Latin Roots, American Voices

Frankie Corzo delivers a nuanced performance that complements this audiobook splendidly. Elena Vega has a complicated relationship with her father, Santiago, a successful lawyer who never recovered from his traumatic childhood. Trying to cope, he became an alcoholic, alienating Elena who knew nothing of his past. Now, Santiago is living in Puerto Rico. When a hurricane ravages... Read More

Laughter and applause fill this theatrical look at American history from the perspective of a Mexican who is cramming for his citizenship test. Policeman Juan José, who fled on foot to the U.S. to escape corruption and drug wars, is haunted by Teddy Roosevelt, Sacajawea, Bob Dylan, Jackie Robinson, Violet Pettus (an African-American nurse during the 1928 flu pandemic), Emmett... Read More

Listeners are introduced to the island of San Madrigal by 16-year-old Mateo Matisse. He is a descendant of its inhabitants, a tight-knit diaspora of pirates, Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews who escaped and settled in Brooklyn when the island sank into the sea. On the night of the community's annual fete, Mateo is surprised when he not only witnesses a murder but also learns... Read More

Sonia Sotomayor invites listeners to learn about her journey to becoming the first Latina Supreme Court Justice of the United States in this middle-grade adaptation of her memoir, MY BELOVED WORLD. Sotomayor narrates the prologue of her captivating story in an inspiring voice full of determination. Narrator Jamie Lee Ortiz then takes on Sotomayor's storytelling role, guiding... Read More

A supremely talented quartet of narrators will delight listeners with their vibrant and expressive voices. This addictive story follows four cousins who are navigating life as individuals and as part of a large Mexican American family. As children, they were very close, but family dynamics pushed them apart. Now, as adults, they wonder if they can be close again. All four women... Read More

Seasoned narrator Frankie Corzo delivers another satisfying and beautiful performance with her heartfelt and nimble narration. Peruvian-American teenager Veronica has hip dysplasia; being in the water is the only way she feels relief. Suddenly, she discovers the opportunity to become a mermaid performer when auditions open at Mermaid Cove, an aquatic tourist destination.... Read More

The magic of music enchants in this audio biography of world-renowned pianist Teresa Carreño's childhood. Almarie Guerra's gentle, reassuring narration transports the listener to Teresa's idyllic days playing the piano in Venezuela, followed by her flight from a revolution and arrival in New York City during the Civil War. Guerra beautifully voices Margarita Engle's lyrical... Read More

Timothy Andrés Pabon and Gary Tiedemann adeptly narrate this story about middle-school angst and basketball. Issac and Marco have been neighbors and best friends since kindergarten. Marco is an A student whose parents' recent divorce has made him sad. He hopes that playing basketball will get his father's attention. Issac excels at sports but not academics. He hopes that better... Read More

A luminous ensemble brings this delectable audiobook to life. Listeners follow three generations of the Izquierdo family. In 1958, Papa Tavo and Guadalupe moved from Reynosa to McAllen. The Izquierdos are sure a neighbor has placed a curse on them. They attribute all their sadness or bad luck to the curse. But not all the Izquierdos believe in this curse; listeners get a chance... Read More

The author and an all-star ensemble of narrators perform this dazzling short story collection from Colombian American writer Patricia Engel. Each piece is performed by a different narrator, providing a unique voice for every story. In "Aida," Inés del Castillo's narration evokes the grief of a family whose daughter goes missing. Aida Reluzco keeps listeners spellbound with her... Read More

Elena Rey will captivate listeners with her command of accents, which are intentionally comical or subtle, depending on the character she is portraying. Twelve-year-old Felice is an orphan living in Corpus Christi with her uncle; years ago her mother died while crossing the river in the town of Tres Leches. Felice has heard that her mother became La Llorna, a wailing ghost who... Read More

Karla Souza (who plays Laurel on "How to Get Away with Murder") creates a pitch-perfect, youthful narration of Cammi, an ultra-privileged teen whose life is transformed. When Cammi's Mexican telenovela superstar mom moves the family to the U.S. to play a maid in an American television show, Cammi's new friends at progressive Polestar Academy assume Cammi is an immigrant kid on... Read More

