Latino Teen

When a shy girl named Sarah Sierra first joins an after-school program in her neighborhood, she never expects to travel back in time and discover the words of Miguel de Cervantes. But at Still Waters in a Storm, a teacher named Stephen and a group of kids have pushed together tables piled high with books so they can gather round to talk about and translate Cervantes’ classic, Don Quixote de La Mancha. They begin to reimagine Don Quixote as the story of a group of modern-day kids from immigrant families in Brooklyn.

Adept at portraying Latino teenage culture, author Gary Soto has won many honors, including an ALA Best Book Award for his young adult novels. After an East Fresno student is murdered, his mind leaves his body. Now he must get used to being an invisible spirit, one who watches his friends and family deal with his death.

Belén Dolores Itzel del Toro wants the normal stuff: to experience love or maybe have a boyfriend or at least just lose her virginity. But nothing is normal in East Oakland. Her father left her family. She’s at risk of not graduating. And Leti, her super-Catholic, nerdy-ass best friend, is pregnant—by the boyfriend she hasn’t told her parents about, because he’s Black, and her parents are racist. Things are hella complicated. Weighed by a depression she can’t seem to shake, Belén helps Leti, hangs out with an older guy, and cuts a lot of class.

There’s more to becoming a top chef for 17-year-old Isabella Fields than just not getting chopped...especially when the chances of things heating up with an intriguing boy and becoming a food star in the kitchen are both on the chopping block. Aspiring chef Isa’s family life has fallen apart after the death of her Cuban abuela and the divorce of her parents. She moves in with her dad and her new stepmom, Margo, in Lyon, France, where Isa feels like an outsider in her father’s new life.

She is the envy of every teenage girl in Mexico City. Her mother is a glamorous telenovela actress. Her father is the go-to voice-over talent for blockbuster films. Hers is a world of private planes, chauffeurs, paparazzi, and gossip columnists. Meet Camilla del Valle - Cammi to those who know her best. When Cammi's mom gets cast in an American television show and the family moves to LA, things change, and quickly.

With a strong family, the best friend a guy could ask for, and a budding romance with the girl of his dreams, life shows promise for Teodoro "T" Avila. But he takes some hard hits the summer before senior year when his nearly perfect brother, Manny, returns from a tour in Iraq with a devastating case of PTSD. In a desperate effort to save Manny from himself and pull their family back together, T's fiery sister, Xochitl, hoodwinks her brothers into a cathartic road trip.

In September of 2019, Luis Alberto Quiñonez—known as Sito— was shot to death as he sat in his car in the Mission District of San Francisco. He was nineteen. His killer, Julius Williams, was seventeen. It was the second time the teens had encountered one another. The first, five years before, also ended in tragedy, when Julius watched as his brother was stabbed to death by an acquaintance of Sito’s. The two murders merited a few local news stories, and then the rest of the world moved on. But for the families of the slain teenagers, it was impossible to move on.

Seen and Now Heard presents a meticulously researched autobiography of a Cuban girl named Crystina Bass. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Caribbean, South Florida, and California, Crystina's story is a story of Cubans in America. It's a story of growing up in a not-so-typical American family, yet as she says herself, "We are Americans in the purest form of the word."

For this striking, stripped-down account of youth immigration, Villalobos interviewed teens at various stages of the immigration process to illustrate their stories - the physical and emotional difficulties of their travels. He then changed certain elements of these stories in order to protect the children's identities. Each chapter brings forth the voice of one young immigrant's experience, from crossing the Mexican desert to gang violence to the freezers at ICE detention centers.

Sixteen-year-old Tatum Elsea is bracing for the worst summer of her life. Trapped under her stepmother-imposed house arrest and her BFF ghosting her, Tatum pours herself into the assigned community service. With a helpful push from her fellow community service member, Abby, Tatum fills her time at homebuilding her covert graphic design business, right under her stepmother’s nose. When a cute cello-playing client sweeps Tatum off her feet, she’s left breathless and eager to get out of these four walls.