Hispanic and Latino Heritage in Books for Children and Teens

Not Just for Hispanic Heritage Month

The Pura Belpré Award

The Pura Belpré Award is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA Affiliate. According to the ALA, it "is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth" The site includes an annotated list of current winners and a bibliography of past winners.

Américas Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature

The national Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP) sponsors the Américas Book Award. According to CLASP, the Award recognizes "U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non-fiction (from picture books to works for young adults) published in the previous year in English or Spanish that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States." The site includes Weaving Stories: Americas Award thematic bibliography, an annotated bibliography, as well as bibliographies of the current and former award winners that are not annotated.

Hispanic Heritage in Children's and Young Adult Books

This article from School Library Journal contains recommended books for elementary, middle and high school students. It includes a summary of each book and the recommended grade levels. The reading list includes fiction and nonfiction. As the article states, "The books in this bibliography go some distance toward delineating, even if indirectly, the breadth of culture and experience included in what it means to be Hispanic."

Hispanic Heritage Booklist for PreK - Eighth Grade

This reading list from the publisher Scholastic includes an annotated list of books for grades PreK–2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-8. Some of the books listed include a link to cover art and a detailed description and/or a link to a biography of such authors as Juan Felipe Herrera and Pam Munoz Ryan.

Recommended Books for Hispanic Heritage Month

The New York Public Library's briefly annotated reading list of recommended books includes cover art. The list is divided into three categories: Poetry and Song, Stories for Older Readers, and Stories for Younger Readers. Some of the books are in both English and Spanish. The books include fiction and nonfiction.

Powerful Hispanic and Latin-American Images Revealed in Picture Books

This list, which was compiled by educators Kay E. Vandergrift and Denise Agosto. As they state in the introduction to the list,

Strong images of these many cultures can make Hispanic and Latin American audiences feel admired and respected, while teaching non-Hispanic and non-Latin American audiences to appreciate these communities. Most importantly, these positive images can serve to remind us all of the universality of human life.

Many of the children's picture books are award winners, and if the book has received Pura Belpré or Américas honors, that is noted.

Books Recommended by Colorín Colorado

This recommended reading list of children's books by Hispanic and Latin American children's authors comes from Colorín Colorado, which describes itself as "a free web-based, bilingual service that provides information, activities, and advice for educators and Spanish-speaking families of English language learners." The list includes cover art and a description of each book, including the age level and reading level. The list includes books for children between the ages of three and 12.

Latino Books for Children: Fiction and Nonfiction

This list from the Seattle Public Library includes a brief summary of each of the recommended books. The Latino list includes children's fiction and nonfiction. A few of the books are bilingual. While there is cover art and a brief description of each book, you have to click to another screen to see the publication date and the name of the publisher.

Latino Folktales

This reading list of Latino folktales does not include cover art, but it does include a brief description of the story and suggested grade levels.

Hispanic Heritage Month

This list of books for elementary, middle school and high school students comes from the Office of Instruction and Program Development of the Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, Maryland. It includes fiction and nonfiction published between 1972 and 2001, although most of the books were published in the 1990s. It does not include information about the plot/subject of the books.

Sampler of Latino Children's Books Authors

This sampler of Latino children's authors comes from Mexican American children's book author and poet Pat Mora's Web site. She describes it as "a sampling of the Latina and Latino authors who write for children in this country, where they live, and where they were born." For each author mentioned, she includes both their birthplace and where they now reside. Mora also provides the names of Latino authors teens might enjoy and some interesting statistics.