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.