Latinx voices are important contributors to the fabric of American life. Spanning many countries, people from Latinx backgrounds have a rich and varied history and culture. Latinx Heritage Month, which occurs from September 15 through October 15, is when Americans come together to recognize and celebrate the many contributions of Latinx people. No matter their background, readers of all ages can learn something new about their community members through this book list. These books are specifically geared toward readers ages 8-12 and feature both factual and fictional characters of Latinx heritage. Each story reflects a piece of the Latinx community and provides a means of connection and understanding for all.
Contributed by: Mary Lanni

	Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics By: Margarita Engle Illustrated by: Rafael López Bold, graphic portraits and beautiful poems present famous and lesser-known Latinos from varied backgrounds who have faced life’s challenges in creative ways.
	The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora By: Pablo Cartaya When his family’s restaurant and Cuban American neighborhood in Miami are threatened by a greedy land developer, thirteen-year-old Arturo, joined by Carmen, a cute poetry enthusiast, fights back, discovering the power of poetry and protest through untold family stories and the work of José Martí.
	The First Rule of Punk By: Celia C. Pérez Twelve-year-old María Luisa O’Neill-Morales (who really prefers to be called Malú) reluctantly moves with her Mexican-American mother to Chicago and starts seventh grade with a bang—violating the dress code with her punk rock aesthetic and spurning the middle school’s most popular girl in favor of starting a band with a group of like-minded misfits.
	Lucky Broken Girl By: Ruth Behar In 1960s New York, fifth-grader Ruthie, a Cuban-Jewish immigrant, must rely on books, art, her family, and friends in her multicultural neighborhood when an accident puts her in a body cast.
	Maximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian Angel By: Xavier Garza Eleven-year-old Margarito, a big fan of wrestling known as lucha libre, begins to suspect that he has a close connection with his favorite luchador, El Angel de La Guardia, the Guardian Angel.
	The Moon Within By: Aida Salazar Eleven-year-old (nearly twelve) Celi Rivera, who is a mix of Black-Puerto Rican-Indigenous Mexican, is secretive about her approaching period and the changes that are happening to her body. She is horrified that her mother wants to hold a traditional public moon ceremony to celebrate the occasion. She must choose loyalty to her life-long best friend, who is contemplating an even more profound change of life or the boy she likes.
	Red Panda & Moon Bear By: Jarod Roselló Red Panda and Moon Bear, magical defenders of their community, battle ghosts, evil robots, alien invaders, and time portals, all before Mami and Papi get home.
	The Red Umbrella By: Christina Diaz Gonzalez Cuba, 1961: Two years after the communist revolution, Lucia still leads a carefree life, dreaming of parties and her first crush. But when the soldiers come to her small town, everything begins to change. Suddenly the revolution hits home. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. Her friends feel like strangers. And her family is being watched. As the revolution’s impact becomes more oppressive, Lucia’s parents make the heart-wrenching decision to send her and her little brother to the United States—alone. Suddenly plunked down in Nebraska with well-meaning strangers, Lucia struggles to adapt to a new country, a new language, a new way of life. But what of her old life? Will she ever see her home or her parents again? And if she does, will she still be the same girl?
	Rooting for Rafael Rosales By: Kurtis Scaletta In the Dominican Republic, a boy who dreams of playing professional baseball in the United States crosses paths with a young environmentalist from Minneapolis who is passionate about saving bees.
	Stef Soto, Taco Queen By: Jennifer Torres Mexican-American Stef Soto is hoping to break free from her overprotective parents and embarrassing reputation from her family’s taco truck business, but she soon learns that family, friendship, and the taco truck are important and wonderful parts of her life.
	Us, In Progress: short stories about young Latinos By: Lulu Delacre A collection of short stories featuring Latin Americans allows readers to experience life through their eyes, celebrate their victories, and see their hardships.
	What if a Fish By: Anika Fajardo Eleven-year-old Eddie Aguado is convinced that winning the 14th Annual Arne Hopkins Dock Fishing Tournament (once he actually learns how to fish) will bring him closer to his dad, who died when Eddie was only five.

Poems are one of the most beautiful and enjoyable forms of human writing. Poems express feelings of joy, sorrow, love, and wonder. In a celebration of World Poetry Day, this collection of books of poems introduces readers aged 7-12 to the world through poems. Using this style, even reluctant readers can access the stories they tell because of the shorter sentences and lyrical rhythms. The books in this list include both fiction and nonfiction to provide a subject for each unique reader.
Contributed by: Mary Lanni

