Hey YA Readers!
This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Neighborhood Girls by Jessie Ann Foley.
A powerful coming-of-age story from Printz Honor winner and Morris Award Finalist Jessie Ann Foley.
When Wendy’s father, a Chicago cop, gets a years-long jail sentence, her family falls on hard times. And when she gets jumped walking home from a party one night, she realizes that in order to survive her father’s reputation, she’ll have to make one for herself.
So Wendy joins the Academy of the Sacred Heart’s most feared and revered clique. But now, Wendy faces a toxic friendship, the exhaustion of keeping up appearances, and a shattering loss—one that could hurt more than losing herself.
September 15 marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. It seems only appropriate, of course, to highlight some excellent back list YA titles by Latinx authors to read this month.
What is “back list” exactly? It’s any book that’s not new, and it’s generally seen as books which came out a year or more ago. But for the sake of really digging into the back list of YA, I’ve looked more than a year out (because by that measure, books like Shadowshaper would be back list and while technically it is, there’s something to be said about those titles from even further in the past).
Grab your TBR because it’s about to grow longer. If after you check these out you’re itching for even more Latinx YA, you will want to poke around Latinx in Kid Lit’s fabulous website.
Amigas series (beginning with Fifteen Candles) by Veronica Chambers
Quinceaeras are the fantastic parties thrown for Latina girls turning 15 years old and are a staple of the Miami social scene. But for Alicia Cruz and her three best friends, Carmen, Jamie, and Gaz, they were also just part of the background–until now.
Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos
He didn’t say good-bye. He didn’t leave a phone number. And he didn’t plan on coming back – ever.
In Wisconsin, Rico could blend in. His light hair and lighter skin wouldn’t make him the “dark dude” or the punching bag for the whole neighborhood. The Midwest is the land of milk and honey, but for Rico Fuentes, it’s really a last resort. Trading Harlem for Wisconsin, though, means giving up on a big part of his identity. And when Rico no longer has to prove that he’s Latino, he almost stops being one. Except he can never have an ordinary white kid’s life, because there are some things that can’t be left behind, that can’t be cut loose or forgotten. These are the things that will be with you forever…. These are the things that will follow you a thousand miles away.
Down To The Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
What if you don’t follow the rules and it radically alters the course of your life?
What if you get kicked out of the house and lose all your friends and everyone you love?
Will you turn the corner into a world filled with unusual friends and create a new kind of family or self-destruct?
The Girl Who Could Silence The Wind by Meg Medina
Sixteen-year-old Sonia Ocampo was born on the night of the worst storm Tres Montes had ever seen. And when the winds mercifully stopped, an unshakable belief in the girl’s protective powers began. All her life, Sonia has been asked to pray for sick mothers or missing sons, as worried parents and friends press silver milagros in her hands. Sonia knows she has no special powers, but how can she disappoint those who look to her for solace?
Still, her conscience is heavy, so when she gets a chance to travel to the city and work in the home of a wealthy woman, she seizes it. At first, Sonia feels freedom in being treated like all the other girls. But when news arrives that her beloved brother has disappeared while looking for work, she learns to her sorrow that she can never truly leave the past or her family behind.
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena
Danny’s tall and skinny. Even though he’s not built, his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. Ninety-five mile an hour fastball, but the boy’s not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound he loses it.
But at his private school, they don’t expect much else from him. Danny’ s brown. Half-Mexican brown. And growing up in San Diego that close to the border means everyone else knows exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. Before they find out he can’t speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair and blue eyes, they’ve got him pegged. But it works the other way too. And Danny’s convinced it’s his whiteness that sent his father back to Mexico.
That’s why he’s spending the summer with his dad’s family. Only, to find himself, he may just have to face the demons he refuses to see–the demons that are right in front of his face. And open up to a friendship he never saw coming.
Parrot In The Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez
Dad believed people were like money. You could be a thousand-dollar person or a hundred-dollar person – even a ten-, five-, or one-dollar person. Below that, everybody was just nickels and dimes. To my dad, we were pennies.
Fourteen-year old Manny Hernandez wants to be more than just a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of guy people respect. But that’s not easy when your father is abusive, your brother can’t hold a job, and your mother scrubs the house as if she can wash her troubles away.
In Manny’s neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang. But Manny’s not sure that joining a gang is the solution. Because, after all, it’s his life – and he wants to be the one to decide what happens to it.
Rogelia’s House of Magic by Jamie Martinez Wood
When Rogelia becomes a maid at Marina Peralta’s home, it’s obvious to Marina and her friend Fern that they have a real mystic on their hands. Soon Rogelia agrees to teach the girls the magic of their ancestors, much as she taught her granddaughters, Xochitl and Gracielia. Even though Marina and Fern are thrilled to have this chance to understand and use their powers, Xochitl isn’t happy about sharing such a sacred thing with anyone but her sister, who perished in a car accident. Besides, magic has let Xochitl down before. Why wouldn’t it now? But, as the girls will eventually discover, at Rogelia’s House of Magic anything is possible.
The Vicious Deep (series) by Zoraida Cordova
For Tristan Hart, everything changes with one crashing wave.
He was gone for three days. Sucked out to sea in a tidal wave and spit back ashore at Coney Island with no memory of what happened. Now his dreams are haunted by a terrifying silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth.
His best friend Layla is convinced something is wrong. But how can he explain he can sense emotion like never before? How can he explain he’s heir to a kingdom he never knew existed? That he’s suddenly a pawn in a battle as ancient as the gods.
Something happened to him in those three days. He was claimed by the sea…and now it wants him back.
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Need some great books for a great price? Here are a few you’ll want to pick up on the cheap:
Shallow Graves by Kaci Wallace is $1.99 and looks like a nice slightly-scary read.
Kate Cotugno’s 99 Days is a mere $1.99. If you want something with a romantic flair, this might serve you well.
For readers who want to know more about the characters who aren’t “the chosen one,” then you’ll want to pick up Patrick Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here for $1.99.
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Last, but definitely not least, we’ve launched Hey YA, a podcast all about YA books. Tune in to episode one right here, where Eric Smith and I talk about upcoming fall YA releases we’re itching for, what the heck “YA” means, and what we’d rather see than an all-female remake of Lord of the Flies.
Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you next week!
–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars
Currently reading Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds