Elementary | Middle Grades | Young Adult | Adult Nonfiction

Here are titles on Latinx/Latin American History and an important article on Rethinking Cinco De Mayo.

Most of the books on these lists are linked for more information or purchase to Bookshop (an indie bookstore platform) and / or Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.

Titles with reviews on this site are noted with an asterisk (*).

See more recommended titles: Central America booklist, Puerto Rican Children’s Literature for Social Justice: A Bibliography for Educators, and our booklists on Cuba, El Salvador, Mexican American / Chicana / Chicano and more.

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Elementary

Abuelita and Me

By Leonarda Carranza and Rafael Mayani (Illustrator)

 

Alfredito Flies Home

By Jorge Argueta, Luis Garay (Illustrator)

Alicia and the Hurricane / Alicia y el huracán: A Story of Puerto Rico / Un cuento de Puerto Rico

By Leslea Newman, Elizabeth Erazo Baez (Illustrator), and Georgina Lazaro (Translator)

All Around Us*

By Xelena Gonzalez

Alma and How She Got Her Name*

By Juana Martinez-Neal, Juana Martinez-Neal (Illustrator)

Areli Is a Dreamer: A True Story by Areli Morales, a Daca Recipient

By Areli Morales and Luisa Uribe (Illustrator)

 

Beauty Woke

By Nonieqa Ramos and Paola Escobar (Illustrator)

Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border *

By Mitali Perkins and Sara Palacios (Illustrator)

Calling the Doves *

By Juan Felipe Herrera, Elly Simmons (Illustrator)

 

Camino A Casa / Walk With Me*

By Jairo Buitrago

Capoeira: Game! Dance! Martial Art!

By George Ancona

Carlos And The Squash Plant / Carlos y la Planta de Calabaza

By Jan Romero Stevens, Jeanne Stevens (Illustrator)

Cesar: Si, se puede! / Yes, We Can!*

By Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

Clemente!

By Willie Perdomo, Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

The Composition

By Antonio Skarmeta; Illustrator-Alfonso Ruano

Coquí in the City

By Nomar Perez

Creativity

By John Steptoe and E. B. Lewis (Illustrator)

El Cucuy Is Scared, Too!

By Donna Barba Higuera and Juliana Perdomo (Illustrator)

Dalia's Wondrous Hair*

By Laura Lacamara

Danza! Amalia Hernández and Mexico's Folkloric Ballet

By Duncan Tonatiuh

Dreamers*

By Yuyi Morales

Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns: A Mesoamerican Creation Myth

By Duncan Tonatiuh

Finding the Music / En Pos de La Musica

By Jennifer Torres, Renato Alarcao (Illustrator)

For All / Para Todos *

By Alejandra Domenzain , Katherine Loh (Illustrator), and Irene Prieto de Coogan (Translator)

 

La Frontera: El viaje con papa / My Journey with Papa*

By Deborah Mills, Alfredo Alva, Claudia Navarro (Illustrator)

Furqan's First Flat Top*

By Robert Liu-Trujillo

A Gift from Abuela

By Cecilia Ruiz

A Gift from Papa Diego: Un Regalo de Papa Diego

By Benjamin Alire Saenz, Geronimo Garcia (Illustrator)

Grandma's Gift

By Eric Velasquez, Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)

Grandma's Records

By Eric Velasquez

Happy Like Soccer

By Maribeth Boelts, Lauren Castillo (Illustrator)

I Am Latino: The Beauty in Me

By Myles C. Pinkney, Sandra L. Pinkney

Islandborn*

By Junot Diaz, Leo Espinosa (Illustrator)

Joelito's Big Decision / La Gran Decision de Joelito*

By Ann Berlak, Daniel Camacho (Illustrator), Jose Antonio Galloso

Julián at the Wedding

By Jessica Love

Julián Is a Mermaid*

By Jessica Love

Just a Minute!: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book *

By Yuyi Morales

Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book

By Yuyi Morales, Yuyi Morales (Illustrator)

Kitchen Dance

By Maurie J. Manning

The Little Doctor / El Doctorcito

By Juan J. Guerra

Little Night / Nochecita*

By Yuyi Morales

Looking for Bongo

By Eric Velasquez

Luis Paints the World*

By Terri Farish

La Luna Mango

By Diane de Anda

Mango, Abuela, and Me

By Meg Medina, Angela Dominguez (Illustrator)

Mango Moon

By Diane de Anda

Marti's Song for Freedom: Marti y Sus Versos Por La Libertad*

By Emma Otheguy

 

