Ibi Zoboi’s 'My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich' Explores Race, Identity & More

“Ibi Zoboi’s National Book Award Finalist, My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich delivers in so many ways.” — Chelsea Villareal, member of Latinx in Publishing. 

Set in Harlem during the summer of 1984, Ebony-Grace Norfleet is a young, aspiring space captain. Raised in Huntsville, Alabama with her mother and grandfather, Jeremiah Norfleet, one of the first black engineers to work at NASA, Ebony is thrown for a loop when she’s told she’ll be spending her summer in Harlem with her father. 

Although she’s spent time in Harlem before, this time it’s different. Her best friend Bianca Perez isn’t feeling her aeronautical discoveries, imaginary and created with the support of her grandfather’s love for Star Trek and Star Wars. As Ebony-Grace struggles to maintain friendships in the streets of Harlem, where Double-Dutch, hip hop, and break dancing rule the day, she’s frustrated by the lack of her friends’ “Imagination Location.”

As the story plays out, the reader finds a connection to Ebony, in relating to and identifying with home and what it means to truly find yourself outside of your comfort zone, but engaged in a truly exciting scene of discovery. One can only fantasize about coming of age in Harlem during the mid-80s where passion was contagious and the arts were unlike anything seen before it. 

My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich explores the notion of identity with intersectionality as its foundation, consistently highlighting and questioning the importance of individuality, while also presenting the importance of community. And most importantly, through this readers’ opinion, it champions inclusivity. While our southern, sci-fi nerd protagonist feels at odds with her free-rhyming, posing “No Joke City” friends, she finds acceptance and belonging. Perhaps not the belonging she initially drafted in her mission to outer-space, Ebony-Grace belongs in a new, uncharted journey of what it means to feel the beginning of coming of age. 

An exquisite and beautifully written novel, Ibi Zoboi tackles a broken but beautiful Harlem and all that comes with it; the never-fading Apollo Theater, the hustle and bustle of 125th street and the never stop stopping of a beloved universe inside of New York City. 

Chelsea Villareal is a Mexican American Children’s Media Strategist from Portland, Oregon – Hey Cascadians! She holds a BUPA in Political Science & Media Studies from Portland State University, attended the NYU Summer Publishing Institute and is currently enrolled in her Masters at Columbia University. She works on the Brand Marketing team at Penguin Young Readers and holds down the role of Program Manager at We Need Diverse Books. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two crazy, lazy feline beasts.

Exclusive Chapter Excerpt: Category Five by Ann Dávila Cardinal

Latinx in Publishing is pleased to exclusively reveal a chapter from Category Five by Ann Dávila Cardinal the eagerly anticipated sequel to Five Midnights.

Category Five is a new supernatural young adult thriller set against the backdrop of post-hurricane Puerto Rico.

After the hurricane, some see destruction and some smell blood. The tiny island of Vieques, located just off the northeastern coast of the main island of Puerto Rico, is trying to recover after hurricane Maria, but the already battered island is now half empty. To make matters worse, as on the main island, developers have come in to buy up the land at a fraction of its worth, taking advantage of the island when it is down.

Lupe, Javier, and Marisol are back to investigate a series of murders that follow in the wake of a hurricane and in the shadow of a new supernatural threat.

Chapter Two

Marisol

When she arrived in Yabucoa, Marisol parked her 2001 Toyota Corolla under the only available shade, a caimito tree that was still able to protect her car from the sun even as it worked hard at pushing through the sidewalk with its tangle of roots. Not that she was worried about the paint job; no, the once-steel-gray finish had been beaten to jellyfish translucence by the Caribbean sun. It was more about the broken air-conditioning and a long-ass drive back to San Juan on Friday.

Not that it was sunny. There had been threatening dark clouds hovering on the edges of the overcast sky for days now, like an actor waiting for their cue. But hadn’t they had enough storms for several lifetimes? The drive along the east coast was beautiful despite the weather. You could see the scars from the hurricane, sure, but all the new growths were neon green and it made her happy to see life going on.

Life going on.

She was trying to figure out what that looked like. Life had been anything but smooth for her thus far, but after Maria . . . well, any kind of complaining felt frivolous. So, this summer she was determined to make a difference. To that end, she grabbed the petition she’d created at 2:00 a.m. that morning when she couldn’t sleep. This kind of protest seemed to make the most sense until the island was back on its feet again. So many people were busy trying to meet basic needs, she wanted to help give them a voice.

