Book Review: The Flower In The Skull by Kathleen Alcala

Kathleen Alcalá weaves together a story that begins over 100 years ago, in the community of the Opata Indians, in the Sonoran Desert. It is a story of three generations that centers around the life of Cocha. Starting amidst a small village, in a time of violence and war, we are invited to see the beauty of the land through Alcalá’s descriptive words, painting a vivid picture of the Opata Indians land. A land that is simple and yet grand in tradition, and the villagers, slight as they may be, are the strength of the village. Though a hard life to image and an even harder one to live, we witness the struggles that Cocha faces, soaking up the words of Alcalá.

The reader follows the travels of Cocha who is destined to live a life that is innately centered around survival. From a young age, Cocha realizes that her life will not be easy. Living in a land full of dream-like beauty, quiet and peacefulness, the reader quickly sees how Cocha’s home becomes overrun with the brutality of war. Soldiers invade, confiscate land, capture the men of the village and displace many others. Cocha must leave her home, her village and her way of life for the unknown. This book provides a look into the lives of ordinary people who faced extraordinary circumstances. Along the way, either by the need for self perseveration or the desire to keep the family together, Cocha faces many obstacles.

“This book provides a look into the lives of ordinary people who faced extraordinary circumstances. ”

Traversing generations, we are given a look into the hope, fear, vulnerability, ordinariness and the courage it takes Cocha to carry on her lineage, with the lesson that people are more alike than different, regardless of time and space. We see how Cocha goes from being a child, to her siblings caregiver in a breath. She experiences a shock in discovering her mother’s dependency on a man, lost, willing to walk away from her family; not looking back once.

Fast forward to the 1990s and we are introduced to Shelly. Shelly finds herself in Tuscan in search of details for a research project she is working on, when she stumbles upon a photo that gives her a connection to her past and her ancestors. The photo is of Cocha, who Shelly thinks looks like the only photo that she has of a family member. Could it be? Is fate intervening to provide Shelly with a renewed sense of self and a way to move forward in her own life, amidst that which has not changed—patriarchal attitudes.

Let this book provide you with a look at life in Cocha’s village, to the long dirt road that she travels to find herself, both literally and figuratively. We sit and watch in our mind’s eye a life unfold and give way to a tale of modern times. We discover the trauma of a generation and the healing process that takes place. You will enjoy this book, which originally appeared in the late 1990s and is the 2nd book of what was to be a trilogy. The Flower In the Skull, however, holds its own and stands alone as well. I enjoyed Alcalá’s style and her introduction of characters, the description of the land and the life of Cocha. Perhaps this tale will strike in you a desire to know more about who you are.

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Kathleen Alcalá was born in Compton, California, to Mexican parents and grew up in San Bernardino. She is the author of six award-winning books that include a collection of stories, three novels, a book of essays, and The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island, from the University of Washington Press. A member of the Ópata Nation, Kathleen makes her home on Suquamish territory.

Angela “Angie” Ybarra is a senior student enrolled in the Nontraditional Degree Program (NDP) at Northeastern Illinois University. She hopes to work as a grant writer to assist local nonprofit organizations that address the issues of gentrification within Chicago's NorthWest side and help them find funding for their work. Angie loves to give her audience the opportunity to formulate their own views by presenting the facts or points of interest with the hope to move her audience into action.

“Journalism is what maintains democracy. It’s the force for progressive social change.” —Andrew Vachss, Author

Author Q&A: Paloma’s Song for Puerto Rico by Adriana Erin Rivera

Paloma Santos is excited about her new diary. In her first diary entry dated July 16, 1898, she shares how her friend, Rosa, had brought her this leather journal from a market in Ponce.

Paloma is a 12-year-old girl who lives in Puerto Rico, on a large coffee farm with her mami, papi, and baby brother, Jorge. She has brown eyes and wavy brown hair. She loves to sing.

“Papi heard that 1898 would be an important year for us to remember,” Paloma writes in the diary. “He says we are in a war. It is between the United States and Spain. They are fighting over the island, our isla, we call home. We are a Spanish colony, but we are also Puerto Ricans.”

Out now from Capstone Publishing, Paloma’s Song for Puerto Rico: A Diary from 1898 by Adriana Erin Rivera is a historical fiction middle grade novel about one Puerto Rican girl during the Spanish-American War—during which the United States invaded the island. The book illustrated by Eugenia Nobati is part of Nuestras Voces, a new series in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino.

Paloma’s Song for Puerto Rico is told in diary format, which helps make the fears and anxieties around war more accessible to a young audience. Rivera—an author and singer/songwriter of Puerto Rican descent—said that she conducted a lot of research to tell this story properly.

