Hispanic Heritage Month spans September and October. These books I took on Good Day Alabama on WBRC Fox 6 celebrate it with two memoirs and a children’s book that incorporates Halloween—one of my personal favorite holidays!
by Javier Zamora
In 1999, at age 9, Javier Zamora left his home where he lived with his beloved grandparents and aunt in a small town in El Salvador and undertook a 3,000-mile journey, through Guatemala and Mexico, to the United States to be reunited with his mother, who had left four years earlier, and his father, whom he barely remembered. In this moving memoir, Javier, who grew up to be an accomplished poet, recounts this trek—traveling alone amid a group of strangers and a series of “coyotes” hired to lead them to safety—in young Javier’s words and from a small child’s viewpoint. What was to be a short, two-week trip turned into a two-month journey with perilous boat rides, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions. But in the middle of this danger and uncertainty, Javier found a sense of family in his fellow migrants who took care of him. This book will open your eyes and break your heart. Solito is Javier’s own story, yes, but it’s also the story of millions of others who have no choice, for lots of reasons, to leave home. I listened to the author read his story in English, with lots of Spanish, too, and I recommend that. This book is a New York Times Bestseller, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, the winner of the Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiography and the winner of the American Library Association Alex Award.
By Andrea Navedo
Actress Andrea Navedo, best known for her role as Xiomara, Jane’s mother, on Jane the Virgin, didn’t see many positive portrayals of Latinas in the media when she was growing up. Her work on the screen and this memoir help address that. In Our Otherness Is Our Strength, she shares bits of her story of growing up in “da South Bronx.” Her goal is to inspire young people who grew up like she did and who were, perhaps, counted out (as she was) to keep striving for success. She points out that the inner and outer challenges you face can, in fact, spark your superpower.
By Ana Siqueira with illustrations by Irena Freitas
This clever, bilingual picture book for ages 4-7 will spark your little ones’ imaginations as it celebrates Hispanic culture AND Halloween! On the night before Halloween, a new babysitter shows up wearing a black sombrero and cackling like a crow. Is she just a babysitter or more than that? A young girl’s imagination runs wild as she is determined to not fall victim to an evil witch, and she shares her advice with readers on what to look out for if they’re spending the night with a new babysitter. Vibrant digital art depicts a colorful house with Halloween décor and homey touches. That and the lyrical text (with Spanish words and phrases sprinkled throughout) make this whimsical book shine. There’s also a Spanish edition of this book.
I link to Amazon to show you exactly what book I’m talking about, but I love to shop locally at Church Street Coffee and Books, The Alabama Booksmith, Little Professor, and Thank You Books in Crestwood. And I visit my local library often in person and online!
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