

Latinx Comics Studies: Critical and Creative Crossings offers an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to analyzing Latinx studies and comics studies. The book draws together groundbreaking critical essays, practical pedagogical reflections, and original and republished short comics. The works in this collection discuss the construction of national identity and memory, undocumented narratives, Indigenous and Afro-Latinx experiences, multiracial and multilingual identities, transnational and diasporic connections, natural disasters and unnatural colonial violence, feminist and queer interventions, Latinx futurities, and more. Together, the critical and creative works in this collection begin to map out the emerging and evolving field of Latinx comics studies and to envision what might be possible in and through Latinx comics.

This collection moves beyond simply cataloguing and celebrating Latinx representation within comics. It examines how comics by, for, and about Latinx peoples creatively and conceptually experiment with the very boundaries of "Latinx" and portray the diverse lived experiences therein.

Property of the Revolution: From a Cuban Barrio to a New Hampshire Mill Town by Ana Hebra Flaster

Ana Hebra Flaster was six years old when her working-class family was kicked out of their Havana barrio for opposing communism. Once devoted revolutionaries themselves but disillusioned by the Castro government’s repressive tactics, they fled to the US. The permanent losses they suffered—of home, country, and loved ones, all within forty-eight hours—haunted her multigenerational family as they reclaimed their lives and freedom in 1967 New Hampshire. There, they fed each other stories of their scrappy barrio—some of which Hebra Flaster has shared on All Things Considered—to resurrect their lost world and fortify themselves for a daunting task: building a new life in a foreign land.

Weaving pivotal events in Cuba–US history with her viejos’—elders’—stories of surviving political upheaval, impossible choices, and “refugeedom,” Property of the Revolution celebrates the indomitable spirit and wisdom of the women warriors who led the family out of Cuba, shaped its rebirth as Cuban Americans, and helped Ana grow up hopeful, future-facing—American. But what happens when deeply buried childhood memories resurface, demanding an adult’s reckoning?

Here’s how the fiercest love, the most stubborn will, and the power of family put nine new Americans back on their feet.

A Necklace of Ears by Alberto Roblest

After leaving the artificial charm of Las Vegas behind, Sergio makes a living working at a military base. While repairing houses and maintaining the complex's gardens, he enters the lives of characters as diverse as married women in need of a sexual encounter--who are marked by the absence of their husbands at the front--and veterans who carry the echoes of war, facing ghosts that never fade away. In a bold narrative game, the reader becomes an accomplice to the clandestine encounters and gossip of the military base.

With a provocative tone, Alberto Roblest invites us to witness the human dynamics that unfold in this microcosm: the unbridled flirtation of the playboy protagonist and the stories that are whispered in the shadows. As relationships blossom and wither, Sergio is presented as an enigma: in sudden dreams--or hazy memories--we find him wandering through the desert, a collar made of ears hanging from his neck. The haunting question persists: to whom do these ears belong?

Expertly translated from the original Spanish edition, Collar de orejas, by Dillon Scalzo, the novel combines detailed descriptions with reflections on today's society to graphically explore the reality of many hard-working migrants facing harsh conditions in the United States.

April 2025 Latinx Releases

On Sale April 1

Covert Joy by Clarice Lispector | ADULT FICTION

This radiant selection of Clarice Lispector's best and best-loved stories includes such familiar favorites as "The Smallest Woman in the World,""Love," "Family Ties," and "The Egg and the Chicken." Lispector's luminous regard for life's small revelatory incidents is legendary, and here her genius is concentrated in a fizzing, portable volume.

Covert Joy offers the particular bliss a book can bring that she expresses in the title story: Joy would always be covert for me... Sometimes I'd sit in the hammock, swinging with the book open on my lap, not touching it, in the purest ecstasy.I was no longer a girl with a book: I was a woman with her lover

Bebé AMA a Mamá / Baby Loves Mom by Chela de la Vega | Illustrated by Teresa Martínez | PICTURE BOOK

A heartwarming and delightful exploration of love, the story takes place in various settings in Latin America and the United States, creating a rich and engaging experience for babies and toddlers.