“I was so inspired by this story—by this idea of Paloma and who she could be, and what she was looking forward to, this optimism, this hope she has,” Rivera said. “What would she be interested in as a child?”

The result is a taut and memorable story about one young girl and the lifelong impact of war on her and her family. And it’s also about a critical time in Puerto Rico’s history that would forever shape it.

Rivera spoke with Latinx in Publishing about crafting Paloma’s story, the research it entailed, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): Congratulations on Paloma’s Song for Puerto Rico! I understand this book was a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum for the American Latino. How did you land the opportunity to write this story?

Adriana Erin Rivera (AER): This story came to me in a really surprising way. The publisher actually reached out to me and asked me if I would be interested in writing this book. They gave me some parameters of what they were looking for in a story like this, because it is part of a series. . . They had that it would be a Puerto Rican girl, 12 years old in 1898. And it’s all they gave me. They were like, ‘OK, go.’ Immediately I was inspired, and I built a story around these three details.

I was so inspired by this story—by this idea of Paloma and who she could be, and what she was looking forward to, this optimism, this hope she has. What would she be interested in as a child? I was also really inspired by my childhood visiting Puerto Rico. My abuelo had a farm in Aguadilla. So I pulled a lot of my own feelings of, what did Puerto Rico look like to me as a child? I pulled those ideas of Puerto Rico through a child’s eyes, and I built that into the story. And I think that’s really what came out in the book.

AC: Your main character, Paloma—lives on a finca with her parents and baby brother, Jorge. She’s very much a girl from el campo, as they say. She helps her mother in the house and also outside by helping to tend to the chickens and fruit trees. What was it like crafting this character from a time that is well over a century ago?

AER: I did a lot of research [Laughs]. Initially, I didn’t know so much about the Spanish-American War. It wasn’t really taught in the context of Puerto Rico in school for me, so I had to learn a lot to really tell the story properly and authentically. I didn’t want to mince words or talk down to readers, or shy away from things that were very real to the time, and very real to Puerto Rican people. It’s very important that we don’t lose track of what really did happen in our history. So it was very important to me to really keep that in mind as I was writing it.

AC: Your book is so lively with details about Paloma’s life, and snippets of information about the Spanish-American War? Tell us more about the research or resources you tapped into to get all those details for the story.

AER: I initially was overwhelmed by the fact that I didn’t know so much about the topic, but then I immediately thought, Where can I get the most information in the quickest amount of time? It was like a crash course in the Spanish-American War for me. I went to libraries and I reached out to the Newark, New Jersey Public Library, and they were able to give me all sorts of resource articles and the really in-depth things that you need to know without having to go over the top. I also got information from the Library of Congress. They have a whole timeline on their website, which is great because this (the book) is in diary form. So knowing what happened on each single day was super important, so I could really keep track of what was happening in Paloma’s life each day as the story goes on.

AC: What surprised you about Puerto Rico’s history while doing your research?

AER: It was really eye-opening for me. I learned about El Grito De Lares, which was a really important time for Puerto Ricans’ revolution against Spain. I learned a lot about how people in el campo really lived back then. There were a lot of resources at the Smithsonian that they wanted to include in the story, and they worked seamlessly into the story—like the tiple, the cuatro, the coconut bowls, and things that were really critical for people living there at that time. Just everyday things that were really important to how they lived back then. And knowing what those looked like and what those items were was really important to weave into the story.

AC: There’s a thread throughout the book about music, and its importance to not just Paloma and her father. And I know you’re a singer/songwriter, too. Why did you want to include music in this way in this story?

AER: Music is so important to Puerto Rican culture. It’s important to a lot of Latin American cultures—I think all of them. And it’s important to a lot of cultures in general. Music is how we tell our stories, right? I thought that music as a creative outlet for Paloma would be really important as a character, just in the sense that it was not just about the farm for her. What does she do? What is she interested in? Whether it was art, whether it was dancing, whether it was music, I wanted to find something that was in her heart besides just the farm. And I found that music would be the best way to showcase that, and weave it into the culture as well. The cultural aspect of that was going to be really critical, in terms of telling the story. And like I said, music is part of how we tell our stories through history. Her song really does resonate through that.

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from Paloma’s Song for Puerto Rico?

AER: When I set out to write this story, I wanted to make sure that Latinos see themselves as the stars of their own story. And I think that’s really what the Smithsonian is doing with this series, which I love. I wanted readers to see themselves as the stars of their own story. I wanted them to see themselves in the cover. I wanted them to see themselves as important. Our stories are important, so I wanted to make sure that was shining through. 

