New & Notable: Great Books for Hispanic Heritage Month
Published Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Advancing Literacy
Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15 and honors the histories, contributions, and experiences of people from North, Central, and South America, Spain, and the Caribbean.
In the past we’ve shared picture books to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. This year we're widening the lens. Below are titles of recommended books published in the last three years, organized by grade band from preschool through high school, and mixing fiction with nonfiction so teachers and librarians at every level have fresh options. None of these titles overlap with our earlier list, so the two posts work well together, too.
Preschool and Lower Elementary
Welcome Home, Esmerelda Written by Daniela Ramirez (Charlesbridge, 2025)
Esmerelda's family has just moved to the United States, and she finds that her new home feels overwhelming at first. This picture book embraces the mix of excitement and homesickness that comes with starting over in a new place, and it ends with Esmerelda finding her footing through small, familiar comforts.
Martina Has Too Many Tías Written by Emma Otheguy, Illustrated by Sara Palacios (Atheneum, 2023)
This funny and heartfelt picture book reimagines the beloved folktale "La Cucaracha Martina." Quiet Martina is overwhelmed by her boisterous tías and their fiestas, so she slips away to a magical, silent island, only to discover what actually makes a home a home. It's a good pairing for classrooms exploring folktale retellings alongside stories about big, loud families.
Tíos and Primos Written by Jacqueline Alcántara (2025)
A young girl travels to her father's homeland and is suddenly surrounded by a sea of cousins and relatives who feel both familiar and foreign. Her Spanish isn't fluent yet, but soccer games, shared meals, and inside jokes bridge the gap. It's a warm read for children who are meeting extended family for the first time or navigating two cultures at once.
This nonfiction picture book tells the true story of the community activism behind San Diego's Chicano Park, one of the country's most significant hubs of Chicano art and organizing. It's an accessible entry point for young readers into ideas about community, protest, and public art.
Upper Elementary
Benny Ramírez and the Nearly Departed Written by José Pablo Iriarte (Knopf, 2024)
Spanish edition coming soon!
Benny discovers he can communicate with the ghost of his abuelo, a once-famous musician, and starts learning the trumpet both to pass a class and to help his grandfather move on to the afterlife. The story blends humor and grief with a genuine love of family and music.
Lola by Karla Arenas Valenti, Illustrated by Islenia Mil (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2024)
Winner of the 2025 Pura Belpré Author Award, this novel rooted in Mexican magical realism follows ten-year-old Lola as she journeys through the enchanted land of Floresta to save her ailing brother. This book is a fantastic introduction to magical realism for young readers and offers adventure and folkloric creatures as the main character goes on a journey of self-discovery.
Told in rhythmic verse, this nonfiction picture book biography introduces Evelina Antonetty, Lillian López, and Elba Cabrera, three sisters who immigrated from Puerto Rico to the Bronx as children and became lasting forces for community activism there. It earned a starred review from Booklist and is a strong pairing for units on local history and civic engagement.
Call Me Roberto! Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos
This nonfiction picture book biography traces baseball legend Roberto Clemente's career, including the racism he faced as a Spanish-speaking Black man from Puerto Rico both from fans and from reporters who refused to use his given name. English and Spanish words are woven throughout the text, and the book earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
Middle School
Twelve-year-old Salva has always loved Celia Cruz's music, and when her mother disappears without explanation, that music becomes a lifeline as Salva moves in with the father she barely knows. It's a coming-of-age story about finding your voice, set against the backdrop of a family in crisis.
Set in a rural Texas town in 1952, this science fiction novel follows sixth grader Pineda Matlage, who is Cuban and White, and who feels like an outsider even among his friends, some of whom shorten his name to Pete without asking. When American soldiers descend on the town for what they claim is a training exercise, Pineda is hiding a bigger secret: an alien girl he's found in his family's barn, whom he's promised to reunite with her parents. As checkpoints go up and the real reason for the military occupation comes into focus, Pineda, his friends, and a Black soldier navigating a newly integrated army have to decide how far they'll go to protect her. The story alternates between Pineda's and the alien girl's points of view and pairs genre complexity and intrigue with real questions about belonging and who gets to be seen as American.
Borderlands and the Mexican American Story
Part of the Race to the Truth series, this nonfiction history moves from Indigenous migrations and Spanish colonization through the Mexican American War, the Chicano movement, and present-day border issues. It was named a School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and gives middle schoolers a comprehensive, well-sourced entry point into a history that's often left out of standard textbooks.
From the author of Esperanza Rising, this novel blends myth, fantasy, and grief as Kai Sosa searches for answers after his champion-swimmer sister disappears in an ocean fog and is presumed dead. The story weaves in Latin American folklore around water and loss, and it deals directly with a sibling's death, so it's worth previewing for students, particularly those who may be processing loss of their own.
High School
Rafie, a mariachi star, transfers to a new high school and finds himself competing for the lead singer spot against an old flame who now oversees the band. It's a contemporary romance grounded in music, ambition, and identity. This book is a love letter to Mexican culture.
Maya, a talented young fashion designer in Guatemala City, and her mother are forced to flee after witnessing gang violence, setting off a dangerous journey to the U.S. border. Kirkus Reviews called it an engrossing look at the realities asylum seekers face, and it works well alongside history or civics units on migration.
Hurdles in the Dark: My Story of Survival, Resilience, and Triumph
This YA memoir follows Gonzalez's path from a childhood marked by poverty and violence in Laredo, Texas, to becoming one of the top-ranked hurdlers in the country. It's a powerful addition to a high school library, though the content, which includes family trauma and an account of abuse, makes it best suited to older teens and worth previewing before recommending to a specific student.
¡Ay, Mija!: My Bilingual Summer in Mexico
This graphic memoir follows sixteen-year-old Christine on a solo trip to stay with grandparents and a tía in Mexico, working through language gaps, colorism, and what it means to belong to two cultures at once. It earned a starred review from School Library Journal for how accessibly it handles identity and mixed heritage for teen readers.
For more Hispanic Heritage Month picture books, see our earlier post, .