Books by Hispanic and Latino Authors to Read Based on Other Favorite Books
[Edited from image on hispanicheritagemonth.gov]
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Today marks the finale of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which means we have one last hoorah to highlight Hispanic culture, history, and accomplishments. Of course, we’re celebrating by rounding up a list of books by Hispanic and Latino authors based on a handful of other popular titles.
Hispanic Heritage Month may be coming to a close, but it’s never too late to add more books to your TBR from Hispanic and Latino authors. So give this a scroll, and keep your Goodreads open, your pen and paper close, or your library catalog ready for hold submissions!
Cemetery Boys for The Raven Cycle fans
What made Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle blow up in the mid 2010s, so much so that a TV series was announced in 2017 (which has since fallen through, but we don’t talk about it)? Maybe it’s the combination of subtle but impactful magic in a contemporary setting, the powerful bond between the main characters that saturates the entire reading experience, or the attention given to queer and low-income narratives. Who can say, but if you enjoyed The Raven Cycle for these reasons, Cemetery Boys is a great addition to your TBR. Cemetery Boys focuses on a trans boy in a traditional Latino family who has trouble accepting his gender, so to prove he’s a real brujo, he summons a ghost…who then refuses to leave. This one’s full of as much heart, poetry, romance, and intrigue as The Raven Cycle. Also, both feature witches/sorta witches (brujos and psychics) and mysteries surrounding ghost boys that develop into larger plots, so there’s that.
Check out Thomas’s author site here (he’s recently published a Peter Pan adaptation called Lost in the Never Woods).
Buy Cemetery Boys:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Books A Million | Bookshop
Wolves of No World series for Legendborn fans
Romina Garber may make a ton of Harry Potter references in her Wolves of No World series, but Lobizona and Cazadora are great books for fans of any sort of going-away-to-magical-or-supernatural-school story. Fans of Grossman’s The Magicians, Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians (summer camp counts), or Mead’s Vampire Academy books could enjoy Manu’s journey into a world of bruja and lobizón, but it’s definitely a good read for those who liked Tracy Deonn’s more recent Legendborn. Both protagonists find themselves unintentionally wrapped up in secret societies straight out of folklore (one Argentinian, one Arthurian), attend a historical and pretty cool school where they’re set apart with their unique abilities, and must prove themselves physically and magically (magic soccer! sword fighting!) in these inflexible societies with archaic rules.
Check out Garber’s other books here (she wrote the ZODIAC Quartet under Romina Russell).
Buy Lobizona:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Books A Million | Bookshop
Check out book 2, Cazadora!
Paint the Wind for Black Stallion fans
This one’s for all those horse boys, horse girls, and all-around horse kids out there who’ve read Black Beauty, War Horse, Misty of Chincoteague, and, of course, Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books. Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Paint the Wind is exactly as advertised—in the tradition of Farley’s The Black Stallion—and follows Maya (a sheltered girl) and Artemisia (a wild mare). An unexpected injury finds Maya stranded while a devastating act separates Artemisia from her herd, and when the two cross paths in the aftermath, like the shipwrecked Alex and Black, Maya and Artemisia must learn to trust one another if they hope to survive and make their way to where they belong. Unlike the twenty-four long Black Stallion series, though, Paint the Wind is a standalone, but a solid one at that.
Check out Ryan’s other books here (you may have heard of the Pura Belpré Medal-winning Esperanza Rising or the Newbery Honor winner Echo, but try her latest Mañanaland).
Buy Paint the Wind:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Books A Million | Bookshop
Skip for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland fans
Alice in Wonderland fans, understandably, have very specific taste when it comes to readalikes for this beloved tale. There’s the portal fantasy genre that can be found in other classics like The Chronicles of Narnia, the endearing naivete of Alice and the unforgettable colorfulness of the side characters, and lest we forget, the sheer trippiness of it all. Well, Molly Mendoza’s Skip graphic novel checks all those boxes. It pairs well with the visual aspects from various Alice in Wonderland adaptations but is twice as bright, fluid, and distorted, and the main characters, Bloom and Gloopy, are two youngsters pulled from their worlds, hopping from one dimension to the next. They meet weeping giants, warped 2D worlds, an island of alligators, and murderous felines, all on a journey to face their individual fears and return home like Alice.
Check out Mendoza’s site here (it includes short narratives of hers like “Voyage” and “Singer’s Cave”).
Buy Skip:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Books A Million | Bookshop
Warren the 13th series for A Series of Unfortunate Events fans
Described as “in the spirit of Edward Gorey and Lemony Snicket,” Tania Del Rio and Will Staehle’s illustrated Warren the 13th series is a great trilogy for readers who’ve made it through all 13 books of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Staehle’s Victorian-esque art alone is enough to entice any Snicket fans but Del Rio’s narrative surrounding an underappreciated orphan who works as the single bellhop at his family hotel is full of tidbits Snicket fans will delight in. The side characters are shifty and quirky with questionable motives, there’s odd clues and small puzzles for the reader to decipher along with Warren, and there’s a plot to steal Warren’s family fortune out from under him before he comes of age. Other ridiculous and wild shenanigans occur, but we don’t want to give too much away.
Check out Tania Del Rio’s site here (she’s also a comic penciller).
Buy the 1st book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Books A Million | Bookshop
Check out books 2, Warren the 13th and the Whisper Woods, and 3, Warren the 13th and the Thireteen-Year Curse!
Looking for other book recs surrounding national months? Give these roundups a try:
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Gabrielle Bujak
Gabrielle likes a lot of things and dislikes very little. Retired ice cream cake decorator, occasional farmhand, and reminiscing library worker, she spent her childhood dreaming of fighting fires and her college days writing about Bong Joon-ho before he was cool. Now, she preaches the importance of dental hygiene; chats up books, movies, and comics via the Quirk blog; and legally climbs silos. Whether the legality of the silo climbing makes her more or less interesting is up for debate. Email [email protected] if you want to review our titles or feature our authors.
