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HISPANIC AMERICAN/LATINX HERITAGE CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Children's books about Hispanic American/Latinx culture and characters abound -- from fun and fanciful picture books to historical fiction, fantasy, biography, romance, science fiction, and coming-of-age tales. All are great reads during Hispanic American Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15 each year), but they are a wonderful introduction to other peoples and cultures at any time of the year. Below are a couple of books to get the reading going! Note: If you have a relevant book site to suggest for this page, please contact us at rifnova@gmail.com. (Image credit: Jose A. Bernat Bacete/Getty Images; Brightly)

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Credit -- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; Author: Ernesto Cisneros
The book Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros won the 2021 Pura Belpré Author Award from the American Library Association. This book tells the story of twelve-year-old Efrén, whose world flips when his mother is deported to Mexico, but whose determination to reunite his family never wavers. Ernesto Cisneros’s debut novel adeptly balances hope and heart break in this timely story of undocumented individuals working to build a better life. Note: A glossary of Spanish words is included in the back of the book.
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Credit -- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Author/Illustrator: Raúl the Third, Colors by Elaine Bey
¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat won the 2021 Pura Belpré Youth Illustrator Award. The story follows Little Lobo and his pet sidekick Bernabé on a savory adventure, fetching lunch for Toro y sus amigos ahead of the Lucha Libre 5000. Each food truck stop highlights diverse and delectable cuisine, and is flavored with cultural references and a vibrant community of food vendors. An activity guide can be found here.

Named after the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library, the Pura Belpré Award is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. The list of Pura Belpré honorees for 2021 may be found by clicking here.

• Lectura Books is a great site for finding English-Spanish books for young readers. Check it out here.

• Hispanic Mama is a website whose goal is to empower through heritage and language. On the site, find a list of the author's top 40 children's picture books to celebrate Hispanic heritage. Family favorites all, many of the listed books focus on typical Latin American dishes.

• Colours of Us has curated a list of books in celebration of Hispanic heritage for children ages five through 10. Find that here. 

• Multicultural Children's Book Day has also curated a list of diverse book links. Find that here.

• What Do We Do All Day is a website and newsletter started by a mom who wanted her children to unplug and get more engaged in games and reading aloud. Her site provides an interesting list of children's books intended for Hispanic Heritage Month. Click to see that list here.

 • A Mighty Girl, a site with great book ideas for raising confident girls, offers a list of 60 books starring Latina Mighty Girls.

•  School Library Journal features a list of biographies about Latinx luminaries. Find that list here.

• Common Sense Media is a source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families and schools, where parents and teachers can find reviews of children's books, movies, and other media. Find this group's list of children's books with Latinio/a characters here. Also on this website, a list of bilingual (English/Spanish) children's books.

• Interested in Spanish language chapter books? How about this list from Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes, a website focusing on multicultural parenting, culture, raising bilingual kids, food, and travel!

 • Brightly, a website geared to raising children who love to read, features a list of 15 picture books that celebrate Hispanic heritage. Click here for this list. Brightly also features an article on "The Importance of Latinx Representation in Children's Literature." Read that here.

• Reading Rockets has curated a list of books for the month aimed at ages three through nine. Discover stories about families and everyday life in Hispanic communities, as well as books about joyful festivals and holidays. Many books are written in Spanish and English. Click here for more. Plus, there is a tool called Book Finder where readers can create a customized list of fiction and nonfiction books by author, illustrator, age, reading level, genre, format, and topic. That's linked here.

• Pragmatic Mom is a blog that tackles all kinds of topics in the broad field of children's literature. Find a list of top 10 Latino/a books for children here.

• Scholastic has curated a list of 15 books to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month that embrace Hispanic culture, characters, and traditions with, and for, kids of all ages. Another list introduces students to the richness of Hispanic heritage with a curation of 27 fiction and nonfiction books for grades PreK-9.

• ADL has a list, too, of the top eight must-read books for Hispanic Heritage Month. That's here.

• Goodreads has curated a list of children's books for Hispanic American Heritage Month, too. Find that here.
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