Margarita Engle and Olivia Sua On Bringing Water Day To Readers

Water days are special days for a young girl in Trinidad—a town in central Cuba. They hold great significance for her whole village, actually.

On this particular water day, the girl joins her mami on a mission to mend their family’s leaky hose.

By the time the water man
finally arrives, we’ll be ready to fill
the blue tank on our flat red roof
with clear water
that flows
like hope
for my whole
thirsty familia.

Newbery Honor Award-winning author Margarita Engle brings readers Water Day—a celebratory picture book about the arrival of the water man to a small village. The book (out now from Atheneum Books for Young Readers) was illustrated by Olivia Sua.

The village in Water Day no longer has its own water supply. So residents rely on the water man, who visits weekly to distribute water to them. This time, he arrives in a wagon pulled by a horse that strains against the weight of a metal tank. Through the eyes of the book’s young narrator, readers are pulled into the anticipation of this day and, most importantly, what it means to have access to water.

“This story is really the contrast between how easy it is to get a drink of water in so many places, and how difficult it is in so many other places,” Engle told Latinx in Publishing. “And I’m not going to say that it’s just the U.S. against developing countries, because I live in a part of California where a lot of my neighbors’ wells have gone dry. And we don’t have access to city water because we’re in a rural residential zone. So if our wells go dry, that’s it. We have to do exactly what’s shown in this book, which is [to] bring water in a tanker truck.”

Engle was born in Los Angeles but spent many childhood summers with family in her mother’s hometown of Trinidad de Cuba. The author said she featured a horse and wagon for water transport in her book because, in Cuba, there’s a fuel shortage which causes horses to be used in some areas to bring water to people.

The joyous tone of Water Day is not only a credit to Engle’s lyrical style of writing, but also to Sua’s gorgeous illustrations. Sua’s art form of mostly painted cut paper breathes life into the book—bringing readers closer to Cuba and its people. There are also colorful houses with intricate iron window bars. There is a kitchen with hanging pots. A mango tree. There are mountain landscapes behind homes and churches. And even tinajones—big clay jars that the narrator’s great-grandmother says used to be filled with daily afternoon rains.

“This is probably one of the most research-intensive books I’ve ever done because I was trying to capture Trinidad,” Sua said. “I wanted to get the essence right.”

Though Water Day doesn’t explicitly say the story is set in Cuba, Engle confirmed it is.

Sua said she conducted a lot of research on Cuba through Google Maps and through photos of the country online. She also received input from Engle.

The illustrator said the story’s themes of environmentalism and the climate crisis first drew her to Engle’s manuscript. They are topics she cares deeply about.

Readers of Water Day may feel a jolt of realization as to just how important water is in their everyday lives. This is succinctly described in the below lines from the book:

Five days have passed 
since the water man’s last visit.

We need to bathe,
wash clothes, 
cook rice…

Engle didn’t hesitate when asked if that was intentional on her part.

“Yes, absolutely,” the author said. “We take water for granted. . . There’s a lot of injustice all over the world. It’s not just Cuba. It’s not just certain societies. There’s just this injustice in terms of access to water, and it’s so basic. This is something that everybody needs, but we don’t have equal access.”

Sua said Water Day is an important story. “Some of us are experiencing flooding,” the illustrator said, “and some of us are experiencing water scarcity.”

Engle has written many verse novels, memoirs, and picture books throughout her publishing career. For this book, she wanted to tell the story from the point of view of a child without scaring readers or making them sad.

“I actually wanted to focus on the joy of the arrival of the water, rather than on those days in between when you don’t have it being delivered,” the award-winning poet said. “I wanted to focus on the excitement of just what it means to finally have water.”

In her author’s note, Engle wrote about her mother’s hometown of Trinidad and how water access has become a lot more complicated due to factors such as climate change, polluted groundwater, and crumbling pipes for delivery. She told Latinx in Publishing that, when searching online for photos of the rooftops in Trinidad, you’ll see the blue tanks of water. You would not have seen that a few years ago, Engle added, “because everybody was able to get enough water from wells and so forth.”

She wants children to think about how privileged they are when they do have running water.

“I want to say we’re wealthy if we have that, but it’s a different kind of wealth because there are areas where middle-class people in the U.S. don’t have access to clean water,” Engle said. “So it’s just something to not take for granted. We need to treasure our natural resources.”

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Margarita Engle is the Cuban American author of many books including the verse novels Rima’s Rebellion; Your Heart, My Sky; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; and The Lightning Dreamer. Her verse memoirs include Soaring Earth and Enchanted Air, which received the Pura Belpré Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor, and was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, among others. Her picture books include Drum Dream Girl, Dancing Hands, and The Flying Girl. Visit her at MargaritaEngle.com.

Olivia Sua is an artist who creates elaborate works of painted cut paper. She is from Washington State and resides in her hometown of North Bend. In 2020, Olivia graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art with a BFA in illustration. When she’s not illustrating, Olivia likes to go backpacking, quilt, and collect seeds for her garden. Visit her at oliviasua.com.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family and dog, Brooklyn.

Exclusive Excerpt: All Bones Are White by Carlo Perez Allen

Latinx in Publishing is pleased to exclusively reveal an excerpt from All Bones Are White by Carlo Perez Allen, winner of the 2023 Victor Villaseñor Best Latino non-fiction book award from the International Latino Book Awards.

What does it mean to be American?

For a young immigrant boy named Carlo—who was forced to say goodbye to his birth name and country—the answer was a hard one to find.

When Carlo was just five years old, his Mexican mother, Camerina, married a gringo, Bill Allen. Wanting only the best for his three adoptive children, Bill moved his new family across the border. Bags packed and sights set for the sky, they left Mexico and set their sights on none other than the Big Apple.

From the start of this long trek across North America, Carlo's childhood was filled with exciting new experiences, harrowing odds, and cultural backlash.

Detailing one man's personal journey of self-discovery in a foreign land, All Bones Are White offers readers a rare firsthand glimpse into the seemingly insurmountable struggles of the lengthy Americanization process.

Told in Carlo Perez Allen's own words, learn first-hand how one person's identity can be forcefully molded, generalized, and lost within the struggle to obtain the All-American dream.

We arrived in Buffalo to unimaginably cold weather. We had no hats, or scarves, or thermals. Mother wore gloves, but they were simply a fashion statement. We strolled the station, studying our new surroundings. People walked cautiously bundled up with thick Lucha-libre masks, thick coats, hats, and gloves. Cesar found a brown paper bag on a bench and made a mask. He kept us entertained using different voices and making scary sounds until a passerby scoffed at the mask. Mother took it off.

We walked past a large mirror, and I noticed we looked out of place. We were the only Mexicans in sight. Everything blurred, and people moved in slow motion. The loud hissing of the steam engines stopped, and the drone of the crowd faded. We were in a different reality. Then, one image cut through the blurry crowd at a quick pace. We all turned around to see Bill’s smiling face. His friendly image grew closer, and he kissed Mother, whispering something that made her smile. Our hero came to our rescue. There was a collective sigh of relief.

Bill picked me up and held me above everyone else. I instantly felt safe with him in the United States, and I laughed hysterically. Suspended in his arms, I drifted to the memory of the first time Bill picked me up like this. It was in an open field across the street from our new apartment in Mexico. I had been prohibited from playing in the area ever since I came across the body of a dead soldier that smelled like cigarettes and alcohol. Mother and I had waited for Bill on the balcony overlooking the field. Eugenia stood behind me, trying to tame my cowlick while Cesar snuck peanuts from the bowl placed on the coffee table. It was the first day we would all eat together in the new apartment that Bill had rented and given Mother the keys to. It was a second-story apartment with lots of books and an unusual lampshade he had made from a custom ordered tortilla. This real tortilla draped over a lampshade. It was Bill’s sense of humor and ingenuity all in one. Mother glowed with excitement when she spotted Bill across the field. We all waved. I ran out the door, down the stairs, and across the area to greet the man I would call Dad for the rest of my life. I ran so hard I lost a shoe as I reached him. His sparkling blue eyes matched the sky above. And now there I was suspended just like before in the USA.

“Welcome to New York, Charlie,” he spoke in English, unlike in Mexico, where he had spoken in Spanish. His soft voice was music to my ears. I giggled and squirmed in the air, saying, “Que?Que?”

“You have to learn English, and it starts now. From now on, your name is Charlie.” Bill explained something I wouldn’t understand for a long time. “Charles Perez Allen,” he beamed. Charlie? I didn’t understand what Charlie meant nor why Oscar wasn’t going to be my name any longer. “New country, new name.” Bill smiled. “You want to melt right in. A new name will make it easier for you.” Okay, I got it. No crying, no Oscar.

Melt right in. It would be a phrase I’d learn about later as Bill would explain the importance of assimilation. I saw the pride in his smiling face. I felt protected from everything, including that mean man on the train. Losing my name was a small price to pay for the comfort of being loved by this man who wanted to be my father. He put me down and hugged and kissed Eugenia and Cesar before we walked to pick up our luggage. “Eugenia, you are now Mary,” Bill said. “Can you say, Mary?”

“Mary,” Eugenia repeated.

“And you Cesar are now Donald. Can you say, Donald?”

“Donald Duck,” said Don.

“I am Dad,” said Bill. “I am your father now, and you will call me Dad. Do you understand?” The three of us nodded. “Good. We are a family, and we each have a role, a responsibility. It’s like a rowboat, everyone helps make it work. We all have a job. Your mother will take care of our home. My job is to provide for all our needs.” He paused, looked at Mother lovingly, and continued. “And your job is to assimilate, become Americans.” Mother smiled and kissed Bill on the lips.