Marisol took a swig from her bottle of water and walked through the center of town toward the church that had become the operations hub for all the volunteers and organizations doing repair work in the area. Pablo, an ancient man who set up his folding chair near the town’s barber shop every day, waved at her and smiled his warm, toothless smile. She waved as usual and started toward the church.

No.

She stopped, convinced herself to turn around, and made her way toward him. Deep breath. “Señor, I have a petition to stop the purchasing of land by companies attempting to profit from the devastation of the hurricane.” Here it comes, the ask. Best to practice on this mild old man first. “Would you be willing to sign it?” She thrust the clipboard toward him. “You’d be my first,” she added, somewhat pathetically. He peered at the paper, and then looked up at her. She gave him the broadest, do-gooder smile she could muster, but, truthfully, she worried it just looked like she was in pain. But he smiled back, took the proffered pen, and signed the first blank line with a shaking hand. When he gave it back to her with a nod, she let out a breath, smiled, sincerely grateful, and stepped away.

Available June 2, 2020 from Tor Teen

One down. She looked at the shaky scrawl on the first page, then held it to her chest in a hug. She could get used to this.

She’d been coming to this town and staying during the week since school let out for the summer, and she was getting to know the locals and the other volunteers from the island and beyond. She was usually more of a loner, an introvert who preferred a good book to human interaction, but there was something about being here for a shared purpose. And having to talk to hundreds of strangers for the petition was a perfect demonstration that she was not the same person she’d been a year ago.

But who was?

There was a nice breeze on the east coast, and she loved how she would occasionally catch the scent of flor de maga blooms riding on the air. Then it would disappear so quickly she would wonder if she’d imagined it, if it was a ghost scent of a bush destroyed by the storm. But then she would see a splash of bright red peeking out from among the damaged foliage like hope. As usual, she planned to stop at the church’s senior center before heading to the worksite to check in. She stepped into the dark, cool building, with no lights on to save generator fuel and stave off the morning heat. The smell was so familiar—antiseptic, medicinal, with an undertone of urine and talcum powder. Okay, it wasn’t flor de maga, but it still comforted her. For most of her childhood her great grandmother Giga was stationed in a back room of their house, occasionally yelling out to the Virgin or her long dead husband, and Marisol would spend hours playing dolls on the old woman’s chenille bedspread or applying blush and lipstick on her wrinkled, thin lips. On the island old age wasn’t something you hid in a nursing home; it was right there in the next room.

“Mari!”

As her eyes adjusted to the dark interior, Marisol saw Camille, the stylish Haitian nurse who helped out with the elderly patients, walking toward her. Camille was a pro, had volunteered as a nurse in war-torn countries all over the globe, and it had taken Marisol awhile to earn the woman’s trust. But sometime over the last few weeks, she’d broken through. A smile here, a hand pat there. Now, Camille pulled her in tight for a hug, the Magi’s-gifts smell of her naturopath oils bringing a smile to Marisol’s face. Her graying hair was cut stylish and short, and her clothes were crisp linen, practical but elegant, the mango color of the shirt a warm companion to her dark brown skin. In other words, she was a total badass.

The nurse pulled her out of the hug and held her at arm’s length and then did her “staring into her soul” type thing. Did all nurses have that skill?

“Are you sleeping, Mari?”

And she was a mind reader, too. She laughed it off. “Too much to do to sleep!” Camille had no idea. Since the nightmares of the previous year had faded, she slept so much better. Just probably not long enough.

Camille did that cheek-pinching thing older women tended to do with teenagers. The woman’s skinny strong fingers had a pincer-type feel. But it also felt like family.

“You have to take better care of yourself, niña! Don’t make me drive out to Isla Verde and force chamomile tea on you!”

Family always includes just a dash of guilt and reprimand.

“I’m fine, Camille! Worry about your patients, not me.”

Her lips pulled into a reluctant smile. “Someone has to take care of you. You’re too busy taking care of everyone else!”

“Look who’s talking.”

Camille did that dismissive wave thing again.

“How’s Abuelita today?”