Through charming illustrations and simple, expressive text, the book celebrates the special bond between babies and their mothers. From playful moments to soothing bedtime routines, Bebé Ama a Mamá / Baby Loves Mom captures the universal language of love, making it a perfect read for families looking to embrace both English and Spanish in their little one's early learning journey.

Gloria by Andrés Felipe Solano | Translated by Will Vanderhyden | ADULT FICTION

It is a bright spring Saturday: April 11, 1970. The famous Argentine singer Sandro is about to become the first Latin American to perform at Madison Square Garden, and Gloria will be one of the lucky attendees at what will be a legendary concert. At just twenty years old, the young woman walks through the electric streets of New York City full of hope and possibility. The disturbing images she recently encountered at her job at a photographic laboratory, the trauma of a father who was murdered when she was a child, and even the long-term prospects of her relationship with Tigre, her irascible boyfriend, are problems for another day. This day should be perfect and should last forever. Which it will, in surprising and unexpected ways.

Five decades later, Gloria’s son reflects on his mother's life and realizes that their formative years—imprinted as they are by sojourns in New York at exactly the same age—are a bridge between generations that draws the pair closer through a shared sense of longing and potential.

Takes One to Know One by Lissette Decos | ADULT FICTION

Daniela is risk-averse, blazer-obsessed, and likes to be taken seriously. So when her record label job is on the line, she's prepared to do anything to keep it. Except for working with the genre of music she hates most: reggaeton. It's supposed to inspire sensual hip-swinging dance moves and Dani's hips do not swing--not like that anyway. Out of desperation, Dani lies and says she loves reggaeton. But not only does Dani get to keep her job, she gets a ticket to Puerto Rico . . . on a mission to clean up the scandalous image of international reggaeton singer Rene 'El Rico' Rodriguez.

Despite her best act, Dani's dislike of his music and Rene's prickly disposition is palpable, resulting in them butting heads at every turn. Yet as the two spend more time together under the island's sizzling sun, Dani realizes there's more to Rene than his rough edges and good looks. The man that many only see as a sex icon actually cares about his music, community, and culture. Against her will, she slowly begins finding him harder to hate. And before she knows it, Rene is teaching Dani how to find the rhythm of the music and learn to let go. But will she ever be ready to acknowledge the heat growing between them and put her heart on the line?

Frida Kahlo's Flower Crown by Nydia Armendia-Sánchez | Illustrated by Loris Lora | PICTURE BOOK

Like a seed / Frida sprouted /
And burst through the earth where / the coyotl once foraged.
Coyoacán was the place where Frida grew.

Told through the language and imagery of the native Mexican flowers and plants comes the life of acclaimed and beloved artist Frida Kahlo. Like a flower, Frida blossomed, wilted, was crushed, survived, and thrived, growing into one of the most celebrated Indigenous painters.

This poetic and empowering picture book, written by Nydia Armendia-Sánchez and illustrated by Pura Belpré Honor awardee Loris Lora, features the very flora Frida grew in her garden, bought at the market in her hometown, painted in her famous portraits, and wore proudly in a crown around her head.

A Carnival of Atrocities by Natalia García Freire | Translated by Victor Meadowcroft | ADULT FICTION

Cocuán, a desolate town nestled between the hot jungle and the frigid Andes, is about to slip away from memory. This is where Mildred was born, and where everything she had—her animals, her home, her lands—was taken from her after her mother’s death. Years later, a series of strange events, disappearances, and outbursts of collective delirium will force its residents to reckon with the legend of old Mildred. Once again, they will feel the shadow of death that has hung over the town ever since she was wronged. The voices of nine characters—Mildred, Ezequiel, Agustina, Manzi, Carmen, Víctor, Baltasar, Hermosina, and Filatelio—tell us of the past and present of that doomed place and Mildred's fate. Natalia García Freire’s vivid language blurs the lines between dreams and reality and transports the reader to the hypnotic Andean universe of Ecuador.

City of Smoke and Sea by Malia Marquez | ADULT FICTION

Queenie Rivers was raised by her grandparents in coastal Los Angeles. As she approaches thirty, her erratic lifestyle is forced back on course by a car accident and her grandmother's intervention.