That was the end of Oscar Perez, Cesar Perez, and Eugenia Perez. From that day on, we were Charles Perez Allen, Donald Perez Allen, and Eugenia Perez Allen.

Excerpted from "All Bones Are White," used with permission from Fluky Fiction., www.flukyfiction.com. (c) Carlo Perez Allen.

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Carlo Perez Allen is a recipient of the Victor Villaseñor Best Latino non-fiction book award from the International Latino Book Awards for his debut memoir, All Bones Are White.

He is a member of WGA and SAG, member with feature film, television, and theater credits spanning forty years. He co-wrote the film Home Sweet Hell, Sony Pictures starring Katherine Heigl and Jim Belushi. His recent plays received high praise for strong social commentary on current issues.

He holds BA and MA degrees from U.C. Berkeley and is an AFI film studies graduate. He is proud of his twenty-five years of service as a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher.

His next book, 1851, received a five-star highly recommended award for excellence from the Historical Fiction Company and will be out next year.

Author Q & A: Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo by Adrianna Cuevas

When 12-year-old Maricela Yanet Feijoo isn’t at school or with her best friends, Keisha and Juan Carlos, she can sometimes be found wincing at what she calls her family’s “Peak Cubanity.” She also worries that her next-door neighbor and classmate—who she calls “Mocosa” Mykenzye—will judge.

“Peak Cubanity” is what Mari calls her family’s behavior when she feels they’re being over-the-top. And she’s got many examples from which to draw from on New Year’s Eve because that’s when she says they reach Peak Cubanity. It’s the day Abuelita lugs a suitcase around the block because she wants to travel the upcoming year. And Mami sweeps and mops the whole house, leaving a bucket of dirty water by the front door, so that she can throw it out at midnight.

“At least we won’t be eating twelve grapes at midnight as fast as we can,” Mari narrates. “When I almost choked last year, Papi had to do the Heimlich maneuver on me and everything. I shot a green grape straight out of my throat and into the eye of my sister, Liset. Maybe something that’s supposed to bring you good luck shouldn’t also try to kill you. Just a thought.”

“Cuevas brings readers another memorable story that will both make you chuckle and feel deeply for a young girl finding her place on her family tree.”

Which is why at the start of Adrianna Cuevas’ new middle grade novel, Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo, the titular character declines to participate in her family’s biggest New Year’s Eve traditions: burning an effigy to rid themselves of the past year’s bad luck. But after Mari fails to throw hers into the fire, strange things begin happening. Bad luck falls upon her, then spreads to her friend, Keisha.

Out now from HarperCollins, Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo is a heartfelt and humorous story about one girl’s journey toward self-acceptance and learning how important it is to know your family’s history. Spooky vibes and silliness also permeate the book, as readers witness all kinds of things happening to Mari. Among them are uncooperative pencils during a quiz, a possessed violin and, in Keisha’s case, shoes that glue to the mat when she’s at fencing practice.

Once Mari discovers she has a unique ability to call upon her Cuban ancestors, she and her friends embark on a quest to work with the ghosts to try to defeat El Cocodrilo. Can they do it?

In Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo Cuevas brings readers another memorable story that will both make you chuckle and feel deeply for a young girl finding her place on her family tree. The Pura Belpré Honor-winning author spoke with Latinx in Publishing about crafting Mari’s story, preserving your family’s history, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): Congratulations on Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo! What inspired this story?

Adrianna Cuevas (AC): This story really came from a couple of avenues. First, I’m a horror fan. I’ve always loved horror. My dad took me to see Alien 3 when I was a kid in the theater, probably way younger than a child should have been seeing Alien 3 in the theater. That is a core memory for me. Part of it was this is my fourth published book now, and I’ve been writing mostly adventure. I was a little bit spookier with The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto, but I really wanted to dip my toe more into spookier stories for middle grade kids.

The emotional inspiration really comes from my own experiences, and different students that I’ve interacted with; those second and third generation kids who are trying to figure out how their parents’ culture and their grandparents’ culture still fits into their lives. Because I think sometimes you can feel a little bit more disconnected from it.

For me, growing up I didn’t hear about a lot of the experiences of my family when they were in Cuba. They didn’t talk about them. One of the reasons I wrote Cuba in My Pocket was because I wanted to hear those stories. A lot of times there’s kind of a disconnect, where you don’t have all the family history that a lot of other families do. My husband’s family is from rural Oklahoma and when his grandfather passed away, they had this shed full of all this stuff from generations and generations past that was connected to their family history. Everything had a story. And I thought, I don’t have anything like that. I have things from my dad, but they’re all from things once he moved to the U.S. I have one small jewelry box that my grandmother actually wrote on the inside, “I brought this from Cuba.” That is literally the only thing.

So that’s a long-winded answer to say I was drawing from my own experience of kids that feel like they’re wanting that connection, perhaps—or maybe they don’t—with their family’s culture. But they’re not quite sure how that works. Then, of course, I wanted to throw in some horror just to make it fun—because I can never help that.

AC: Your main character, Maricela—or Mari—cringes at how extra her Cuban family can be. She even has a term for it: Peak Cubanity. It reminded me of how some first generation Americans struggle at times to straddle two cultures—that of the United States and of the country their parents hail from. What was it like crafting this character who, from the first page, seems to shun her family’s culture at first?

AC: A lot of it was not entirely based on my own experiences, but drawn from them. I grew up in Miami, Florida. Growing up Cuban in Miami, Florida, is a super privileged thing to do in all honesty, because your culture is everywhere. Our music is on the radio. You have your choice of Cuban restaurants to visit. You would go out and do all your errands for the day, and never have to speak English once.

I did not feel that sense of ‘other’ until I went to college in Missouri, because that was my first time being away from an area where, in all honesty, my culture was the majority. And so I got that sense that Mari does, of ‘Well, who am I and how do I fit in? And everyone here assumes that I’m Mexican because I speak Spanish.’ That happened to me a ton. It especially happens to me here in Texas. And so I wanted to honor those kids who feel the same way. I mean, Mari loves her family. But what child of any cultural background is not embarrassed by their family ever so often?

I wanted Mari to experience the joy that you can get from learning your family’s history, but at the same time understanding maybe why you didn’t know all about it to begin with. Because a lot of it can be painful. That happened when I was researching Cuba in My Pocket. I’m asking my dad and my cousins, as well, of their experiences in Cuba and coming over to the U.S. And not all the stories are great. You can see why maybe kids don’t hear everything, and adults are reluctant to talk about it. A lot of it was drawn from my personal experiences. But if you’ve ever met Cubans, the “Peak Cubanity” fits because we are not a subtle people. And so I had a lot of fun just writing the joy and the extra that Mari’s family is.

AC: Your book is so lively with all the bad luck shenanigans that happen to Mari and, later, her friend, Kiesha. How did you come up with all the bad luck instances that happen? That was so fun to read.

AC: I will say that coming up with nonsense or just off-the-wall things is not hard for me when I am living with a now 16-year-old. Neither he—as my son—nor I have any filters. We tend to bounce really silly ideas off of each other all the time. I think as a creative person, it is really important to have someone like that in your life who doesn’t edit your creativity. They encourage you.

In all honesty, I’ve gotten into the habit where, if an idea pops into my head—even if it’s really off-the-wall—I’m not self-editing right away. I think that happens to a lot of authors, where you come up with an idea and the very next spot is, ‘Oh, no, that’s dumb. Nobody’s gonna want to read that.’ Because I have people in my life—my husband, my son—who are always encouraging my ideas and helping me brainstorm even the most nonsensical thing, I really value that as somebody in a creative profession.

It’s not hard to think of off-the-wall things when you’re just kind of letting your brain go. I always joke that as a Cuban, it’s very easy to write horror. It’s very easy to write a character that’s been cursed with bad luck. By and large, because of our political history, Cubans tend to be pessimists in all honesty. They’re gonna look at a situation and pretty much assume the worst is going to happen. That’s the whole function of horror, is asking, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ And so I feel like I was at a cultural advantage, thinking: ‘Well, what’s the worst that can happen to Mari in this situation?’

AC: You’re like, ‘I got this. I’m Cuban.’

AC: Exactly. Like, I was already being a pessimist about this situation. I knew what was going to happen.

AC: There’s another storyline here about the importance of documenting the stories and memories of family members who are deceased. What message were you hoping to send by highlighting this?

AC: I realize that for each of my books, it’s really my way of hanging on to something that I think is important, and that I think needs to be remembered. . . In Mari’s story, it’s my way of showing that, ‘This is why that’s important. We’re not going to have all these people around forever.’ You know, Mari only gets a lot of the stories from ghosts. We can’t let that be our option, where we’ve waited too long to preserve our family’s history.

One of the things that I am passionate about is the ability to tell our own stories, before someone else tells them for us. We need to remember and commemorate what’s happened to us before somebody else decides to tell our own history. And so I think that’s something I’m pretty passionate about because it’s now come up in pretty much every single manuscript I’ve written. I always have the adventure plot, the horror, the silliness, whatever—but the emotional core of all my stories is always going to come from something that I feel is important to remember. I think that’s why I addressed the story the way I did.

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo?

AC: I never go into writing any of my books with a lesson in mind. Because, for me, I want young readers to dive into one of my books. I want them to lose track of time. I want them to forget where they are, and I want them to just enjoy a story. That’s my primary goal with every single one of my books.

With Mari though, it would make me pretty happy if it made a young reader curious about their own family’s histories, start asking their elders some questions, or asking to be told stories. But by and large, I’m always just wanting my readers to have fun with my books.