Camille turned to look at the tiny old lady in the wheelchair nodding off in the corner, her frail body wrapped in a thick cotton blanket despite the heat. Her real name was Ofelia Gutiérrez, but everyone just called her “Abuelita” because she was like everyone’s grandmother.

“Ay bendito, bless her, she’s doing well today, gracias a Dios. I think she’ll enjoy a visit from you.” Camille glided off to reprimand one of her charges for shuffling toward the exit in his old man slippers. Every hour or so he would insist he was going to walk back to Rincón, the town on the far west coast of the island he came from, and she would convince him to wait until after lunch, or a nap, or dinner.

Marisol pulled a folding chair next to Abuelita and took her cool, dry hand with its papery skin into hers. The woman didn’t move, her chin on her chest, rising slightly with every breath. Mari’s phone dinged with a text. She pulled it out with her free hand.

Hey! I’m here! Heading 2 Vieques w/ Tio. When can I c u?

“Vieques?” Marisol said out loud, smiling at the message from Lupe. She was so glad her friend was there for the summer, but why was she going straight to Vieques? At least it wasn’t far from Yabucoa.

“Vieques?” Abuelita echoed. She tended to repeat pieces of conversation that happened around her like a gray-haired parrot.

“Hola, Abuelita! Es Marisol. ¿Como se encuentra?”

“My grandmother is in Vieques. She’s . . .” She appeared to lose her train of thought. Another frequent occurrence.

Marisol smiled. Abuelita was eighty-eight. She doubted her grandmother was in Vieques or anywhere at this point. Besides, Abuelita was from St. Croix, not Vieques. But Marisol hated how most people talked to the elderly as if they were children, so she always responded to their questions and comments, no patting of hand and patronizing, Sure, honey, whatever you say.

“Why would your abuela be in Vieques?”

Abuelita didn’t seem to hear, she was nodding her head up and down in that way she did when she was lost in her own thoughts. Marisol decided she would sit with her for a few more minutes, then head over to the worksite. She was already focusing on what lay ahead on the repairs to the Vazquez’s house when Abuelita spoke again.

“She’s angry.”

“Who? Your abuela?”

“Yes. She’s so angry. . . .”

“At you? No, Abuelita, who could be angry at you?” She stroked the woman’s thinning hair, trying to comfort her. Mari often wondered where the woman’s thoughts went, or when. She would have to do some research into cognitive functions of the elderly.

“Not at me, at them. They made us leave . . . left her there alone,” Abuelita said again, then looked up at Marisol and with tears welling in her cloudy eyes.

“Oh no! Don’t cry! It’s okay!” Marisol’s throat tightened and she thought she would cry too. How had she upset the woman?

And then Camille was there, all comforting hushes, and lifted Abuelita to her feet gently, as if she were a bird, and walked her over to her room. Abuelita was snoring before the nurse had finished tucking in the white blankets.

Then Camille came back and looked over at Marisol and noticed the tears in her eyes. “Oh no, sweetheart, it’s nothing you said! The old ones, they get sad sometimes. So much loss . . .”

“She was talking about her grandmother being angry. And on Vieques. Isn’t she from St. Croix?” Camille handed her a tissue and she blew her nose.

“She is, but maybe she had family from there. Don’t worry, amor, she’s just confused.”

Marisol shivered, though the room was quite warm. No wonder the poor old woman was anxious. She’d lost her home to a hurricane. Marisol swallowed so she wouldn’t start crying again. She hugged Camille and left quickly, anxious to get to work.

The last ten months had been like something from a postapocalyptic nightmare. Volunteering was something, but Marisol had to do more. She looked at the clipboard in her hand and considered tossing it in the car but decided she would bring it to the worksite and gather some more names. But what good was the petition if she couldn’t get it to the right people? The people in power.

Marisol vowed right then that she would do whatever it took to help get the island past this, whatever she could do to help people like abuelita recover from Maria.

She just didn’t know how yet.

Used with permission from Tor Teen, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates; a trade division of Macmillan Publishers. Copyright (c) Ann Dávila Cardinal 2020.

Ann Dávila Cardinal is the author of Five Midnights, published in June 2019 by Tor Teen. Cardinal is also the Director of Recruitment for Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) and helped create VCFA’s winter Writing residency in Puerto Rico. She has a B.A. in Latino Studies from Norwich University, an M.A. in sociology from UI&U, and an MFA in Writing from VCFA. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies, including A Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Sons (2005) and Women Writing the Weird (2012) and she contributed to the Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture, And Society in the United States edited by Ilan Stavans. Her essays have appeared in American Scholar, Vermont Woman, AARP, and Latina. Cardinal lives in Vermont, needle-felts tiny reading creatures, and cycles four seasons a year.