But her recovery is interrupted by a break-in and Gran's death. Gran's last act was to set Queenie up with a job at an upscale seaside bistro with a shady reputation--the owner of which, it turns out, was once a close friend. As Queenie digs into Gran's past for answers about the break-in, the murder, and the unnerving circumstances surrounding the restaurant and her new boss, she discovers that her grandmother, a Romani Holocaust survivor, kept many secrets, some of them otherworldly--secrets that become hers to unravel when she becomes a suspect in Gran's murder case.

On Sale April 8

Creepy Campfire Stories: Frights to Tell at Night by Anastasia Garcia | Illustrated by Teo Skaffa | MIDDLE GRADE

The great outdoors has never been so terrifying! Featuring iconic landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Redwood National Park, this book will haunt your dreams long after the last ember of the campfire has faded. Here are just a few of the super-scary stories inside:

• A strange museum that won't stay open after dark.

• Sinister plants with a taste for human flesh.

• Monsters hidden in the snow--friend or foe?

• Mysterious lights in the sky leave messages in a cornfield.

• A winged creature warns of impending doom.

On Sale April 15

Snap! Crunch! Munch? by Diana Castillo |

A little boy comes down for family dinner. There’s food for each member of his picky family: black beans, plantains, flan, and more. Soon his imagination is filled with lions, elephants, and flamingos slurping, crunching, and munching on a delicious dinner.

This early reader graphic novel is perfect for 1st and 2nd graders to read on their own. The simple text and story matches everyone's favorite foods with animals, featuring fun onomatopoeia that kids will want to shout outloud. 

Carlito's Butterfly by Angèle Delaunois | Illustrated by Augusto Mora | Translated by Ann Marie Boulanger | PICTURE BOOK

Carlito has recently immigrated and he misses Mexico.

During a walk with his friend Samia, he recognizes a magnificent orange and black butterfly--a monarch! He remembers visiting a forest in Mexico where the monarch butterflies spend the winter. Through the monarch's migratory story, Carlito and Samia realize that they can have two countries to call home, just like the butterflies.

This bilingual book includes full text in both English and Spanish.

The Influencers by Anna-Marie McLemore | ADULT FICTION

What do you really know about the people you’ve made famous?

“Mother May I” Iverson has spent the past twenty-five years building a massively successful influencer empire with endearing videos featuring her five mixed-race daughters. But the girls are all grown up now, and the ramifications of having their entire childhoods commodified start to spill over into public view, especially in light of the pivotal question: Who killed May’s newlywed husband and then torched her mansion to cover it up?

April is a businesswoman feuding with her mother over intellectual property; twins June and July are influencers themselves, threatening to overtake May’s spotlight; January is a theater tech who steers clear of her mother and the limelight; and the youngest . . . well, March has somehow completely disappeared. As the days pass post-murder, everyone has an opinion—the sisters, May, a mysterious “friend of the family,” and the collective voice of the online audience watching the family’s every move—with suspicion flying every direction.

Cómo decirle hola a una lombriz: Primera guía al aire libre (How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside) by Kari Percival | Translated by Yanitzia Canetti | PICTURE BOOK

The beautiful simplicity of a garden is depicted through digital woodcut illustrations and engaging nonfiction text presented as a series of sweet questions and gentle replies. Less of a traditional how-to and more of a how-to-appreciate, this soothingly sparse text paints an inviting and accessible picture of what a garden offers. And with an all-child cast, the absence of an adult presence empowers readers to view the garden and its creatures through their own eyes, driven by curiosity and wonder.

This delightful book embodies the magic of gardening and encourages all readers, from those who LOVE the outdoors to those with hesitation, to interact with nature at their own, comfortable pace.

Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa | YOUNG ADULT

Gabriel Piña knows who he is: a college goalkeeper, a future Liga MX or MLS star, and definitely straight. He's starting his freshman year with a lot of eyes on him and even more potential, but he's got this. Nothing will have him straying off the path to greatness.

That is, until his philosophy classmate Vale volunteers to tutor him. Vale, the same guy who Gabi, in a moment of history repeating itself, might've kissed very briefly--and only once--just to help him out at a party. Vale, the smart, supportive, compassionate new friend with beautiful brown eyes and a smile that keeps Gabi, for completely inexplicable reasons, constantly in a daydream.