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Adrianna Cuevas is the author of the Pura Belpre honor book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, Cuba in My Pocket, The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto, Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo, and Monster High: A Fright to Remember. She is a first-generation Cuban-American originally from Miami, Florida. A former Spanish and ESOL teacher, Adrianna currently resides outside of Austin, Texas with her husband and son. When not working with TOEFL students, wrangling multiple pets including an axolotl, and practicing fencing with her son, she is writing her next middle grade novel.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family and dog, Brooklyn.

December 2023 Latinx Releases

On Sale December 5

The Infinite Loop / El Lazo Infinito by Oneyda González | Translated by Eduardo Aparicio | Introduction by Lourdes Vázquez | POETRY

Oneyda González's astounding winning entry of the Paz Prize for Poetry is a searching and yearning triumph of hope over pain—through love. It is no small coincidence that González and Paz are linked in this publication, since the spiritual experience the latter lived and observed in India have accompanied González for many years, through her own curious search of the invisible that culminated in The Infinite Loop / El Lazo Infinito.

In this bilingual collection, pain and love combine in a self-annihilating matter-against-energy reaction that eventually amounts to a dynamic and deliberate formula for understanding hope. The Infinite Loop exists in the most fiery flames of friction where the personal will to survive—to hope to survive—is forged.

They Will Dream in the Garden by Gabriela Damián Miravete | Translated by Adrian Demopulos | ADULT FICTION

In They Will Dream in the Garden, Otherwise Award-winning author, Gabriela Damián Miravete elaborates the disconcerting experience of living as a woman in Mexico—a territory characterized by its great contrasts, from violence and activism to affectionate and communal resistance: flowers that arise from the earth to expand the cosmic consciousness of those who take it, nuns who create artifacts so that their native languages do not perish, a memorial for the victims of femicide that the State controls, but whose old guardian wants to turn into a laboratory to return their lost future…

They Will Dream in the Garden shows the journey that its author has undertaken towards a more conscious writing that, through wonder and beauty, trusts in the possibilities that literature offers to unite, question, and transform our being in the world.

The Simple Art of Killing a Woman by Patrícia Melo | Translated by Sophie Lewis | ADULT FICTION

The Simple Art of Killing a Woman vividly conjures the epidemic of femicide in Brazil, the power women can hold in the face of overwhelming male violence, the resilience of community despite state-sponsored degradation, and the potential of the jungle to save us all.

To escape her newly aggressive lover, a young lawyer accepts an assignment in the Amazonian border town of Cruzeiro do Sul. There, she meets Carla, a local prosecutor, and Marcos, the son of an indigenous woman, and learns about the rampant attacks on the region’s women, which have grown so commonplace that the cases quickly fill her large notebook. What she finds in the jungle is not only persistent racism, patriarchy, and deforestation, but a deep longing for answers to her enigmatic past. Through the ritual use of ayahuasca, she meets a chorus of Icamiabas, warrior women bent on vengeance—and gradually, she recovers the details of her own mother’s early death.

The Simple Art of Killing a Woman resists categorization: it is a series of prose poems lamenting the real-life women murdered by so many men in Brazil; a personal search for history, truth, and belonging; and a modern, exacting, and sometimes fantastical take on very old problems that, despite our better selves, dog us the world over.

Flores and Miss Paula by Melissa Rivero | ADULT FICTION

Thirtysomething Flores and her mother, Paula, still live in the same Brooklyn apartment, but that may be the only thing they have in common. It’s been nearly three years since they lost beloved husband and father Martín, who had always been the bridge between them. One day, cleaning beneath his urn, Flores discovers a note written in her mother’s handwriting: Perdóname si te falle. Recuerda que siempre te quise. (“Forgive me if I failed you. Remember that I always loved you.”) But what would Paula need forgiveness for?

Now newfound doubts and old memories come flooding in, complicating each woman’s efforts to carve out a good life for herself—and to support the other in the same. Paula thinks Flores should spend her evenings meeting a future husband, not crunching numbers for a floundering aquarium startup. Flores wishes Paula would ask for a raise at her DollaBills retail job, or at least find a best friend who isn’t a married man.

When Flores and Paula learn they will be forced to move, they must finally confront their complicated past—and decide whether they share the same dreams for the future. Spirited and warm-hearted, Melissa Rivero’s new novel showcases the complexities of the mother-daughter bond with fresh insight and empathy.

Caught in a Bad Fauxmance by Elle Gonzalez Rose | YOUNG ADULT

Devin Baez is ready for a relaxing winter break at Lake Andreas. That is, until he runs into his obnoxious next-door neighbors the Seo-Cookes, undefeated champions of the lake’s annual Winter Games. In the hope of finally taking down these long-time rivals, the Baezes offer up their beloved cabin in a bet. Reckless? Definitely.

So when annoyingly handsome Julian Seo-Cooke finds himself in need of a fake boyfriend, Devin sees an opportunity to get behind enemy lines and prove the family plays dirty.

As long as Devin and Julian’s families are at war, there’s only room for loathing between them. Which is a problem because, for Devin, this faux game of love is feeling very real.

Sojourners in the Capital of the World: Garifuna Immigrants by Maximo G. Martinez | ADULT NONFICTION

In recent years, Latinos―primarily Central American migrants―crossing the southern border of the United States have dominated the national media, as the legitimacy of their detention and of U.S. immigration policy in general is debated by partisan politicians and pundits. Among these migrants seeking economic opportunities and fleeing violence from gangs and drug traffickers are many Central American Garifuna. This fascinating book is the long-overdue account―written by a Garifuna New Yorker―of the ways that Garifuna immigrants from Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras have organized themselves and become a vibrant presence in New York City, from the time of their first arrivals in the 1940s to the present.

Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura | ADULT FICTION

Archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejía has a bone to pick. Literally.

It’s been Corrie’s life goal to lead an expedition deep into the Mexican jungle in search of the long-lost remains of her ancestor, Chimalli, an ancient warrior of the Aztec empire. But when she is invited to join an all-expenses-paid dig to do just that, Corrie is sure it’s too good to be true...and she’s right.

As the world-renowned expert on Chimalli, by rights Corrie should be leading the expedition, not sharing the glory with her disgustingly handsome nemesis. But Dr. Ford Matthews has been finding new ways to best her since they were in grad school. Ford certainly isn’t thrilled either—with his life in shambles, the last thing he needs is a reminder of their rocky past.

But as the dig begins, it becomes clear they’ll need to work together when they realize a thief is lurking around their campsite, forcing the pair to keep their discoveries—and lingering attraction—under wraps. With money-hungry artifact smugglers, the Mexican authorities, and the lies between them closing in, there’s only one way this all ends—explosively.

The Last Slice: A Three Kings Day Treat by Melissa Seron Richardson | Illustrated by Monica Arnaldo | PICTURE BOOK

Marta is finally old enough for her own slice of the special, sneaky dessert she loves so much—la Rosca de Reyes.

The colorful crown of sweet bread is so tempting, but Marta knows the truth—there’s a baby hiding in the dessert: el Niño Dios. Marta can’t help but wonder what will happen if she accidentally eats the little figurine of baby Jesus.

Suddenly, Marta will do whatever it takes to avoid picking the last slice of la rosca—no matter how badly she wants a bite!

This humorous story of one girl’s journey to overcome her fears explores the traditions of Three Kings Day and the importance of family and faith.

On Sale December 12

How to Draw a Novel by Martín Solares | Translated by Heather Cleary | ADULT NONFICTION

In this finely wrought collection of essays, Martín Solares examines the novel in all its forms, exploring the conventions of structure, the novel as a house that one must build brick by brick, and the objects and characters that build out the world of the novel in unique and complex ways. With poetic, graceful prose, that reflects the power of fascination with literary fiction, Solares uses line drawings to realize the ebb and flow of the novel, with Moby Dick spiraling across the page while Dracula takes the form of an erratic heartbeat. A novelist, occasional scholar, and former acquiring editor in Mexican publishing, Solares breaks out of the Anglo-American-dominated canon of many craft books, ranging across Latin and South America as well. He considers how writers invent (or discover) their characters, the importance of place (or not) in the novel, and the myriad of forms the novel may take. Solares’ passion for the form is obvious, and his insights into the construction of the novel are as profound as they are accessible. This is a writer’s book, and an important contribution to the study of craft and fiction. 

When Language Broke Open: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent by Alan Pelaez Lopez | ANTHOLOGY

When Language Broke Open collects the creative offerings of forty-five queer and trans Black writers of Latin American descent who use poetry, prose, and visual art to illustrate Blackness as a geopolitical experience that is always changing. Telling stories of Black Latinidades, this anthology centers the multifaceted realities of the LGBTQ community.

By exploring themes of memory, care, and futurity, these contributions expand understandings of Blackness in Latin America, the Caribbean, and their U.S.-based diasporas. The volume offers up three central questions: How do queer and/or trans Black writers of Latin American descent address memory? What are the textures of caring, being cared for, and accepting care as Black queer and/or trans people of Latin American descent? And how do queer and trans embodiments help us understand and/or question the past and the present, and construct a Black, queer, and trans future?

On Sale December 19

The Black Joy Project by Kleaver Cruz | ADULT NONFICTION

International in the scale, fist-raising in the prose, and chockfull of gorgeous works by dozens of acclaimed artists, The Black Joy Project does what no other book has ever done. In words and art, it puts joy on the same track as protest and resistance … because that is how life is actually lived. Uprisings in the street, with music as accompaniment. Heartbreaking funerals followed by second line parades. Microaggressions in the office, then coming home to a warm hug and a garden of lilacs. The list goes on. Black Joy is always held in tension with broader systemic wounds. It is a powerful, historically important salve that allows us to keep going and reimagine new ways of being. The Black Joy Project captures these dual realities to incredible, unforgettable effect.