Interview with 2019 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow, José Olivarez

We were lucky to chat with José Olivarez, award-winning poet and educator, author of Citizen Illegal, and a 2019 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow, about inspiration, migration, invisibility, working with violence in poetry, and how lucky we are to be in the midst of so many great contemporary Latinx poets. An active member of the poetry community, José also co-hosts The Poetry Gods podcast with Aziza Barnes and Jon Sands, and is the co-editor of the upcoming BreakBeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT (Haymarket 2020). He recently joined Latinx in Publishing to co-host the Writers for Migrant Workers Benefit in NYC in late 2019.

Read on for our full Q&A below:

1.     WHAT INSPIRES YOU AS A WRITER?

Tamara K. Nopper shared this Octavia E. Butler story on Twitter one day that I love: “Forget about inspiration, because it's more likely to be a reason not to write, as in, "I can't write today because I'm not inspired." I tell them I used to live next to my landlady and I told everybody she inspired me.” —Octavia E. Butler

2.     WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CONTEMPORARY LATINX WRITERS?

Elizabeth Acevedo, Eloisa Amezcua, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Joseph Rios, Javier Zamora, Janel Pineda, Jacob Saenz, Sandra Cisneros, Erika L. Sanchez, Shea Serrano, and Raquel Salas Rivera come to mind first and foremost, but let me also say that there are so many incredible contemporary Latinx writers working right now. We are lucky.

3.     YOU TACKLE HEAVY THEMES IN CITIZEN ILLEGAL — MIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP AND BELONGING, RACE, IDENTITY (PERFORMATIVE AND REAL). WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO FOCUS ON THOSE ELEMENTS?

Shit. I don’t know how much I decided on that. My family’s migration (was it forced? was it voluntary?) has opened up so many questions in our relationships with each other (how? why? when? with? for?) and my relationship with the United States. I think migration shapes the way I see the world, so I don’t know how much of a choice it was. For me, where I exercised choice was in how I presented those themes. I didn’t want to enact violence for the sake of giving my book gravitas. I think that would have been bullshit, so in talking about these heavy themes where violence is always present, it helped to turn to the poetics of Afrofuturism to think about how I framed the poems. A lot of the poems are doubles. They start in the same place, but end in different places. That was on purpose.

4.     HOW DID CITIZEN ILLEGAL COME TO BE? HOW DID YOU COME TO POETRY?

I came to poetry because I was a huge reader and a good student and by good student, I mean I was invisible. I got tired of being invisible. I had never chosen invisibility. Poetry allowed me to ask myself if I was becoming the person I wanted to become or was I just accepting someone else’s vision of myself. I started writing through the Louder Than A Bomb Poetry Festival, my favorite festival in the world.

My book came together over about four years. Most helpfully, I got to work with young people during that time, especially in Chicago, and a lot of the poems came out of the same workshops I gave to the students. A bunch more came from the conversations we were having with each other.

5.     WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO GET THE RECOGNITION OF MAJOR AWARDS LIKE THE RUTH LILLY

It feels great. And it’s also a little disorienting. I dreamed of writing poems that people cared about and might be useful. And now that it’s happening, I miss the quiet. I feel more anxious now. I don’t miss being broke though. Being broke sucks.

6.     YOU’RE ALSO AN EDITOR AND RUN A PODCAST (THE POETRY GODS). CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THOSE PROJECTS AND HOW THEY INFLUENCE YOUR WRITING?

Being an editor and a podcaster helps me zoom out. It gives me a chance to engage with poetry with a different set of eyes. I think it helps me clarify my own writing project to myself.

7.     FOR NEW READERS BEING INTRODUCED TO YOUR WORKS, WHERE DO YOU RECOMMEND THEY START AND WHY?

I recommend starting with “Mexican American Disambiguation,” “You Get Fat When You’re In Love”, and “Mexican Heaven.” Those poems are anthemic. I think about my book like an album. Those poems would be the singles.

8.     TEACHING IS ALSO SEEMS TO BE AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR PRACTICE. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR YOUNG POETS?

