August 2024 Latinx Releases

On Sale August 6

 

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ADULT FICTION

1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.

So when the film's mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.

Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood--a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue--make for a sizzling combination.

But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.

 

The Empire Wars by Akana Phenix | YOUNG ADULT

Coa, who was born feral in the North Transatlantic wilds, has been captured. Now, Coa is subject to public humiliation and execution in a gruesome spectacle known as the Great Hunt.

If participators die in the Great Hunt, their entire families will be executed--in front of everyone. The nationalist regime known as the Allied Force will not rest until all foreigners are exterminated. Coa's best hope of survival might be Princess Ife--born of privilege but newly married into the authoritarian lineage.

Her riskier choice is an alliance with a gorgeous, cunning fellow participator, marked as a traitor to his militarized nation. Coa entangles herself with the captivating young man but soon finds he could be her ultimate downfall ...

 

Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States

by Stephanie L. Canizales |ADULT NONFICTION

Each year, thousands of youth endure harrowing unaccompanied and undocumented migrations across Central America and Mexico to the United States in pursuit of a better future. Drawing on the firsthand narratives of migrant youth in Los Angeles, California, Stephanie L. Canizales shows that while a lucky few do find reprieve, many are met by resource-impoverished relatives who are unable to support them, exploitative jobs that are no match for the high cost of living, and individualistic social norms that render them independent and alone. Sin Padres, Ni Papeles illuminates how unaccompanied teens who grow up as undocumented low-wage workers navigate unthinkable material and emotional hardship, find the agency and hope that is required to survive, and discover what it means to be successful during the transition to adulthood in the United States.

 

Hivestruck by Vincent Toro | POETRY

A poet whose work has focused on Puerto Rican and Latinx history and identity poses the question of what makes us human, and technology's part in that process, through a decolonial lens.

Vincent Toro's third collection of poetry is a work of Latinxfuturism that confronts the enigmatic and paradoxical relationship human beings have with technology. The poems are a tapestry of meditations on social media and surveillance culture, satires on science fiction and the space race, interrogations of artificial intelligence, cyborg economics, and biohacking, and tributes to women and queer and BIPOC people who have contributed and are contributing to human survival and progress in a technology obsessed world.

 

House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias | ADULT FICTION

For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul, and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe's grandmother's refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo's mom has been shot dead. We're gonna kill the guys who killed her Bimbo swears. And they all agree.

Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits which impose their own order.

 

There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven: Stories by Ruben Reyes Jr | SHORT STORIES

An ordinary man wakes one morning to discover he's a famous reggaetón star. An aging abuela slowly morphs into a marionette puppet. A struggling academic discovers the horrifying cost of becoming a Self-Made Man.

In There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, Ruben Reyes Jr. conjures strange dreamlike worlds to explore what we would do if we woke up one morning and our lives were unrecognizable. Boundaries between the past, present, and future are blurred. Menacing technology and unchecked bureaucracy cut through everyday life with uncanny dread. The characters, from mango farmers to popstars to ex-guerilla fighters to cyborgs, are forced to make uncomfortable choices--choices that not only mean life or death, but might also allow them to be heard in a world set on silencing the voices of Central Americans.

 

My Chicano Heart: New and Collected Stories of Love and Other Transgressions by Daniel A. Olivas | SHORT STORIES

My Chicano Heart is a collection of author Daniel A. Olivas's favorite previously published tales about love, along with five new stories, that explore the complex, mysterious, and occasionally absurd machinations of people who simply want to be appreciated and treasured. Readers will encounter characters who scheme, search, and flail in settings that are sometimes fantastical and other times mundane: a man who literally gives his heart to his wife who keeps it beating safely in a wooden box; a woman who takes a long-planned trip through New Mexico but, mysteriously, without the company of her true love; a lonely man who gains a remarkably compatible roommate who may or may not be real--just to name a few of the memorable and often haunting characters who fill these pages. Olivas's richly realized stories are frequently infused with his trademark humor, and readers will delight in--and commiserate with--his lovestruck characters.

 

It Happened to Anna by Tehlor Kay Mejia | MIDDLE GRADE

Sadie Rivera has been haunted all her life by a vengeful ghost--a ghost that doesn't want her to make any friends. The moment she tries? Cue exploding lightbulbs, chilling gusts of wind, and slamming doors.

Last year, Sadie got fed up. Last year, she made a best friend, Anna. So when the ghost caused an accident that killed her best friend, Sadie knew it was all her fault.

Which is why she's not going to make any friends this year at her new school. At least until mysterious cool girl Mal shows up, and the ghost doesn't bother her for once. But Mal wants Sadie all to herself--and she'll do anything to make sure it stays that way.

 

American Memoir of Music and Belonging by Eugene Rodriguez | MEMOIR

From an early age Eugene Rodriguez knew he was captivated by music. But he found himself encountering the same two problems again and again: the chilly rigidity of so much formal music education, and the underrepresentation of Mexican culture in American media. In 1989 he founded Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds), a group that offered music education to Bay Area youth, and that gave pride of place to Mexican musical traditions.

Bird of Four Hundred Voices follows Rodriguez as he leads his young students from a California barrio to uncover their ancestral roots.

 

Who's in Charge? by Stephanie Allain and Jenny Klion| Illustrated by Marissa Valdez | PICTURE BOOK

Who's in charge of your giggle? I am!
Who's in charge of your wiggle? I am!
Who's in charge of your face? I am!
Who's in charge of your space? I am!

With playfulness and a powerful sense of confidence, the children in this book assert in no uncertain terms who is in charge of their lips, their hips, their eyes, their thighs, their nose, their toes, their voice, and their choice. "I AM!" comes the response that little readers will echo loudly and happily. From Stephanie Allain and Jenny Klion, debut authors who are longtime friends and activists for equity in Hollywood, comes an invigorating anthem brought to colorful life in the energetic artwork of Marissa Valdez.

 

Time of the Flies by Claudia Piñeiro | Translated by Frances Riddle | ADULT FICTION

Fifteen years after killing her husband's lover, Inés is fresh out of prison and trying to put together a new life. Her old friend Manca is out now too, and they've started a business - FFF, or Females, Fumigation, and Flies - dedicated to pest control and private investigation, by women, for women. But Señora Bonar, one of their clients, wants Inés to do more than kill bugs--she wants her expertise, and her criminal past, to help her kill her husband's lover, too. Crimes against women versus crimes by women; culpability, fallibility, and our responsibilities to each other--this is Piñeiro at her wry, earthy best, alive to all the ways we shape ourselves to be understandable, to be understood, by family and love and other hostile forces.

 

Maya Makes Waves by Maya Gabeira |Illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki |PICTURE BOOK

There is nowhere Maya feels more happy and at home than in the sea. The water washes her worries away; there are countless wonders to experience and creatures to learn from. The dolphins show her how to be a stronger swimmer, the sea turtles make her feel calm, and the humpback whale inspires her to be mighty. But when Maya starts to notice plastic pollution and coral destruction, she realizes that her ocean home is in danger--and it's up to her to take action. Professional surfer Maya Gabeira, known for surfing Guinness World Record-breaking big waves, shares a story--inspired by her own life--of finding the courage to speak up for the ocean. Beautifully illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki, Maya Makes Waves is both a celebration of our big blue world, and a call to protect and restore it.

 

On Sale August 13

Troop Esme by Lourdes Heuer |Illustrated by Marissa Valdez | PICTURE BOOK

Esme lives with her grandparents on the uppermost floor of the topmost best building. She has just met a future friend named Wendall who came to her door selling Troop Badger cookies. He is hoping to earn his Cookie Empresario badge. Esme thinks she would like to earn a Cookie Empresario badge too! One small problem: she is not in Troop Badger.

But Esme is a problem solver! She decides to start her own troop: Troop Esme. It will include all the neighbors in the topmost best building. And her first act as troop leader? Help Wendall sell all his cookies, of course!

A funny and delightful story about cookies, badges and most importantly, friendship.

 

Oath of Fire by K. Arsenault Rivera | ADULT FICTION

All Psyche ever wanted to do was help people, whether it's in her job as a therapist or online as an influencer. So when a mysterious invitation arrives from the most captivating man she's ever seen, asking for her assistance, she can't refuse. But Psyche soon finds herself in a world of Courts, full of debauchery and treachery, where her only option for survival is to swear a strange oath to a mysterious masked woman named Eros

Now Psyche has to figure out how to fulfill her end of her bargain with Eros, while trying to navigate having a flame-winged goddess show up in her tiny Brooklyn apartment. Uncanny vistas, a spacious mansion, and decadent experiences are all Psyche's for the taking--so long as she helps Eros, and so long as she never looks under Eros's mask.

But how long can she keep her curiosity at bay when Eros makes her heart tremble?

 

The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis | ADULT FICTION

Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eyes of every suitor in town and far beyond with her tempestuous beauty, which has made her irresistible as a woman yet undesirable as a wife. Secretly, she longs for a life away from the expectations and demands of men. When her father realizes that the future of his family and town will be forever cursed unless he appeases an enraged Aphrodite, he follows the orders of the Oracle, tying Psyche to a rock to be ravaged by a monstrous husband. And yet a monster never arrives.

When Eros, nonbinary deity of desire, sees Psyche, she cannot fulfill her promise to her mother Aphrodite to destroy the mortal young woman. Instead, Eros devises a plan to sweep Psyche away to an idyllic palace, hidden from the prying eyes of Aphrodite, Zeus, and the outside world. There, against the dire dictates of Olympus, Eros and Psyche fall in love. Each night, Eros visits Psyche under the cover of impenetrable darkness, where they both experience untold passion and love. But each morning, Eros flies away before light comes to break the spell of the palace that keeps them safe.

 

Time's Agent by Brenda Peynado | ADULT FICTION

Following humanity's discovery of pocket worlds, teams of academics embarked on groundbreaking exploratory missions, eager to study this new technology and harness the potential of a seemingly limitless horizon.

"What would you do, given another universe, a do-over?

Archeologist Raquel and her wife, Marlena, once dreamed the pocket worlds held the key to solving the universe's mysteries. But forty years later, pocket worlds are now controlled by corporations squeezing every penny out of all colonizable space and time, Raquel herself is in disgrace, and Marlena lives in her own pocket universe (that Raquel wears around her neck) and refuses to speak to her.

Standing in the ruins of her dream and her failed ideals, Raquel seizes one last chance to redeem herself and confront what it means to save something--or someone--from time.

 

Writing an Identity Not Your Own: A Guide for Creative Writers by Alex Temblado | ADULT NONFICTION

In Writing an Identity Not Your Own, award-winning author Alex Temblador discusses one of the most contentious topics in creative writing: crafting a character whose identity is historically marginalized. What is "identity," and how do unconscious biases and bias blocks impact and influence what we write? What is intersectionality? You'll learn about identity terms, stereotypes, and tropes, and receive genre-specific advice related to various identities to consider when writing different races and ethnicities, sexual and romantic orientations, gender identities, disabilities, nationalities, and more. Through writing strategies, exercises, and literary excerpts, writers will gain a clearer understanding on how misrepresentations and harmful portrayals can appear in storylines, dialogue, and characterization.

 

Mothballs by Sole Otero | Translated by Andrea Rosenberg | GRAPHIC NOVEL

San Martín, Argentina, 2001. Upon her estranged grandmother Vilma's death, 19-year-old Rocío moves into a house haunted by memories. Seeking a deeper understanding, Ro delves into her family history and uncovers the episodes of violence and betrayal that shattered Vilma's dreams. All the while, the familiar scent of mothballs permeating the estate serves to remind Ro of the ineluctable spell of the past that she must break in order to forge her own path in life. Tender, heartrending, and leavened with biting humor, Mothballs is at once a moving family saga and a poignant reflection on the need to hold fast to one's identity, despite how painful it can be. A showcase of tour de force cartooning that marks Sole Otero as a major talent in the global comics scene.