The brainchild of educator and activist Kleaver Cruz, The Black Joy Project is an extension of a real-world initiative of the same name. It has become a source of healing and regeneration for Black people of all backgrounds and identities. Long overdue and somehow still worth the wait, The Black Joy Project is a necessary addition for any book lover, art enthusiast, or freedom fighter. And begs the question, What does Black Joy mean to you?

On Sale December 26

Lucero by Maya Motayne | YOUNG ADULT

In the aftermath of Sombra’s return, the balance between light and dark magic has been destroyed and chaos has broken out in Castallan and around the world. Sombra’s shadows have taken over to create monstrous versions of everyone Finn and Alfie love, and with war between Castallan and Englass looming, the prince and the thief must band together one last time—to save their entire world.

To stop the magical imbalance, they must find the stone relics of Sombra’s body before the god can unite the pieces and regain his full strengthonce more.

But the laws of magic no longer apply, and with their own magic—and even the laws of time itself—drastically changing at every turn, Finn and Alfie are left on their own to stop Sombra and fulfill their prophecy before it is too late and the darkness reigns.

Will they restore balance to their world or will its light be gone forever? 

Familia by Lauren E. Rico | ADULT FICTION

What if your most basic beliefs about your life were suddenly revealed to be a lie?

As the fact checker for a popular magazine, Gabby DiMarco believes in absolute, verifiable Truths—until they throw the facts of her own life into question. The genealogy test she took as research for an article has yielded a baffling result: Gabby has a sister—one who’s been desperately trying to find her. Except, as Gabby’s beloved parents would confirm if they were still alive, that’s impossible.

Isabella Ruiz can still picture the face of her baby sister, who disappeared from the streets of San Juan twenty-five years ago. Isabella, an artist, has fought hard for the stable home and loving marriage she has today—yet the longing to find Marianna has never left. At last, she’s found a match, and Gabby has agreed to come to Puerto Rico.

But Gabby, as defensive and cautious as Isabella is impulsive, offers no happy reunion. She insists there’s been a mistake. And Isabella realizes that even if this woman is her sister, she may not want to be.

With nothing—or perhaps so much—in common, Gabby and Isabella set out to find the truth, though it means risking everything they’ve known for an uncertain future—and a past that harbors yet more surprises . . .

Self-Care for Latinas: 100+ Ways to Prioritize & Rejuvenate Your Mind, Body, & Spirit by Raquel Reichard | ADULT NONFICTION

Between micro- and macro-aggressions at school, the workplace, and even the grocery store, a constant news cycle highlighting Latine trauma, and a general lack of resources for women of color, it’s tough to be a Latina woman and prioritize your wellness, both physically and mentally.

With Self-Care for Latinas, you’ll find more than 100 exercises to radically choose to put yourself first. Whether you need a quick pick-me-up in the middle of the day, you’re working through feelings of burnout, or you need to process a microaggression, this book is for you.

In a world that works to devalue Latinas, it’s time to make the radical decision to prioritize you: your life, your joy, and your self-care.

Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold by Giselle Anatol | Illustrated by Raissa Figueroa | PICTURE BOOK

Young Toni knows that her stories are going to change the world. She's good at spinning a yarn, and in fact, she thinks she might be able to spin her stories into gold if she tries hard enough. Maybe her stories can even lead her to buried treasure?

And so Toni sets out on a quest for gold with her siblings, telling tales and looking for a little magic at every turn. But when her quest doesn't go quite as planned, Toni realizes that it's all about how you tell a story in order to find the perfect ending.

Literary scholar Giselle Anatol and Coretta Scott King honoree Raissa Figueroa have crafted a wholly original tale inspired by the life and works of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold honors one of America's most important writers and is a testament to the power of storytelling.

Most Anticipated November 2023 Releases

What better way to kick off the holiday season than with a new batch of Latine releases! Time to grab a blanket and unwind with these great new reads. Check out the four newest additions to my TBR this November!

The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez | On Sale November 7

In this, her ninth novel, Sigrid Nunez takes us to a time and place full of loneliness and fear: the early days of the 2020 lockdown. A bird, a writer, and a student find themselves sharing an apartment; initially strangers, the writer and student soon settle into their roles as roommates, sharing the responsibility of taking care of the bird, Eureka, and leaning on each other during an uncertain time. Throughout the novel, the development of relationships between the three serves as a vessel for the exploration and understanding of time, memory, and writing within such a defining moment of history.

Pedro and Marques Take Stock: A Picaresque Novel by José Falero| Translated by Julia Sanches | On Sale November 7

Set in Porto Alegre, Brazil, this modern picaresque novel follows Pedro and Marques, supermarket stock clerks who dream of something bigger and better than the lives of poverty and hardship they are acquainted with. Noting the shortage of weed-dealers and taking this knowledge as an opportunity, Pedro talks Marques into creating their own weed-dealing business. Quickly their business rises and their riches grow until their newfound empire is threatened by outsiders, ending in a final showdown.

Through a humorous and adventurous narrative, Falero shares a deep insight into the ethics of drug dealing and low-wage labor, urging us to think of the complexities of poverty and class.

Ready Player Juan: Latinx Masculinities and Stereotypes in Video Games by Carlos Gabriel Kelly González | On Sale November 14

By no means do I think of myself as a gaming fanatic, but I do consider myself a pop culture enthusiast and am always curious about how Latine culture manifests itself in these spaces.

Carlos Gabriel Kelly González tackles a very interesting subject: video games. He takes on an intersectional approach to study the representation and experience of Latinx masculinity, analyzing the digital object’s ability to construct and deconstruct the perceptions and expectations placed on Latinx masculinity and identity. This book presents a deep and thoughtful analysis beyond the realm of video games that we can all learn from.

Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games | Edited by Carmen Maria Machado & J. Robert Lennon | On Sale November 21

What are the odds that two books about video games would make the most anticipated list in the same month? It's definitely a rarity I’m excited about.

Taking a different approach to video games and culture, Critical Hits collects the voices of writer-gamers as they muse on their relationships and experiences with the medium. With an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado, who edited the anthology alongside J. Robert Lennon, this anthology explores an extensive set of themes ranging from illness and grief to race and language, all connected through the universal experience of gaming. Contributors include Elissa Washuta, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Jamil Jan Kochai, Alexander Chee, Hanif Abdurraqib, Larissa Pham, and many more.

Book Review: Kiss Me, Mi Amor by Alana Quintana Albertson

Alana Quintana Albertson is known for having many talents. When she’s not rescuing dogs from high-kill shelters, through a rescue she founded, and being an alumna of prestigious universities, she’s writing romance and mystery books. On July 4, 2023, she graced her readers with a second book in the Love & Tacos series, Kiss Me, Mi Amor, published by Berkley Romance.

Kiss Me, Mi Amor follows the middle Montez brother, Enrique, as he attempts to partner with Carolina Flores, a female farm owner who refuses to give the heir of the Taco King empire the time of day. However, when the holidays arrive, she lies to her overbearing family that he is her boyfriend. On these pretend dates, Carolina begins to figure out that she doesn’t have to be the traditional daughter and woman that her parents, especially her father, want her to be. The feelings between Enrique and Carolina grow more intense and they begin to wonder what their fake dates look like for the future as the holidays, and maybe their growing romance, start coming to an end.

Carolina Flores is the owner of the Flores Family Farm and the daughter of farm workers. Although she’s the owner on paper, her father is the one who calls the shots in business and in family. In their traditional Mexican home, her father has rules about women that he implements onto his ten daughters—and Carolina is sick of it. She refuses to marry to avoid moving from one male-dominated household to the next. Carolina loves her independence and wishes to keep it that way. However, when she meets Enrique, she begins to push back against her father’s rules and her outlook on love. When her dad falls ill, she lies about Enrique being her boyfriend and begins to rebel. While enjoying her time with Enrique and opening up to new experiences, it causes major arguments with her parents. She does some soul-searching and finds solace in reconnecting with an aunt who was shunned for defying her father’s rules as well. Carolina has to make major decisions that will better suit her, her family, and Enrique.

Enrique Montez is the middle child of the Taco King empire. He wants to reassess the chain’s agricultural relationships and partner with ethical farms, and Carolina is exactly who he’s looking for. When he drives up to Santa Maria to meet her, he finds out that her sister set up the meeting without Carolina’s knowledge. She refuses to partner with the chain but this doesn’t deter him from finding her captivating in brains and beauty. He offers to play Joseph in the upcoming Las Posadas and this sets their fake dating in motion as Carolina lies about him being her new beau. Enrique has strong, opposing opinions about Señor Flores’ outlook on women and family, so he plays along with her lie if it means she can break free. At first, he never pictured himself settling down but after spending time with her, he begins to reconsider. Things come to a head when Carolina decides that she needs to figure out who she is outside of him and her father. Months go by with no contact until they reunite once more.

