What To Read During Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month (NHHM) is celebrated from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year to honor the history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latine (a new term that encompasses both Latino and Latina) Americans. The month begins in the middle of September and ends in the middle of October because many Latin American countries celebrate their independence during this time.

As a reader, this month offers the chance for me to learn more about my Hispanic neighbors through the pages of books. Here are four titles that will elevate your reading life, help you step in the shoes of Hispanic image-bearers around the world, and teach you about Latin American history, cultures, foods, joys, and challenges:

The Great Divide

Reviewed glowingly in The Banner by Sonya Vanderveen Feddema, The Great Divide by Panamanian-American Cristina Henriquez is the perfect book for fans of historical fiction who want to dive into HHM reading. I was equally swept away by a vivid and bustling cast of characters who come together around the construction of the Panama Canal. Honestly, before reading this book, I had little interest in the Panama Canal, but by the time I finished it, I was obsessed, even looking up flights to Panama. These characters, both rich and poor, Panamanian and American (not to mention other nationalities such as French and Barbadian) are expertly woven together in an epic saga befitting the herculean task of splitting a country in two to build a waterway. Be enthralled as you learn about one of the world’s great engineering projects and how it affected people from every culture and class.

From the editorial copy:

“A powerful novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there. … Searing and empathetic,The Great Divide explores the intersecting lives of activists, fishmongers, laborers, journalists, neighbors, doctors, and soothsayers—those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course.” (Harper Collins)

Esperanza Rising

My children read this book as part of their fifth- or sixth-grade reading curriculum, but it wasn’t until I was researching food in “heroine books” that I fell in love with 13-year-old Esperanza Ortega. As she experiences a terrible reversal of fortune so common to the immigrant experience, Esperanza lives into her beautiful name, which means “hope,” as she dignifies her new, impoverished life with courage and resilience. Released in 2000 but set in the 1930s, this lovely book is elevated by Mexican-American Pam Munoz Ryan’s sumptuous descriptions of food and drink in the novel, everything from rose hip tea to elephant heart plums. A modern classic, suitable for ages 10 and older, I predict this book will still be read from classrooms to porch swings to treehouses for many years to come.

From the editorial copy:

"Readers will be swept up." ―Publishers Weekly, starred review

Esperanza thought she'd always live a privileged life on her family's ranch in Mexico. She'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home filled with servants, and Mama, Papa, and Abuelita to care for her. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp. Esperanza isn't ready for the hard work, financial struggles brought on by the Great Depression, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When Mama gets sick and a strike for better working conditions threatens to uproot their new life, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances—because Mama's life, and her own, depend on it.” (Scholastic Gold)

Solito

I don’t know what I imagined the journey of a migrant from Central America to be, but 9-year-old Javi’s trek—by foot, car, bus, and boat—is beyond my imagination. In this searing memoir by poet Javier Zamora, readers accompany him as a child on his real-life “trip” from his small town in El Salvador through Guatemala and Mexico and ultimately, into the United States to join his parents. Whatever one’s views of immigrants who do not have the required documentation, Javi’s vulnerability and hopefulness humanize the experience. This child and his fellow travelers, fleeing from a U.S.-funded war in their homeland, are more than their lack of documentation. They are image-bearers of the divine. Zamora’s prose is radiant, shot through with poetry; his writing is gloriously rich, detailed, and intimate. Content note: As the narrator is, after all, a child, there is no sexual content, but the adults around him use profanity and, less often, vulgarity.

Editorial copy:

“Javier Zamora’s adventure is a 3,000-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone amid a group of strangers and a “coyote” hired to lead them to safety, Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks. At 9 years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents’ arms, snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family. A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.” (Hogarth)

Sacred Belonging

I read this devotional by Kat Armas last year, and it was then and still is the most creative and imaginative spin on daily devotions I have yet to encounter. (I read quite a few devotional books!) As a woman of Cuban heritage, Armas reads Scripture through a lens of liberation. She draws upon the work of (mostly) BIPOC theologians here, men and women, which gives these devotions a bracingly fresh perspective. Readers who need an injection of boldness and even wildness (Armas writes about rain, birds, the moon, and other elements of the natural world) will find a singular spiritual companion in these pages.

Editorial copy:

“In this 40-day devotional, Cuban American writer Kat Armas shows us that reading the Bible with fresh eyes allows us to experience God in new and liberating ways. Many Christians today are seeking to disentangle biblical teaching from power structures that marginalize women and people of color. There's a hunger for a new kind of devotional that offers refreshing and relevant ways to connect with God and the Bible—ways that challenge readers to seek out a more liberated and embodied faith. Drawing from personal narrative and Scripture, Armas highlights biblical passages that point toward decolonized themes centered on creation, wisdom, spirit, the body, and the feminine. Sacred Belonging helps us see how Scripture directs us to live a liberated faith, where we belong to God, the earth, and one another. (Brazos Press)