My advice is read everything. Especially Aracelis Girmay. Ultimately, your writing practice is yours, so you have to experiment and figure out what works for you. I can’t give you that answer, but for me reading is the foundation of everything. Especially reading Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz and Eve Ewing and Nate Marshall.

9.     WHAT LATINX WRITERS (OR BOOKS) INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING (OR YOU AS A PERSON)?

Willie Perdomo was hugely influential. Emma Pérez. Carmen Gimenez Smith. Paul Martínez Pompa got bars. Vanessa Angelica Villareal. Daniel Borzutzky. Not to mention visual artists like Sentrock, Kane, Yvette Mayorga and Runsy.

José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the 2018 PEN/Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by NPR and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he is co-editing the forthcoming anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods and a recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo, Poets House, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, & the Conversation Literary Festival. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers.

New Chapter Book Series from David Bowles Coming in 2020

Claudia Gabel at HarperCollins has bought 13TH STREET, a new chapter book series from Pura Belpré Honor author David Bowles and illustrator Shane Clester, described as a Latinx Stranger Things adventure for kids ages 5-8, in which three cousins find themselves drawn into a strange world full of monsters. Publication is set for Summer 2020; Taylor Martindale Kean at Full Circle Literary represented the author and Justin Rucker at Shannon Associates represented the illustrator in the six-book deal for World rights.

Publication Date: July 7, 2020 (for the first 3 books)

David Bowles (c) Paul Chouy, UTRGV

Author David Bowles: 

David Bowles is a Mexican-American author from south Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. He has written several titles, most notably The Smoking Mirror (Pura Belpré Honor Book) and They Call Me Güero (Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, Pura Belpré Honor Book, Walter Dean Myers Honor Book).
His work has also been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as School Library Journal, Bookbird, Knowledge Quest, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children’s Literature.
In 2017, David was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.

Illustrator, Shane Clester

Illustrator Shane Clester: 
Largely self taught, Shane has been a professional illustrator since 2005. Initially working in comics and storyboards, Shane has transitioned to his real passion—children’s books—even self-publishing several of his own. Shane’s commitment and work ethic are unrivaled, with many clients going on to become personal friends. Above all else, Shane values his flexibility, diversity and determination to produce nothing less than perfect. Shane currently lives in Florida with his wonderful wife and their two tots. When not illustrating, he can usually be found by his in-laws' pool.

Best Latinx Books of the Decade, According to Twitter

HARPERTEEN, 2018

THE POET X by Elizabeth Acevedo

An Afro-Latina heroine tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.

With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

CINCO PUNTO PRESS, 2014

GABI A GIRL IN PIECES by Isabel Quintero

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy's pregnancy, Sebastian's coming out, the cute boys, her father's meth habit, and the food she craves.

And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS, 2012

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

This Printz Honor Book is a “tender, honest exploration of identity” (Publishers Weekly) that distills lyrical truths about family and friendship.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

BOA EDITIONS LTD., 2018

CENZONTLE by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

In this highly lyrical, imagistic debut, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo creates a nuanced narrative of life before, during, and after crossing the US/Mexico border. These poems explore the emotional fallout of immigration, the illusion of the American dream via the fallacy of the nuclear family, the latent anxieties of living in a queer brown undocumented body within a heteronormative marriage, and the ongoing search for belonging. Finding solace in the resignation to sheer possibility, these poems challenge us to question the potential ways in which two people can interact, love, give birth, and mourn―sometimes all at once.

SOHO TEEN, 2015

MORE HAPPY THAN NOT by Adam Silvera

In his twisty, gritty, profoundly moving debut—Adam Silvera brings to life a charged, dangerous near-future summer in the Bronx.

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again—but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely. 

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is. 

FEIWEL & FRIENDS, 2017

WILD BEAUTY by Anna-Marie McLemore

McLemore introduces a spellbinding setting and two characters who are drawn together by fate—and pulled apart by reality.

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They’ve also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens.

The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family.

KNOPF BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS, 2017

I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER by Erika L. Sánchez

A poignant and often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican-American home. 
 
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.
 
But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter.