“Alana Quintana Albertson shows her flawless ease in “Kiss Me, Mi Amor” of creating a fake-dating, holiday romance . . . while highlighting important conversations such as agriculture, farm worker’s rights, and the patriarchal culture within a traditional Mexican family. ”

While Enrique and Carolina come from different backgrounds, they open each other up to new experiences. He showers her with a shopping spree, which includes new Louboutins, while she tells him what celebrating Nochebuena entails. Neither are afraid to have hard-hitting conversations with the other. Carolina has him work her field and he realizes that it’s going to take more than just words to evoke change with the unethical farms that the chain partners with. Enrique helps her realize that she’s allowed to have fun and let loose with their mini trip to Disneyland and a day trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea. The pair help the other see what their life can hold if they push against the odds and open their minds to change. Through these experiences, their growing feelings for each other blur the line between fake dating and real dating. As Alana effortlessly puts it, “But they shared one language that needed no translating. Amor.”

Alana Quintana Albertson shows her flawless ease in Kiss Me, Mi Amor of creating a fake-dating, holiday romance (where they have to share one bed!) while highlighting important conversations such as agriculture, farm worker’s rights, and the patriarchal culture within a traditional Mexican family. While the Love & Tacos series celebrates many aspects of Mexican culture, she doesn’t shy away from speaking on prominent issues that the community faces.

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Alana Quintana Albertson has written thirty romance novels, rescued five hundred death-row shelter dogs, and danced one thousand rumbas. She lives in sunny San Diego with her husband, two sons, and too many pets. Most days, she can be found writing her next heart book in a beachfront café while sipping an oat-milk Mexican mocha or gardening with her children in their backyard orchard and snacking on a juicy blood orange.

Melissa Gonzalez (she/her) is a UCLA graduate with a major in American Literature & Culture and a minor in Chicana/o & Central American Studies. She loves boba, horror movies, and reading. You can spot her in the fiction, horror/mystery/thriller, and young adult sections of bookstores. Though she is short, she feels as tall as her TBR pile. You can find Melissa on her book Instagram: @floralchapters

November 2023 Latinx Releases

On Sale November 7

Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey by Edel Rodriguez | ADULT NONFICTION

Hailed for his iconic art on the cover of Time and on jumbotrons around the world, Edel Rodriguez is among the most prominent political artists of our age. Now for the first time, he draws his own life, revisiting his childhood in Cuba and his family’s passage on the infamous Mariel boatlift.

When Edel was nine, Fidel Castro announced his surprising decision to let 125,000 traitors of the revolution, or “worms,” leave the country. The faltering economy and Edel’s family’s vocal discomfort with government surveillance had made their daily lives on a farm outside Havana precarious, and they secretly planned to leave. But before that happened, a dozen soldiers confiscated their home and property and imprisoned them in a detention center near the port of Mariel, where they were held with dissidents and criminals before being marched to a flotilla that miraculously deposited them, overnight, in Florida.

Through vivid, stirring art, Worm tells a story of a boyhood in the midst of the Cold War, a family’s displacement in exile, and their tenacious longing for those they left behind. It also recounts the coming-of-age of an artist and activist, who, witnessing American’s turn from democracy to extremism, struggles to differentiate his adoptive country from the dictatorship he fled. Confronting questions of patriotism and the liminal nature of belonging, Edel Rodriguez ultimately celebrates the immigrants, maligned and overlooked, who guard and invigorate American freedom.

Cross-Stitch by Jazmina Barrera | Translated by Christina Macsweeney | ADULT FICTION

It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime. Mila, Citlali, and Dalia, childhood friends now college aged, leave Mexico City for the England of The Clash and the Paris of Courbet. They anticipate the cafés and crushes, but not the early signs that they are each steadily, inevitably changing.

That feels like forever ago. Mila, now a writer and a new mother, has just published a book on needlecraft—an art form so long dismissed as “women’s work.” But after learning Citlali has drowned, Mila begins to sift through her old scrapbooks, reflecting on their shared youth for the first time as a new wife and mother. What has come of all the nights the three friends spent embroidering together in silence? Did she miss the signs that Citlali needed help?

Call You When I Land: A Memoir by Nikki Vargas | ADULT NONFICTION

At twenty-six years old, life looked a certain way for Nikki Vargas. She’d settled in New York City ready to join the ranks of the Carrie Bradshaws of the world, had landed in a promising advertising career, and was newly engaged to her college sweetheart. But between corporate happy hours and wedding dress fittings, she couldn’t shake a deep underlying sense of imposter syndrome, a voice telling her that she was rocketing towards a future that didn’t look like her. And so, she bought a plane ticket: first to Cartagena. Then to Panama. Then to Iguazú.

What begins with one freelance travel writing assignment escalates into a whirlwind, globe-spanning journey that would transform Nikki’s life. Taking her from the street food stalls of Vietnam to the cascading waterfalls of Argentina, Nikki uncovers shocking truths about her family, comes face to face with a new love interest – or two – and ultimately turns a no-name blog into the internationally celebrated venture of Unearth Women, the first major female-focused travel publication.

Told in transporting detail and candid reflections, Call You When I Land takes the familiar story of a woman going abroad to find herself and turns it on its head, as the act of traveling becomes, for Nikki, an exhilarating career path – and ultimately a tool to champion women’s voices across the world.

I Hop / Yo Salto by Joe Cepeda | PICTURE BOOK

I hop. / Yo salto.
I see cheese. / Veo queso.
I pay. / Pago.

A boy hops around town on his pogo stick, running errands to have a picnic with his grandma! This Theodor Geisel Honor book is now available in a bilingual board book edition.

This sweet story about having fun with family is perfect for the toddler that is always moving and bouncing. Very simple, easy-to-read text appears in English and Spanish, side by side, and accompanies Joe Cepeda’s bold, energetic artwork. The toddler-friendly story introduces the youngest readers to basic verbs and foods.

Lolo and Birdie: I'm Not Sleepy! / ¡No Tengo Sueño! by Angela Dominguez | PICTURE BOOK

Birdie is ready to go to bed, but when he approaches Lolo to say goodnight, Lolo isn't tired! Birdie tries everything to help Lolo get ready for bed: reading, snacks, brushing teeth, but Lolo has way too much to do.

This delightful bilingual picture book is perfect for young readers who, like most, are reluctant for the day to end.

The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez | ADULT FICTION

Elegy plus comedy is the only way to express how we live in the world today, says a character in Sigrid Nunez’s ninth novel. The Vulnerables offers a meditation on our contemporary era, as a solitary female narrator asks what it means to be alive at this complex moment in history and considers how our present reality affects the way a person looks back on her past.

Humor, to be sure, is a priceless refuge. Equally vital is connection with others, who here include an adrift member of Gen Z and a spirited parrot named Eureka. The Vulnerables reveals what happens when strangers are willing to open their hearts to each other and how far even small acts of caring can go to ease another’s distress. A search for understanding about some of the most critical matters of our time, Nunez’s new novel is also an inquiry into the nature and purpose of writing itself.

Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal by Raquel V. Reyes | ADULT FICTION

A surprise trip to Miriam's parents in Punta Cana, which should be filled with arroz con pollo and breezy days under the tamarind tree, quickly becomes a hunt for a possible property saboteur. But before Miriam can begin to uncover the person damaging the vacation rentals her parents manage, she’s called away to Puerto Rico to film a Three Kings Day special. She's welcomed to the blue ballast-stone streets of Old San Juan by crime scene tape, and things only get worse from there.

An anonymous personal gift on Miriam's doorstep on New Year's Eve screams stalker, and the 400-year-old guesthouse creaks and moans like there is something trapped in its walls. Luckily, her BFF, Alma, and their mutual friend Jorge are in town to keep her distracted between filming cultural segments for the network. But private chef tables and spa days come to an abrupt halt when Jorge's telenovela heartthrob novio goes missing. And there is something worrisome about Alma's too-perfect boyfriend—specifically, his duffle bag full of cash.

Will demon masks, African drumbeats, and dark alleys lead to Miriam's demise? Or will the mysterious events come together like the delicious layers of a pastelón?

American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy by Aquilino Gonell, Susan Shapiro | Foreword by Jamie Raskin | ADULT NONFICTION

Aquilino Gonell came to the United States from the Dominican Republic as a young boy. Although he spoke no English, he dedicated himself to his adopted land, striving for the American dream. Determined to be a success story, he joined the army to pay for college. He saw action in Iraq and returned home with PTSD. Believing in the promise of our government, he focused on healing himself and supporting his family. His hard work paid off when he landed a coveted position with the United States Capitol Police and rose to the rank of sergeant.

January 6, 2021, changed everything. When insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, Gonell bravely faced down the mob attempting to thwart the peaceful transfer of power. The brutal injuries he sustained that day would end his career in law enforcement. But when some of the very people he put his life on the line to protect downplayed or denied the truth of that day, he chose to speak out against the injustice done to him and the country. Chronicling what it means to live a life of conviction, one that adheres to the best ideas of our democracy, American Shield is a bold testament to the power of truth, justice, and accountability from a highly decorated officer and immigrant who exemplifies the greatest aspirations of a grateful nation.

Pedro and Marques Take Stock: A Picaresque Novel by José Falero| Translated by Julia Sanches | ADULT FICTION

In the favelas of Porto Alegre, Brazil, marijuana is hard to come by. Supermarket stock clerks Pedro and Marques spend their days unloading trucks, restocking shelves, and dreaming of a better life, of breaking the cycle of poverty that has afflicted their families and their community. Well-acquainted with the drug dealers in their neighborhood and seeing an opportunity to earn a little extra cash, they decide to start a weed-dealing operation.

The economic hierarchies of Porto Alegre are turned upside down as, almost accidentally, the two men build a thriving enterprise and get rich, quickly. Distribution grows from dime bags to kilos, and Pedro and Marques begin to plan for a future where low-wage work will never again be a necessity for them and their families. All too soon however, their operation starts attracting outsider attention, and cracks in their carefully crafted and seemingly untouchable world begin to show, culminating in one final, lethal showdown.

