Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th! This month is a fantastic opportunity to highlight the beautiful contributions that Hispanic people have made both in the past and present. Celebrate Hispanic history and culture with these Lerner selections!
The Mexican Dreidel by Linda Elovitz Marshall and Ilan Stavans, illustrated by Maria Mola
- Interest Level: Preschool – Grade 2
Danielito loves Janucá, especially playing dreidel. This year, he is old enough to visit Bobe by himself. Piñatas hang from the trees, and the kids in Bobe’s neighborhood play with Mexican tops called trompos. Danielito does not have a trompo, but he has a dreidel. “What is that?” “¿Qué es eso?” the other kids ask, as they invite him to join their game. The trompos follow the dreidel as it spins through the neighborhood. And Danielito invited his new friends, nuevos amigos, to Bobe’s house to celebrate Janucá.
Piece by Piece: Ernestine’s Gift for President Roosevelt by Lupe Ruiz-Flores, illustrated by Anna López Real
- Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3
During the Great Depression, Ernestine Guerrero’s family didn’t have much.
The Mexican American teen was so grateful for the government food aid they received in San Antonio, Texas, that she wanted to personally thank President Roosevelt. But how? After seeing the plans for a very difficult woodworking project, she decided she would make it herself and send it to the president. Piece by piece, that’s exactly what she did. And the clock case she built remains on display in the Roosevelt Presidential Library to this day.
With stunning illustrations from Anna López Real, this picture book tells the inspiring true story of a girl who proved that if you look closely, treasure can be found in unexpected places.
Hair Story by NoNieqa Ramos, illustrated by Keisha Morris
A Cybils Nominee
- Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3
With rhythmic, rhyming verse, this picture book follows two girls—one non-Black Puerto Rican, one Black—as they discover the stories their hair can tell.
Preciosa has hair that won’t stay straight, won’t be confined. Rudine’s hair resists rollers, flat irons, and rules.
Together, the girls play hair salon! They take inspiration from their moms, their neighbors, their ancestors, and cultural icons. They discover that their hair holds roots of the past and threads of the future.
With rhythmic, rhyming verse and vibrant collage art, author NoNieqa Ramos and illustrator Keisha Morris follow two girls as they discover the stories hair can tell.
“A lovely lesson in loving and having pride in oneself, perfect for fans of Matthew Cherry’s Hair Love and for any shelf seeded with positive messaging.” — School Library Journal
Astronaut Ellen Ochoa by Heather E. Schwartz
From the Series STEM Trailblazer Bios
- Interest Level: Grade 2 – Grade 5
When Ellen Ochoa was young, male American astronauts walked on the moon. But girls were not allowed to be astronauts. Girls didn’t often study science either—but Ochoa didn’t let that stop her. In high school, Ochoa loved math and science. In college, she studied physics and engineering, and later she became a scientist and inventor. Eventually NASA began accepting women into their astronaut training program. While there, Ochoa developed technology, became the first female Hispanic American astronaut, and logged 1,000 hours in outer space. Learn about Ochoa’s hard work and perseverance on her journey toward becoming a scientist, inventor, and astronaut.
Sonia Sotomayor: From the Bronx to the US Supreme Court by Liz Sonneborn
From the Series Gateway Biographies
- Interest Level: Grade 4 – Grade 8
Associate justice Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic person and third woman to serve on the US Supreme Court. She has been breaking barriers since reading detective novels and watching legal dramas first inspired her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer. Her motivation carried her from high school debate club to working as an assistant district attorney to finally becoming a judge in 1992.
Follow Sotomayor’s journey to the US Supreme Court to find out more about her life and career.
★ Men of the 65th: The Borinqueneers of the Korean War by Talia Aikens-Nuñez
A Junior Library Guild Selection
- Interest Level: Grade 6 – Grade 12
Honor and Fidelity. That is the motto of the 65th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Borinqueneers, the only Puerto Rican unit in the United States Army.
But the honor and fidelity of the men of the 65th came into question in 1952, in the midst of the Korean War, when ninety-one Borinqueneers were arrested and tried for desertion and disobeying orders. How could this happen in one of the most distinguished and decorated units of the Army?
In this telling of one of the forgotten stories of the Korean War, author Talia Aikens-Nuñez guides us through the history of the Borinqueneers and the challenges they faced leading up to what was the largest court martial in the entire war. Rediscover the bravery of the men of the 65th through Aikens-Nuñez’s thorough writing and the soldiers’ firsthand accounts of the Korean War.
“[E]xtensive background information, numerous sidebars, maps, and archival photos help make the action historically and politically accessible. . . . A fitting tribute to the Borinqueneers . . .” — Booklist
“An excellent choice for those interested in military or Puerto Rican history; a great pick for U.S. history courses or research.” — starred, School Library Journal
The Weight of Everything by Marcia Argueta Mickelson
- Interest Level: Grade 7 – Grade 12
It’s been six months since Sarah’s mom died. Three months since her dad fell apart. Sarah has left her fine arts boarding school to take care of her dad and her little brother, and now she’s trying to hold everything together at home while adjusting to the local public high school.
But then a school project prompts Sarah to delve into her mom’s Mexican and Guatemalan roots. As she learns more about this side of her heritage, Sarah starts to understand her mom better—and starts to face her own grief. When she stumbles upon a long-buried piece of history that mattered deeply to her mom, Sarah realizes she can’t carry her pain silently anymore. She has to speak up, and she can’t do it alone.
“A thoughtful and substantive story about loss, cultural discovery, and first love.” — Kirkus Reviews
Lizard in a Zoot Suit by Marco Finnegan
- Interest Level: Grade 7 – Grade 12
Los Angeles, 1943. It’s the era of the Zoot Suit Riots, and Flaca and Cuata have a problem.
It’s bigger than being grounded by their strict mother. It’s bigger than tensions with the soldiers stationed nearby. And it’s shaped like a five-foot-tall lizard. When a lost member of an unknown underground species needs help, the sisters must scramble to keep their new friend away from a corrupt military scientist—but they’ll do it in style. Cartoonist Marco Finnegan presents Lizard in a Zoot Suit, an outrageous, historical, sci-fi graphic novel.
“[Lizard in a Zoot Suit] is both a politically charged drama and a pulpy sci-fi story all in one, and an ideal graphic novel for Young Adults.” — Comicon.com
“A new YA graphic novel [that] takes a moment in real world history and turns it into the basis for a thrilling adventure that is never anything less than stylish.” — The Hollywood Reporter
★ Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez
- Interest Level: Grade 8 – Grade 12
A Michael L. Printz Honor Book
“This is East Texas, and there’s lines. Lines you cross, lines you don’t cross. That clear?”
New London, Texas. 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them. They know the people who enforce them. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive. Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion—the worst school disaster in American history—as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people.
“[This] layered tale of color lines, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town is a pit-in-the-stomach family drama that goes down like it should, with pain and fascination, like a mix of sugary medicine and artisanal moonshine.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Pérez deftly weaves [an] unflinchingly intense narrative….A powerful, layered tale of forbidden love in times of unrelenting racism.”―starred, Kirkus Reviews
“This book presents a range of human nature, from kindness and love to acts of racial and sexual violence. The work resonates with fear, hope, love, and the importance of memory…. Set against the backdrop of an actual historical event, Pérez…gives voice to many long-omitted facets of U.S. history.” ― starred, School Library Journal