	Beastly Verse By: Multiple Authors Illustrated by: JooHee Yoon Poetry and children belong together, and for a long time, the music and playfulness of verse wove itself through children’s days and lives. Beastly Verse aims to help return the wonder of poetry to children’s lives through sixteen exquisitely illustrated poems, four of which have the surprise and pleasure of being foldouts. Consisting of playful as well as powerfully memorable poems, Beastly Verse transports the reader into a richly worded world of tigers, hummingbirds, owls, elephants, pelicans, yaks, snails, and even telephones! A playful romp through verse, rhyme, and gorgeous images, this book carries children into the poetic realm in a way that is not only fun and inviting but inspiring as well! Representing poems from Anonymous, as well as some lesser well-known poets, this volume also includes poems from Lewis Carroll, William Blake, Robert Desnos, Hilaire Belloc, William Cowper, Christina Rossetti, and D.H. Lawrence. Both short and long, these poems can be read and reread, committed to memory, and enjoyed all life long. JooHee Yoon is an illustrator and printmaker committed to the art of bookmaking.
	Bigfoot is Missing! By: J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt Illustrated by: Minalima A poetry collection about cryptozoological creatures (the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, etc.) from around the world, written to allow the design of the book to disguise the fact that the collection is poetry.
	Explore Poetry! By: Andi Diehn Illustrated by: Bryan Stone Introduces the many different forms of poetry while delving into a variety of literary techniques such as personification, metaphor, and alliteration, and includes creative writing exercises designed to reinforce language arts skills.
	Feel The Beat: Dance Poems that Zing from Salsa to Swing By: Marilyn Singer Illustrated by: Kristi Valiant Marilyn Singer has crafted a vibrant collection of poems celebrating all forms of social dance from samba and salsa to tango and hip-hop. The rhythm of each poem mimics the beat of the dances’ steps. Together with Kristi Valiant’s dynamic illustrations, the poems create a window to all the ways dance enters our lives and exists throughout many cultures. This ingenious collection will inspire readers to get up and move!
	Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife By: Sarah Tuttle Illustrated by: Amy Schimler-Safford A poetic book highlighting everyday nature. The perfect blend of science and poetry, Hidden City demonstrates that nature can thrive anywhere, even in highly populated areas. In this graceful collection of poems, skyscrapers serve as perches for falcons, streetlights attract an insect buffet for hungry bats, and an overgrown urban lot offers shelter to both flora and fauna. Hidden City also includes engaging supplementary materials, which provide scientific information about the animals and plants featured in the book. Coupled with beautiful collage illustrations, the poems in Hidden City offer readers the perfect reminder to notice and care about their environment.
	Life Doesn’t Frighten Me By: Maya Angelou Illustrated by: Jean-Michel Basquiat Maya Angelou’s brave, defiant poem celebrates the courage within each of us, young and old. From the scary thought of panthers in the park to the unsettling scene of a new classroom, fearsome images are summoned and dispelled by the power of faith in ourselves. Angelou’s strong verse is matched by the daring vision of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose childlike style reveals the powerful emotions and fanciful imaginings of youth. Together, Angelou’s words and Basquiat’s paintings create a place where every child–indeed every person–may experience his or her own fearlessness.
	My Daddy Rules the World By: Anita Hope Smith A picture book of poems that celebrate fathers from a two-time Coretta Scott King Honor-winning poet.
	Night Guard By: Synne Lea Illustrated by: Stian Hole This poetry collection explores important concepts, such as friendship, fear, and loneliness.
	One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance By: Nikki Grimes Illustrated by: Cozbi E. Cabrera In this collection of poetry, Nikki Grimes looks afresh at the poets of the Harlem Renaissance — including voices like Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and many more writers of importance and resonance from this era — by combining their work with her own original poetry. Using “The Golden Shovel” poetic method, Grimes has written a collection of poetry that is as gorgeous as it is thought-provoking. This special book also includes original artwork in full-color from some of today’s most exciting African American illustrators, who have created pieces of art based on Nikki’s original poems. Featuring art by Cozbi Cabrera, R. Gregory Christie, Pat Cummings, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Nikki Grimes, E. B. Lewis, Frank Morrison, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, Shadra Strickland, and Elizabeth Zunon. A foreword, an introduction to the history of the Harlem Renaissance, author’s note, poet biographies, and index makes this not only a book to cherish but a wonderful resource and reference as well.
	Orangutanka: A Story in Poems By: Margarita Engle Illustrated by: Renee Kurilla All the orangutans are ready for a nap in the sleepy depths of the afternoon–all except one. Written in a series of linked poems in the tanka style, an ancient Japanese form of poetry.
	Otto the Owl Who Loved Poetry By: Vern Kousky Otto the Owl doesn’t fit in because he would rather recite poetry than hunt mice.
	What is Poetry?: The Essential Guide to Reading & Writing Poems By: Michael Rosen Illustrated by: Jill Calder Over many years as a working poet, Michael Rosen has thought a great deal about what poems are, what they can do, and the pleasure that comes from writing and reading poetry. In this invaluable handbook, he shares this knowledge and experience in book form for the very first time. Starting with a detailed analysis of a number of classic poems, he offers a real writer’s guide to writing and performing poems, as well as a wealth of technical information and tips. He then takes a fascinating look at a selection of his own poems and explains how and why he wrote them. Complete with an appendix of poets and useful websites, and beautifully illustrated by award-winning artist Jill Calder, this is the only guide to poetry children and teachers will ever need.

A Year of Nature Poems
By: Joseph Coelho
Reviewed by: Greg Romaneck

The power of nature to inspire is a pronounced reality that typifies the work of a wide range of artists. One need only think of the poetry of Robert Frost, Thoreau’s essays, or the beauty of Van Gogh’s paintings to realize the inspirational capacity that exists in the natural world that surrounds each of us. In A Year of Nature Poems, Joseph Coelho takes his readers through a year of seasons via a poem a month. Each poem is both personal and universal in terms of its scope. A simple memory of bringing frogs home from a ramble to watch them grow in a household aquarium stands in contrast to the bitter realities of global pollution that threatens that very creature. Likewise, standing outside in a virginal snowfall, amazed by the hushed beauty of the landscape, offers the writer inspiration and a realization that what the snow covers includes not only the terrain but our lives as well. Coelho writes in a lyrical way while simultaneously offering both poetic relief and environmental lessons that strike home. These nature poems are amplified by the beautiful color illustrations produced by Kelly Louise Judd. Readers are advised to finish each poem and then take some time studying the illustrations. The visual simplicity should be savored as there are lessons in each image that can be quite moving. Readers with any interest in poems drawn from naturalistic experiences will savor this work and return to it time and again.
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