These eight engaging novels (for a range of ages, from intermediate to high school) are recommended in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Latine/x Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 through October 15 — and should be shared all year long! See also Tracey T. Flores and Carla España’s Field Notes column “Teaching Our Stories with the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival” in our September/October 2025 issue, past coverage for this month on our website, and the Latino Americans tag in the Guide/Reviews Database; and join or follow REFORMA.

It’s All or Nothing, Vale
by Andrea Beatriz Arango
Middle School    Random    272 pp.
2/25    9780593810927    $17.99
Library ed.  9780593810934    $20.99
e-book ed.  9780593810941    $10.99

After suffering serious injuries in a motorbike accident, Valentina Camacho is determined to resume fencing and qualify for the Summer Nationals. As seventh grade begins, Vale is motivated to get back into training (“This leg thing? / Just a tiny obstacle for me to conquer / on the path to being / a worldwide champ”), but her recovery is slow going. She is frustrated by pain flare-ups and concerned about what classmates will think if she limps or uses a cane and how she will be perceived if she is no longer the champion athlete she once was. Her competitiveness leads to tension with other fencers, including her ex-best friend, and jeopardizes a nascent friendship and crush on new student Myrka. Secondary characters include Vale’s parents and teenage brother, who offer different modes of support, while a growing friendship with a classmate outside the fencing world provides genuine understanding and respite from all the pressures. Arango’s accessible verse strikes at Vale’s emotional core as she considers her worth and identity in the face of her challenges. Chronic pain, disability, and finding the autonomy to self-identify are prominent themes, and the depiction of a brown-skinned, queer girl in the world of fencing is noteworthy. Myrka, who is Cuban, and Vale’s Puerto Rican family communicate bilingually throughout the book. JESSICA AGUDELO

The Summer I Remembered Everything
by Catherine Con Morse
High School    Crown    304 pp.
4/25    9780593711422    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780593711446    $10.99
Spanish paper ed.  9798890983213    $16.95

Emily Chen-Sanchez, a Taiwanese and Panamanian ­American sixteen-year-old living in South Carolina, feels out of place with her wild hair, artistic passion, and too-tall body in a “tri-country” family that praises her quiet, “perfect” sister. Emily takes an unconventional summer job as an aide to an elderly woman, Mrs. Granucci, whose own wild hair and wacky life appeal to Emily. At last, the teen finds solace from home stress (Mom has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer) and from awkwardness with her friends. Her duties for Mrs. Granucci — some practical (turning off appliances) and some more unusual (wearing a particular pair of blue leather shoes) — become a familiar routine, along with the chief assignment of helping her employer preserve her memories. But soon, she starts to see concerning behaviors — harmful microaggressions, a car accident — that make her question her promise to Mrs. Granucci’s grandnephew to stay silent. Con Morse’s immersive novel is steeped in the quotidian moments of life: drinking sour lemonade at Mrs. Granucci’s, the way drawing with chalk pastels can bring Emily joy. These moments add up to a summer of transformation in which the protagonist finds her voice and self-acceptance. J. ELIZABETH MILLS

Graciela in the Abyss
by Meg Medina; illus. by Anna Balbusso and Elena Balbusso
Intermediate, Middle School    Candlewick    256 pp.
7/25    9781536219456    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781536244960    $18.99

When Graciela fell to her death into the sea as a girl, she became, after a one-hundred-year sleep, a sea spirit. Now she’s impatient to earn the markers of experience in this watery realm as she learns from Amina, her Spirit Guide and friend. In the world on shore, Jorge toils as a blacksmith alongside his antagonistic parents but longs to create metal toys. His family is hated for the magic sea-spirit-slaying harpoon his great-grandfather made that sent a fisherman to his watery grave nearly a century before — and Jorge has just discovered the weapon. In a quick-paced chain of events, Graciela hides a huge secret from Amina; the fisherman awakens as a sea spirit; and Jorge tries to destroy the harpoon, in the process tumbling into the water and striking Amina accidentally. Jorge and Graciela must team up to save Amina and the rest of the sea spirits from the evil harpoon and the fisherman’s band of Needlers — menaces of the spirit world. Medina has devised an intricate underwater world full of fanciful explanations for ocean-related phenomena and unusual characters who would feel at home in Baum’s Oz (especially the taunting Needlers), matched by the Balbussos’ gorgeous, layered, mixed-media illustrations in grayscale. Graciela is imperfect and relatable as she learns to process loss from both her life before and now, and Jorge is endearing, from the book’s start through its heartwarming conclusion. MONICA DE LOS REYES

Halfway to Somewhere
by Jose Pimienta; illus. by the author
Middle School    RH Graphic/Random    256 pp.
2/25    9780593569450    $21.99
Library ed.  9780593569436    $24.99
Paper ed.  9780593569429    $13.99
e-book ed.  9780593569443    $8.99

