September is here. Time to grab a blanket and dive into a good book.

For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts by Prisca Dorca Mojica Rodríguez  (Non-Fiction)

Not only have brown girls had to endure sexism, racism, and classism, but they have often felt alone in the struggle. The founder of Latina Rebels, Prisca Dorca Mojica Rodríguez, created a community for women to come together in the struggle for equality.

In For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, Rodríguez offers wisdom and powerful ways to challenge everything from impostor syndrome to colorism and encourages women to decolonize their worldview and defy “universal” white narratives by amplifying their voices.

This is an essential guide for women of color who want to establish a sense of pride and sisterhood.

 

 

Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora by Saraciea J.Fennell (Anthology)

Bestselling and award-winning authors along with new voices come together to interrogate myths and stereotypes of the Latinx diaspora.

Founder of The Bronx is Reading, Saraciea J. Fennell is the editor of this highly anticipated anthology. It features fifteen original pieces that use everything from ghost stories and superheroes to addiction and grief to explore the experience of those in the Latinx diaspora.

The anthology is full of stories of both sorrow and joy — a celebration of a rich and diverse community.

When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez (Young Adult, Novel-in-verse)

With evocative verse, Elisabet Velasquez has crafted a love letter to girls who were taught that they would not make it at all.

Sarai is an insightful eighth-grader and first-generation Puerto Rican that sees the truth, pain, and beauty in her Bushwick neighborhood. With her older sister, Estrella, she navigates family traumas, toxic masculinity, and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn.

Sarai questions everything from her Boricua identity to society-at-large, all while learning to celebrate herself.

 

 

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova (Fantasy)

Calling fans of Alice Hoffman and Isabel Allende, this is a brilliantly written novel about a family searching for the truth hidden in their past.

The Montoyas don’t ask for explanations. They don’t ask why the pantry never seems to go empty. They don’t ask why their matriarch never leaves home — even for graduations, weddings, or baptisms. When Orquídea Divina invites them to her funeral to collect their inheritance, they hope to learn the secrets she’s held on to so tightly for so many years. But, instead of answers, Orquídea is transformed, leaving them with even more questions.

Seven years later, Orquídea’s gifts have manifested in different ways for Marimar, Rey, and Tatinelly’s daughter, Rhiannon, leading to unexpected blessings. But the blessings are short-lived when a hidden figure tears through their family tree in an effort to destroy Orquídea’s line.

In order to save their family and uncover the truth of their inheritance, the Montoyas travel to Ecuador where Orquídea buried her secrets and broken promises and never looked back.

Misfits: a personal manifesto by Michaela Coel (Non-fiction)

Michaela Coel champions “misfits” everywhere in an impactful coming-to-power manifesto dedicated to anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.

Building on the intensity and impact of her MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum) offers striking revelations on race, gender, and class.

Through deeply personal anecdotes like growing up in London public housing and discovering her love of theater and storytelling, Coel tells of her reckoning with trauma and her metamorphosis into a champion of herself, inclusivity, and radical honesty.

Coel inspires self-reflection as she lays bare her own personal journey. Her central message is accepting our own personal differences in order to transform our own lives.