 

Day of the Dead: A Celebration of Life by Polo Orozco | Illustrated by Mirelle Ortega | PICTURE BOOK

Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos in Spanish, is a happy celebration. The Mexican holiday is a time to welcome back loved ones who are no longer with us. This is done with offerings of favorite foods, brightly colored marigolds, sugar skulls, and more. This Little Golden Book is a great read-aloud for families that celebrate Day of the Dead, as well as for those who want to learn more about it.

Also available in Spanish

 

Adela's Mariachi Band by Denise Vega | Illustrated by Erika Rodriguez Medina | PICTURE BOOK

Adela wants nothing more than to be a part of her family's mariachi band, but when she tries the different instruments, everything comes out wrong. La trompeta fizzles, la vihuela squeaks, and trying to dance makes Adela fall on her face. From watching her family, Adela knows that practice makes perfect, but can she find a way to be part of the band in the meantime?

A new go-to read-aloud favorite that comes complete with funny instrument sounds, a rythmic text, and Spanish vocabulary. Strike up the band!

Also available in Spanish

 

The Beginning of All Things by Karla Arenas Valenti | Illustrated by Vanessa Morales | CHILDREN’S FICTION

Emma and Martín are settling into their new home in Chicago and getting ready to start at their new school. When they learn they'll be in separate classes for the first time, they aren't sure they can face so much change alone. But when life gets stressful, the siblings now have the perfect escape--into the book of legends!

They enter the creation story of when the giant Ometecuhtli made the world. As soon as they arrive, they realize they have a major problem: it takes a magical object to activate Emma's necklace and open the portal home, but how can they find one when nothing exists yet?

 

Squawk of Spanish Gabriella Aldeman | Illustrated by Romina Galotta| PICTURE BOOK

Max isn't confident with his Spanish, especially rolling his Rs, and his cousins always tease him about it. But he loves spending weekends baking with his Spanish-speaking abuela, while Lorito the parrot helps translate.

But when Lorito disappears for a day, Max and Abuela must figure out how to communicate. Max's Spanish doesn't have to be perfect, and Abuela can attempt a little English. Trying is what counts!

Also available in Spanish

 

On Sale August 20

The Littlest Grito by Nicholas Solis | Illustrated by Teresa Martinez | PICTURE BOOK

The morning before Diez y Seis de Septiembre, Gloria's Papa wakes up with laryngitis. A disaster! The festivities cannot start without a loud grito to kick the party off--and a Hernandez has always yelled the grito for as long as anyone can remember. When Gloria offers her own grito--and Papa backs her up--the mayor has to agree. But what has she done?! How will she find the courage to yell the grito with the heart it needs? Gloria needs some help from her community and her Papa to find her voice.

 

Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California Edited by Carribean Fragoza , Romeo Guzman , and Samine Joudat | Illustrated by Fernando Corona | ADULT NONFICTION

Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California explores California through twenty-five essays that look beyond the clichés of the "California Dream," portraying a state that is deviant and recalcitrant, proud and humble, joyful and communal. It is a California that reclaims the beauty of the unwanted, the quotidian, and the out-of-place. Constantly in search of "the spirit of a place" Writing the Golden State pries into the themes of familial genealogy, migration, land and housing, and national belonging and identity.?Collectively, the essays demonstrate how individuals and towns have weathered some of the social, political, and economic changes of the twentieth and twenty-first

 

Freedom Is a Feast by Alejandro Puyana | ADULT FICTION

In 1964, Stanislavo, a zealous young man devoted to his ideals, turns his back on his privilege to join the leftist movement in the jungles of Venezuela. There, as he trains, he meets Emiliana, a nurse and fellow revolutionary. Though their intense connection seems to be love at first sight, their romance is upended by a decision with consequences that will echo down through the generations.

Almost forty years later, in a poor barrio of Caracas, María, a single mother, ekes out a precarious existence as a housekeeper, pouring her love into Eloy, her young son. Her devotion will not be enough, however, to keep them from disaster. On the eve of the attempted coup against President Chávez, Eloy is wounded by a stray bullet, fracturing her world. Amid the chaos at the hospital, María encounters Stanislavo, now a newspaper editor. Even as the country itself is convulsed by waves of unrest, this twist of fate forces a belated reckoning for Stanislavo, who may yet earn a chance to atone for old missteps before it's too late.

 

The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera | ADULT FICTION

El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo's regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail. Each believing the other to be dead, they escape, fleeing across the globe, reinventing themselves until fate ultimately brings them back together in the most unlikely of ways...

 

Planes Flying Over a Monster by Daniel Saldaña París (| Translated by Christina Macsweeney and Philip K. Zimmerman | ESSAYS

In ten intimate essays, Daniel Saldaña París explores the cities he has lived in, each one home to a new iteration of himself. In Mexico City he's a young poet eager to prove himself. In Montreal--an opioid addict desperate for relief. In Madrid--a lonely student seeking pleasure in grotesque extremes. These now diverging, now coalescing selves raise questions: Where can we find authenticity? How do we construct the stories that define us? What if our formative memories are closer to fiction than truth?

 

The Great Divide / Entre Dos Aguas (Spanish Edition) by Cristina Henriquez | Translated by Martha Celis-Mendoza | ADULT FICTION

Dicen que la construcción del canal será la hazaña más grande en la historia de la ingeniería. Pero ¿quién va a construirlo? Para Francisco, un pescador lugareño que no tolera que las potencias extranjeras saqueen a pedazos su país, nada es más desagradable que la decisión de su hijo, Omar, de trabajar como excavador en la zona de perforación. Pero para Omar, cuya crianza fue tranquila y solitaria, este trabajo es la oportunidad de, por fin, encontrar una conexión.

Ada Bunting, una audaz joven de dieciséis años proveniente de Barbados, llega a Panamá como polizonte junto con miles de antillanos en busca de trabajo. Sola y sin recursos, está decidida a encontrar una ocupación que le permita ganar suficiente dinero para la cirugía de su hermana enferma. Cuando ve que un joven --Omar-- se desmaya después de una jornada agotadora, ella es la única que corre a su auxilio.

 

Once Upon Argentina by Andrés Neuman | Translated by Nick Caistor and Garcia Lorenza | ADULT FICTION

One day, a young man receives an unexpected letter from his grandmother, kicking off a literary adventure that brings home to him everything he has not seen. Once Upon Argentina relates the lives of the narrator's relatives-- a group of people from all over the world gathered in a land where immigrant traditions merge and thrive. The lives of these relatives intersect, like a set of Matryoshka dolls or a hall of mirrors, as the personal and social stories of twentieth century Argentina converge. Beyond these tales of hardship and triumph, Andrés Neuman's novel experiments with the nature of the autobiography, encom- passing prenatal memories, expanding the autofiction genre with a new voice and twist.

 

Kidnapped to the Underworld: Memories of Xibalba by Víctor Montejo |Translated by Sean S. Sell | ADULT FICTION

Víctor Montejo's story recounts the near-death experience of his grandfather, Antonyo Mekel Lawuxh (Antonio Esteban), who fell gravely ill in Guatemala in the late 1920s but survived to tell his family and community what he had witnessed of the afterlife.

Narrated from Antonio's perspective, the reader follows along on a journey to the Maya underworld of Xibalba, accompanied by two spirit guides. Antonio traverses Xibalba's levels of heaven and hell, encountering instructive scenes of punishment and reward: in one chapter, conquistadors are perpetually submerged in a pool of their victims' blood; in another, the souls of animal abusers are forever unable to cross a crocodile-infested river. Infused with memory, the author illustrates Guatemala's unique religious syncretism, exploring conceptions of heaven and hell shared between Catholicism and Indigenous Maya spirituality.

 

On Sale August 27

 

Me Llamo Marcela: My Story as a Heritage Speaker by Marcela T. Garcés | Illustrated by Andrés E. Garcés | MIDDLE GRADE

On her first day of middle school Spanish class, Marcela thought she'd excel--after all, she'd grown up speaking Spanish at home and on visits to family in Colombia. Instead, she quickly felt like a confused imposter, unsure how a language that was part of her heritage and identity could so elude her. And so, at age thirteen, with the help of her Spanish teacher Doña Maribel, Marcela began her formal journey studying Spanish. She never anticipated how much she'd discover about learning a language and what it means to be a heritage speaker--someone who grows up using a language at home but often lacks more formal knowledge of it. In this charming graphic memoir that captures a little-discussed aspect of growing up multicultural, Marcela recounts her earliest Spanish teachers: Colombian street vendors, family members who shouted or whispered words, and her beloved Doña Maribel, who helped her connect the Spanish of her youth with what she was learning in the classroom.

 

With Love, Echo Park Laura Taylor Namey | YOUNG ADULT

Seventeen-year-old Clary is set to inherit her family's florist shop, La Rosa Blanca--one of the last remnants of the Cuban business district that once thrived in Los Angeles's Echo Park neighborhood. Clary knows Echo Park is where she'll leave a legacy, and nothing is more important to her than keeping the area's unique history alive.

Besides Clary's florist shop, there's only one other business left founded by Cuban immigrants fleeing Castro's regime in the sixties and seventies. And Emilio, who's supposed to take over Avalos Bicycle Works one day, is more flight risk than dependable successor. While others might find Emilio appealing, Clary can see him itching to leave now that he's graduated, and she'll never be charmed by a guy who doesn't care if one more Echo Park business fades away.

 

Star Wars: The High Republic: Beware the Nameless by Zoraida Córdova | MIDDLE GRADE

The fearsome Nihil continue to spread chaos inside the Occlusion Zone, aided by the mysterious creatures called the Nameless that feed on the Force itself. When the people of an embattled world plead for help with the Nihil threat, a team of both Republic Defense Coalition members and Jedi--including Ram Jomaram--is sent to their aid.

The team soon discovers that their ship contains four stowaways--Jedi younglings Kildo, TepTep, and Jamil, and Zenny Greylark, a senator's daughter determined to find her sister. When a distress call comes in from a nearby planet, Jedi Master Adi-Li Carro agrees to take the stowaways to investigate. There, they will encounter a young Hutt on a mission, a stranger with mysterious motives, and the creatures they fear the most. . . .

 

Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldívar | YOUNG ADULT

As the contentious 2017 presidential election looms and protests rage across every corner of the city, life in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, churns louder and faster. For her part, high school senior Libertad (Libi) Morazán takes heart in writing political poetry for her anonymous Instagram account and a budding romance with someone new. But things come to a head when Mami sees texts on her phone mentioning a kiss with a girl and Libi discovers her beloved older brother, Maynor, playing a major role in the protests. As Libertad faces the political and social corruption around her, stifling homophobia at home and school, and ramped up threats to her poetry online, she begins dreaming of a future in which she doesn't have to hide who she is or worry about someone she loves losing their life just for speaking up. Then the ultimate tragedy strikes, and leaving her family and friends--plus the only home she's ever known--might be her only option.

 

Waiting for the Dawn by Fabiola Anchorena | PICTURE BOOK

The sun, the moon, and the rain have not been seen in the jungle for weeks, and everything is shrouded in a prolonged night. The animals of the Amazon forest, both diurnal and nocturnal--whether they run, fly, or swim, whether they roar or squawk--are deeply concerned. They no longer recognize their home and embark on a journey to discover why the dawn has not come.

Through the poetic text and the emotive use of color, Waiting for the Dawn draws our attention to the dire consequences of the Amazon's exploitation and destruction, a phenomenon that has escalated in recent years due to the effects of climate change and tragically makes headlines each summer.

Educational backmatter created in collaboration with One Tree Planted will inspire both adults and children to contemplate the growing threat of forest fires and support organizations that protect the forests, which are the Earth's lungs.

 

¡Me Llamo La Chiva!: El Colorido Bus de Los Andes by Karol Hernández | Illustrated by Lorena Alvarez Gómez | Translated by Isabel Mendoza | PICTURE BOOK

Este alegre libro-álbum rimado es el primer libro de la autora, fue ilustrado por la estimada creadora de Luces nocturnas e Hicotea, y acompaña al icónico bus, o chiva, en su recorrido por las escarpadas montañas de los Andes, celebrando la rica cultura y el exuberante paisaje de Colombia que la película Encanto, de Disney, presentó de manera tan espléndida.