As a friendship blooms and the two spend more and more time together, Gabi finally begins to recognize something about himself: maybe he's not as straight as he thought he was. But a larger and darker realization lingers. Someone like Gabi--a brown, Mexican futbolista with dreams of playing for El Tri--can't also be bisexual. He's seen the way his teammates and community react to queerness in their sport. It would be the exact type of straying off path that destroys his future.

Or, maybe Gabi could be brave enough to embrace all those parts of himself and forge his own path, one that includes a boyfriend and the beautiful game.

Tío and Tío: The Ring Bearers by Ross Mathews and Dr. Wellinthon García-Mathews | Illustrated by Tommy Doyle | PICTURE BOOK

Evan and Andy are excited to visit Mexico for their uncles’ wedding—and their parents are excited that the boys will have a chance to experience the culture, practice their Spanish, and learn responsibility as ring bearers in the ceremony. Once they arrive, Evan and Andy just want to play soccer, swim, and eat all the great food. However, once the festivities are in full swing and the boys witness the love and happiness between their two tíos, they quickly embrace their role in their uncles’ very special day.

This debut picture book written by Ross Mathews and Dr. Wellinthon García-Mathews, and illustrated by Tommy Doyle, reminds us about the importance of love, family, and embracing one’s cultural identity.

Latinx Comics Studies: Critical and Creative Crossings Edited by Fernanda Díaz-Basteris & Maite Urcaregui | NONFICTION

Latinx Comics Studies: Critical and Creative Crossings offers an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to analyzing Latinx studies and comics studies. The book draws together groundbreaking critical essays, practical pedagogical reflections, and original and republished short comics. The works in this collection discuss the construction of national identity and memory, undocumented narratives, Indigenous and Afro-Latinx experiences, multiracial and multilingual identities, transnational and diasporic connections, natural disasters and unnatural colonial violence, feminist and queer interventions, Latinx futurities, and more. Together, the critical and creative works in this collection begin to map out the emerging and evolving field of Latinx comics studies and to envision what might be possible in and through Latinx comics.

How to Reach the Moon by Nicolás Schuff | Illustrated by Ana Sender | Translated by Lawrence Schimel | PICTURE BOOK

Emilio loves spending vacations out in the forest at his abuelo's house. The woods are mysterious, and Abuelo and Emilio can dine outside by the light of a lantern every night. And then, best of all, Abuelo tells his fantastical stories! One night, when there's a full moon, Abuelo suggests they go and meet the moon. At first, Emilio isn't sure he's serious--but Abuelo is a true adventurer! And so the two, boy and grandfather, set off on their mission. But what creatures might await them in the forest? And will they really get to see the moon?

Cristina Plays by Micaela Chirif | Illustrated by Paula Ortiz | Translated by Lawrence Schimel | PICTURE BOOK

Cristina explores ordinary tasks like eating and tidying and makes curious discoveries before tumbling into sleep and visiting a fantastical dream world. Cristina Plays sweeps the reader into a clever game where Cristina might be a toy rabbit in a doll house or the child playing with it.

On Sale April 22

The Reel Wish by Yamile Saied Méndez | MIDDLE GRADE

Ballet is Florencia del Lago's entire world. After years of hard work, she is chosen as Clara in the winter production of The Nutcracker. Not only is she the youngest dancer to receive such an honor but also the first Latina. She's on track to be recruited by the best ballet companies.

Unfortunately, she suffers a panic attack on opening night--on stage, in front of everyone. And then Selena, Florencia's best friend, steps right into the role to replace her. Just like that, Florencia's whole world falls apart--the ballet studio expels her, and her best friend turns on her, tormenting her on social media and in real life.

But even though the one thing she was driven toward has come to an end, therapy and family support help Florencia open up to new experiences. She notices people at school she's never paid attention to before, and she even stumbles upon an Irish dance school and decides to give it a try. Can a new passion for Irish dance help Florencia find the joy of performing on the stage that she lost that fateful winter night?

Don't miss the Spanish-language edition of this book, El Deseo de Mi Corazón.