And then I also thought that within the story was really important because any reader’s culture can be showcased, and I wanted readers to see the book and think, ‘Well, I wonder where my family is from. And I wonder if there’s information about where my culture is from.’ Wherever their cultural origin is. . . I thought it would be important for them to see themselves and want to learn more about themselves.

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Adriana Erin Rivera is a New Jersey-raised author of Puerto Rican descent. Her writing has been published in Barzakh Magazine, Metro New York, Latina Magazine, and Footwear News. She is also a singer and songwriter, and has written theatrical pieces that have been performed on New York City stages. A magna cum laude graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Marketing Communications. Her latest middle grade historical fiction book, PALOMA’S SONG FOR PUERTO RICO: A DIARY FROM 1898, is a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum for the American Latino. Currently based in Westchester County, NY, Adriana is a Marketing Manager at a higher-education institution in New York.

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.

Best Books of 2023 According to Latinx in Publishing

So many wonderful books have been published this year, both frontlist and newly released in paperback. Here are the best books according to Latinx in Publishing. We hope you enjoy this list, and can’t wait to see what these authors bring us in the future. Happy reading!

THE LESBIANA’S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL by Sonora Reyes (paperback)

“This book made me laugh, this book made me cry, this book made me want to hug the main characters and also hug my teenage self–this is the kind of book that I would have loved to have read growing up, and that I’m so thrilled is out for other queer Latine teens to read now. It’s just a wonderful hug of a book.” –-Vanessa Aguirre, Writers Mentorship Co-Director

CREEP: ACCUSATIONS AND CONFESSIONS by Myriam Gurba

“I cackled at one of Myriam’s readings of this book where she said that if she wrote about every creep in existence, past, present and future, the book would be never ending. Well, I finished the book and I wish she would. With an essay collection packed with insight, jokes, and prowess, Myriam’s on the frontlines taking down creeps lurking amongst us, most in plain sight.” —Andrea Morales, Board Member, Writers Mentorship Co-Director

Promises of Gold / Promesas de oro by José Olivarez

“This book gave me so much nostalgia. It made me giggle, made my eyes watery, and motivated me to write more poetry. I also love that it comes with a  Spanish translation.” —Ruddy Lopez, Communications Co-director

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez 

“Hopeful and healing, this debut novel is about the fierce love between sisters, mothers, and daughters trying to unravel an unsolved family mystery. With multiple points of view, by book’s end the true-to-life characters felt like family.” —Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel, Board Member, Programs Director

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

”This was my first time reading horror and I had no idea what to expect. I couldn’t have made a better choice because I was completely engulfed in the world that Cañas built. I also loved that there were historical fiction components in the novel. Taking place after the Mexican War of Independence, a woman finds solace in escaping to the countryside, to find what she believes will be her freedom, except instead she finds a creepy house that is overtaken by an evil spirit and secrets that could destroy her.”  —Tiffany Gonzalez, Communications Co-Director

Dulcinea by Ana Veciana-Suarez

“Everyone knows the story of Don Quijote.  Now we meet his love, his muse – Dulcinea. She is not a wallflower but a strong, vibrant heroine and this is her story.  Loved all the historical details, the complex characters and the new spin on a classic love story.” —Maria Ferrer, Board Member, Events Director

A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens by Raul Palma

“A darkly funny, offbeat, and tender debut novel about a skeptical babaláwo working at a botánica in Miami, haunted by the death of his wife, his childhood in the Bolivian silver mines, and his indebtedness, which rivals the devils in this modern Christmas ghost story.” —Toni Kirkpatrick, Board Secretary

Book Review: Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias

We don't learn our family history all at once. We learn it in fragments, casual asides, and eavesdropping. Tangents are important, oftentimes everything. We master the art of listening as much as we master the art of interjecting because storytelling can be as interactive as it is captivating and, while we do take the scenic route, we get to the point. Children of a certain generation also know which questions to ask and won’t ask them. That is to say, some of us hesitate on subjects we inherently know are delicate. And it’s in this tension of what’s withheld that John Manuel Arias brilliantly writes his debut Where There Was Fire, detailing a strained family saga haunted by the colonial history and machismo it’s set against. 