 

I Don't Want to Be Understood by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza | POETRY

I Don't Want To Be Understood is a work of resistance against the conventional trans narrative, and a resistance against the idea that trans people should have to make themselves clear and understandable to others in other to deserve human rights. This is a compelling, urgent collection about the body and survival that asks how we learn to love in a culture where normal is defined by exclusion and discrimination.

These poems stretch from childhood to the present day--resisting typical narratives of self-discovery, resilience, and personal growth--and instead asks what it means to be granted or denied personhood by the world around you. It is a personal archive of a trans life laid out in all its messiness and unknowability, and is a book for anyone who has questioned why we place so many limitations on who gets to be considered a human being. These poems do not celebrate survival, but rather ask why transsexuals and other gender non-conforming people must fight so hard to survive in the first place.

 

En Otra Voz: Antología de Literatura Hispana de Los Estados Unidos Edited by Nicolás Kanellos

Book Review: 'Love Unwritten' by Lauren Asher

C/W: mentions self-harm, abuse, eating disorder.

When people first ask me why I read romance novels, I tend to answer with Why not? For so long, romance novels have been given the reputation of not being “real books.” But even as a young queer teen, I always asked Why not? It has everything a “real book” has - words, pages, a cover. So why is a romance novel not a “real book?” It wasn’t until I became an adult that I realized that the general public tends to see romance as a genre that only women read. And we all know how the general public tends to treat things that women only allegedly enjoy. 

With the rise of TikTok though since the pandemic, the number of romance readers has increased, along with the number of men who enjoy them. Having been an open romance reader since the Fifty Shades craze, romance is the section that I always walk first to whenever I visit Barnes & Noble. And one of the authors who has become someone who I can trust to give me a good love story is Lauren Asher. Asher, famous for her Dreamland Billionaires series, has given us one of the best beach reads of the Summer in Love Unwritten, a romance with a few of my favorite tropes. Forced proximity, grumpy male main character, just to name a few, and plus a beach trip to Hawaii; perfect for the Summer. 

Ellie Sinclair is a hopeless romantic songwriter who wrote the Album of the Year, according to the Grammys. If only the public knew that. Now coming back to her hometown of Lake Wisteria after her best friend’s betrayal, she becomes the nanny and music teacher to the son of the man who she thought she would be over – Rafael Lopez. But things have changed since high school. Rafael is now a billionaire with a company to run, an ex-wife to deal with, and his son Nico who he wants to make memories with. He has to, before Nico goes blind. A romance with Ellie is not what he needs. But a lot can change in fourteen days, and sometimes a vacation romance doesn’t stay in vacation. 

The thing that I love about Asher’s books is that before I even know it, a few hours have passed and I’m 150 pages in. That is how good she is at capturing a reader’s attention and keeping it. Although part of a series, it’s an interconnected standalone. Readers of Asher will love seeing character cameos from her other books, but new readers don’t need to read her previous books to enjoy them. Finally, what Asher does so well is being able to capture these two characters and make you sympathize with their struggles. The struggles of depression and self-harm are ones that I can personally relate to, and it helps break the stigma of these topics, especially in a romance novel. It shows that people who don’t see themselves as “perfect” can accept the help of others, people who they didn’t expect it from, and find the acceptance within themselves and that love for each other. 

In Love Unwritten, Lauren Asher goes back to Lake Wisteria to tell the story of these two characters who saw themselves as broken. In a story of healing from physical and mental scars, they found the acceptance they didn’t know they wanted and were able to find the love they didn’t think they would get to have. If you want that summer read that’ll take you on vacation without having the funds, read Love Unwritten and get ready to be hooked to Lauren Asher. 


Joseph De La Cruz (He/Him) is an Oakland native and graduate of San Francisco State University with a major in Creative Writing. A lover of Pop music (Britney over Christina, anyday), Disney, pepperoni pizza, and iced coffee, you can find him at the romance section of any bookstore, waiting for his very own meetcute to happen. You can find him on Instagram @princetonboy915 (Yes, it is a reference to that movie!) 

Author Interview: ‘The Best That You Can Do’ by Amina Gautier

The Best That You Can Do brims with life, sorrow, joy, and nostalgia. Winner of the 2023 Soft Skull-Kimbilio Publishing Prize, Amina Gautier’s short story collection brings readers across time to the present day with stops that include Chicago, Philadelphia, Lisbon, and the author’s own native Brooklyn. The stories are compact yet potent, exploring relationships, the connection and rights to one’s own heritage, and complexities embedded in one’s identity.

This collection, in many ways, feels like a master study on the richness of everyday lives. In “Rerun,” Black and Puerto Rican siblings are desperate for Boricua representation on their television screen. “We’ve got the Evans family – Florida, James, Michael, Thelma, and J.J. a.k.a. Kid Dy-no-mite – but we have to work to find the Boricuas,” Gautier writes. “We collect Puerto Rican actors the way other kids collect comics, valued all the more because they’re so rare.” In “Why Not?” a Black woman struggles with the low dating standards others expect her to accept, and the subsequent fallout after a date with an acquaintance. In “Housegirl,” an elderly woman grapples with loneliness in the space of time between visits from her personal home-care attendant.

Gautier spoke with Latinx in Publishing recently about the inspiration behind The Best That You Can Do (out now from Soft Skull Press), re-exploring Puerto Rican identity, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): Congratulations on your stunning book, The Best That You Can Do. Your collection is lyrical and bursts with many themes, including identity, Blackness, and womanhood. I felt like I was right beside your characters as their stories unfolded. You were the inaugural winner of the Soft Skull-Kimbilio Publishing Prize, which is how The Best That You Can Do came to be in readers’ hands. What has winning this prize meant to you?

Amina Gautier (AG): I love winning prizes, first of all [Laughs]. Who doesn’t? The Kimbilio Prize, specifically, is important to me because Kimbilio means ‘safe haven,’ and it is an organization that nurtures and promotes the work of writers from all across the Black diaspora. So it’s a very important award. 

Many of the awards for short story collections are typically attached to university presses, which tend to be small independent presses. Having this contest be attached to Soft Skull Press, which is distributed by Penguin Random House and is connected to Catapult, I think, makes the contest even more significant and more visible because it’s a larger press. It’s not one of the Big Six, but it is larger than an independent press which means that it has the power to get the work distributed widely.

But specifically as a writer of short fiction, it’s important to win contests because short fiction or short story collections tend to not be publicized or promoted as widely as novels are. So having a contest win attached to your book is an extra layer of publicity that will make people pay attention to it. All four of my short story collections have been published through contest wins. 

AC: You center complexities within the Puerto Rican diaspora in the first section of your book. In “Buen Provecho,” siblings keep their desire to learn their father’s language hidden from their mother so as not to wound her. In “Quarter Rican,” a teenage girl visiting family on the island is made to feel not fully Puerto Rican by a relative. As a writer with Puerto Rican ancestry yourself, I know you have been writing about your community for years. For this collection in particular, though, what truths were you hoping to unearth in re-exploring Boricua identity?

AG: Some of the things that I’m always interested in promoting and exploring with Boricua identity and Latino identity is 1) Constantly reminding people that Puerto Ricans are not immigrants. People seem to keep forgetting that. When I’m writing about Latinx diaspora experiences, I’m interested in pushing the boundaries and reminding readers that there are so many different ways to be Latino or Hispanic. 

Even with the narrative that is frequently pushed about languages – like, ‘OK, you know how to speak Spanish because you learned it at home, or because you learned it in school because of exposure.’ But there are plenty of other reasons why a person could decide to forgo speaking the language, or decide to be interested in it. At a certain point in your life, or development, or age, it can become a conscious choice. 

In “Buen Provecho,” we have a mother who makes a decision not to learn Spanish because she associates with her father. And we have kids who are not exposed to it in the house because the mothers isn’t exposing it to them. But then they go see their Titi on the weekends, and they can get exposure in other ways and make the choice for themselves. 

I want to remind people that that language is not only just a process of education and exposure, but has an emotional and psychological component to it as well… There’s so many different choices that people are making when they are choosing to adopt a language or adapt a language. And I want to remind readers that all of these possibilities are valid and valuable. That we are expansive.

When I’m writing about Latinx diaspora experiences, I’m interested in pushing the boundaries and reminding readers that there are so many different ways to be Latino or Hispanic.

AC: In that vein, your focus on Puerto Rican identity in this collection is deeper than, “Am I Puerto Rican enough?” You cover the complexities and relationships across generations, and also how, for example, that identity impacts a partner who is not Puerto Rican. As you worked on these stories, was there anything that surprised you about the expansiveness of what it means to be Puerto Rican?  

AG: All the stories surprised me. I don’t start out with any kind of organization or plan. For instance, “Making a Way” is one of the last stories that I wrote. The collection was accepted at the beginning of January 2023 but I felt that it needed just a few more stories, so I wrote a few more to round it out. In “Making a Way,” I have this wife who is resentful of her husband. I thought I was going to explore her keeping the kids and not letting them go to PR for the summer as a way to punish him, and realizing that this specific character can have one relationship with her husband – but still want an experience for her children. 

She would like to have been able to go to Puerto Rico to see her husband’s native land, but just because she can’t she’s not going to deny her children that experience. I didn’t know that that’s what I was going to have her do. Her story is where I started really thinking about language as a form of inheritance, as a form of birthright. That despite what’s happening with her and her husband, her kids have a right to spend time with him, to go to the island, to learn Spanish if they want to. And she’s not going to deny them that experience.

AC: Your collection drips in nostalgia. I loved the many TV show references in “Rerun” and appreciated you placing the reader in the post-summer break frenzy in “Summer Says.” Much of your book is inspired by the 70s and 80s. What was it like to place that time on the page in many of these stories?

AG: It was a lot of fun to go back and think about the cartoons and different shows I was watching, but also about how the pop culture that Gen X kids were exposed to helped shape our identity. Like watching all the cartoons with morals on the end of them… I wanted to make this a love letter to Gen X. I feel like my generation is constantly forgotten. I really wanted to infuse in deep references to that pop culture. We Gen X kids were forced to be immersed in our parents’ lives and music. We had to watch the TV shows that they did, so I also think that it’s one of the last cross-generational moments before people split off and everyone went to their own separate rooms to watch their own separate TV shows. 

AC: In the section titled “The Best That You Can Do,” we see more stories about women and their disillusionment with love and with men. We see disappointed women, tired women. The men in many of these stories, fall short of their promises to their partners. In “A Recipe for Curry,” a wife is stuck in a monotonous life – having to cook curry for her husband once a week. She hasn’t been able to realize her dreams, despite her husband’s promises to her. I’d love to learn more about your depiction of hetero-relationships in these stories. What do you want readers to take away from them? 

AG: As you know, this section is the longest one in the collection. There’s a whole cycle-of-life going on with the first two sections being about youth and childhood, and then this longer section being about adulthood and adult relationships. And then the next section is about our external lives politically, and the last section is about when we come to the end of our lives. 

In this long section about romantic relationships or about adult children’s relationships with their parents, I’m really exploring social pressures and social expectations that are on us when we’re adults. What happens in our relationships based on what our friends or our partners are expecting us to do? How are we navigating the goals and dreams that we have for ourselves as adults, in conjunction with our parents or our partners’ expectations?

In “A Recipe for Curry,” the dream was just to get out of Guyana and to make it to the U.S. That’s more tangible, even though there are other promises: a house, a car, all these moments of exploration. But just getting to the U.S. kind of becomes the focus. And once they’re there, they become stuck in this rut. What part do we play in becoming engineers of our own self-destruction? Because the wife plays a part in that – in continuing to make it for him once a week and not pushing back.

AC: Some of the stories are a few pages long – some only a couple. How do you know when a story is complete? Do you step away from it once you feel you’ve answered a question – or posed one to your reader?