Echoes of the Water War: Legacies of Cochabamba, Bolivia by Oscar Olivera | NONFICTION

Water is life! From the frontlines of the greatest popular rebellion against the privatization of water comes the triumphant grassroots story of ordinary people in Cochabamba, Bolivia who became water warriors. As Echoes of Cochabamba shows in vivid detail, the 2001 "water wars" was an explosion of democracy and human rights regained by the masses, which won popular control of water supply and defied all odds by driving out the transnational corporation that had stolen their water in the first place.

Oscar Olivera, a trade union machinist who helped shape and lead a movement that brought thousands of ordinary people to the streets, powerfully conveys the perspective of a committed participant in a victorious and inspirational rebellion.

With hard-won political savvy, Olivera reflects on major themes that emerged from the war over water: the fear and isolation that Cochabambinos faced with a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid; the challenges of democratically administering the city's water supply; and the impact of the water wars on subsequent resistance.

If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal | YOUNG ADULT

Lights. Camera. Love?

Rochelle “the Shell” Coleman is laser focused on only three things: becoming valedictorian, getting into Wharton, and, of course, taking down her annoyingly charismatic nemesis and only academic competition, Amira Rodriguez. However, despite her stellar grades, Rochelle’s college application is missing that extra special something: a job.

When Rochelle gets an opportunity to work at Horizon Cinemas, the beloved Black-owned movie theater, she begrudgingly jumps at the chance to boost her chances at getting into her dream school. There’s only one problem: Amira works there…and is also her boss.

Rochelle feels that working with Amira is its own kind of horror movie, but as the two begin working closely together, Rochelle starts to see Amira in a new light, one that may have her beginning to actually…like her?

But Horizon’s in trouble, and when mysterious things begin happening that make Horizon’s chances of staying open slimmer, it’s up to the employees to solve the mystery before it’s too late, but will love also find its way into the spotlight?

The Summer I Ate the Rich by Maika Moulite & Maritza Moulite | YOUNG ADULT

Brielle Petitfour loves to cook. But with a chronically sick mother and bills to pay, becoming a chef isn’t exactly a realistic career path.

When Brielle’s mom suddenly loses her job, Brielle steps in and uses her culinary skills to earn some extra money. The rich families who love her cooking praise her use of unique flavors and textures, which keep everyone guessing what’s in Brielle’s dishes. The secret ingredient? Human flesh.

Written by the storytelling duo Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, The Summer I Ate the Rich is a modern-day fable inspired by Haitian zombie lore that scrutinizes the socioeconomic and racial inequity that is the foundation of our society. Just like Brielle’s clients, it will have you asking: What’s for dinner?

Juana y Lucas: Grandes problemas by Juana Medina | Translated by Eida DelRisco | PICTURE BOOK

Juana’s life is just about perfect. She lives in the beautiful city of Bogotá with her two most favorite people in the world: her mami and her dog, Lucas. Lately, though, things have become a little less perfect. Mami has a new hairdo and a new amigo named Luis with whom she has been spending a LOT of time. He is kind and teaches Juana about things like photography and jazz music, but sometimes Juana can’t help wishing things would go back to the way they were before. When Mami announces that she and Luis are getting married and that they will all be moving to a new casa, Juana is quite distraught. Lucky for her, though, some things will never change—like how much Mami loves her. Based on author-illustrator Juana Medina’s own childhood in Colombia, this joyful series is sure to resonate with readers of all ages.

Property of the Revolution: From a Cuban Barrio to a New Hampshire Mill Town by Ana Hebra Flaster | NONFICTION

Ana Hebra Flaster was six years old when her working-class family was kicked out of their Havana barrio for opposing communism. Once devoted revolutionaries themselves but disillusioned by the Castro government’s repressive tactics, they fled to the US. The permanent losses they suffered—of home, country, and loved ones, all within forty-eight hours—haunted her multigenerational family as they reclaimed their lives and freedom in 1967 New Hampshire. There, they fed each other stories of their scrappy barrio—some of which Hebra Flaster has shared on All Things Considered—to resurrect their lost world and fortify themselves for a daunting task: building a new life in a foreign land.