A witty, voice-driven, and electrifying portrait of poverty and a canny examination of the ethics of drug dealing and low-wage labor in the underbelly of Brazil, Pedro and Marques Take Stock is a contemporary picaresque novel of class and crime.

On Sale November 14

Best Amigas by Patricia Santos Marcantonio | MIDDLE GRADE

Juana Méndez and Diane Conrad are going to save each other's lives. Not with super heroics, but with a friendship that gets them through everything. And those girls are always up to something—eating goat burritos on July 4th, sneaking up on a garage roof to watch a couple kiss and wonder about romance, and surviving the meanest kid in school. Then another summer arrives, and ends in heartbreak and hope for the best amigas.

Ready Player Juan: Latinx Masculinities and Stereotypes in Video Games by Carlos Gabriel Kelly González | ADULT NONFICTION

Written for all gaming enthusiasts, this book fuses Latinx studies and video game studies to document how Latinx masculinities are portrayed in high-budget action-adventure video games, inviting Latinxs and others to insert their experiences into games made by an industry that fails to see them.

The book employs an intersectional approach through performance theory, border studies, and lived experience to analyze the designed identity “Player Juan.” Player Juan manifests in video game representations through a discourse of criminality that sets expectations of who and what Latinxs can be and do. Developing an original approach to video game experiences, the author theorizes video games as border crossings, and defines a new concept—digital mestizaje—that pushes players, readers, and scholars to deploy a Latinx way of seeing and that calls on researchers to consider a digital object’s constructive as well as destructive qualities.

One Impossible Step: Selected Poems by Orides Fontela | Translated by Chris Daniels | POETRY

In her lifetime, Orides Fontela resisted all labels, all attempts to situate her work in a particular movement, school, tendency, or tradition. Here, in her first ever English-language collection, Fontela’s poetry continues to defy easy categorization. In these concise, meditative poems, Fontela’s bird and flower, water and stone, blood and star can be read as symbols, indicating a possible tendency toward mysticism. Including an illuminating statement of poetics and excerpts from her often acerbic interviews, One Impossible Step introduces English-language audiences to an iconoclast who remains one across languages and decades.

The Dialectic Is in the Sea: The Black Radical Thought of Beatriz Nascimento by Beatriz Nascimento | Edited and Translated by Christen A. Smith, Bethânia N F Gomes, Archie Davies | ADULT NONFICTION

Beatriz Nascimento (1942–1995) was a poet, historian, artist, and political leader in Brazil’s Black movement, an innovative and creative thinker whose work offers a radical reimagining of gender, space, politics, and spirituality around the Atlantic and across the Black diaspora. Her powerful voice still resonates today, reflecting a deep commitment to political organizing, revisionist historiography, and the lived experience of Black women. The Dialectic Is in the Sea is the first English-language collection of writings by this vitally important figure in the global tradition of Black radical thought.

The Dialectic Is in the Sea traces the development of Nascimento’s thought across the decades of her activism and writing, covering topics such as the Black woman, race and Brazilian society, Black freedom, and Black aesthetics and spirituality. Incisive introductory and analytical essays provide key insights into the political and historical context of Nascimento’s work. This engaging collection includes an essay by Bethânia Gomes, Nascimento’s only daughter, who shares illuminating and uniquely personal insights into her mother’s life and career.

Lotería: Poems by Esteban Rodriguez | POETRY

A traditional game of chance popular in Mexico and in Mexican American culture, Lotería is poetically rendered in Esteban Rodríguez’s eighth collection, with each poem revolving around one of the fifty-four cards. Using the image presented as a catalyst for exploration and self-reflection, Rodríguez unveils the familial journey between two countries and cultures through both a surreal and narrative lens. Here, a mother unearths a severed hand in the desert. A father discovers his heart among a heap of discarded items. And at one point, the speaker—toggling between his role as witness and son—finds himself in a canoe on a river contemplating the meaning behind an authentic experience. Lyrical, insightful, and honestly engaging, Lotería sheds light on a world that doesn’t so easily reveal itself, adding to Rodríguez’s prolific and important oeuvre.

On Sale November 21

Central American Migrations in the Twenty-First Century | Edited by Mauricio Espinoza, Miroslava Arely Rosales Vásquez, Ignacio Sarmiento | ADULT NONFICTION

The reality of Central American migrations is broad, diverse, multidirectional, and uncertain. It also offers hope, resistance, affection, solidarity, and a sense of community for a region that has one of the highest rates of human displacement in the world.

Central American Migrations in the Twenty-First Century tackles head-on the way Central America has been portrayed as a region profoundly marked by the migration of its people. Through an intersectional approach, this volume demonstrates how the migration experience is complex and affected by gender, age, language, ethnicity, social class, migratory status, and other variables. Contributors carefully examine a broad range of topics, including forced migration, deportation and outsourcing, intraregional displacements, the role of social media, and the representations of human mobility in performance, film, and literature. The volume establishes a productive dialogue between humanities and social sciences scholars, and it paves the way for fruitful future discussions on the region’s complex migratory processes.

Leo Messi by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara | Illustrated by Florencia Gavilán | PICTURE BOOK

In this book from the highly acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Leo Messi, one of the world's most skilled and celebrated soccer players.

This powerful book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the footballer’s life.

Flesh and Spirit: Confessions of a Young Lord by Felipe Luciano | ADULT NONFICTION

Growing up fatherless and poor, Felipe Luciano didn’t yearn for wealth or dream of becoming a famous actor or athlete. He was tired of being poor and ached to be a man, to reach that point of sagacity, courage, and independence that would signal to the world that he was now a warrior, ready to fight the battle for truth and justice, to slay the dragon of evil, whatever that might be. In Flesh and Spirit, Luciano paints a vivid portrait of his life in New York City as a member of the city’s Latino community as well as his pivotal role in the Young Lords and The Last Poets.

Luciano’s memoir begins when as a teenage Brooklyn gang member he is convicted of man­slaughter. This pivotal moment changes the trajectory of his life. The American kid raised on Davy Crockett and Superman TV tales emerged from the womb of prison into a harsh, new monochromatic black/white world without the benefit of rose-colored glasses. It was a painful shattering of all his childhood beliefs and the realization that he was a poor Black Puerto Rican in white America clutching onto values that didn’t work. The only flotsam in this churning sea of ’60s social turmoil was college, poetry, revolutionary activity, and sometimes God. After getting an education, Luciano went on to become an acclaimed poet and political activist who advocates for the Latino population of New York City, for the kids growing up in the same circumstances he did.

Sparing no one―not the revolutionaries, the Revolution, nor the author himself―Flesh and Spirit is written with honesty and humility to help guide young people of color and other Americans through the labyrinths of ideology, organization, missteps, false paths, and phony societal promises.

Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games | Edited by Carmen Maria Machado, J. Robert Lennon | ADULT NONFICTION

From the earliest computers to the smartphones in our pockets, video games have been on our screens and part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits celebrates this sophisticated medium and considers its lasting impact on our culture and ourselves.

This collection of stylish, passionate, and searching essays opens with an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado, who edited the anthology alongside J. Robert Lennon. In these pages, writer-gamers find solace from illness and grief, test ideas about language, bodies, power, race, and technology, and see their experiences and identities reflected in―or complicated by―the interactive virtual worlds they inhabit. Elissa Washuta immerses herself in The Last of Us during the first summer of the pandemic. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah describes his last goodbye to his father with the help of Disco Elysium. Jamil Jan Kochai remembers being an Afghan American teenager killing Afghan insurgents in Call of Duty. Also included are a comic by MariNaomi about her time as a video game producer; a deep dive into “portal fantasy” movies about video games by Charlie Jane Anders; and new work by Alexander Chee, Hanif Abdurraqib, Larissa Pham, and many more.

On Sale November 28

Cubanthropy: Two Futures That Happened While You Were Busy Thinking by Iván de la Nuez | Translated by Ellen Jones | ADULT NONFICTION

Essays on Cuba and the Cuban diaspora, on racism and Big Data, Guantánamo and Reggaeton, soccer and baseball, Obama and the Rolling Stones, Europe and Donald Trump—de la Nuez approaches his criticism with singularity of purpose. In Cubanthropy he does not set out to explain Cuba to the world, but rather to put the world into a Cuban context.

Andrea Beatriz Arango on Found Family in Something Like Home

Something Like Home opens to a dreaded ride. Laura Rodríguez Colón is in the backseat of her caseworker Janet’s car. They’re headed to Laura’s new (temporary) home. When they reach Titi Silvia’s apartment, Laura stares at a woman she doesn’t recognize nor has ever had a relationship with.

The sixth-grader doesn’t understand why she has a caseworker, or what a caseworker even does. Still, Laura floods Janet with questions. Below are a few:

How long will I be with my aunt?
What will happen to our trailer?
What will happen to the things I don’t pack?
When can I talk to Mom?
When can I talk to Dad?
What does kinship care mean?

Laura wonders if the 911 call she made is what caused her to be separated from her parents. She wonders if this is all her fault.

Another day, while on a walk, Laura finds a dog. The big brown puppy looks sickly, and so she carries the dog all the way to Titi Silvia’s house. She names him Sparrow.

Andrea Beatriz Arango, the Newbery Honor Award-winning author of Iveliz Explains It All, has brought forth a moving middle grade novel-in-verse about a young girl on a journey to understand what home means, and what makes up a family. Readers witness Laura navigate a strange reality—a new place to rest her head at night, a new school, and a budding new friendship—all without her parents.