The novel opens with a hot night in 1968 Costa Rica, an evening we soon learn was planned to be spent as a date to the local theater, that culminates in a destructive fire and murder. Told in shifting multi-generational perspectives traversing time, the women of the novel are left to make sense of what came to pass that night and in the years since. Illustrated by the novel’s nonlinear narrative approach, piecing together family history doesn’t happen chronologically. Like an investigator’s wall crowded with tacks and string, we trace a web of evidence to the novel’s present time, 1995, when the oldest daughter of the family is intent on answers, for her own sake and for the sake of her son. However, this pursuit comes more easily to us as readers with valuable access to various points of view that render a fuller scope of the tragedies wrought throughout the novel. Where a mother may feel righteous in her bitterness, we may see a daughter who has a right to her pain. In the novel, Arias pens a range of voices so that we see it’s not just one stake in the matter, it’s several. 

Arias, who is also a poet, writes this story with lyricism and evocative imagery expressive of Latin American canon. During his September in-person event at Book Soup LA for the novel, Arias discussed the necessity he felt in writing a speculative family history that leaned into magical realism rather than shied away from it. The mesmerizing croaks of toads (which I made the mistake of listening to on the Internet) and the myths woven into the story are the most memorable for me. And while I’m sure there is more than one reason Arias had to use this narrative style, the one I think about the most is that he’s haunted. He said as much, matter-of-factly describing his life living with ghosts. I thought about this a lot while I read the novel because being haunted can feel like nagging nostalgia, and I realized that all the women in the novel are haunted by their histories, including the parts unbeknownst to them. But it seems that, apart from the greed that drives the colonization of Costa Rica and the U.S. capitalization of locally farmed bananas and other crops, the women are directly harmed by the men in their lives too; by family members, friends, and the specters of machismo. And Arias shows us this harm processed by Costa Rican women, who sit with each other and drink instant coffee, in a country famous for their coffee beans.

This harm can seem so ordinary in a culture steeped in misogyny, to live with the omnipresent forces of patriarchy backed by a dominant religion and colonization. But Arias skillfully takes a deeper look at the family’s women of several generations, revealing their relationship dynamics, bringing forth their individual agencies and responsibilities to each other, and where they failed too. One of the book’s cruxes is mother-child estrangement and understanding what it takes to go against the societal norms woven into the culture, to have a child dignify themselves worthy of respect rather than blindly accept a mother who vaguely does everything “for a reason.” The novel’s narrative choices makes the estrangement more mystifying, since we don’t have all the information right away, pulling our sympathies in all directions. So while the search for explanations may be less complicated to us as willing readers, the novel challenges us to do the heavy work of feeling our conflicting emotions.

““Where There Was Fire” examines whether time can heal generational wounds, if forgiveness can come with time, or if grudges and pain are as much part of our inheritance. I think Arias points to mercy instead. The rains of Costa Rica could cleanse a fire.”

When I think about Where There Was Fire, the heartwrenching question I come back to is: what could have been if generational pain didn’t make a family so guarded with each other? Though the pain is shared and passed around, it can be so isolating. The avoidance—and cowardice—that spans decades is toxic, and in the novel Arias runs this up against the toxicity of the pesticides used by the American companies mining bananas with fervor. The colonial and capitalistic harm done to Costa Ricans is a major part of the generational trauma the novel’s characters contend with, and that’s the thing: how does a Costa Rican family have the space to understand one another under the gigantic and violent shadow of U.S. capitalism? It informs their dynamics, a legacy that was crudely and unsuccessfully shrouded by those same American companies, the living ghosts Costa Rican descendents live with. Ultimately, in family histories, Arias sensitively shows us how misunderstandings brew in silence and resentments nestle in what is left unsaid. It makes it easy for violence. Where There Was Fire examines whether time can heal generational wounds, if forgiveness can come with time, or if grudges and pain are as much part of our inheritance. I think Arias points to mercy instead. The rains of Costa Rica could cleanse a fire.

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John Manuel Arias is a queer, Costa Rican American poet and writer, and the National Bestselling author of Where There Was Fire, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick and Barnes & Noble Discover Pick. A Canto Mundo fellow & an alumnus of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, his prose and poetry have been published in The Kenyon Review, PANK, The Rumpus, and Akashic Books. He has lived in Washington D.C., Brooklyn New York, and in San José, Costa Rica with his grandmother and four ghosts.

Andrea Morales is a Board Member and Fellowship & Writers Mentorship Director of Latinx in Publishing. As a Contracts Associate at Macmillan, she works on and negotiates various book agreements on the adult and young adult trade side. She is from and based in Los Angeles, where she graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Psychology. She previously interned as an editorial assistant with Red Hen Press and a literary agent. A daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, her special mission is to boost the visibility of Central American writers and literature. You can find her on Instagram as @guatemalcriada and lurking on Twitter as @guatemalcriada.

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