AG: I don’t deliberately try to pose questions. Hopefully they come out organically. I don’t like to be a heavy-handed writer. I do focus on an image, or an issue, or a problem, and then try to follow it through to its natural conclusion. With this collection, I knew that it would all be very short fiction… That meant that I would have to compress a lot of the action, and condense it. I wouldn’t always have time for a scene, so I would have to use language and lyricism to create this sort of narrative pressure to push the story through. 

I would know that I was done when I couldn’t do anything else with the language to make the point. Which is a little different from my other collections, which have more traditional-length stories with multiple scenes and more dramatic action. But for this one, the focus is really on the language and the syntax. So once I get this feeling that everything sounds right, then I know that the story is done.

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from The Best That You Can Do?

AG: Besides calling it like my Gen X love letter, I’m also calling it my pandemic book because it wasn’t the collection I was supposed to finish next. I had a whole research leave and I was going to write another collection. The pandemic hit, and I couldn’t focus on writing 25-page stories when the world was in such chaos. For months I didn’t write anything because I was depressed and isolated. I told myself, OK, you can’t write your usual 10-12 hours a day or five days a week, but maybe you can write two days a week. Maybe you can’t write a 25-page story. Maybe you can write a four-page story… I used that to kind of write myself out of the depressive environment of a pandemic. I was just thinking, nobody knows exactly what to do right now. We don’t have guidance. We’re just all trying to do the best that we can do – which is why that’s the title of the collection. 

In addition to hoping that readers enjoy the pop culture moments and think about the ways in which characters help undermine their own destinies, I want this book to be inspirational. Because I’ve told myself, OK, it doesn’t matter that I didn’t complete the project that I set out to complete. It just matters that I kept writing. And this is what came out of it. I hope that when readers or aspiring writers who get stuck in a project, they can remember that, ‘Maybe this project isn’t working right now. But as long as I just keep writing, I can write something else. I can change genres for a couple of months. As long as I keep writing, there’s hope and there's promise. And what I do is valuable.’ 


Amina Gautier, Ph.D., is the author of three short story collections: At-Risk, Now We Will Be Happy, and The Loss of All Lost Things. Gautier is the recipient of the Blackwell Prize, the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award, the International Latino Book Award,the Flannery O’Connor Award, and the Phillis Wheatley Award in Fiction. For her body of work, she has received the PEN/MALAMUD Award for Excellence in the Short Story.

 


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.

Book Review: 'There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven’ by Ruben Reyes Jr.

People who often speak against sci-fi, magical realism, or any fiction pieces argue that they prefer more realistic content. Although many works of this genre fail to make a connection between fantasy and reality, quality fiction shows through its fantastic scenarios aspects about humanity that are often too dark to face as pure realism. Fiction readers like me know this and never fail to find the realistic commentary hidden in spaceships, aliens, or robots. As a fan of the genre, reading Ruben Reyes Jr.'s debut, There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, was exhilarating. Reyes creates a collection of stories where the rules of each world differ; however, they connect in their devastating outcomes. More importantly, the author draws the challengingly blurry line between fantasy and reality with effortless caution, making readers question the difference between the two—if any. 

Reyes showcases his peculiar storytelling abilities in twelve stories (some short fiction and some flash fiction). He creates a narrative from perspectives rarely seen in science fiction. Queerness, Latinx culture, and Central American history are displayed in his stories, and readers don’t need to belong to said communities to understand them. They must, however, be aware of them—and have respect for them. He expects us to be clever enough to grasp what’s being told behind the imaginative aspect of his work, limiting his exposition and committing to the weirdness of his stories. The flash fiction pieces set the tone, where readers get settled in alternate realities from a well-known history. Then, in the longer stories, the speculative details are so carefully curated that one could easily forget they are not real. The imagination is engrained in the issues Reyes so well displays in his work, leaving us with a bitter taste in our mouths after each chapter—and if you are anything like me, with a few tears in your eyes.

[Reyes Jr.] creates a narrative from perspectives rarely seen in science fiction. Queerness, Latinx culture, and Central American history are displayed in his stories, and readers don’t need to belong to said communities to understand them. They must, however, be aware of them—and have respect for them.

One story is about grieving someone even before their death, where a son deals with the loss of his homophobic father and tries to form a new one who could love him for who he is. Another one builds a world where US Citizens are treated similarly to the immigrants trying to reach the border, but this time Americans try to reach Mars, facing violent repercussions if discovered. In both pieces, the author uses sci-fi elements to speak about truths about humanity and the ways we treat each other. Furthermore, Reyes does what at least I have never witnessed in Latinx literature: point at the ways the community hurts itself. Whether it is inside our home countries or as immigrants, we natives of the other two Americas tend to take advantage of our neighbors. Some stories in Reyes's work emphasize this issue. From a Latinx-owned company based in the US that underpays its employees to an exploited magical mango tree, Reyes tells disturbing facets of our community that are often ignored. 

I found myself unable to put the book down. I remember telling my husband after each chapter, “That was devastating. I need to keep reading.” And I often came back to sections that I particularly loved. Especially its last chapter, where Reyes gives readers the chance to create their own immigration story, which I found insanely creative and fun—and frustrating whenever I took the wrong turn. With all that said, I am certain this book is not only meant for speculative fiction readers. It is for anyone ready to face wounding immigrant realities through richly imaginative worlds. And for anyone ready to question how similar real life is to our deepest nightmares. 


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

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

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

Latinx Book Marketers and Publicists You Should Know

Have you ever felt you’re seeing a book everywhere? One day, the book appears on your social media, but you don’t think much about it. The next day, you see the book’s author on your favorite late-night show, and you think it’s a coincidence. But the next day, while you’re on the subway, you look up, and there it is again! How is this possible? Well, it’s all thanks to book marketers and publicists. 

Although their work is rarely noticed by readers, they play a huge role in getting people to discover and buy books. So in an attempt to recognize their efforts, we’ve put together a short list of Latinx book marketers and publicists. Enjoy!

Rhina Garcia, Publicist, Avid Reader Press

Rhina Garcia is the Publicist at Avid Reader Press, a division of Simon & Schuster. She joined from the Countryman Press imprint at W.W. Norton where she worked on a variety of cookbooks and lifestyle titles including Toya Boudy's Cooking for the Culture, Mary Beth Albright's Eat & Flourish and New York Times bestsellers My Vermont Table by Gesine Bullock-Prado and RecipeTin Eats Dinner by Nagi Maehashi. Prior to that, she worked at the William Morrow imprint at HarperCollins with authors such as Alexis Daria, Karin Slaughter, Rob Kenney, and Rosalind Miles. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida and an M.S. in Publishing from New York University. Originally from Miami, she currently lives in Brooklyn and enjoys live music, film photography, and bodega cats.

 

Tiffany Gonzalez, Marketing Manager, Astra House

Tiffany Gonzalez (she/her) is the Marketing Manager at Astra House, an imprint of Astra Publishing House. She previously worked in Production at HarperCollins Publishers. She has worked on the Publicity and Marketing campaign for Dreaming of You by Melissa Lozada-Oliva and on the Marketing campaigns for Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekiyamah, and The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela. She has earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Rutgers University – NB. She’s fluent in Spanish and is excited to bring unique and creative initiatives to fruition. You can follow her on Instagram @wandering_tiff_ and Twitter @wanderingtiff or visit her website at https://www.wanderingtiff.com.

 

Irene Vázquez, Associate Editor and Publicist, Levine Querido

Irene Vázquez is an Associate Editor and Publicist at Levine Querido. Irene graduated from Yale with a BA in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and English. Irene read the Percy Jackson series out of order in elementary school by accident and has been passionate about children’s books ever since. Outside of LQ, Irene is a poet and journalist who likes drinking coffee, watching Queen Sugar and reminding folks that the South has something to say. You can visit her website at https://www.irenevazquez.com.

 

Lulú Martínez, Senior Director of Marketing, One World

Lulú Martínez (she/her) is the Senior Director of Marketing at One World, an imprint of Random House Group. A transplant from Mexico City, she moved to New York to pursue an MS in Publishing at Pace University. She has worked on campaigns for bestselling authors like Zora Neale Hurston, Heather McGhee, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Cathy Park Hong, and Former First Lady Michelle Obama. She is on the board of N+1 Magazine and serves as a mentor at Inkluded, a program that champions diversity in publishing by actively working to train and place young people from excluded groups into their first publishing jobs. She is an avid ultrarunner and amateur vegan baker in her spare time.

 

Saraciea J. Fennell, Senior Publicity Manager, Tor/Forge Books

Saraciea J. Fennell is a Black Honduran American writer, founder of The Bronx is Reading, and creator of Honduran Garifuna Writers. She is also a book publicist who has worked with many award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors. Fennell is board chair for Latinx in Publishing as well as on the Advisory Board of People of Color in Publishing. Her nonfiction anthology WILD TONGUES CAN’T BE TAMED is available wherever books are sold. Her second book is the horror anthology THE BLACK GIRL SURVIVES IN THIS ONE co-edited with Desiree S. Evans, from Flatiron Books. Visit her website at https://www.saracieafennell.com, and follow her online @sj_fennell, @thebronxisreading, @hondurangarifunawriters.

 

Antonio Gonzalez Cerna, Marketing Director, Levine Querido

Antonio Gonzalez Cerna (he/him) is the Marketing Director at Levine Querido. He has 15 years of experience developing marketing, advertising, and social media strategies for adult and children’s book publishers such as Hachette Book Group, Penguin Books USA, and Scholastic, as well as for non-profit institutions including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Lambda Literary Foundation. An advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equality, he has proudly served on the Children’s Book Council Diversity Committee, Lambda Literary Awards Host Committee, and is a founding member of Latinx in Publishing. He’s passionate about graphic novels, graffiti, and guacamole.

 

Giselle Gonzalez, Publicist, Tor/Forge Books

Giselle Gonzalez (she/her) is the Publicist at Tor/Forge Books. She was born and raised in Miami but is now located in NYC. A romantic at heart, her favorite books to read offer an escape. When she isn’t working in book publicity, she’s catching the first flight out to start a new adventure. You can visit her blog at https://www.hopelessbooklover.com.









Elizabeth Cervantes is a proud Mexican book lover. She has a bachelor’s in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso and is currently working on obtaining her master’s in Publishing at Pace University. When she is not studying and reading for her classes, you can find her crying, swooning, or locking her doors while reading children’s books, romance novels, and mysteries/thrillers.

Review and Author Q&A: 'Sun of Blood and Ruin' by Mariely Lares

Enter Pantera, a mixed warrior sorceress risking her life to defend the native people of New Spain from the cruelty of the Spanish government. Pantera might be a vigilante, but she’s also Leonora, the sister of the current viceroy. While both roles are equally useful to her cause, being the daughter of a Spaniard father and a Nahual mother, Leonora feels like she doesn’t quite belong in either of her two worlds. 

Mariely Lares’ historical fantasy, Sun of Blood and Ruin, is an immersive gender-bender reimagining of Zorro. This brilliant debut is heavily rooted in Mexican history and Mesoamerican mythology. The fantasy genre was dominated almost exclusively by Eurocentric folklore until very recently, when speculative fiction inspired by people of color’s stories started to emerge. It is invigorating to read an epic fantasy inspired by Latine folklore and see pieces of you looking back from those pages. Lares brazenly sends the reader to a world where gods clash yet it’s not far from reality. She masterfully entwines the mythology with history, resulting in a story of uprising and empowerment.

I was especially surprised by the incorporation of Spanish and Nahuatl in the story—it flowed naturally and added another layer of complexity to the book. Lares weaved different myths and legends, especially Nahua lore, which influences Leonora’s character arc and her personal convictions. She also hints at complicated themes such as belonging, self-acceptance and community. I adored the dynamic between Leonora and her only friend, Inés. It is a ride for the heart with a bittersweet aftertaste.

In the romance aspect, Lares blessed us with the slowest of love burns. Leonora’s relationship with Andrés/Tezca progresses slowly but steadily. It was lovely to see them grow closer to each other at their own pace, which felt true to the story and to their circumstances. I can’t wait to see their connection deepen in the following book.

