The Taste of Sugar by Marisel Vera

When the Spanish-American War and the great San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899 brought devastation to Puerto Rico, a young couple is persuaded, along with thousands of other puertorriquenos, to the sugar plantations of Hawaii―another US territory―where they confront the empty promise of the American dream.

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

A tale told through seven generations of the Buendía family that also spans a hundred years of turbulent Latin American history, from the postcolonial 1820s to the 1920s. 

 

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez

The 1937 New London school explosion―the worst school disaster in American history―serves as a backdrop for this novel about segregation, love, and family in 1930s Texas.

 

Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

In 1969 and Sammy and his fellow citizens of Hollywood, New Mexico attend Las Cruces High School where they face a world of racism, dress codes, the war in Vietnam, and the everyday violence of their own barrio. 

 

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle

By 1896, Cuba had fought three wars for independence yet remained unfree. Using the true story of the folk hero Rosa la Bayamesa, acclaimed poet Margarita Engle gives us another gripping narrative of a tumultuous period in Cuban history.

 

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

The García sisters and their family are forced to flee their home in the Dominican Republic after their father’s role in an attempt to overthrow brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo is discovered. They arrive in New York City in 1960 to a life very different from their home in the Carribbean--one that is simultaneously liberating and excruciating to be caught between the old world and the new. 

 

The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano

In her Spanish Harlem neighborhood, Evelyn Serrano learns important truths about her Latino heritage and the history makers who shaped the US. Infused with actual news accounts from the time period.

 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Told in a series of vignettes – both heartbreaking and joyous – this is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. 

 

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood, believing thatt her thoughts are best kept to herself. But when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, Xiomara learns to refuse to be silent.

 

Call Me Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Maria is a girl caught between two worlds of Puerto Rico, where she was born, and New York, where she currently livest in the barrio. Maria struggles to find her place within the unfamiliar culture of the barrio, but ultimately ends up finding the poet within herself.

 

Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa

Violet Paz has just turned fifteen, a pivotal birthday in the eyes of her Cuban grandmother--but, while Violet is half Cuban, she’s also half Polish, and more importantly, she feels 100% American. Faced with new responsponsibilities of womanhood, Violet attempts to understand the Cuban heritage that binds her to a homeland she’s never seen.

 

How to be a Chicana Role Model by Michele M. Serros

A humorous novel about a young Chicana writer who is struggling to find a way to embrace two very different cultures, without losing touch with her own true identity.