September means new backpacks and football kickoff and pumpkin spice everything, but mid-month, September becomes Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15). So we’ve put together some of our very favorite children’s books, middle-grade books, and YA books honoring Hispanic heritage.
Because there’s often no better way to honor any wonderful, diverse, complex, inspiring culture than to dive into some books about it with our kids.
21 magnificent YA and children’s books for Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month is beautiful opportunity to learn more about the many cultures that make up Hispanic Heritage.
While there are a lot of commonalities in Hispanic heritage, it’s made up of so many different cultures — Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Peruvian, Spanish — and has had so much positive impact on American culture too. There are nearly 64 million Hispanic Americans, making up close to 20% of the population.
Whether your family includes people of Hispanic heritage, or you want to learn more about your friends, neighbors, and colleagues — or perhaps you want to get to know some of the incredible historic Hispanic figures who have impacted all our — we think these books are a terrific start.
Because we all want to raise more compassionate, understanding, worldly children who see the beauty and the contributions of people from all cultures and backgrounds.– Kate, with Liz
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Carmela Full of Wishes
I am a superfan of Matt de la Peña’s writing, not only because his work is lyrically stunning, but because he respects young readers by tackling hard issues head-on, albeit with whimsy and care. His picture book for young readers, Carmela Full of Wishes, is no exception and is a terrific children’s book for Hispanic Heritage Month. Here he’s paired up again with the brilliant illustrator Christian Robinson to create a moving and meaningful tribute to dreamers. Read this book. I say that emphatically!
Related: The simple difference between Latino and Hispanic, in one clever cartoon
Dreamers
I must admit that Dreamers, the best-selling picture book by award-winning author and illustrator Yuyi Morales, is a staggering read. It is based on the author’s own experience coming to the US from Mexico with her infant son, the type of immigration story that’s on the news so much lately. While Morales left behind everything she owned, she brought so much with her — what an extraordinary lesson for kids. I love that this book honors the dream and the contribution that immigrants like Morales bring to America, and is especially timely with DACA fights back in the courts again (sigh). A Spanish-language edition of Dreamers is also available for those who speak Spanish at home, or for students starting to learn it in school.
Related: 7 parent bloggers share their own immigrant and refugee stories, and they’re wonderful.
Imagine
We’ve written about how books written in verse can help get even reluctant readers excited about books. One more to add to the list: Imagine, by Juan Felipe Herrera. It’s a poem turned picture book made so rich and dreamy by Caldecot Honoree Lauren Castillo’s warm, beautiful monoprint illustrations. Kids will love hearing about Herrera’s own journey from a young son of migrant farm workers in California who moved frequently with his family, to his school years where he taught himself to read and write English — right up until 2015 when he became the US Poet Laureate. It’s a story about daring to hope and dream — and asking kids to imagine all the possibilities that are open to them when they do.
The Color of Your Skin
Now that we all (hopefully) know that “colorblind” is not a realistic way to see the world, we think families will love the 2021 children’s book,The Color of Your Skink. The charming story celebrates diversity from the perspective of Vega, a young artist who can’t live without her array of multi-colored pencils. When a classmate asks her to pass the “skin-colored pencil,” she has to think about why such a thing would even exist and what it can possibly mean. Acevedo’s terrific story, accompanied by beautifully evocative illustrations from Silvia Álvarez, will open up so many terrific conversations around race, skin color, and the joys of a diverse nation with our younger readers.
Señora Senasana
Written in uptempo English-Spanglish verse (with a glossary for those who need a little translation help), Señora Sensana is a charming, modern adaptation of the beloved Spanish-language nursery rhyme, Sana Sana Colita de Rana. The book brings to life the poetry of the language with a fun new character, Señora Senasana, a Mary Poppins-esque Pervian elder and caregiver, who lives in a high-rise apartment with a fantastical llama. Kids will enjoy learning about each of the colorful characters she encounters in her community, and how each of their unique problems are addressed with healing magic. Especially cool: The authors are a father-daughter team!
La Princess and the Pea
This charming retelling of the classic fairytale, La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya and Juana Martinez-Neal, reimagines the story as set in Peru. The illustrations are mesmerizing, with a folksy charm that won Martinez-Neal the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for outstanding illustration in a children’s book celebrating the Latino cultural experience. For an introduction to Latino culture (which largely comprises Hispanic culture) plus some basic Spanish vocabulary, this a great Hispanic Heritage Month picture book, for early readers.