After taking in Sparrow, Laura also finds a newfound purpose. She believes that if she trains him to become a therapy dog, then perhaps she’ll be allowed to visit her mom and dad. Perhaps, then, she could move back in with them and their family would be made whole again.

But, of course, it is not that easy.

“I’m a firm believer in that community can look like a lot of different things,” Arango told Latinx in Publishing. “Family can look like a lot of different things.”

Something Like Home was inspired by the author’s time as a foster mom in both her native Puerto Rico and in Virginia, where she most recently lived. Arango said that a lot of children—even those who aren’t in foster care but come from big families—are asked to choose one family member over another, or to take sides in an argument.

“I think it’s really hard as a kid to feel like you have to choose, and you can’t have more than one thing,” Arango said. “I really wanted to explore that in this particular scenario, in a non-traditional home situation, or just in general that idea that you can have more than one home, and you can have more than one family. And loving one of them does not cancel out the other. You don’t have to pledge your loyalty to only one person, or one home.”

It’s something Laura struggles with at first.

“She feels that it’s a betrayal of her parents if she starts growing her bond with her aunt or that, by loving her aunt, she’s loving her parents less,” Arango said. “And that’s definitely not the case.”

Because Laura is 11, her voice feels a bit younger than what readers are used to in the middle grade genre. She struggles through feelings of guilt and a deep longing for her parents—through verse and in letters she writes to her parents. Arango impresses in her crafting of Laura’s letters. They contain hope, desperation, and optimism. They are heart-rendering.

“With Laura, you have someone who doubts herself all the time, and who thinks things are the way they are because she’s making bad choices. And that she doesn’t have the capacity to be in control of her own life and to make correct choices,” Arango said. “I think a lot of kids do feel that way. And part of the reason behind that is because we—as adults and caregivers and teachers—sometimes unintentionally reinforce that belief in kids over and over.”

The presence and memories associated with Laura’s parents looms over the entire book, heightening the stakes for a daughter in yearning. Readers will find themselves wishing they would write her back soon.

Arango covers several themes in her sophomore book with ample tenderness: identity, addiction, the nuances of kinship care, and even the self-blame children exercise when in pain. The author’s writing is both intimate and accessible, as readers are taking on an emotional rollercoaster with Laura as she both learns and unlearns different aspects of the very nature of family.

The author recalled having foster children as students in her classroom when she was a teacher, and the scarcity of what she described as nuanced foster care books. The majority of the books she found painted the parents as evil, and as social services as a rescuer of the child from a horrifying situation.

“Obviously that is the case for some children. We do have abusers in society who did terrible things to their kids,” Arango said. “But the majority of foster care cases in the U.S. are not abuse cases.”

“The author’s writing is both intimate and accessible, as readers are taking on an emotional rollercoaster with Laura as she both learns and unlearns different aspects of the very nature of family.”

Most of the cases, said Arango, are classified as neglect. Reasons that can lead to a child being removed from the home include a family’s financial or housing situation, or parents losing their jobs or having an addiction.

“I wanted to write a book that looked at it in a more nuanced way. Laura loves her parents. Her parents love her,” Arango said. “They’re not bad people. They—just like a lot of people in the U.S.—became addicted to a substance. . . That happens a lot.”

Of note in Something Like Home is Sparrow and how important his role is in Laura’s new life. Arango is a self-described “dog person,” and shared that one of her dogs was the inspiration for the fictional dog. The author said she’s interacted with therapy dogs in different scenarios and wanted to highlight them in part to raise more awareness about them for young readers. The author added that she also wanted her main character to have a project she could focus on.

“During the book, she (Laura) definitely is feeling very lost. And one of the things that makes her feel like she is doing something to help herself and her family is this training-Sparrow-kind-of-project,” Arango said. “It gives her something to work towards and it helps her not feel as helpless because she now has a plan to reunite with her family.”

At the core of Something Like Home is a lesson on found family. Arango said she hopes young readers come away with a greater awareness of foster families and kinship families.

“It’s guaranteed in most schools, there will be at least one kid per classroom who is either in foster care or kinship care, has been at some point, or has a relative who has,” the author said.

This is really common, she added.

“I wanted both for kids who are going through a situation similar to that, to feel understood and listened to and represented,” Arango said. “But also for all the kids who have never encountered it in their lives, to have a little bit more empathy moving forward in the future.”

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Andrea Beatriz Arango is the Newbery Honor Award-winning author of Iveliz Explains It All. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and is a former public school teacher with almost a decade of teaching experience. Andrea now writes the types of children’s books she wishes students had more access to. She balances her life in Virginia with trips home to see her family and eat lots of tostones de pana. When she’s not busy writing, you can find her enjoying nature in the nearest forest or body of water.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family and dog, Brooklyn.

Author Q & A: The Cursed Moon by Angela Cervantes

For Rafael Fuentes there appears to be no break. The eleven-year-old has failing grades, which means he’s going to have to attend summer school. And he’s been fretting about his incarcerated mother, Nikki, who is set to be released early. Rafa hasn’t forgiven her for the instability and neglect she put him and his younger sister, Brianna, through. He’s refused every invitation to visit her in the women’s prison, and he’s ignored every one of her letters.

But there’s one thing that always lifts Rafa’s spirits, and that’s telling scary stories. Ever since he and Brianna were placed with their grandparents, he’s become known by other kids as the ghost storyteller. He and his sister even host scary story nights on their porch in the summer months.

One afternoon, Rafa and Brianna come across their eccentric neighbor, Ms. Martin, who warns them against telling any scary stories under the blood moon. “I know all about your scary story nights,” she tells them.

Later that night, Rafa wants to take his mind off his mother’s return from prison and ends up meeting his friend, Jayden. In Jayden’s treehouse—and under the blood moon—Rafa ends up weaving a scary story about a ghost called The Caretaker.

Almost immediately after, strange things start happening around Rafa. Has his story come true, and is The Caretaker real? With the help of friends and a magical jaguar, Rafa embarks on a quest to fight an evil spirit threatening to harm children.

Out now from Scholastic Press, The Cursed Moon by children’s author Angela Cervantes is a ghost story filled with spooky moments and plenty of heart. Cervantes has woven a story that draws you completely in as Rafa digs for answers about an apparent curse in town. At the core of this book is an important message about the power of words, and of one’s ability to find a happy ending. There is always hope.

On behalf of Latinx in Publishing, I spoke with Cervantes about writing this middle grade horror story, her main character’s internal struggle, and more.

“At the core of this book is an important message about the power of words, and of one’s ability to find a happy ending. There is always hope.”

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): Congratulations on The Cursed Moon! What inspired this story?

Angela Cervantes (AC): It’s so funny that we’re talking today because I was just putting up Halloween decorations in front of my house. One of my best friends from childhood is in town, and she was helping me. Her name is Elena Cordero. A couple years back we had dinner in San Antonio and she reminded me that I used to tell scary stories in the summertime to all my friends, and that she really loved it. She said she used to come back for more. It sort of sparked this interest in me again, like Oh, yeah, I forgot that about myself. I used to love to scare my friends. I loved it when they were so afraid, they didn’t want to walk home alone. They would call their mom or dad and be like, “Can you come pick me up?” Or they would go in a pack and walk home together. I loved it when they would come back the next day and be like, “I have to know. What happens to the jaguar? What happens to the kid?”

I had forgotten that part of myself—that I used to love to tell scary stories. Right after COVID when I started resuming school visits again, I would ask the students: “What kind of book would you like to read next?” And they would all say “Scary story!” And I would look over at the librarians and the teachers and they’d all be nodding their heads. Then they would tell me there’s just not enough good scary stories for the kids. They love them. They want them. And I said, “You know what? I’m going to try.”

The spark from my childhood best friend, Elena, reminding me that that’s who I used to be. . . and then the kids telling me themselves that they wanted scary stories made me say, “I want to try. And I’m just gonna give it my best shot.” And so that’s what inspired The Cursed Moon.

AC: Your main character, Rafa, is known for his ghost stories. And then one day, a neighbor warns him not to tell any scary stories under the blood moon. He dismisses her advice and tells a story anyway—about a ghost known as The Caretaker. Without spoiling too much, can you share what it was like to craft the story of this figure and impact on the community?

AC: Rafael Fuentes and I are a lot alike; we both use writing and storytelling to deal with the world around us. I’ve always been that way since I was a kid. For Rafa, the scary stories are a coping mechanism for what is going on in his very real life with his mom, his family, friends, and his new school life. And he creates these scary stories to deal with all of that. That is very much me. I write because I’m expressing what’s inside me and what I’m going through, and because I remember being that 9-year-old Mexicana in school in Topeka, Kansas, and trying to find ways for my peers to see me as something else than this girl. But I’m also a scary storyteller. I also write. I’m a poet. . . wanting to have that identity as something special about me.

I think Rafa is very much like that. And I think a lot of kids are like that. As adults, we see children, but I don’t know if we really see children and what’s going on in their lives, and what they’re going through.

The Caretaker [character] should sound like a very positive thing; someone who is caring for you, but it’s kind of a “care-taker.” It’s kind of taking care, rather than a caregiver. I just played around with that name, and I liked it. When I was a child, I wrote a scary story about a little girl and her caretaker father in a park. He wouldn’t let her read books. And one day she finds a book. It’s a whole scary story that I now have on my website as a bonus scary story for the kids if they want to find it. But The Caretaker came from that story that I told and wrote as a child. I probably was like 10 or 11 years old—about the same age as Rafa. I fleshed it out for this book because I needed a villain, and I wanted it to be a really sinister ghost. I wanted it to be something that you would think would help children, would be nice, but really isn’t.