Weaving pivotal events in Cuba–US history with her viejos’—elders’—stories of surviving political upheaval, impossible choices, and “refugeedom,” Property of the Revolution celebrates the indomitable spirit and wisdom of the women warriors who led the family out of Cuba, shaped its rebirth as Cuban Americans, and helped Ana grow up hopeful, future-facing—American. But what happens when deeply buried childhood memories resurface, demanding an adult’s reckoning?

On Sale April 29

Latine Herbalism: A Beginner's Guide to Modern Curanderismo, Healing Plants, and Folk Traditions of the Americas by Iosellev Castañeda | NONFICTION

Delve into the healing traditions of Latine folk herbalism and modern curanderismo with this all-in-one guidebook offering a fusion of time-honored and contemporary practices. Latine Herbalism details the medicinal power of herbs and plants, their origins, and their most common uses while also exploring the folk traditions from sacred locations in the US, Mexico, and South America. This book even goes one step further, helping you navigate through the most common afflictions of body and mind, from digestive issues to stress management and beyond, with remedios y rituales such as:

• Breath vibrations

• Heart vibrations

• Spirit of the flowers

• Moon energy

• And more

Authored by a passionate advocate and practitioner, this book explores and honors the nuanced realms of curanderismo and Latine herbalism.

Dreams in Times of War / Soñar En Tiempos de Guerra: Stories / Cuentos by Oswaldo Estrada| Translated by Sarah Pollack | ADULT FICTION

In twelve stories, Dreams in Times of War / Soñar en tiempos de guerra brilliantly fictionalizes the lives of Latinx immigrants in the United States. The stories explore themes of violence including toxic masculinity, domestic abuse, and (trans)gender discrimination but also the alternative communities the characters form that offer solidarity and hope. Readers will celebrate this unflinching but heartfelt look at diverse immigrant experiences in the twenty-first century United States.

Theory of the Rearguard: How to Survive Contemporary Art (and Almost Everything Else) by Iván de la Nuez | Translated by Ellen Jones | NONFICTION

Theory of the Rearguard examines how contemporary art is in tension with survival, rather than in relation to life. In the twentieth century, Peter Bürger’s Theory of the Avant-Garde was a cult book focused on the two main tasks that art demanded at the time: to break its representation and to destroy the barrier that separated it from life.

Forty years later, The Theory of the Rearguard is an ironic manifesto about contemporary art and its failures, even though Iván de la Nuez does not waste his time mourning it or disguising it. He argues that our times are not characterized by the distance between art and life, but by a tension between art and survival, which is the continuation of life by any means necessary.

In the twenty-first century, Iván de la Nuez examines art in relationship to politics, iconography, and literature. This austere and sharp book—in which Duchamp stumbles upon Lupe, the revolution upon the museum, Paul Virilio upon Joan Fontcuberta or Fukuyama upon Michael Jackson—wonders if contemporary art will ever end. Because if it were mortal—“just as mortal as everything it invokes or examines under its magnifying glass”—de la Nuez argues would be worth writing an epitaph for it as he has done in this sparkling book of art criticism.

Fix-It Familia by Lucky Diaz | Illustrated by Micah Player | PICTURE BOOK

No job is too big, no task is too small. We’re the Fix It Familia. We help one, we help all!

Chavo and his family are always there to lend a helping hand. So when the main parade float crashes at a neighborhood fiesta, Chavo has the perfect plan to help his community. With a load of creativity and a truck full of love, nothing can stop Chavo’s ideas from becoming reality! 

This empowering tale of resilience, community, and the power of creativity is perfect for lovers of all things construction tools and trucks. 

The book includes Spanish words and phrases throughout and an author’s note from Lucky Diaz about his inspiration behind the story.

A Necklace of Ears by Alberto Roblest | ADULT FICTION

After leaving the artificial charm of Las Vegas behind, Sergio makes a living working at a military base. While repairing houses and maintaining the complex's gardens, he enters the lives of characters as diverse as married women in need of a sexual encounter--who are marked by the absence of their husbands at the front--and veterans who carry the echoes of war, facing ghosts that never fade away.

