NCW Libraries

Illustrations and rhythmic, rhyming text follow a Boricua girl and a Black girl from birth through early childhood, culminating in a playdate where they celebrate their natural hair.

When a homework assignment and a magic table summon real and fictional people from history, including the bloodthirsty pirate Blackbeard, sixth-grader Javi, his brawny younger sister Brady, and his brainy best friend Wiki join forces to save the world.

"After burning out in her corporate marketing career, Michelle Amato has built a thriving freelance business as a graphic designer. So what if her love life is nonexistent? She's perfectly fine being the black sheep of her marriage-obsessed Puerto Rican-Italian family. Besides, the only guy who ever made her want happily-ever-after disappeared thirteen years ago. Gabriel Aguilar left the Bronx at eighteen to escape his parents' demanding expectations,...

"No one knows hard work and dedication like Valentina Camacho. And Vale's thing is fencing. She's the top athlete at her fencing gym. Or she was--until the accident. After months away, Vale is finally cleared to fence again, but it's much harder than before. Her body doesn't move the way it used to, and worst of all is the new number one: Myrka. When she sweeps Vale aside with her perfect form and easy smile, Vale just can't accept that. But the...

In this fictional biography, Pura Belpré breaks the rules of storytime by telling unpublished stories from her homeland of Puerto Rico. Includes author's note.

Sarai uses verse to navigate the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn, questioning the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives.

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.

Sarai uses verse to navigate the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn, questioning the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives. A first-generation Puerto Rican eighth grader, Sarai can see with clarity the truth, pain, and beauty of the world both inside and outside her Bushwick apartment. Together with her older sister Estrella she...

A modern retelling of the myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Eury leaves Puerto Rico for the Bronx, haunted by losing all to Hurricane Maria and by evil spirit Ato, and meets a bachata-singing charmer, Pheus. She fully expects the tragedy that befell her and her family in Puerto Rico to catch up with her in New York. Pheus is a golden-voiced, bachata-singing charmer, ready to spend the summer on the beach with his friends. When he meets Eury, all...