Captivating and inventive, Sun of Blood and Ruin is the Latinx epic fantasy we were waiting for. It has it all: beautiful prose, alluring mythology, political unrest and a provocative romance sub-plot. 

Lares briefly spoke with Latinx in Publishing about the inspiration behind Sun of Blood and Ruin.

Dianna Vega (DV): Hi Mariely! Thank you for discussing your historical fantasy novel, Sun of Blood and Ruin, with LxP. Where did the spark for this story came from?

Mariely Lares (ML): Thanks for reading! I often refer to this spark as the big bang, because it happened all at once at the same time. It was a confluence of ideas. The main motivation was that I wanted to write a fantasy novel set in Mexico, a setting which is rarely explored in this genre, especially during this time in history. Sun of Blood and Ruin is a lover letter to Mexico and its original inhabitants. 

Zorro played a huge role too. He’s such a cool character who embodies adventure, justice, and the fight against oppression, and the narrative captures those themes. My main character Leonora grew into something much more complex as I was writing. She was born out of my love for Zorro but evolved into an exploration of identity, power, and resistance. There’s a lot of dualities in Leonora, and not just because she’s both Spanish and Indigenous, but because she’s also both human and animal, and those are two very different natures. Being Mexican-American myself and growing up in a border town, it was so easy to see myself in her, struggling with the clash of identities, and feeling like you don’t truly belong in one place. Trying to navigate and reconcile two worlds—that’s definitely a feeling I can relate to. 

DV: The novel’s backdrop, inspired by Mexican history and Mesoamerican mythology, is particularly exciting. Can you tell us about your research process? 

ML: In a nutshell? A mix of pain, suffering, and fascination. It was a journey spanning five hundred years of history just to scratch the surface. Coming into this, I knew the basics—just what is more commonly known in Mexico. But most accounts of Aztec history were written by conquerors, and so finding sources that weren’t heavily biased was an early challenge. A few other culprits: multiple contradicting Nahua creation myths, a sprawling pantheon of gods, conflicting historical narratives, etc.

Captivating and inventive, Sun of Blood and Ruin is the Latinx epic fantasy we were waiting for. It has it all: beautiful prose, alluring mythology, political unrest and a provocative romance sub-plot. 

I didn’t just want to rely on the facts, though; I wanted to understand the culture, the beliefs, the daily lives. That was when I started reading Aztec philosophy, how the Nahua people saw the world, even learning a bit of Nahuatl. There’s this movie, “The Arrival”, where Amy Adams portrays a linguistics professor tasked with deciphering the language of newly arrived aliens. It’s a great movie because it really highlights how powerful language can be. When Amy’s character deciphers the aliens’ communication, she unlocks not just words but a different way of thinking—a concept in linguistics that suggests language shapes our thoughts. Learning some Nahuatl opened up a whole new world of understanding for me. 

Overall, it’s the closest I’ve gotten to experiencing time traveling. 

DV: As a native Spanish speaker, I loved the casual incorporation of Spanish throughout the book. Was this an intentional decision from the outset, or did it kind of happen as you worked in the book?

ML: Most of it was intentional, but sometimes it just flowed better—some things just sound better in Spanish, you know? That said, I actually did scale back on the Spanish a bit. I was a bit worried that non-Spanish speakers might find it too jarring or get pulled out of the story. But even then, I knew I had to incorporate Nahuatl. And for those who don’t speak Spanish or Nahuatl, I hope it sparks curiosity and a desire to learn more about these beautiful languages.

DV: Do you have any advice for Latine writers wanting to weave their folklore into speculative stories but worried about how it'll land with foreign readers?

ML: Great question. We’re so used to seeing Euro-centric stories dominate the market, and it can be really intimidating to put our own stories out there. The fear never goes away. Write anyway. Write for your ancestors. Write for you. Not everyone will connect with our stories, and that’s fine. The right audience, the people who need to hear your voice, will find you.


Mariely Lares is a Mexican-American writer of fiction. Born in the only hospital of a small town in Southern California—which, fun fact, is also Cher’s birthplace—she grew up straddling two worlds, crossing the border almost every day. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she holds a degree in Computer Science Engineering and lives in San Diego, where she can be found doing all the outdoorsy things, rescuing dogs, and writing her next book.

 

Dianna Vega is a Dominican assistant editor, fiction writer, and poet based in Florida. She holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Central Florida. She is a 2024 Periplus Fellow. Her poetry has appeared in Outrageous Fortune and South Dakota Review.

Book Review: ‘City Girls’ by Loretta Lopez

CW: Sexual assault (implied), physical abuse 

We all remember our formative years, our youth, with varying attitudes. For some, this manifests as fondness, maybe, a longing for nostalgia and simpler times. Others might be more relieved than not that that period of their lives is over. Whatever your initial reaction may be, it’s important to remember that everyone’s childhood experiences are uniquely their own and what we see on the surface does not always tell a person’s whole story. In Loretta Lopez’s inspiring debut novel, City Girls, readers are offered insight into the stories of three middle-school-aged girls, their struggles and hardships, and more importantly, their triumphs. 

“City Girls” is a work of fiction, though Lopez credits the novel as being inspired by the lives of girls she has personally worked with at The Brave House, a nonprofit located in NYC that provides holistic services to young, immigrant girls. Utilizing those experiences, Lopez masterfully creates a three-part story showcasing the lives of three girls living in New York. We are given the opportunity to know them more intimately through their personal chapters written in first person, as well as seeing them through the eyes of the other two. This provides us with crucial insight into how the girls deal with their own issues while also allowing us to perceive how they come across without all the context we as readers get to know. It’s a refreshing style that manages to naturally connect all three plots and all three girls despite their differing situations. 

The novel follows a linear approach, starting off with Elisa, an eleven year old girl from El Salvador who’s recently moved to New York to live with her mom and stepdad. Along with Ellisa, we experience her settling into a new city, a new school, where she must try to find her place despite the trauma she carries and the looming pressure as her mother works to ensure she is granted asylum and will be allowed to stay in the country. Elisa’s chapters do an excellent job at handling difficult topics, such as sexual assault, physical abuse, and generational trauma, in a respectful, but undeniably authentic way that brings Elisa right off the page and into our hearts. 

‘City Girls’ is such an important novel, especially to children, because of its boundless ability to connect with and teach to a wide variety of audiences.

Part two centers around Lucia, Elisa’s first friend, a shy, introverted girl who is the only other Spanish speaking student in their class. Her portion is conveyed through letters she writes to her deceased Tita over a period of time. Despite a seemingly perfect life, her world comes crumbling down when she discovers a distressing secret as she’s still very much entrenched in the loss of her Tita. As she grapples with this secret, readers will follow along on her journey of spiritual discovery. How she connects to her Tita even though she’s no longer physically with her and how this gives her the strength to finally confront this secret despite what it might mean for the future of her family.

In the final part of the novel we get to know Alice, a rambunctious, loud, confident girl who isn’t afraid to be herself no matter what anyone else thinks or says. We learn that Alice is extremely close with her mother, so much so that she considers her her best friend. So when there arises a possibility of her mother no longer being able to be with her, Alice deals with it in the only way she knows how—by cranking herself up to 11 despite the consequences this may bring. Lopez does an impressive job with Alice of demonstrating self-destructive coping techniques that emerge when a child’s support system is taken away. It provides readers with the understanding of where this might come from and hopefully lets us walk away with newfound patience and acceptance. 

City Girls is such an important novel, especially to children, because of its boundless ability to connect with and teach to a wide variety of audiences. Speaking from personal experience, children are so deeply informed and shaped by the books they read growing up, I wholeheartedly believe that even if they can’t personally relate to the communities represented in this novel, it would be a very good idea to give them opportunities to learn as much as they can about those different from themselves. 

And for those audiences who see themselves in these characters, it’s so vital that they have access to these stories. It really means more than a lot of people can conceptualize to see yourself represented in media, to know that you are not alone and that there is so much in your life to celebrate.


Gabrielle Rodriguez is a volunteer reviewer with Latinx in Publishing. She is a recent graduate of California State University Chico, who hopes to learn more and eventually delve into the world of publishing herself. She was born and raised in San Francisco and grew up with a fostered love of reading and writing that she wishes to share with other, young, Latinx girls. With grandparents hailing from Puerto Rico and Mexico, boosting the voices of writers with similar roots is deeply important to her.

Most Anticipated July 2024 Releases

Summer is officially here! We hope you take some time to rest, enjoy the sun, and with it, a good book. Check out our most anticipated releases and make sure to pick up one (or more – we won’t judge) of these books to enjoy while on your summer adventures. 

 

The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez

There’s no better way to combat the heat than with more heat, and this debut romance novel brings just that!

Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows she needs to move on. But before she gets the chance, she must deal with a bigger problem: Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo's plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela convinces him to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place. But when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.

Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her feelings for the groom, so they decide to roll with the lie. Until one night, they take it a step further and begin a rebound relationship that may be working a little too well. 

 

How to Eat a Mango by Paola Santos|Illustrated by Juliana Perdomo

Carmencita doesn’t want to help Abuelita pick mangoes; she doesn’t even like them!

But Abuelita adores mangoes, and patiently, she teaches Carmencita the right way to eat them. Together, they listen to the tree’s leaves, feel its branches and roots, and smell and feel the sweet, smooth fruits. Each step is a meditation on everything Mamá Earth has given, and in the Earth’s love, Carmencita feels the love of her family.

When they finally bite in, Carmencita understands. The mangoes are more than just mangoes… and she’s ready for another!

How to Eat a Mango’s delicious story and artwork will leave you craving the sweet golden fruit, a perfect snack for this time of year. 

 

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world that has no place for the undocumented.

She infiltrates the school’s elite subculture and is both fascinated and repulsed. Craving a great romance, Catalina finds herself drawn to a fellow student, a budding anthropologist eager to teach her about the Latin American world she was born into but never knew, even as her life back in Queens begins to unravel. And every day, the clock ticks closer to the abyss of life after graduation. Can she save her family? Can she save herself? What does it mean to be saved?

Brash and daring, Catalina is sure to pull you in until the very last page. 

 

My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes 

For generations, the Olivares women have sought to control their daughters’ destinies, starting with their names. In life, Olvido constantly clashed with her carefree daughter. Then teenage Angustias discovered she was pregnant and left her mother’s home in search of her own. Ten years later, Felicitas finally meets her estranged grandmother and is terribly disappointed when Olvido is nothing like a grandmother should be. She is strict, cold, and…dead.

Now, Olvido is convinced the only way her spirit will cross over is if she resolves her unfinished business—to make sure Angustias is in a better place regarding family, job, husband, and God—and Felicitas is the only person who can see or hear her. 

As Olvido attempts to puppeteer her granddaughter to “fix” Angustias’s life from beyond the grave, all three Olivares girls are forced to learn how to actually listen to one another and learn the true definition of home.

My Mother Cursed My Name is a charming and magical journey you won’t want to miss!


Elizabeth Cervantes is a proud Mexican book lover. She has a bachelor’s in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso and is currently working on obtaining her master’s in Publishing at Pace University. When she is not studying and reading for her classes, you can find her crying, swooning, or locking her doors while reading children’s books, romance novels, and mysteries/thrillers.

Author Q&A: ‘I Am La Chiva!: The Colorful Bus of the Andes’ by Karol Hernández

“On breathtaking mountains, where coffee beans grow, I carry my friends to the green hills below. I drive through the Andes, so windy and steep. Me llamo La Chiva. That’s me! Beep, beep, beep!”

With its vibrant opening, I Am La Chiva: The Colorful Bus of the Andes demands your attention. The joyful picture book by debut author Karol Hernández and illustrator Lorena Alvarez Gómez transports readers through the rugged Andes mountains on a chiva. La chiva is the name used for artisan rustic buses used widely for public transport in rural Colombia.

The idea to write about the iconic bus came to Hernández when her son mistook her ceramic miniature chiva for a school bus. She searched for picture books about it, but couldn’t find any. So she decided to write one.