HAYMARKET BOOKS, 2018

CITIZEN ILLEGAL by José Olivarez

In this stunning debut, poet José Olivarez explores the stories, contradictions, joys, and sorrows that embody life in the spaces between Mexico and America. He paints vivid portraits of good kids, bad kids, families clinging to hope, life after the steel mills, gentrifying barrios, and everything in between. Drawing on the rich traditions of Latinx and Chicago writers like Sandra Cisneros and Gwendolyn Brooks, Olivarez creates a home out of life in the in-between. Combining wry humor with potent emotional force, Olivarez takes on complex issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and immigration using an everyday language that invites the reader in.

RICK RIORDAN PRESENTS/DISNEY, 2019

SAL & GABI BREAK THE UNIVERSE by Carlos Hernandez

When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn't under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal's office for the third time in three days, and it's still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken in Yasmany's locker, even though nobody saw him do it and the bloody poultry has since mysteriously disappeared.

Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for this sleight of hand, he relied on a talent no one would guess except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. Gabi learns that he's capable of conjuring things much bigger than a chicken—including his dead mother—she takes it all in stride, and Sal knows that she is someone he can work with. There's only one slight problem: their manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk.

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2012

SLOW LIGHTNING by Eduardo C. Corral

Seamlessly braiding English and Spanish, Corral's poems hurtle across literary and linguistic borders toward a lyricism that slows down experience. He employs a range of forms and phrasing, bringing the vivid particulars of his experiences as a Chicano and gay man to the page. Although Corral's topics are decidedly sobering, contest judge Carl Phillips observes, "one of the more surprising possibilities offered in these poems is joy."

LATINX IN PUBLISHING HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Best Latinx Books of 2019

The Latinx in Publishing team got together to select our favorite books for the year. There were so many wonderful titles this to chose from. Read on to find out which books made it on our best of list for 2019!

TITLE: My Papi is a Motorcycle/Mi Papi Tiene un Moto
AUTHOR: Isabel Quintero | @isabelinpieces
ILLUSTRATOR: Zeke Peña | @zpvisual
PUBLISHER: Kokila/Penguin | @kokilabooks
“This warm, joy-infused ode to neighborhood, community, and family has been a favorite bedtime read in my household this year. We love Daisy Ramona’s pink unicorn helmet, the love and closeness between her and Papi, and how much you feel like you are riding right along with them. A true masterpiece in both languages.” - Nancy Mercado, Latinx in Publishing, Steering Committee Member

TITLE: In the Dream House: A Memoir
AUTHOR: Carmen Maria Machado | @carmenmmachado
PUBLISHER: Graywolf Press | @GraywolfPress
“You can always trust that you’re in good hands when reading anything new from Machado, but such an unflinchingly honest examination of abuse within the context of a queer relationship is rarer than rare. Stunningly brilliant and groundbreaking!” - Carolina Ortiz, Latinx in Publishing, Social Media Committee Member

TITLE: Dealing in Dreams
AUTHOR: Lilliam Rivera | @lilliamr
PUBLISHER: S&S Books for Young Readers | @simonteen
“Rivera’s sophomore novel about girl gangs battling for the favor of Mega City’s beloved founder is an action-packed dystopian tale. I adored the dark and mysterious world of this novel.” - Natassja Haught, Latinx in Publishing, Social Media Member

TITLE: Gods of Jade and Shadow
AUTHOR: Silvia Moreno-Garcia | @silviamg
PUBLISHER: Del Rey | @DelReyBooks
“It would have been unlikely for a fantasy novel like this—one so steeped in Mexican culture and Indigenous mythology—to even be published in the US ten years ago, let alone get review attention. I love that Moreno=Garcia is pushing the fantasy world in such exciting directions, but equally importantly, she has serious writing chops; this is an epic and beautiful story of a young woman finding her power.” - Sophia Jimenez, Latinx in Publishing, Steering Committee Member

TITLE: With the Fire on High
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Acevedo | @acevedowrites
PUBLISHER: HarperTeen | @HarperTeen
“Acevedo’s writing hums with deliciousness and love. I felt every emotion Emoni expressed, and my heart and soul were always hungry for more. Plus it was so refreshing to read about a teenage mom who was handling her own, taking care of her baby, her abuela, and still striving to make her dreams come true. This book is a statement for all the Latinx young moms out there that anything is possible despite your circumstances!” - Saraciea J. Fennell, Latinx in Publishing, Steering Committee Member