Without really purposely intending to do it, it’s kind of how Rafa sees his mom. Your mom is supposed to help you. I think he even states that in the book—“A mom is supposed to take care of you and protect you.” But she doesn’t in his life. Not yet, anyway. There’s hope. The Caretaker is the same way. It sounds like it should be someone who is caring for you and taking care of you. But in this case, he’s actually quite a sinister ghost that wants to hurt the children.

AC: The Cursed Moon, to me, challenges the notion that stories are harmless fun. What were you hoping to say about storytelling itself?

AC: Yes, I know that kind of opened up that whole theme. At one point, Rafa is being judged so harshly by the children around him, by the adults around him, because of his mom being sick and addicted. And I know exactly how that feels—to be judged even at such a young age, when you don’t even know yourself yet. It wasn’t like I set out to do it but, in my own little way, I wanted to remind people to let children write their own stories. Let Rafa narrate his own story. Only he can decide his ending. Only he can decide what path he’ll take. But if you’re going to judge him all the time and make him feel bad for the choices of his mom or his parents, you’re not really opening him up for a path away from that.

It was just my reminder—whether it was gentle or not, whether I failed or succeeded in that regard—that words have power. Stories have power. So many times, people made up stories about me because I was a Chicana growing up in Topeka, Kansas, and judged me for it. And you don’t have the right to tell my story. Only I have the right to tell my story. Only Rafa has the right to tell his story. And that’s the story that matters.

AC: Throughout the book Rafa has an internal struggle due to his feelings towards his mother, Nikki, who is about to be released from prison. He has resentment towards her for the unstable life she gave him and his sister, Brianna. What message were you hoping to send by highlighting this tension between a child and his parent?

AC: I was really just trying to give a voice to children in those same situations. That part of the story is very personal for me. My own family has faced similar issues, and I didn’t see books that gave a voice to those children who are living with the grandparents because somehow their parents have failed them. . . I didn’t see books that also dealt with the fact that there’s a parent that’s incarcerated, yet I’ve seen that in my own family and what it does to the children. And what it does to the whole family. Everyone struggles. Everyone is affected.

I just felt like I had to give a voice and a story for these children to have, to reflect on. Hopefully, also, children who are not in that situation [will] maybe understand their classmate a little better, maybe understand the kid down the street from them a little better, and maybe show a little bit more compassion—to not judge the child by the parents’ mistake. And hopefully give children who are in that situation a little bit of hope that I see you, I hear you, and here’s a story for you.

AC: One thing I loved about your book is how much Rafa and his sister, Brianna, love each other. Rafa feels he needs to protect her at all times. Can you talk about your decision to anchor your book in this close bond?

AC: That was very purposeful. Going back to my own, similar family issue, I’ve seen the older kids want to become the parent and take on super big responsibilities. They have now taken on the role to protect and raise their younger siblings. No choice of theirs. It’s just the situation they’ve been handed. I wanted that to be reflected, and I wanted to make sure I also showed some growth in Rafa and Brianna’s relationship. Without giving too much away, to show that Brianna can now see his point of view, where he’s coming from: that need to always protect. He shouldn’t have to take all that on himself. And him to say, “I want to be a kid again, and I want to have my mom back in my life, eventually”—when he feels it’s right for him and Brianna, so that he can be the kid and just enjoy life.

I myself grew up with very close siblings. My parents divorced when I was nine years old, and that made my four siblings and I very close. We felt like we had each other to fall back on, to protect each other when our parents were going through a rough divorce. . . I really used my own experiences with my big brothers for Rafa and my experience with Brianna —always loving words, always loving stories, always admiring everything her big brother did. That is my lived experience as well.

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from The Cursed Moon?

AC: One, I always hope my novels will just spark interest in reading in all children. I just want them to be lifelong readers. I want them to know that they can go to books for information. They can go to books for an escape. They can go to books for friends. They can go to books when they need to be alone with themselves and figure things out. I hope they walk away from this book wanting to read more books, and understanding that books can be their friends.

Secondly, I just hope that they go away with a little bit more compassion for their classmate or the kid down the street who might be going through a tough time. Everyone is going through their own personal struggles, and just have a little compassion.

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Angela Cervantes is the Mexican American author of popular children’s novels Lead with Your Heart (American Girls book); Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring; Gaby, Lost and Found; Allie, First at Last and; Lety Out Loud, which won a 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Award. In addition to her original novels, Angela authored the junior novelization for Disney/Pixar’s animated-film, Coco and Disney’s animated film, Encanto.

Angela is a daughter of a retired elementary-school teacher who instilled in her a love for reading and storytelling. Angela writes from her home in Kansas City. When she’s not writing, Angela enjoys reading, running, gazing up at clouds, and taking advantage of Taco Tuesdays.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family and dog, Brooklyn.

Sheila Colón-Bagley on Spreading a Joyous Tradition in La Noche Before Three Kings Day

A joyous spirit runs through La Noche Before Three Kings Day. In the bright foyer of a house, a Puerto Rican family has gathered. It’s the night before el Día de los Reyes Magos—the Jan. 6 holiday that marks when the Three Wise Men brought gifts to an infant Jesus.

In the living room, children are surrounded by rolls of gift wrapping paper and small boxes. Their collective voice says: “We wrapped our shoeboxes with glee and delight, knowing the Three Kings would be here tonight.”

La Noche Before Three Kings Day, out now from Harper, was written by debut children’s book author Sheila Colón-Bagley and illustrated by Colombian artist Alejandro Mesa. The book is a sparkling ode to Three Kings Day, a Christian feast day popular throughout Latin America and other parts of the world. There are a variety of ways it’s celebrated but, in this book, the holiday is seen through the eyes of Puerto Rican children. Too excited for the arrival of the Three Kings, they fight against bedtime and place their wrapped boxes beside the front door—an offering for the Three Wise Men’s camels.

Growing up, Sheila Colón-Bagley heard stories about el Día de los Reyes Magos. “My mom would gush about how kids would fill their boxes with grass and put the boxes under their beds,” she recalled. “And the Three Kings would come and leave them gifts.”

Though Colón-Bagley was born in Puerto Rico, she was raised in Philadelphia and didn’t celebrate the beloved Puerto Rican tradition at home.

But that all changed years later, once Colón-Bagley was herself a mother. Her eldest daughter, then 6 years old, had watched a Dora the Explorer episode featuring the tradition. “She came and she asked, ‘Mami, since we’re Puerto Rican, can we celebrate Three Kings Day?’” Colón-Bagley said. “I said, ‘Of course.’ I was just thrilled to share the magic with my children.”

About a decade or so ago, Colón-Bagley searched high and low for books about Three Kings Day and noticed there were “few and far between.” “The ones I found, for me, didn’t quite capture the magic that I saw in my girls’ eyes, and their experience,” she said. “So I decided to write one.”

As you read aloud the dual-lingual text of La Noche Before Three Kings Day, you may feel a familiar tug followed by delight at discovering it was inspired by “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” For years, Colón-Bagley read the famous Christmas poem by Clement Clarke Moore to her daughters. She wondered what it would look like if there was a book about preparing for Three Kings Day, instead of the arrival of Santa Claus.

“At its core, “La Noche Before Three Kings Day” is about the joy of celebrating a beloved holiday tradition with family—and the excitement children feel in partaking.”

Moore’s poem is widely known by its opening lines:

“‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

Colón-Bagley’s version begins:

“‘Twas la noche before Three Kings Day and all through the casa,
everyone was stirring, even Chico our chihuahua.”

“I love the similarities as well as the differences,” she said of her book and the famous poem. “I purposefully started with ‘everyone was stirring,’ because everyone knows the phrase, ‘no one was stirring, not even a mouse.’ I purposefully wanted to say, this is not that kind of quiet story. You know? We are having a ball. We’re having a party. We’re eating. We’re dancing. We’re celebrating.”

Colón-Bagley ended up setting the story aside to focus on raising her girls. By 2019, she felt it was time to revisit her work. “The writing was calling to me,” she said. She took writing courses and was later awarded a Las Musas mentorship under New York Times and international bestselling author Laura Taylor Namey. Colón-Bagley said Namey helped her hone in some of the rhyme and rhythm of the story.

At its core, La Noche Before Three Kings Day is about the joy of celebrating a beloved holiday tradition with family—and the excitement children feel in partaking. Over time, Three Kings Day has taken on greater meaning to Colón-Bagley. And she has big hopes for young readers who come across her book.

“For children like my daughters who celebrate the holiday, I want them to feel represented and seen, and recognize that their celebrations are worthy of being portrayed in books,” Colón-Bagley said. “I think it’s so important for all children to be able to see some facts about themselves in a book. So for sure, I want children who celebrate the holiday to see themselves, their family and be able to make that connection.”

And for children who don’t celebrate this holiday, the author hopes her book gives them an opportunity to learn about other traditions, and joyous experiences that Latinos and other people of color have.

“We are worth celebrating,” she added.

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Sheila Colón-Bagley is a stay-at-home mother of three. As a Puerto Rico native, she’s long dreamed of writing books featuring multicultural characters that children of all backgrounds would love—for her multicultural daughters, and kids like them—to have books about families who look and live like they do. She’s also a member of the SCBWI, was awarded a Spring 2020 Las Musas mentorship, and was a volunteer on the first-ever virtual Latinx Kidlit Book Festival in December 2020. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Temple University and practiced public relations for over twenty-five years before becoming an author. She lives outside of Charlotte, NC, with her family, and their dog, Vader.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family and dog, Brooklyn.