Staff Picks

As a first-generation American who has been the family interpreter since I was a child, this book brought tears to my eyes! It is an honor and a privilege to interpret for my parents who do not speak English fluently, but at times it was too much for a young child to handle. This picture book perfectly encapsulates the experience of many first-gen kids who do their best to help their parents, whilst acknowledging the weight of responsibility.

 

A sharp and heartfelt picture book about a young soccer-loving girl who's an interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents.

 

 

 

Immerse yourself in this beautifully illustrated graphic novel that follows the story of Mags and Nessa as they navigate queer love, heartache, secrets, and power.

 

Publisher description: 

Everyone has secrets. Mags's has teeth. Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there's her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding. A secret that could hurt and even kill if it ever got out — like it did once before. So Mags keeps her head down, isolated in her small desert community. That is, until her childhood friend Nessa comes back to town, bringing vivid memories of the past, an intoxicating glimpse of the future, and a secret of her own. Mags won't get attached, of course. She's always been strong enough to survive without anyone's help. But when the darkness starts to close in on them both, Mags will have to drag her secret into the daylight and choose between risking everything... or having nothing left to lose.

Find The Deep Dark in our online catalog

Four Brooklyn middle schoolers race against time to save a baby robot after it crash-lands from outer space. Funny and action-packed, the story centers on Mimi Perez, a 12-year-old coping with the recent loss of her Papi to deportation. Mimi has always loved tinkering thanks to Papi's electronics repair shop, and she and her friends must use all their tech and street smarts to outwit government agents and reunite the little robot with its parental units. From hidden-robot hijinks to hilarious money-making schemes, the scrappy friend group is impossible not to root for, while a supporting cast of caring adults adds warmth and humor. This book will appeal greatly to both striving and precocious readers around 8-12 years old, and would make a terrific follow-up for fans of The Wild Robot.

 

Publisher's description: 

E.T. meets cult classic The Iron Giant in this middle grade light sci-fi from Emmy Award-winner Oz Rodriguez and New York Times best-selling author Claribel A. Ortega, perfect for fans of Witchlings.

 

Cemetery Boys is such an amazing read, this stand-alone book is queer and trans but also has magic and Latinx culture that combined into an incredible book. I’ve read it at least three times and every time it hits me hard and it isn’t even that sad. There’s cute pets, interesting culture and references, and a coming of age aspect that didn’t feel super cringy and awkward. I’d say They Both Die in the End is kind of similar but also not really, it’s such a unique book to me, however The Sunbearer Trials, also by Aiden Thomas is really good and is kind of a mix of Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games while also being trans and Latinx.

 

Publisher's Description:

Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school's bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.

 

This book will simultaneously break and heal your heart. An exploration of how expectations can often be limiting and of the difficulty in navigating the maze that is family dynamics. Julia's journey to understanding her family and her self is inspiring and identifiable across many cultures. Easily one of my top three recommendations for teen readers, a truly excellent book.

 

Publisher description:

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.

 

Find I am not your Perfect Mexican Daughter in our online catalog

Estela, our potentially unreliable narrator, recounts her seven years working as a housemaid for a wealthy family whose little girl has just died. Trabucco Zerán delivers a reflective thriller that interrogates socio-economic power dynamics. Ideal for fans of Alfonso Cuarón's award-winning film, Roma.

 

Publisher description:
Estela came from the countryside, leaving her mother behind, to work for the señor and señora when their only child was born. They wanted a housemaid: "smart appearance, full time," their ad said. She wanted to make enough money to support her mother and return home. For seven years, Estela cleaned their laundry, wiped their floors, made their meals, kept their secrets, witnessed their fights and frictions, raised their daughter. She heard the rats scrabbling in the ceiling, saw the looks the señor gave the señora; she knew about the poison in the cabinet, the gun, the daughter's rebellion as she grew up, the mother's coldness, the father's distance. She saw it all. After a series of shocking betrayals and revelations, Estela stops speaking, breaking her silence only now, to tell the story of how it all fell apart. Is this a story of revenge or a confession? Class warfare or a cautionary tale? Building tension with every page, Clean is a gripping, incisive exploration of power, domesticity, and betrayal from an international star at the height of her powers.

 

This gentle book encourages imagination and affirms that whoever you want to be you, you will be loved.

 

Publisher's description: 
A moving bilingual ode to the unshakeable bond between a parent and child in the tradition of Runaway Bunny and The Wonderful Things You Will Be.

Find Nosotros Means Us in our online catalog

Pablo Neruda wrote so powerfully from the heart about the costs of war and lost love. This collection of poems evokes unforgettable imagery and truly touches the soul.

 

Publisher's description:

Residence on Earth is one of Neruda's most original and exciting collection of poems, also one of the most daring for its avant-garde quality, indirectly linked to the surreal movement. A profound reflection of life, of the relationship between nature and human beings, about loss, and about our role in the universe.

 

I'm really glad I picked up this poetry book. These poems about all types of love for friends, family, and community are accessible, funny, and vulnerable. Bonus points for being in English and Spanish.

 

Publisher's description: 

A groundbreaking collection of poems addressing how every kind of love--self, brotherly, romantic, familial, cultural--is birthed, shaped, and complicated by the invisible forces of gender, capitalism, religion, migration, and so on. Written in English and combined with a Spanish translation by poet David Ruano, Promises of Gold explores many forms of love and how "a promise made isn't always a promise kept," as Olivarez grapples with the contradictions of the American Dream laying bare the ways in which "love is complicated by forces larger than our hearts.

En esta innovadora colección de poemas, José Olivarez explora cada tipo de amor - el propio, fraternal, romántico, familiar, cultural. Lidiando con las contradicciones del sueño americano, con una humanidad inquebrantable, deja al descubierto las maneras en que "el amor se va complicando por fuerzas más grandes que nuestros corazones". Ya sea que los lectores entren a esta colección en inglés o a partir de la traducción al español del poeta David Ruano González, estos extraordinarios poemas serán atesorados seguramente por sus iluminaciones sobre el amor y la vida.
 

Find Promises of Gold/Promesas de Oro in our online catalog. 

This book is so lovely and endearing as it explores one woman's reflection of her life and the choices she made. The story is heartwrenching and utterly addicting. It follows Hollywood starlet Evelyn Hugo as she looks back on her life and the beauty and pain she experienced in the industry.

 

Publisher's description: 

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn's story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.

Find The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in our online catalog