Out on July 9 from Dial Books for Young Readers, I Am La Chiva is a cheerful rhyming book told from the perspective of la chiva. The bus picks up its passengers one by one – including people with produce, and even animals. Readers meet Doña Ines with her curious hen and warm arepas, and Don Ernesto with his pig named Chanchito. On the way to the town center, la chiva hits a small snag which makes for some added excitement to the story.

Alvarez Gómez, who is from Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, uses a rich color palette to illustrate the beauty of rural Colombia. Much like real-life chivas, the chiva centered in this book is intricately decorated in swoops of teal, purple, orange, and more. There is an incredible amount of detail in the spreads, which is sure to make young readers linger longer on each page.

The Spanish translation of the book, titled ¡Me llamo la Chiva!: El colorido bus de los Andes, will be released on Aug. 27.

In anticipation of her debut book’s release, Hernández spoke with Latinx in Publishing about revisiting la chiva for readers, the inspiration behind her characters, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): Congratulations on I Am La Chiva. I know you were born and raised in Colombia and I understand you were 13 when your family left. What inspired you to write this book?

Karol Hernández (KH): La Chiva is an answer to a question. During the pandemic, I was taking a picture of my little ceramic chiva, and my son – who was three years old at the time – approached me and said, “What a cute school bus.” And I was like, “No, this is not a school bus.” I tried to explain the role of chiva buses in Latin countries, but I didn’t feel that the concept quite clicked. So I went to look for a picture book on the topic. I didn’t find one, so I wrote the story originally for him. 

Because my kids were born in Tennessee, we were getting all these awesome picture books from the Imagination Library. And I just made the connection. I was like, This story kind of reads like something I would see in a book – like the ones I get from the Imagination Library. And that sparked the idea of turning the story that I wrote for him into a picture book for a broader audience.

AC: For those who don’t know, what is a chiva?

KH: A chiva bus kind of looks like the body of a school bus, if you will, except that it has pew-style seating, no buckles, no windows. This is like an open bus, and it’s used to transport people in rugged terrain. Our story takes place in Colombia, in the Andes Mountains, so that’s where our chiva travels in the story. 

The buses are very beautifully decorated. They’re painted by hand by artisans. And when you ride on a chiva, you could be riding next to people, produce, plantains, coffee, chickens, pigs, dogs, you name it. And people. Things are also put on top of la chiva, which you can appreciate in the illustrations. 

“Chiva” literally means “goat.” One of my kids said, “Oh, of course, because it’s the greatest of all time,” and I should have made that connection myself. But “chiva” means “goat,” and that is because back in the 1930s when chivas were first introduced to Colombia, their horns sounded like a goat. And so farmers would refer to it as la chiva. Nowadays you can also find chivas in touristic centers in Colombia and in some major cities in the US, as party buses.

I tried to explain the role of chiva buses in Latin countries, but I didn’t feel that the concept quite clicked. So I went to look for a picture book on the topic. I didn’t find one, so I wrote the story originally for him. 

AC: You begin the book by saying “On breathtaking mountains, where coffee beans grow, I carry my friends to the green hills below. I drive through the Andes, so windy and steep. Me llamo La Chiva. That’s me! Beep, beep, beep!” I love that the entire book is told from the perspective of la chiva. How did you decide to tell the story this way?

KH: When I sat down to write the story, I closed my eyes and started recalling vignettes from my childhood, and vignettes from my landscapes and experiences I had as a kid in Colombia… Two stanzas in, I realized that I was la chiva. And so, “I am La Chiva. It’s me.” 

I don’t know why it felt so natural to write it that way, but a lot of the characters that we meet along the way represent real people in my childhood. I didn’t live in a small rural town. I lived in a city, but we would go to a small rural town to get together with our family in la finca. And so I did these journeys, and it felt so natural to narrate it in first person as if I were the bus.

AC: La Chiva plays an important role in this book. Here is where Doña Ines boards with her curious hen, and Don Ernesto arrives with his pig, Chanchito. How did you come up with all these characters? 

KH: In Colombia, we call it la cuadra – the block. So in the block where I grew up, we had Nancy, who was the lady who made arepas. Nancy was a fixture in my childhood, so I thought, Well, I need to include the lady who makes arepas because she was part of my childhood. Nancy didn’t work (for the book) because of the meters, so I went with Doña Ines. And I wanted to introduce the word “Doña.” 

Funny enough, Nancy’s family had a pig. We would all bring our scraps throughout the year, and they’d feed the pig. You can imagine what happened with that pig at the end of the year, for Christmas time. But I wanted to include a pig (in the book), although Chanchito does not meet that fate in the story. That was decided by my children… These were just people who made an impression in my life as a young kid because of what they did. What they did was relevant to my experience of people and culture, and they did it with such joy and pride. I wanted to communicate that these people, everything they did, they did with joy and with pride in service of their community.

AC: I want to ask you about the illustrations by Lorena Alvarez Gómez. They were just so beautiful. I love the color choices. Was there any collaboration with her for this project?

KH: There was incredible collaboration between Nancy Mercado, our editor at Dial, Lorena, and myself. I think that what made this very natural and easy is the fact that Lorena is Colombian as well. She actually lives in Colombia. When Nancy shared the manuscript with her, I think she immediately got the vision, made it her own, and she was graceful enough not just to do an incredible job, but she also included little Easter eggs for my kids, which was awesome because now they feel that the physical book is theirs. And they’re so proud to show people. She elevated this book to a place that I could not have imagined. 

The creative team behind this book is all Colombian American, and I think it gives it incredible authenticity and a level of detail that you probably can’t get from just looking at pictures and doing research. I think it shows that the team behind the book has experienced the Colombian Andes, and knows the place and function of a chiva in Colombian society and culture.

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from I Am La Chiva?

KH: I have a couple of big dreams for the book. One, I hope that this book serves as a gateway for people to want to learn more about the Andes. Not just Colombia, but the Andes Mountains; the Andes are the longest mountain range in the world, and they cross seven countries. And along the ridges of these mountains, there’s incredible diversity of culture, food, music, textiles, flora, fauna, Indigenous communities. Our story takes place in Colombia, but Colombia is one link in this chain of culture that crosses a continent.

Secondly, as a first-generation Colombian in the States, I remember when I moved here as a teenager and would tell people that I was Colombian, usually the first response I got was that I probably was related to Pablo Escobar. While I get that that was a joke, it was a painful joke. Because I was 13 years old and couldn’t understand how, at the time, the 32 million people in Colombia could be reduced to one story. As I mentioned earlier, I grew up surrounded by hardworking people who did what they did with joy, with pride. We weren’t perfect, but within our imperfection there was so much beauty. 

With time, I learned to redirect conversations by saying, ‘No, we make wonderful coffee. And have you heard of Shakira? Have you heard of Carlos Vives? And have you seen las gorditas de (Fernando) Botero?’ I was able to rely on people’s art to create a different narrative. Now I want to contribute to the stories that are told about Colombia abroad, because there’s so much to our countries – not just Colombia. And so I feel like it’s taking power back by telling a different story.


Karol Hernández was born and raised in Colombia. She currently lives in Florida with her husband, three kids, two dogs, and a fish. https://karolitadotcom.wordpress.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.

July 2024 Latinx Releases

 

On Sale July 2

 

The Curse of the Flores Women by Angélica Lopes |Translated by Zoë Perry | ADULT FICTION

Eighteen-year-old Alice Ribeiro is constantly fighting--against the status quo, female oppression in Brazil, and even her own mother. But when a family veil is passed down to her, Alice is compelled to fight for the rights of all womankind while also uncovering the hidden history of the women in her family.

Seven generations ago, the small town of Bom Retiro shunned the Flores women because of a "curse" that rendered them unlucky in love. With no men on the horizon to take care of them, the women learned the art of lacemaking to build lives of their own. But their peace was soon threatened by forces beyond any woman's control.

As Alice begins piecing together the tapestry that is her history, she discovers revelations about the past, connections to the present, and a resilience in her blood that will carry her toward the future her ancestors strove for.

 

A Blind Salmon by Julia Wong Kcomt |Translated by Jennifer Shyue | POETRY

Tusán writer Julia Wong Kcomt's sixth collection of poetry, A Blind Salmon is her first full-length collection available in English. Written while she was living in Buenos Aires, the collection crosses borders between Berlin, Buenos Aires, Chepén, Tijuana, and Vienna. It takes up sameness and difference, shot through with desert sand.

In these poems, Wong Kcomt renders homage to writers such as the Peruvian poet and visual artist Jorge Eduardo Eielson, who died in Milan as she was writing them. She fingers the filmy line between poetry and narrative prose to build a lyrical menagerie all her own.

 

Stars in My Crown by Antonio Michael Downing |Translated by Richy Sánchez Ayala| PICTURE BOOK

Little Tony is full of love for his grandmother, his home in Trinidad and delicious pholourie. But he's also full of other big feelings, including anger. His grandmother tries to teach him to be patient -- patience is a star in his crown, she says -- but it's hard.

He tries to keep his anger in, but when he loses at ping-pong to his brother or he has to come in from playing . . . Yaaarrgh!

When Little Tony and his brother move away from their beloved Trinidad, there's even more for him to be upset about. His new home is cold, full of new people, and there's no pholourie anywhere! Yaaarrgh!

But then he remembers his grandmother's lessons, and a surprising thing happens . . .

A charming and heartwarming story based on the author's own childhood, Stars In My Crown is an ode to big feelings but even bigger triumphs.

 

I Am La Chiva!: The Colorful Bus of the Andes by Karol Hernández | Translated by Lorena Alvarez Gómez | PICTURE BOOK

This joyful and rhyming picture book written by a debut author and illustrated by the beloved creator of Nightlights and Hicotea, follows the iconic bus, or chiva, as it navigates the rugged Andes mountains, celebrating the rich culture and landscape of Colombia that was so beautifully showcased in Disney's Encanto.

 

Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías | Translated by Heather Cleary | ADULT FICTION

In a city ravaged by a mysterious plague, a woman tries to understand why her world is falling apart. An algae bloom has poisoned the previously pristine air that blows in from the sea. Inland, a secretive corporation churns out the only food anyone can afford--a revolting pink paste, made of an unknown substance. In the short, desperate breaks between deadly windstorms, our narrator stubbornly tends to her few remaining relationships: with her difficult but vulnerable mother; with the ex-husband for whom she still harbors feelings; with the boy she nannies, whose parents sent him away even as terrible threats loomed. Yet as conditions outside deteriorate further, her commitment to remaining in place only grows--even if staying means being left behind.

An evocative elegy for a safe, clean world, Pink Slime is buoyed by humor and its narrator's resiliency. This unforgettable novel explores the place where love, responsibility, and self-preservation converge, and the beauty and fragility of our most intimate relationships.

 

Cash Delgado Is Living the Dream by Tehlor Kay Mejia | ADULT FICTION

Cash Delgado has a good life in the quaint town of Ridley Falls. She has Joyce's Bar, where she manages a familiar group of regulars and emcees the ever-popular Karaoke Thursday. She has her six-year-old daughter, Parker, whose spunky attitude always keeps life interesting. And she has her best friend, Inez O'Conner, who improves Cash's sometimes overly responsible outlook with one full of joy and potential.

But change is on the horizon when Chase Stanton, the former bar manager at Joyce's (not to mention Cash's last hookup), returns to town with business prospects that could threaten the local institution and all of Cash's plans to someday bring new life to the place. And if that isn't enough, Cash starts having very intimate dreams of Inez. Dreams that could threaten the foundation of her well-ordered life.

As Cash embarks on a reluctant journey of self-discovery, she's forced to confront all the ways she's been hiding in her own life. But will she choose to remain the same, or will the desire for love (even a love that looks different than she ever imagined) prove worth the risk?

 

Kamau and Zuzu Find a Way by Aracelis Girmay | Translated by Diana Ejaita | PICTURE BOOK

One day, young Kamau and his grandmother ZuZu wake up to find themselves on the moon. Kamau doesn't remember Back Home, but Grandma ZuZu does, and she misses it terribly. Together, through cloth scraps and dance, letters and song, Kamau and ZuZu find a way to make a new life for themselves in this strange land: a new life which is not only rooted in the stories, memories, and traditions that ZuZu always carries with her, but which also lovingly reaches out across the vast expanse of space to connect and communicate with the family from which they've been separated.

