Americas

Materials from the Americas

Self-Made Boys

Three teens chase their own version of the American Dream during the Roaring 20s in this YA remix of The Great Gatsby.

Serwa Boateng’s Guide To Vampire Hunting

After her home is attacked by shapeshifting vampires, twelve year old Serwa Boateng is sent to live with her aunt and cousin in Maryland, but the aspiring vampire hunter discovers that middle school is harder than it appears on television, especially when she has to avoid detention and turn her classmates into warriors before they become vampire food.

Islands Apart: Becoming Dominican American

Jasminne Mendez didn’t speak English when she started kindergarten, and her young, white teacher thought the girl was deaf because in Louisiana, you were either Black or white. She had no idea that a Black girl could be a Spanish speaker. In this memoir for teens about growing up Afro Latina in the Deep South, Jasminne writes about feeling torn between her Dominican, Spanish speaking culture at home and the American, English speaking one around her. She desperately wanted to fit in, to be seen as American, and she realized early on that language mattered. Learning to read and write English well was the road to acceptance. Mendez shares typical childhood experiences such as having an imaginary friend, boys and puberty, but she also exposes the anti-Black racism within her own family and the conflict created by her family’s conservative traditions.

Iveliz Explains It All

Twelve year old Iveliz is trying to manage her mental health and advocate for the help and understanding she deserves, but in the meantime her new friend calls her crazy and her abuela Mimi dismisses the therapy and medicine Iveliz needs to feel like herself.

Felice And The Wailing Woman (Los Monstruos)

The twelve year old daughter of La Llorona vows to free her mother and reverse the curses that have plagued the magical town of Tres Leches.

What To Bring

Malia is enjoying a summer day in her backyard when she glances at the sky and it looks very strange. A forest fire is sweeping into the area where she lives, and Malia soon learns that she and her family will have to evacuate their home. As they quickly get ready to leave, Malia’s mother tells her to pack only what’s important. At first, Malia struggles to decide what to take with her. She wants everything and the to bring pile in her room grows and grows. But as the urgency and chaos swirl around her, Malia is able to come to an understanding of what is truly important and knows exactly what to bring with her.

Warrior Girl Unearthed

Perry Firekeeper Birch has always known who she is the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her aspirations won’t ever take her far from home, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. But as the rising number of missing Indigenous women starts circling closer to home, as her family becomes embroiled in a high profile murder investigation, and as greedy grave robbers seek to profit off of what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry begins to question everything. In order to reclaim this inheritance for her people, Perry has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She can only count on her friends and allies, including her overachieving twin and a charming new boy in town with unwavering morals. Old rivalries, sister secrets, and botched heists cannot will not stop her from uncovering the mystery before the ancestors and missing women are lost forever. Sometimes, the truth shouldn’t stay buried.

Doodles From The Boogie Down

A young Dominican girl navigates middle school, her strict mother, shifting friendships, and her dream of being an artist.