My Papi Has a Motorcycle*

By Isabel Quintero, Zeke Peña (Illustrator)

My Two Border Towns

By David Bowles and  Erika Meza (Illustrator)

Octopus Stew

By Eric Velasquez

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale*

By Duncan Tonatiuh

Pele, King of Soccer / Pele, El Rey del Futbol

By Monica Brown, Rudy Gutierrez (Illustrator)

Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories*

By Annette Bay Pimentel

Rafa Counts on Papá

By Joe Cepeda

Rainbow Weaver*

By Linda Elovitz Marshall, Elisa Chavarri (Illustrator)

Rene Has Two Last Names / Rene Tiene dos Apellidos

By Rene Colato Lainez, Fabiola Graullera (Illustrator), Gabriela Baeza Ventura (Translator)

Roses for Isabella

By Diana Cohn, Amy Cordova

Rudas: Nino's Horrendous Hermanitas*

By Yuyi Morales

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library*

 

By Carole Boston Weatherford

Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation*

By Duncan Tonatiuh

Sharuko: El Arqueólogo Peruano / Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello

By Monica Brown and Elisa Chavarri (Illustrator)

Sofi and the Magic, Musical Mural / Sofi y El Mgico Mural Musical

By Raquel M. Ortiz, Maria Dominguez (Illustrator), Gabriela Baeza Ventura (Translator)

Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War

By Duncan Tonatiuh

The Spirit of Chicano Park / El espíritu del parque Chicano *

By Beatrice Zamora and Maira Meza (Illustrator)

The Streets Are Free

By Kurusa

The Storyteller's Candle

By Lucia Gonzalez, Lulu Delacre (Illustrator)

Tan to Tamarind: Poems about the Color Brown

By Malathai Iyengar, Jamel Akib (Illustrator)

That's Not Fair!/No Es Justo!: Emma Tenayuca's Struggle for Justice/La Lucha de Emma Tenayuca Por La Justicia

By Carmen Tafolla, Sharyll Teneyuca, Terry Ybanez (Illustrator)

That's Not Fair!/No Es Justo!: Emma Tenayuca's Struggle for Justice/La Lucha de Emma Tenayuca Por La Justicia

By Carmen Tafolla, Sharyll Teneyuca, Terry Ybanez (Illustrator)

A Thousand White Butterflies

By Jessica Betancourt-Perez,  Karen Lynn Williams, and Gina Maldonado (Illustrator)

Tito Puente: Mambo King / Rey del Mambo*

By Monica Brown

Todos Iguales/All Equal: Un Corrido de Lemon Grove/A Ballad Of Lemon Grove

By Christy Hale

Un Tren Llamado Esperanza / A Train Called Hope*

By Mario Bencastro and Robert Casilla (Illustrator)

Two White Rabbits

By Jairo Buitrago

When We Love Someone

By Ernesto Javier Martinez

Without Separation: Prejudice, Segregation, and the Case of Roberto Alvarez

By Larry Dane Brimner and Maya Gonzalez (Illustrator)

Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A.

By Diana Cohn, Paul Mirocha, Francisco Delgado (Illustrator)

Call Me Maria

By Judith Ortiz Cofer

Caminar*

By Skila Brown

Caravan to the North: Misael's Long Walk*

By Jorge Argueta

El Color de mis Palabras / The Color of My Words

By Lynn Joseph, Alberto Jimenez Rioja (Translator)

Con Carino, Amalia / With Love, Amalia

By Alma Flor Ada, Gabriel M. Zubizarreta

Dancing Home

By Alma Flor Ada, Gabriel M. Zubizarreta

The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition

By Reyna Grande

The Dreamer

By Pam Munoz Ryan, Peter Sis (Illustrator), Pam Mu Ryan

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

by Pablo Cartaya*

The Everything I have Lost

By Sylvia Zéleny

The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba

By Margarita Engle

The First Rule of Punk*

By Celia C. Pérez

Forest World*

By Margarita Engle

How Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay

By Julia Alvarez

How Tia Lola Saved the Summer

By Julia Alvarez

Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck

By Margarita Engle

I Lived on Butterfly Hill*

By Marjorie Agosin

Jessie de La Cruz: Profile of a United Farm Worker

By Gary Soto

Land of the Cranes

By Aida Salazar

The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist

By Margarita Engle

Max Loves Munecas!*

By Zetta Elliott

Maximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller

By Xavier Garza (Illustrator)

Moon Within

By Aida Salazar

My Name Is Maria Isabel

By Alma Flor Ada, K. Dyble Thompson (Illustrator)

Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile

By María José Ferrada and María Elena Valdez (Illustrator)

Red Glass

By Laura Resau

Return to Sender *

By Julia Alvarez

Riding Low on the Streets of Gold: Latino Literature for Young Adults

By Judith Ortiz Cofer (Editor)

Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal *

By Margarita Engle

Stef Soto, Taco Queen*

By Jennifer Torres

Sylvia & Aki*

By Winifred Conkling

They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems

By David Bowles

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

By Margarita Engle

Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba*

By Alma Flor Ada

Undercover Latina

By Aya de León

The Walls of Cartagena

By Julia Durango, Tom Pohrt (Illustrator)

Yes! We Are Latinos: Poems and Prose about the Latino Experience

By Alma Flor Ada, F. Isabel Campoy, David Diaz (Illustrator)

Spanish version available: Si! Somos Latinos

Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth*

By Jeff Anderson

500 Years of Chicana Women's History / 500 Anos de La Mujer Chicana

By Elizabeth Martinez

Across a Hundred Mountains

By Reyna Grande

The Afro-Latin Reader: History and Culture in the United States

By Miriam Jimenez Roman (Editor), Juan Flores (Editor)

All the Stars Denied

By Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.

By Luis J. Rodriguez

An Island Like You

By Judith Ortiz Cofer

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe*

By Benjamin Alire Saenz

The Distance Between Us

By Reyna Grande

The Dominican Republic

By Anne Gallin, Ruth Glasser, Jocelyn Santana

Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir

By Margarita Engle, Edel Rodriguez (Illustrator)

Enrique's Journey: The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother: Adapted for Young People*

By Sonia Nazario

Furia

By Yamile Saied Méndez

In the Time of the Butterflies

By Julia Alvarez

Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots*

By Margarita Engle, Rudy Gutierrez (Illustrator)

The Meaning of Consuelo

By Judith Ortiz Cofer

Memoir of a Visionary: Antonia Pantoja

By Antonia Pantoja, Henry A. J. Ramos (Foreword by)

Moving North: Caribbean Connections

By Keith Warner, Catherine Sunshine

Nilda

By Nicholasa Mohr, Alma Flor Ada (Foreword by)

The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border

By Juan Pablo Villalobos

Playing for the Devil's Fire

By Phillippe Diederich

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano

By Margarita Engle, Sean Qualls (Illustrator)

The Poet X*

By Elizabeth Acevedo

The Radius of Us *

By Marie Marquardt

 

The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano

By Sonia Manzano

Secret Saturdays

By Torrey Maldonado

Shadowhouse Fall

By Daniel Jose Older

Show and Prove

By Sofia Quintero

The Surrender Tree /El árbol de la rendición *

By Margarita Engle

Uninterrupted View of the Sky*

By Melanie Crowder

Vivas to Those Who Have Failed: Poems

By Martin Espada

With the Fire on High

By Elizabeth Acevedo

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

By Meg Medina

A Year without Sundays: Images from the Literacy Campaign in Cuba

By Catherine Murphy, Carlos Torres Cairo

Agent of Change: Adela Sloss-Vento, Mexican American Civil Rights Activist and Texas Feminist

By Cynthia E. Orozco

Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America

By Dana Frank

The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists

By Naomi Klein

Brazil's Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy

By Dave Zirin

Brooklyn Dreams: My Life in Public Education

By Sonia Nieto

Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era

By María Eugenia Cotera, Dionne Espinoza, and Maylei Blackwell

de Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century

By Elizabeth Martinez

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America

By Juan Gonzalez

 

To March for Others: The Black Freedom Struggle and the United Farm Workers

By Lauren Araiza

Mendez V. Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights

By Philippa Strum

Mexican American Civil Rights in Texas

Edited by Robert Brischetto and J. Richard Avena

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos

By Rodolfo F. Acuna

Power to the Poor: Black-Brown Coalition and the Fight for Economic Justice, 1960-1974

By Gordon Keith Mantler

Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico: Portraits of Soldaderas, Saints, and Subversives

Edited by Kathy Sosa, Ellen Riojas Clark, and Jennifer Speed

The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration

By David Bacon

Teaching Gloria E. Anzaldúa: Pedagogy and Practice for Our Classrooms and Communities

Edited by Margaret Cantú-Sánchez, Candace de León-Zepeda, and Norma Elia Cantú 

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony

By Nelson A. Denis

The Young Lords: A Radical History

By Johanna Fernandez

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