The Chupacabra Ate the Candleabra
Typically, the chupacabra legend is a fairly terrifying one; just Google images of the chupacabra (without young kids nearby) and you’ll see what I mean. But don’t fear the title The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra by Marc Tyler Nobleman and Ana Aranda! It serves up a silly, zany twist on the classic Mexican legend, introducing kids to another aspect of Hispanic lore in this fantastic Hispanic Heritage Month picture book that our children love. yours will too!
Frida Kahlo and her Animalitos
As one of the most notable Hispanic women that our kids learn about, it’s not surprising that there’s an abundance of children’s books about Frida Kahlo. In fact, I have multiple biographies and anthologies on my own shelves. But the award-winning 2017 book Frida Kahlo and her Animalitos, by Monica Brown and John Parra begs to be included on a list of great Hispanic Heritage Month books for kids This story sheds light on Frida’s roster of unusual pets, including a monkey, parrot, fawn and even an eagle. For animal-loving kids, this is a terrific read.
All Around Us
Another terrific children’s book for Hispanic Heritage Month is All Around Us by Xelena Gonzales and Adriana M. Garcia. This book is about nature and our relationship to it, presented with a decidedly Hispanic perspective. The art is energetic and alive, inspiring kids to develop an appreciation for both Native and Hispanic values that honor life and and the natural world.
Turning Pages: My Life Story, by Sonia Sotomayor
Hispanic Heritage Month books for children wouldn’t be complete without some modern biographies and autobiographies. We’re grateful that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has brought her story to life in the autobiographical children’s book, Turning Pages: My Life Story (also available in a Spanish-language edition), featuring lovely illustrations by Lulu Delacre Born in Puerto Rico, Justice Sotomayor became the first Hispanic SCOTUS justice, and only the third woman ever, after Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her story is an inspiring one as you may have guessed, and kids will love discovering the things that inspired her as a young girl with a complex childhood. I also love how the Justice explained that writing the book helped her think more about the life-changing power of books, especially for children.
Hispanic Heritage Month books for YA Readers
Our own older kids and teens love learning about different heroes and heroines, different cultures, different stories to spark their imaginations and even open them up to new worlds. With that, we present some favorite YA books for Hispanic Heritage Month.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Heartbreaking, inspiring, and hilarious, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez (also in a Spanish language version, is a spectacular YA best-seller. It tells the story of Julia, who is anything but perfect (as you might have guessed). When her sister Olga dies in a tragic accident, her mother doesn’t hesitate to point out Julia’s every flaw. With the help of her first love, Julia begins to uncover some of Olga’s secrets and then decide whether she should reveal them, shattering her mother’s impressions. The novel was a National Book Award Finalist, which is huge. Plus it’s been lauded by so many incredible writers we love — Juan Felipe Herrera, US Poet Laureate and author of Imagine (above) called it “a perfect book about imperfection.” Isn’t that a theme that every one of our tweens and teens can relate to?
My Family Divided
The poignant, heartbreaking, and unfortunately timely memoir, My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero with Erica Moroz, recounts Guerrero’s experience as a young girl living in Boston with her happy, loving family. One day, without warning, her undocumented parents were taken from their home and deported. Guerrero went on to become a success, starring as Martiza Ramos in the show Orange is the New Black — you may know her as the beautiful, compelling young waitress turned inmate — and this book depicts a difficult but extremely relatable childhood she portrays as both challenging and full of hope.
The First Rule of Punk
Hispanic Heritage Month books aren’t just for younger kids, as you can see, and they’re not just for this month either; we’ve shared The First Rule of Punk by Celia Pérez several times on our site, because its quirky, true-to-herself heroine is such an empowering example for our own girls. This is a book about so many relatable issues for our tweens and young teens — surviving at a new school, living through a parents’ separation, not quite fitting in, and yes, being Hispanic. We think any avid middle-school reader will love it.
Did your kids love Disney’s Coco as much as ours did? Then here’s the perfect middle-grade story of magic and mysticism. Lotería, by Karla Arenas Valenti, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, focuses on an 11-year-old girl in Oaxaca City named Clara, her missing cousin, and how the Lotería card game might — or might not — help her track him down. Mythical, magical, Mexican kingdoms? Cards with richly meaningful icons like scorpions and blood-red roses? Your tweens will be hooked.
