At Read to Them, we strive to offer an array of books that reflect the richness and diversity of the schools we serve. For Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th-October 15th), we would like to highlight our books that feature stories and characters from the Latino community. Check them out below:
Lola Levine Is Not Mean! by Monica Brown, illustrated by Angela Dominguez
Lola Levine loves playing soccer, writing in her diary, and eating all the delicious foods from her mixed heritage – matzo ball soup from her Dad’s side and café con leche from her Mom’s. When a schoolmate taunts her for being “half-and-half,” her parents help her understand that she is “whole just the way I am.”
Stella Díaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez
Stella is starting third grade with lots of great ideas, but most of them stay inside the head of this introverted girl who is nervous to speak up in English or in Spanish. But her fascination with the ocean and sea creatures leads her to create an unforgettable school project where she really finds her voice.
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
Merci is fun, spunky, ambitious, and both mature and immature as she navigates big changes at school and at home. She faces it all with the support of her Cuban extended family that is loving, loud, and sometimes just too much as they live in a commune of bright pink houses fondly referred to as La Casitas.
The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez
Maria Luisa, better known as Malú, is a seventh grader who loves punk music and making creative zines. She does not love her new home or new school in Chicago, and she really hates cilantro, despite her mom’s love for their Mexican heritage. How will this girl who loves to stand out find a way to fit in? Through punk music, of course!
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution and the Great Depression, Esperanza Ortega must leave her privileged life as the daughter of a wealthy Mexican landowner, fleeing to California to become a farm worker. As the seasons change from almonds to avocados to grapes, Esperanza learns to rise like
the hope she is named for.
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
Welcome to the ARRT Room – A Room To Talk – as six Brooklyn middle school students spend one hour each Friday together, no adults present. The stories of these six remarkable young people intertwine to build their own harbor as they become a sheltering place for each other, especially for Esteban whose father has been deported.
Flying Lessons and Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh
From the organization We Need Diverse Books we have an anthology from a Who’s Who of authors writing for young people. The collection includes the short story that became Merci Suárez Changes Gears and a story of family, tenacity, and basketball from Matt de la Peña titled “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium.”