Pimienta’s (Suncatcher; Twin Cities, rev. 9/22) latest graphic novel explores divisions and connections across families, borders, languages, and cultures. Middle schooler Ave has reluctantly moved from Mexicali to Lawrence, Kansas. Living apart from their father and older sister, stuck in a predominantly English-speaking community, and confronted with their family’s set of expectations regarding gender roles (e.g., cooking, chores), Ave, who is nonbinary, finds themself in a perfect storm of adolescent frustration. Tensions reach a boiling point when Ave’s mother confirms that her separation from their father is permanent. Slowly but surely, Ave develops meaningful friendships with a handful of classmates while simultaneously building a greater understanding of their family members’ unique relationships with assimilation. The hand-drawn and inked illustrations have a lively, undulating line, with flat, understated digital colors. Pimienta’s storytelling features substantive dialogue (“And you’re okay with speaking broken English?” “It’s not broken. It’s growing”), skillful transitions between past and present, creative use of a largely three-tiered page/panel structure, and employment of silent panels to develop setting, mood, and characterization. Back matter includes an author’s note with sketches and reference photos. PATRICK GALL

Salvación
by Sandra Proudman
Middle School, High School    Wednesday/St. Martin’s    336 pp.
5/25    9781250895080    $21.00
e-book ed.  9781250895097    $11.99

In this novel inspired by El Zorro and set soon after the 1848 signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, proper young Mexican woman Lola de La Peña and her ­family have settled in Alta California. The new surroundings abound with sal negra, a natural sediment that has healing abilities. As pilgrims in need arrive daily in their town of Coloma seeking help from Lola’s mamá, whose connection with the sal first led to the discovery of its magic, her papá and brother mine the precious substance, while Lola is sidelined by societal expectations. But when night falls, she dons riding pants, a mask, and a sombrero, becoming Salvación, a vigilante and gifted rider defending the people of Coloma against the threat of those who wish to claim sal negra and Coloma for themselves. Trouble worsens with the arrival of Damián Hernández, whose false promises of retaking Alta California are a pretense for his desire to find sal roja, sal negra’s deadly, destructive opposite. Long and ruminative passages sometimes undercut the action, but the historical setting, magical realism, and light romance (Lola develops feelings for Hernández’s young righthand man) offer several points of entry for readers. Salvación’s abilities are buoyed by her family, and the novel’s emphasis on the value of community and respect for the land and its natural resources thoughtfully counters the traditional image of the lone hero. JESSICA AGUDELO

The Girl and the Robot
by Oz Rodriguez and Claribel A. Ortega
Intermediate, Middle School    Disney-Hyperion    320 pp.
3/25    9781368081856    $17.99

Six months ago, strangers took twelve-year-old Mimi’s papi and deported him. Since then, she’s had to take over her father’s electronics repair business to help her mother pay for a lawyer. Mimi has been so busy working she has not had time to hang out with her friends or focus on her schoolwork, but when her friends encourage her to enter a robotics contest with a $50,000 cash prize, Mimi cannot say no. Further complicating things: a robot crash-lands in the repair shop. Along with helping her father get back home, Mimi now must help the robot find its family while avoiding an overzealous government agent who is looking for the robots and will do anything to find them. Rodriguez and Ortega have created a fast-paced adventure that skillfully weaves in themes of friendship, family, community, and activism. This is an engaging and accessible addition to middle-grade and middle-school science fiction. NICHOLL DENICE MONTGOMERY

El Niño
by Pam Muñoz Ryan; illus. by Joe Cepeda
Intermediate, Middle School    Scholastic    256 pp.
5/25    9781338068559    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781338068610    $18.99
Spanish ed.  9781546176473    $8.99

Thirteen-year-old Kai is anxious to continue the family legacy on his new elite swim team. Since his superstar older sister, Cali, disappeared while surfing two years before, swimming has felt bittersweet. Authorities have moved on from the search, but Kai receives signs that Cali is still out there: a dolphin with unique markings that the two of them had spotted together visits when he surfs, and Kai even hears Cali call out to him from their backyard beach in the middle of the night. When Kai discovers his sister’s favorite book about an ancient, underwater Realm, the mythical sunken Island of California, ruled by Queen Califia (for whom Cali is named), he becomes convinced that’s where she has gone. The novel is divided into four sections — Above, Below, Between, Beyond — and excerpts from the mythology book are interspersed, mirroring the plot’s blend of fantasy and realism. Kai tries to keep his grief distant, but it permeates his life, both with his newfound obsession with mythology and with more earthly concerns such as awkward interactions with peers addressing his loss and the worrying drop in his swimming performance. Whimsical pencil-style digital drawings bring the elaborate Realm to life in a way that feels cathartic, and for anyone who has experienced the call of the water, this book is a thoughtful exploration of the wonders of the ocean — real, imagined, and unexplained. MONICA DE LOS REYES

One Last Chance to Live
by Francisco X. Stork
High School    Scholastic    320 pp.
9/24    9781339010236    $19.99
e-book ed.  9781546109662    $19.99

Nico Kardos is a Mexican American high school senior from the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx. He works at a fish market in the morning and sells drugs for the local gang but is taking creative writing in school to pursue his dream of being a writer. (Nico narrates his story through class-assigned journal entries.) Rosario Zamora — his childhood friend, unrequited crush, and fellow aspiring writer — died six months ago of a heroin overdose, and Nico is still grieving. In a vivid dream that portends his own death and those of his mother and younger brother, Rosario appears and says something to him that he cannot remember afterward. The dream drives him to explore the circumstances of her death, even as his family situation worsens: his mother’s health deteriorates, and his younger brother seems poised to join the same gang. It’s a lot for a young man to handle, and Stork juggles the multiple plot strands adeptly, laying bare Nico’s introspective thoughts in spare prose, with evergreen issues (coming of age, grief and loss, the power of literacy) and enough mystery to keep the pages turning. JONATHAN HUNT

From the September 2025 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.