Books
22 Books By Latinos That Every American Needs To Read
There are many appropriate ways you can commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month (PSA: don't wear a sombrero or a fake mustache) and celebrate the 55 million Latinos who call America their home, but one of the easiest is to head to your local bookstore and pick up a few books by Latino authors.
The 22 books on this list don't encompass the full range and depth of Latino literature. Not even close. There are many, many more Latin American and Latino authors who deserve a place on everyone's bookshelf. But these 22 books all do a wonderful job of describing the experience of being Latino in America — the unique and powerful ways that one's culture saturates each and every aspect of one's life. Some of these books are about immigration — about the physical and psychological trauma that immigrants experience in their search for a better home. Some of these books are about relationships — relationships between lovers, between fathers and sons, between mothers and daughters. Some of these books are about personal identity, and the search for find yourself when you feel torn between two countries.
Here are 22 books by Latinos in the United States that every American needs to read:
Images: Eli Samuelu/Unsplash
'When I Was Puerto Rican' by Esmeralda Santiago
When Esmeralda leaves Puerto Rico and moves to Brooklyn with her mother and six (soon to be 10) siblings, she must adapt to a different country, a different set of customs, a different language. In New York, she slowly and painfully adopts a new identity – one that reflects both her life in America and her roots in Puerto Rico.
'...y no se lo tragó la tierra... and the Earth Did Not Devour Him' by Tomás Rivera
This classic work of Latino literature reveals the agonizing conditions that undocumented Mexican-American workers experienced in the 1940s and '50. This book — a series of interconnected stories about migrant farmworkers — is a harrowing read, but a necessary one.
'Bless Me Ultima' by Rudolfo Anaya
Antonio, a Chicano boy living in New Mexico in the 1940s, comes of age with the help of a mysterious curandera, Ultima, in this beautiful novel that explores the culture, religion, and mysticism of the Southwest United States.
'Esperanza Rising' by Pam Muños Ryan
In this middle grade novel, Esperanza, the daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher, emigrates to the United States after a sudden tragedy strikes her family. She and her mother arrive in California in the midst of the Great Depression, and together, they must find a way to find some happiness in a harsh new world.
'Butterfly Boy' by Rigoberto González
Rigoberto González, a Mexican-American writer and self-proclaimed "Chicano Mariposa," tells the story of his life in Butterfly Boy. The son of migrant workers, González struggles to come to terms with his sexuality in a culture that prizes machismo.
'How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents' by Julia Alvarez
Four sisters flee with their family from the Dominican Republic to the United States. As the sisters grow up in the U.S., they begin to become more and more American — but does that mean they also must become less and less Dominican? Julia Alvarez's classic is a remarkable look at the confusion, frustration, and emotional trauma of being caught in between two worlds and two identities.
'The Book Of Unknown Americans' by Cristina Henriquez
The Riveras move to the United States with their daughter, Maribel, after she suffers a terrible injury. They love their life in Mexico, but they hope their daughter can receive the care she needs in the United States. The Riveras befriends their neighbors, the Toros, and the lives of these two immigrant families intertwine in shocking, unpredictable ways.
'Bird Of Paradise: How I Became Latina' by Raquel Cepeda
After her estranged father nearly dies from heart disease, Raquel Cepeda decides to learn the truth of her identity. She performs a DNA test to learn her genetic roots, but she also delves deep into her family and personal history in search of some answers. In her quest for personal truth, Cepeda unpacks some interesting notions about race, identity, heritage, and culture.
'This Is How You Lose Her' by Junot Díaz
In Junot Díaz's third book, Yunior navigates a series of failed relationships — all of the failures inevitably saturated by his family history, his life experiences, his culture, and his own big hurts.
'A Cup of Water Under My Bed' by Daisy Hernandez
Daisy Hernandez grew up in New Jersey in the working-class home of her Cuban-Colombian family. Like many children of immigrants, she finds herself torn between two identities, a feeling compounded by her education, her language, her sexuality — all of which separate her further from her family.
'The Red Umbrella' by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
Lucía Álvarez leads a carefree life in Cuba. But the revolution changes everything, and soon her family has made the decision to send her and her little brother to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan. In Nebraska, she struggles to coalesce the American and Cuban parts of her heart.
'The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love' by Oscar Hijuelos
Two brothers — Cuban by birth, American by circumstance — search for belonging, love, and rhythm in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from Oscar Hijuelos.
'Enchanted Air' by Margarita Engle
Margarita Engle, the first Latina to win a Newbery Honor, grew up in Los Angeles, but visited her mother's home country, Cuba, as a child. When the Cold War unfolds and the Cuban Revolution begins, Engle must come to terms with the war blossoming between her two homes.
'Mexican WhiteBoy' by Matt de la Peña
Danny is brown, like his absent father, but he can't speak Spanish, thanks to his mom, who's white. When he moves in with his father's Mexican-American family for the summer, he finds himself caught between two worlds and two parts of himself.
'Mama's Girl' by Veronica Chambers
Veronica Chambers and her younger brother grew up in Brooklyn in the 1970s, raised by a single parent, their Panamanian mother. In this honest, gripping memoir, Chambers details her childhood and her struggles to connect with her immigrant mother.
'The Devil's Highway' by Luis Alberto Urrea
This work of nonfiction — which earned Urrea a Pulitzer Prize nomination — tells the compelling true story of the 26 Mexicans who braved 'the devil's highway' in search of a better life in the United States (only 12 survived; the ones who died have come to be known as the Yuma 14). Urrea tells all sides of the story — that of the immigrants, that of the coyotes, that of the Border Patrol — and what emerges is a painful reminder that all humans deserve to be treated with respect.
'Days of Awe' by Achy Obejas
As a child, Ale emigrated with her parents from Cuba to Chicago. Now well into her adulthood, she finds herself in Cuba for the first time since she left. There, she learns some family secrets that force her to confront her own mixed-up identity.
'Rain of Gold' by Victor Villaseñor
In Rain of Gold, Victor Villaseñor details his own family history — traveling backwards in time to get the full story of their lives during the Mexican Revolution and the conditions that forced them to leave their home for the United States. What results is a compelling portrait of a Mexican-American family and all the history that led them to a new country.
'My Invented Country' by Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende's moving memoir circles one date, September 11, in two different years: 1973 and 2011. In '73, Allende's distant cousin, Salvador Allende, the President of Chile, was overthrown in a military coup, and Isabel Allende went into exile. In 2001, terrorists attacked her adopted homeland on the same date. In this novel, she tackles the idea of a perpetual displacement, the idea of finding a new home away from your homeland, and the idea of belonging in no place and every place all at once.
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'So Far From God' by Ana Castillo
Sofia, a single mother, and her four daughters, Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and La Loca, navigate the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of their lives in a small village in New Mexico in this gorgeous magical realist novel.
'Woman Hollering Creek' by Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros, author of The House On Mango Street, tells the stories of Mexican-American women on the border in Texas — their lives, their hopes, their loves, their dreams, their pains, all of it informed and enriched by their deep, abiding roots on both sides of the border.
'The Dirty Girls Social Club' by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez
Six Latina friends — all from different backgrounds and all with different life experiences — comprise the Dirty Girls Social Club. They turn to each other for support and motivation as they navigate the ups-and-downs of love and life and in search of their happy endings.