In a bold narrative game, the reader becomes an accomplice to the clandestine encounters and gossip of the military base. With a provocative tone, Alberto Roblest invites us to witness the human dynamics that unfold in this microcosm: the unbridled flirtation of the playboy protagonist and the stories that are whispered in the shadows.

As relationships blossom and wither, Sergio is presented as an enigma: in sudden dreams--or hazy memories--we find him wandering through the desert, a collar made of ears hanging from his neck. The haunting question persists: to whom do these ears belong?

Book Review: 'On the Wings of la Noche' by Vanessa L. Torres

Jamie Anderson said, “Grief, I've learned, is really just love. It's all the love you want to give, but cannot.” Naturally, a story that revolves around grief is also one that revolves around love. On the Wings of la Noche draws this connection between these two very intense emotions wonderfully, introducing us to a character who tragically lost her first love and must navigate a world without her person. 

Estrella Villanueva, best known as Noche, witnesses the death of her girlfriend Dante on a cold winter night at Lake Superior. Since then, Noche doesn’t know how to adapt to a life without Dante, especially since she is not entirely gone. Dante’s spirit still roams the earth, and Noche knows this because she is the one responsible for it. 

Noche is a Lechuza, a young woman who transforms into an owl at night and delivers souls to the afterlife; however, her duty becomes more complex after the love of her life requires her services. Noche is incapable of saying goodbye to Dante’s soul, so they spend their nights by the lake that swallowed her lover’s body, conversing in their ethereal forms. During the day, Noche must go back to school and experience life without Dante, but she is able to withstand it because of the promise of seeing her love again at night. Unfortunately, Dante’s soul is more and more dispersed with every encounter, and Noche doesn’t know how to stop her from fading. 

Besides the one with Dante, Torres introduces the reader to other relationships pivotal to Noche’s life. The one with her childhood best friend, Julien, who carries many secrets and is affected by Dante’s death too; the one with her new biology class’s lab partner, Jax, who makes her heart flutter in ways she had forgotten; and the one with her parents, who know about her Lechuza-self but can’t understand much of what she is going through. Every single connection is fundamental for our main character’s growth and navigation through grief. Torres develops each of Noche’s interactions organically, even with the awkwardness of a 17-year-old, making readers feel immediately drawn to all the characters. 

“With this, the author reminds readers of the importance of allowing ourselves to grieve and surrender to the things we cannot change. ”

The most crucial connection, however, is between Noche and her Lechuza persona. The immense loss she faces makes her question her own identity. Noche is Dante’s girlfriend, Julien’s best friend, Jax’s lab partner, and her parent’s daughter, but who is she outside all these relationships? Noche can’t ignore how alone she feels inside her feathers, knowing nobody in her circle could fully understand her experience. Besides, the lines between her owl and human self begin to blur, and Noche can’t tell where Estrella ends and her Lechuza begins. This conflict of identity is a great device that Torres uses to show us that our main character is not only grieving Dante but also her life before becoming a Lechuza, creating a beautiful exploration of self-acceptance. With this, the author reminds readers of the importance of allowing ourselves to grieve and surrender to the things we cannot change. 

On the Wings of la Noche is a conversation about forgiveness, identity, and reconciliation, explored by a 17-year-old shapeshifter facing a heartbreaking tragedy. Torres will make you believe in love again while holding your hand through a journey of immense grief. It aches, it makes you blush, it makes you cry, it makes you laugh. Her prose drives you through all the inevitable and necessary emotions one feels when one loves, the ones that make us human—the same ones that make Noche human even when spreading her wings at night. 

---

Roxanna Cardenas Colmenares is a Venezuelan writer living in New York City who loves to consume, study, and create art. She explores multiple genres in her writing, with a special interest in horror and sci-fi, while working on her B.A. in English with a Creative Writing concentration. 

Her work has made her a two-time recipient of the James Tolan Student Writing Award for her critical essays analyzing movies. She has also won The Henry Roth Award in Fiction, The Esther Unger Poetry Prize, and The Allan Danzig Memorial Award in Victorian Literature.

In her free time, she likes to watch movies, dance, and draw doodles that she hopes to be brave enough to share one day.