Acclaimed poet Aracelis Girmay and illustrator Diana Ejaita together weave a powerful story inspired by the African diaspora, in which--despite the shock of being uprooted into this alien world, without being given any choice or explanation, and the sorrow that comes from the unfathomable distance separating them from their beloved community--Kamau and ZuZu find a way to live, as people do.

 

Pizza Face by Rex Ogle | Illustrated by Dave Valeza | YA GRAPHIC NOVEL

It's time to face facts!

On the first day of seventh grade, Rex encounters a bump in the road -- a big angry pimple right in the center of his forehead. And this is only the beginning of his problems. What follows is a frustrating battle with stubborn acne, body odor, and other embarrassments of puberty. Still struggling with a home life edging on the poverty line, Rex can't afford to buy the acne medication or deodorant he needs, and bullies are noticing Rex's awkward transformation. On top of it all, things have gotten weird with his friends, making Rex feel like he can't do or say anything right. So far, seventh grade stinks!

 

The Murmuration Carlos Labbé | Translated by Will Vanderhyden | ADULT FICTION

On the eve of the 1962 World Cup in Chile, a retired sports commentator with a secret ability to influence living beings with his voice encounters one of the directors of the Chilean national team--a feminist with a covert agenda--on an overnight train ride to Santiago. The director convinces the commentator to return to broadcasting in order to call Chile's matches and to utilize his unique vocal power to determine their outcomes.

Later, when Chile is facing off against Brazil in the semifinal match, the plan diverges from one of conventional victory and the narrative bifurcates, simultaneously tracking the action on the field and a startling sequence of events that is unfolding in one of the stadium's luxury boxes, and what initially looks like a story of intrigue and action and an exploration of class warfare, representation, and social justice, emerges as a novel that enacts the notion that art can only transcend through collective creative action.

 

On Sale July 9

 

Yum, Yum, Mexico!: Mexican Food from A to Z by Diane de Anda| Illustrated Emily Mendoza | PICTURE BOOK

Some foods are spicy, and some are sweet.
Take a bite. . . . You're in for a treat
of many delicious things to eat!

Kids love learning about food, they need to learn their ABC's, and this mouth-watering alphabet book about Mexican food covers both in the most delicious way! You'll see so much more than tacos as you flip through food from albóndigas to zanahoria. Each dish is brought to life with playful rhyming text, side-by-side phonetic pronunciation, and bright, engaging illustrations. Available in Spanish.

 

Braba: A Brazilian Comics Anthology Edited by Rafael Grampa and Janaina de Luna | ANTHOLOGY

American audiences have grown familiar with international comix through an influx of European bande dessinee and Japanese manga that has been translated into English over the past two decades. But there are vivacious creative scenes happening worldwide, notably in Brazil, the largest country in South America and fifth-largest country in the world. Braba aims to rectify this cultural blind spot with a single-volume showcase of innovative Brazilian comics, curated by acclaimed artist Rafael Grampá and comics editor Janaina de Luna. Produced by Fantagraphics in collaboration with Brazilian publisher MINO, this extraordinary collection of 13 short stories created by 16 pioneering Brazilian cartoonists encapsulates a thriving and thrilling comics scene.

Braba unites a diverse array of voices and styles under a unifying theme: deeply personal stories from experimental cartoonists. Each artist has uniquely interpreted this concept, creating all-new work for English readers, resulting in a collection that encapsulates the intensity, political gravitas, and avant-garde spirit of the Brazilian comics community during one of the country's most challenging socio-political periods. The contributors to Braba include Amanda Miranda, Bruno Seelig, Diego Sanchez, Gabriel Goes, Jefferson Costa, Jéssica Groke, Sirlene Barbosa, João Pinheiro, Cris Eiko, Paulo Crumbim, Pedro Cobiaco, Pedro Franz, Rafael Coutinho, Shiko, and Wagner Willian.

 

Tell It to Me Singing by Tita Ramirez | ADULT FICTION

Monica Campo is pregnant with her first child when, moments before being wheeled into emergency heart surgery, her mother confesses a long-held secret: Monica's father is not the man who raised her. But when her mother wakes up and begins having delusional episodes, Monica doesn't know what to believe--whether the confession was real or just a channeling of the telenovela her mother watches nightly.

In her despair, Monica wants to speak with only one person: her ex-boyfriend of five years, Manny. She can't help but worry, though, what this says about her relationship with her fiancé and father of her unborn child.

Monica's search for the truth leads her to a new understanding of the past: the early eighties when her parents arrived from Cuba on the famous Mariel boatlift, and the tumultuous seventies, a decade after Castro's takeover, when some people were still secretly fighting his regime--people like her mother and the man she claims is Monica's real father. Tell It to Me Singing is a story that takes readers from Miami to Cuba to the jungles of Costa Rica and, along the way, explores the question of how and to whom we belong, how a life is built, and how we know when we're home.

 

Gloriana, Presente: A First Day of School Story by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris | Illustrated by Doris M. Rodríguez-Graber | PICTURE BOOK

On the first day of elementary school, Abuela soothes Gloriana's nerves by telling her stories from their family home in la República Dominicana. But as soon as Gloriana enters the classroom, the tropical scenery crumbles and la música is replaced with English phrases she does not understand. When other kids approach her to play at recess, she freezes, uncertain about how to exist between her two homes, or how to make new friends between her two languages. Abuela recognizes echoes of her own immigration journey on this challenging day at school, and she gently guides Gloriana towards newfound confidence. This beautifully painted, imaginative picture book celebrates the magic of existing in-between, and the transformative power of self-soothing to build confidence.

 

The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez | ADULT FICTION

Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years--and when he gets engaged, she knows it's long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she's in love with. When she discovers Theo's plans to confess his feelings for his brother's fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him--despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.

Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela's bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form--just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.

 

Quincas Borba by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis | Translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson | ADULT FICTION

Hailed in his lifetime as one of Latin America's greatest writers, Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was a storyteller known for his wholly innovative narrative techniques and uncanny talent for unraveling the social and political milieu of nineteenth-century Brazil. These signature traits are on full display in Quincas Borba, a novel that sees Machado satirize a rapidly changing Rio de Janeiro.
Originally published in 1891, the story begins with the death of its titular character, a mad philosopher infamous for spouting pessimistic theories of "Humanitism." Borba leaves his fortune--including his dog, also named Quincas Borba--to Rubião, his loyal caretaker and a schoolteacher by trade. Bestowed with opulence beyond his wildest dreams, Rubião is quickly coaxed into the comforts of a rich man's life--the only stipulation being that he continues to care for the canine Quincas Borba with the same dedication he once did the human. Adrift in the big, bad, bustling world of late-1860s Rio de Janeiro, it isn't long before Rubião is targeted by the city's sycophants, who can smell his naïveté from a mile away.

 

Invisible Isabel Sally J. Pla |Illustrated by Tania de Regil | PICTURE BOOK

Isabel Beane is a shy girl who lives in a home full of havoc and hubbub and hullabaloo. With five siblings, there is always too much too much-ness.

At school, there's a new girl who is immediately popular, but she's also not very nice to one person--Isabel.

Isabel has never felt more invisible. She begins to get bombarded by fears, like being abandoned by her classmates and taking the upcoming Extremely Important standardized test. Her fears feel like worry-moths that flutter in her belly. With every passing day, they seem to get stronger and stronger. How can Invisible Isabel make people listen?

 

On Sale July 16

 

The Day's Hard Edge by José Antonio Rodríguez | POETRY

In his fourth poetry collection, José Antonio Rodríguez investigates how one constructs a relationship to the self, to community, and to poetry itself. The Day's Hard Edge is composed of three sections, the first of which situates the reader in the speaker's world, one marked by multiple forms of trauma. Here are the contours of the Texas/Mexico borderlands where the speaker's initial sense of self and community emerges. The second section broadens in scope and considers the potential and limitations of poetry as a site for meaning-making. The third section brings the speaker to a new understanding of the poem as it relates to the transformative and destabilizing experience of trauma. Ultimately this book lays bare an individual and, in doing so, shows how poetry acts as a place of succor and vulnerability for one's very identity. Together these poems explore what it means to be queer, immigrant, and Chicano.

 

María Mariposa by Karla Arenas Valenti | Illustrated by Ana Ramírez González | PICTURE BOOK

A gift from Mexico alights on María Mariposa's windowsill on her first day of school in a brand-new country: "¡Una mariposa!" / "A butterfly!" And with the butterfly, in comes magic. Filled from her toes to her new butterfly wings with memories of home, María knows exactly who she is. But when everything at school is different and strange, doubt begins to make María's confidence fade away. The place she comes from, the community she loves, the magic inside her . . . does any of it really belong in her new life?

With courage and compassion, this picture book confronts the most difficult moments--and feelings--of being new, sweeping readers up in a powerful celebration of the magic we each contribute to the world.

 

How to Eat a Mango by Paola Santos | Illustrated by Juliana Perdomo | PICTURE BOOK

Carmencita doesn't want to help Abuelita pick mangoes; she doesn't even like them! They're messy, they get stuck in her teeth, and it's a chore to throw out the rotten ones.

But Abuelita adores mangoes, and patiently, she teaches Carmencita the right way to eat them. Together, they listen to the tree's leaves, feel its branches and roots above and below, and smell and feel the sweet, smooth fruits. Each step is a meditation on everything Mamá Earth has given, and in the Earth's love, Carmencita feels the love of her Mami, her Papi, her little brother Carlitos, and of course, Abuelita.

When they finally bite in, the juice running down their arms, Carmencita understands. The mangoes are more than just mangoes... and she's ready for another!

Inspired by her own childhood in Venezuela, Paola Santos's mango-sweet story is a grounding, life-affirming take on gratitude for nature's gifts and connection with family and culture. Juliana Perdomo's cheery artwork brings Carmencita, Abuelita, and their mango tree to life with all the warmth of golden fruit under the sun.

Simultaneously released in Spanish as Cómo se come un mango.

 

¡Vamos! Let's Celebrate Halloween and Día de Los Muertos: A Halloween and Day of the Dead Celebration by Raúl the Third | PICTURE BOOK

Little Lobo is celebrating two big holidays this fall!

On Halloween, Little Lobo and his friends dress up in costumes, trick-or-treat for candy, and share spooky stories. Then everyone in the town prepares food, drinks, and other gifts and decorates the cemetery with ofrendas so they can enjoy Día de los Muertos with the spirits of the people they love. Join Little Lobo and his friends as they celebrate!

Full of easy-to-remember Spanish vocabulary and packed with cultural details, this colorful story of two fall holidays brings the celebrations of this border town to readers everywhere!

 

My Broken Language: A Theater Jawn: A Play Based on the Author's Memoir by Quiara Alegría Hudes | PLAY

Quiara Alegría Hudes' stage adaptation of her much-lauded memoir is a joyous celebration of Puerto Rican womanhood in 1990s West Philadelphia.

In this memoir-turned-play, Hudes showcases a handful of key life moments that mark subtle changes in her sense of self and her place in the world. Interlaid between these vignettes are moments of song, dance, and ritual that evoke her boisterous girlhood in a house run by the Perez women. Through this piece, we come to understand the collaborative art that was Hudes's coming of age, and the communal nature of autobiography.

 

You're a Good Swimmer by Christopher Rivas |Illustrated by Ariel Boroff | PICTURE BOOK

"Appropriate for preschool picture-book enthusiasts, this is also the sort of resource every middle- and high-school counselor should display prominently in their office." -- American Library Association's Booklist

Dive into the journey of life with You're A Good Swimmer, a captivating picture book that answers the age-old question: Where do babies come from?

Readers will quickly discover it's not just about the birds and the bees; it's a celebration of the astounding journey that each person takes towards their first breath.