With a quiet but driving intensity, Richard Blanco delivers poems that speak to our times. He addresses the push-pull of his identity as a Cuban-American, confronts his own mortality (his father died at 55), and touches on national tragedies such as the Pulse nightclub and Parkland high school mass shootings and the Boston bombing. In the affecting "November Eyes," the author... Read More

Before HAMILTON, before Lin-Manuel Miranda became a household name, there was IN THE HEIGHTS. This audiobook, read by many of those directly involved, recounts how the creative team of multicultural newcomers struggled to get their first Latino hip-hop project to Broadway and then, 10 years later, made into a Hollywood film. Here Miranda and HAMILTON co-author Jeremy McCarter,... Read More

Carolina Hoyos expertly and lovingly narrates this astounding audiobook. A Mexihcah girl tells her little brother about the history of book making in Mesoamerica before the arrival of Europeans. Book-making techniques are explored in depth--from the plants used to make the pages to the animals, insects, and rocks used to complete and decorate the books. How these books were... Read More

Narrator Karla Serrato is delightful as she adds humor and expressiveness to the turmoil of this coming-of-age story. Serrato’s youthful voice pairs perfectly with the range of emotions the characters experience. High school is hard, and Yamilet has it extra hard. So many things have gone wrong in her life. Most importantly, she hesitates to come out as queer. A light appears... Read More

Alisa, Rosi, and Brian Amador narrate a sweet story of connecting across a generational and language divide. Mia's "far-away" grandmother has come to live with Mia and her family. Alisa's youthful and earnest voice tells listeners of Mia's struggles to talk with her abuela who is narrated in Spanish by Rosi. Neither Mia's Español nor abuela's English is strong enough for them... Read More

This debut collection of short stories combines magical realism, folklore, nature, and family in a wholly unique mix. Kyla García's expressive narration conjures the mystical atmosphere evoked in the wide range of stories. In one, women invoke magic in a course on witchcraft at a community college. Another involves the legacies of a California family's multiple Marias, and... Read More

A gripping, gorgeous story from start to finish is brought to life by narrator Almarie Guerra. Like author Jaquira Díaz, Guerra was born in Puerto Rico and is bilingual. In a smooth, engaging voice that isn't overly theatrical, she brings a balance of spirit and restraint to her delivery of Díaz's electric memoir. The listener follows Díaz from her childhood in the projects in... Read More

Academic Héctor Tobar explores Western European-descended North Americans' evolving creation of "brownness" as a governable and repressible classification. The youthful timbre of André Santana's voice pairs well with Tobar's view of Latino people as young in both generational and political senses. Santana weaves Tobar's data and other research, stories of his life and his... Read More

An ensemble of narrators delivers this collection of 16 classic stories, poems, fairy tales, and myths reimagined with a Latinx spin and frequent genre bending, mostly into sci-fi and fantasy. Each short story utilizes one or more narrators who mostly fit the gender identity of the main character. Each narrator fully commits to their story, emotionally connecting with teens who... Read More

Internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende describes her lifelong feminism. The audiobook begins with her experiences as a child witnessing her mother's attempts to provide for her three children after being abandoned by Isabel's father. Her story then moves through the feminist movement of the 1960s, her three subsequent marriages, and the effects of feminism on the lives... Read More

Timothy Pabon gives a masterful performance of this masterful debut. Andrés, a gay Latinx professor, returns to his hometown to take care of his aging parents. While there, he attends his 20th high school reunion and reckons with his past. Pabon expertly brings Andrés to life, portraying him in warm tones that sometimes spiral into self-righteous indignation. Andrés's... Read More

Jose Nateras and Krysta Gonzales convey the romance and spine-tingling horrors in this audiobook set during the Mexican-American War. In a gravelly voice, Nateras portrays Néstor's dread at being summoned back to protect the ranch where, nine years earlier, he witnessed his best friend Nena's gruesome death. He's shocked to find her alive, angry, and with no time for Néstor's... Read More

Sandra Cisneros’s performance of her poetry is a marvel. She is so good that one wishes she would record poetry by other writers as well. Her voice is a wonderful instrument, and she explores its possibilities with tone, accent, and timbre while conveying her intentions in these deeply personal poems. The poems examine life as a woman of a certain age in Mexico and the U.S.... Read More