La Vida Latina:
Titles for Teens About Latino Culture

FICTION:

Before We Were Free
Alvarez, Julia (YA ALVAREZ)
Anita took everything in her life--including her freedom--for granted, until her Tio disappeared & the secret police began terrorizing her family.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Alvarez, Julia (FIC ALVAREZ)
"What language, he asked, looking pointedly into her eyes, did she love in?"

Daughter of Fortune
Allende, Isabel (FIC ALLENDE)
Eliza only wants to follow her lover to America, but the fates send her on a very different journey.

My Land Sings: Stories From the Rio Grande
Anaya, Rudolfo (YA ANAYA)
The ghostly Llorona. The handsome stranger's secret. The woodcutter's deal with death. 10 original & traditional stories.

Bless Me, Ultima
Anaya, Rudolfo (FIC ANAYA)
"...the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood."

The Weight of All Things
Benitez, Sandra (FIC BENITEZ)
"...where there are no guns, no soldiers, no guerrilleros."

Loves Me, Loves Me Not
Bernardo, Anilu (YA BERNARDO)
"...in the game of love there are no scruples."

Sweet Fifteen
Bertrand, Diane (YA BERTRAND)
"This whole quince stuff is old-fashioned & just plain embarrassing."

Leaving Tabasco
Boullosa, Carmen (FIC BOULLOSA)
Delmira's childhood experiences lead her to search for her unknown father & to make a choice that forces her to leave behind everything she knows.

Journey of the Sparrows
Buss, Frances (YA BUSS)
Can they escape the notice of la migra & make a new life in America?

So Far From God
Castillo, Ana (FIC CASTILLO)
Tan Lejos de Dios (FL SPA FIC CAS)
"It was 118 degrees the day of Sofi's baby daughter's funeral."

Caramelo
Cisneros, Sandra (FIC CISNEROS)
Caramelo, o, Puro Cuento (FL SPA FIC CIS)
Lala struggles to write her own history amongst her family's vida loca and to uncover the reasons her Awful Grandmother is so awful.

The House on Mango Street
Cisneros, Sandra (YA CISNEROS)
La Casa en Mango Street (FL SPA FIC CIS)
"In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness."

Drown
Diaz, Junot (FIC DIAZ)
10 stories of hardship, hope, family, poverty, anger & joy--from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the streets of urban New Jersey.

Like Water for Chocolate
Esquivel, Laura (FIC ESQUIVEL)
"You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to take care of me until the day I die."

Party Girl
Ewing, Lynne (YA EWING)
"We used to sit on the playgrounds & plan our weddings...then in sixth grade...we started planning our funerals instead."

One Hundred Years of Solitude
Garcia-Marquez, Gabriel (FIC GARCIA)
"At one point he was ready to set the house on fire."

White Bread Competition
Hernandez, Jo Ann (YA HERNANDEZ)
Luz should feel like a winner as champion school speller, but this win may actually cause her to lose.

CrashBoomLove
Herrera, Juan (YA HERRERA)
"Don't know how it all started. The frozen feeling, this fender inside wanting to crash against everything."

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Hijuelos, Oscar (FIC HIJUELOS)
Los Reyes del Mambo Tocan Canciones de Amor (FL SPA FIC HIJ)
"That day I ran into the kitchen to wake him up...shaking him gently...which was a mistake, because it was as if I had pulled loose the support columns of a five-hundred-year-old church: he simply fell over & crashed to the floor."

Breaking Through
Jimenez, Francisco (YA JIMENEZ)
I followed the immigration officer out of the classroom & into his car marked BORDER PATROL."

The Sugar Island
Lamazares, Ivonne (FIC LAMAZARES)
Tanya & her mother embark on a dangerous journey from Cuba to America, set on creating a better life. But life in America is nothing like they expected.

Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida
Martinez, Victor (YA MARTINEZ)
"I only remember a storm of cuffs & chops & kicks hitting me as I thrashed...."

Frida
Mujica, Barbara (FIC MUJICA)
"She was so wild & eccentric. Rules never mattered to her. Other people's feelings never mattered to her."

An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio
Ortiz-Cofer, Judith (YA ORTIZ)
"That seems to be all the women can talk about around the barrio--money & men, men & money."

Cuba 15
Osa, Nancy (YA OSA)
Violet is 1/2 Cuban & 1/2 Polish, but she feels 100% American. When her grandmother talks her into celebrating her Quinceanera, cultures & feelings collide.

Esperanza Rising
Ryan, Pam Munoz (YA RYAN)
One day: a fairy tale life. The next: poor & homeless.

Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility
Santana, Patricia (YA SANTANA)
Yolanda has enough difficulties in her life--and then her favorite brother comes home from the war...a very changed man.

The Afterlife
Soto, Gary (YA SOTO)
You'd think that a knife in the ribs would be the end of things, but for Chuy, that's when his life finally gets interesting.

Buried Onions
Soto, Gary (YA SOTO)
Eddie doesn't want revenge, but can he ignore the pressure of family & friends for vengeance?

Highwire Moon
Straight, Susan (FIC STRAIGHT)
A mother & daughter torn apart years ago, separated by borders, now seek to find each other--but where to start?

The Dirty Girls Social Club
Valdes-Rodriguez, Alana (FIC VALDES)
El Club Social de las Chicas Temerarias (FL SPA FIC VAL)
Six inseparable friends regularly meet to dish, dine & compare notes on the bumpy course of life & love.

Under the Feet of Jesus
Viramontes, Helena (FIC VIRAMONTES)
"For a moment she felt as if she could kill the white girl."

Back to Top

NON-FICTION:

The Devil's Highway
Urrea, Luis Alberto (304.873 URR 2004)
In May 2001, 26 Mexican men scrambled across the border and into an area of the Arizona desert known as the Devil's Highway. Only 12 made it safely across....

Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the U.S.
Carlson, Lori M. (J 468 CAR)
Six inseparable friends regularly meet to dish, dine & compare notes on the bumpy course of life & love.

Wachale: Poetry & Prose About Growing Up Latino in American
Stavans, Ilan (808.8 WAC)
Folktales, stories & poems in both English & Spanish

My Own True Name: New & Selected Poems for Young Adults
Mora, Pat (811.54 MOR)
"I am so embarrassed/ almost everyday/ why people so mean."

Tree is Older Than You Are: A Bilingual Gathering of Poems & Stories From Mexico...
Nye, Naomi (J SPA BILINGUAL 860.9972 TRE)
"What I love the most/ is freedom;/ not from a bird,/ nor from anyone,/ shall I take it/ away, ever."

Always Running: La Vida Loca
Rodriguez, Luis (921 RODRIGUEZ)
La Vida Loca: El Testimonio de un pandillero in Los Angeles (FL SPA 364.1 ROD 1996)
A compelling account of a gang member's life in L.A.

Almost a Woman
Santiago, Esmeralda (92 SANTIAGO)
Casi Una Mujer (FL SPA 921 SAN)
An immigrant from Puerto Rico, Santiago struggles to break away from her family & its obligations without being married, pregnant or shamed.

Back to Top