This picture book will bring families together, engaging readers across ages as it explores the miracle of life alongside the complexity of reproduction, birth, and biology. The story reminds us that the journey to our existence is nothing short of a miracle.

With timeless and inspiring artwork alongside straightforward and lively text, You're A Good Swimmer emphasizes that taking our very first breath is the grand prize of the greatest race of all.

 

The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien by Oscar Hijuelos | Foreword by Gary Soto | ADULT FICTION

Irish American Nelson O'Brien fell passionately in love with the poetess Mariela Montez while photographing the ravages of battle in Mariela's native Cuba during the Spanish-American War. After marrying, they moved to the United States to start a new life, settling in a small Pennsylvania town where Nelson took over the Jewel Box Movie Theater. Together, they had a remarkable fifteen children: fourteen daughters and one lone son.

In Oscar Hijuelos's The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien, the lives, loves, and tragedies of this sprawling Irish Cuban family unfold. Over the course of a century, each member moves in and out of each other's lives, traversing Cuba, New York, California, Alaska, and Ireland, while Margarita--the Montez O'Brien's eldest daughter--ruminates on the nature of femininity, sex, love, and earthly happiness. And as Margarita learns and grows in an overwhelmingly female environment, she can't help but contrast her experiences with those of Emilio, her intensely masculine brother, whose B-movie career in the 1950s has left him adrift and frustrated, with little hope of success.

 

Johnny, the Sea, and Me by Melba Escobar | Illustrated by Elizabeth Builes |Translated by Sara Lissa Paulson | MIDDLE GRADE

Pedro has always dreamed of going to the sea. So when his mom takes him on a special trip to a small island in the Caribbean, he's so happy that he grows an extra inch! But the troubles at home--bullying from classmates and an absent father--find a way to follow Pedro, even on vacation... Overwhelmed, the boy takes to the beach and runs away, hoping to leave his worries far behind.

That's when he meets Johnny, an islander descended from pirates. At first, Pedro is frightened by Johnny's imposing appearance and brusque manners. But Johnny, along with his chatty parrot Victoria, takes young Pedro under his wing and shares his island and his stories with him, thereby changing Pedro's life. Because sometimes, like Pedro, you have to lose yourself to find yourself.

 

On Sale July 23

 

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio | ADULT FICTION

When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina, least of all her own complicated, contradictory, ruthlessly probing mind. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world that has no place for the undocumented; her sense of doom intensifies her curiosities and desires. She infiltrates the school's elite subcultures--internships and literary journals, posh parties and secret societies--which she observes with the eye of an anthropologist and an interloper's skepticism: she is both fascinated and repulsed. Craving a great romance, Catalina finds herself drawn to a fellow student, an actual budding anthropologist eager to teach her about the Latin American world she was born into but never knew, even as her life back in Queens begins to unravel. And every day, the clock ticks closer to the abyss of life after graduation. Can she save her family? Can she save herself? What does it mean to be saved?

 

Hart & Souls by Lisa Schmid |Illustrated Carolina Vazquez | MIDDLE GRADE

After getting bullied at Figueroa Elementary, Stix Hart wants nothing more than to fly below the radar at middle school. He's heard all the horror stories, but none involved ghosts.

On Stix's first day of sixth grade, his anxiety is off the charts. It doesn't help when he spots a kid who reminds him of his old bully, Xander Mack. Soon after, he encounters two other students who take a keen interest in him. He quickly learns the spooky truth--the trio are lost souls in need of a solid. When the ghosts tell him they've been stuck in middle school for decades, it's up to Stix to figure out how to help these not-so-normal new friends.

Solving this paranormal predicament will take some serious sleuthing and tremendous bravery. Can Stix solve this mystery and help these spirits move on before it's too late?

 

The Deading by Nicholas Belardes | ADULT FICTION

In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.

Once infected, residents of Baywood start "deading" collapsing and dying, only to rise again, changed in ways both fanatical and physical. As the government cuts the town off from the rest of the world, the uninfected, including the introverted bird-loving Blas and his jaded older brother Chango, realize their town could be ground zero for a fundamental shift in all living things.

Soon, disturbing beliefs and autocratic rituals emerge, overseen by the death-worshiping Risers. People must choose how to survive, how to find home, and whether or not to betray those closest to them. Stoked by paranoia and isolation, tensions escalate until Blas, Chango, and the survivors of Baywood must make their escape or become subsumed by this terrifying new normal.

 

Grow Up, Luchy Zapata by Alexandra Alessandri |MIDDLE GRADE

Luchy Zapata is starting middle school, and she's muy excited. She and her two best friends, Cami and Mateo, will finally be at the same school. Luchy and Mateo will be in art class together, and she and Cami can try out for the same soccer team! As long as they're all together, Luchy can handle anything.

But Cami has been acting weird ever since she got back from visiting family in Colombia. She's making new, "cool" friends who just seem mean. And suddenly, everything about Luchy and Mateo is too immature for her.

Luchy is determined to help Cami remember how special their friendship is. They've been BFFs their whole lives, and that can't just disappear in a poof of glitter! But...what if Cami doesn't even want to be friends anymore?

 

Bodega Cats: Picture Purrfect by Hilda Eunice Burgos | Illustrated by Siara Faison | MIDDLE GRADE

Miguel Rosado wants nothing more than to see and draw the world... or, at least anywhere beyond the four walls of his family's bodega in Washington Heights. Too bad his mami and papi have him working long hours after school, hoping he'll appreciate the sacrifices they've made to keep the store afloat. For street-savvy and newly-adopted cat Lolo, that sounds just perfect if it means he's far, far away from the hungry, lonely nights he once spent in the freezing cold outdoors.

But when Miguel ditches his responsibilities and lies to his parents about joining art club, his dream of juggling it all comes crashing down. Lolo will have to decide if he's willing to be there for his new friend Miguel through anything--even venturing back into the frightful outdoors and busy New York City sidewalks. Can they trust each other enough to take on this adventure together?

 

Unexpectedly Wed to the Heir by Lydia San Andres | ADULT FICTION

His vow?
To protect her!


After dressmaker Aura Soriana's father passes away, her home and livelihood are left on the line. With only herself to count on, she's cautious when she meets handsome Eduardo Martinez, heir to a shipping empire, and has no time for his easygoing attitude and showy gestures!

When Eduardo discovers Aura's home has been broken into, and the dangerous men pursuing her are linked to his family, the only way to keep her safe is to claim she's his fiancée! Yet if independent Aura's to meet him at the altar, Eduardo must face his past and show her she can rely on him...

 

When Beavers Flew: An Incredible True Story of Rescue and Relocation by Kristen Tracy |Illustrated by Luisa Uribe | PICTURE BOOK

In 1948, the town of McCall, Idaho was growing rapidly. World War II was over, and the little town tucked away in the mountains began to boom. There was only one problem. As the town expanded, they found beavers everywhere. A beaver here, a beaver there, and it didn't take long to realize that humans and beavers weren't great cohabitators. But one clever and resourceful Fish and Game Warden named Elmo Heter had an idea.

Heter knew that the beavers were integral to the wetlands, so keeping the well-being of the beavers in mind he set out to find a way to relocate them. After a few failed attempts, he finally landed on a wild idea... parachutes. Using a surplus of parachutes left over from WWII and creating a special box with air holes designed to pop open when it hit the ground, Heter devised a way to parachute the beavers into Idaho's backcountry, an area that beavers hadn't inhabited in decades.

 

On Sale July 30

 

My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes | ADULT FICTION

For generations, the Olivares women have sought to control their daughters' destinies, starting with their names. In life, Olvido constantly clashed with her carefree daughter. Then teenage Angustias discovered she was pregnant and left her mother's home in search of her own. Ten years later, Felicitas finally meets her estranged grandmother and is terribly disappointed when Olvido is nothing like a grandmother should be. She is strict, cold, and...dead.

Now, Olvido is convinced the only way her spirit will cross over is if she resolves her unfinished business--to make sure Angustias is in a better place regarding family, job, husband, and God, but maybe not in that order--and Felicitas is the only person who can see or hear her. Heartbroken about her mother's passing and desperate to put Olvido's tiny Texas home in her rearview mirror as quickly as possible, Angustias doesn't understand why suddenly everyone in town seems to be conspiring to set her up with every eligible bachelor in town, offer her jobs, and invite her and Felicitas to church every Sunday.

 

Castle of the Cursed Romina Garber | YOUNG ADULT

After a mysterious attack claims the lives of her parents, all Estela has left is her determination to solve the case. Suffering from survivor's guilt so intense that she might be losing her grip on reality, she accepts an invitation to live overseas with an estranged aunt at their ancestral Spanish castle, la Sombra.

Beneath its gothic façade, la Sombra harbors a trove of family secrets, and Estela begins to suspect her parents' deaths may be linked to their past. Her investigation takes a supernatural turn when she crosses paths with a silver-eyed boy only she can see. Estela worries Sebastián is a hallucination, but he claims he's been trapped in the castle. They grudgingly team up to find answers and as their investigation ignites, so does a romance, mistrust twined with every caress.

As the mysteries pile up, it feels to Estela like everyone in the tiny town of Oscuro is lying and that whoever was behind the attack has followed her to Spain. The deeper she ventures into la Sombra's secrets, the more certain she becomes that the suspect she's chasing has already found her . . . and they're closer than she ever realized.

 

Ghostly, Ghastly Tales: Frights to Tell at Night by Anastasia Garcia | Illustrated by Teo Skaffa | MIDDLE GRADE

Each tale in this magical collection pulls you into a dark world of contemporary stories based on myths and legends from around the world. Haunted battlefields? Talking heads? Ghosts? Nefarious creatures in the night? Read all about spooky field trips, ghostly omens, cautionary tales, and more. Featuring stories inspired by folklore from Nigeria, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Iceland, England, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Ancient Egypt, Germany, Mexico, and the American South.

 

Nana Lupita and the Magic Sopita by Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz |Illustrated by Carlos Vélez | PICTURE BOOK

Luna and her little brother Sol are out to solve a mystery! They suspect that their grandmother uses magic to create her remedies because she says that she uses a "magic" ingredient.

At the beginning of the story Luna and Sol catch colds so their grandmother makes a healing soup. Luna overhears Nana singing a classic Spanish children's song about frog tails while cooking the soup, so Luna secretly thinks that frogs are the magic ingredient. The children explore the enchanted garden in search of frogs until it is time to eat, in which Nana reveals the real secret ingredient. Can you guess what it is?

This sweet semi-bilingual story includes a seek-and-find of traditional plants used in curanderismo and includes the recipe for Nana's magic soup!

 

Angélica and la Güira by Angie Cruz Illustrated by Luz Batista | PICTURE BOOK

Angélica has spent the summer in the Dominican Republic with her tías and primas, her grandparents, and their parrot, but soon she’ll have to say goodbye. The end of summer means returning home to start school on another shore. Before she leaves, her grandfather gives her the perfect gift. It’s something with the power to make people dance as fast as the wings of a hummingbird: a güira. Angélica falls in love with this musical instrument, though nobody shares her enthusiasm at first. “What is that sound,” they say, “pennies inside a tin cup?” But on a hot, sunny day, in the land of Washington Heights, where the frío frío woman scrapes ice for a long line of customers and the men on the corner plunk dominoes on a makeshift carboard table, Angélica shows her neighbors the power of la güira. 

Simultaneously released in Spanish as Angélica y la güira

 

A Terrible Place for a Nest by Sara Levine |Illustrated by Erika Meza | PICTURE BOOK

Juno and his mom have just moved into a new home, and he hates everything about it - the new school, his new classmates, his new room.

Just outside his window, Juno notices a family of mourning doves have started a nest atop the fence, and they seem to be struggling to make it work, too. Sure enough, Juno concludes this new place is a terrible place to build a nest.

But, as winter turns to spring and the doves grow, so does Juno. And while this new place may be scary and sometimes lonely, they will all make it work, together.

Lyrical and hopeful, A Terrible Place for a Nest is a tender and uplifting tale about facing new experiences with empathy and courage.