Woven in Moonlight: Seize the Night
Isabel Ibañez’s 2020 debut novel, Woven in Moonlight, was named one of Time Magazine’s best fantasy books of all time and…wow. Drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics, culture, and history, Ibañez — a daughter of Bolivian immigrants herself — has created a fantastical world that will captivate readers. The heroine Ximena is a decoy stand-in for the Condesa, and her quest for revenge against her people’s conqueror takes a turn when her job demands she must marry him. Add in enchanted relics, ghosts, and masked vigilantes, and you’ll definitely want to order the 2022 sequel. Which brings us to…
Written in Starlight
Written in Starlight is Ibañez’s follow-up to Woven in Moonlight, and avid readers will want to jump from the first book right into this without a moment in between. One reader called it a “South American Tomb Raider,” which sounds terrific by us. Excitement, exploration, romance, folklore — lots to love here. In fact, plenty of readers say they love it even more than the first book.
Lucky Broken Girl
The Pura Belpre Award-winning Lucky Broken Girl is based on the true story of author Ruth Behar’s childhood, growing up as a young Jewish-Cuban immigrant in 1960’s New York City. Just as she starts to get comfortable in her new life, navigating English and getting to know her new friends and neighbors, she experiences an unimaginable accident that leaves her homebound. But she discovers that even in the very worst moments of our lives, there can be a lot of beauty. With glowing blurbs from incredible authors like Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming) and Marjorie Agosín (I Lived on Butterfly Hill), it’s a worthwhile read for all kids.
Barely Floating
A new middle-grade book we shared for Hispanic Heritage Month 2023, Barely Floating by Pura Belpré honoree Lilliam Rivera explores the universal struggle between internal and external acceptance, and what it means to belong. Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago is an incredibly relatable 12-year-old who dreams of becoming a synchronized swimmer but is dissuaded by her parents — an activist and a professor who would prefer her to find a path with less emphasis on looks and flashy costumes. It combines themes of family, friendship, adolescence, and body image, and will be a relatable read for so many of our tweens and young teens.
We Light Up the Sky
If your YA readers into dystopian fiction too, then they’ll love Lilliam Rivera’s 2021 novel, We Light Up the Sky, is about an alien invasion in a post-Covid world, told from the perspective of three very different Latinx teens living in Los Angeles. One of the most compelling blurbs comes from Star Wars: High Republic series author Zoraida Córdova, who describes “an unflinching look at a Los Angeles that already feels dystopian to marginalized communities.” Your older readers will find themselves questioning whether aliens from outer space are our biggest problem — or our fellow humans. We love that the sci-fi dystopia genre can help teens process some very real, modern-day challenges in our society.
The Go-Between
If you binged Jane the Virgin or you’re looking for a made-for-teens alternative to Crazy Rich Asians or Joy Ride, try The Go-Between by Afro-Latina best-selling author Veronica Chambers. In this hugely popular book, Cammi’s mom is a famous telenovela star and her dad is the go-to voice-over talent for all the big movies. She seems to live a charmed life — but things get complicated when her family moves from Mexico City to L.A. and enrolls her in an elite private school. She starts experimenting with different roles and identities, and comes to learn that money doesn’t always mean privilege, and even kids who seem to “have it all” have issues too. We especially love that one reader raves, “this book aces the Bechdel Test with flying colors,” a reference to the representation “test” for whether a story includes two women talking to each other about something besides men.
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
Set among Miami’s vibrant Hispanic culture, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya is a true family story that’s a wonderful choice for Hispanic Heritage Month. The title character works at his grandmother’s restaurant, plays basketball, and falls for Carmen, a poetry lover. But when his family business is threatened by gentrification, Arturo has to learn to fight for what he believes in most. The book offers plenty of opportunities for great family discussions when your kid has finished it — so maybe you can grab it when they’re done. Plus, it’s a Pure Belpré Award winner like many of our other recommendations here, which is always a sure sign of a must-read book.
Do you have other favorite children’s books or YA books that are great reads for HIspanic Heritage Month and beyond? We’d love to hear them! Just leave them in the comments.
