By Cynthia Pelayo
Publisher: Burial Day Books

I usually reserve short stories for bedtime as it gets me relaxed and ready to head on out into dreamland, but this book did everything but put me to sleep. Instead it kept me fully awake with its twist of plots and macabre tales. I couldn’t put it down because the stories were so well weaved and intertwined with Latin and American myths, beliefs, and superstitions that I couldn’t wait to see where the author was heading with each story. Read more ›

By Mushroom Montoya
Publisher: Independently Published

It is no secret war is filled with atrocities. The book, Viet Nam Body Count, is a fictional novel; although, the main character in this novel is based on the author’s actual experience as a sailor who served two tours in Vietnam aboard the U.S.S. Trippe and the U.S.S. Truxton.

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By John Stacy
Publisher: Evarhart Press

The book starts with a young Asian guy, named Tommy, coming home from college who is a typical American heavily consumed with the swing era. On his way home, he is confronted by angry protesters and their rage, hate, and prejudice is obvious. Poor Tommy must pass through this large screaming mob of men yelling racial slurs to get home. In order to avoid the chaos, he speeds up and heads into Barstow. Once there he checks into a hotel. Eventually, as the night progresses, he is beaten badly and left to die. Then Tommy disappears and a body is found. Who was this person? Was it Tommy, and if so, who committed this murder?  As the story progresses, four major friends from Barstow will become major players in the Murder Mystery: EL, Buzz, Hap and Midge. The author has done a clever job of weaving the crime and characters into the plot.

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By Lucha Corpi
Publisher: Arte Publico Press – Houston , Texas

The book, Confessions of a Book Burner, is an account of Lucha Corpi’s life using personal stories and thoughts detailing how she became an acclaimed poet and novelist. The book is full of interesting stories from her childhood; some funny, some tragic. Read more ›

By Graciela Tiscareño-Sato
Illustrations by Linda Lens
Publisher: Gracefully Global Group, LLC

This children’s book takes a very interesting approach in that it shows a mother and son sharing a conversation about her military aviation career. In other books you normally see the pairing of a mother and daughter or a father and son, but this is different. This is one of several reasons why this book is special. Read more ›

By Judith Ortiz Cofer
Illustrations by Oscar Ortiz
Published by: Piñata Books

Spanish Version

This is a story about a little girl named Juliana. It is a cold day and she stays home from school because she is ill. As she looks out her window she sees a tall lady carrying a stack of books upstairs. Juliana’s mother discloses that the lady is a poet. The following day Juliana is invited upstairs to meet the poet. With this, Juliana’s current world is unlocked to include poetry and imagination. Read more ›

By René Saldana, Jr.
Illustrations by Carolyn Dee Flores
Publisher: Piñata Books

In this book the author effectively uses a birthday party to introduce numbers to a young audience. As the story progresses the author adds an element of surprise; boxes of gifts for the guests – a small page turner for a young audience. Read more ›

By Laura Lacámara
Translations by Cabriela Baeza Ventura
Illustrations by Laura Lacámara
Publisher: Piñata Books

The story is based on a child’s imagination, but also gives the reader knowledge and information about the environment and nature in Cuba, which makes this a great cultural learning experience for the child and the parent. Read more ›

Adriana Páramo
Publisher: CavanKerry Press

After reading the book My Mother’s Funeral, I expected a memoir detailing much to do about a funeral, but to my surprise it took me on a different path. It lead me to discover the life of a woman named Carmen who lived in Colombia. Carmen is the author’s mother. The book provided much details about Carmen’s hopes and dreams and how she managed her space on this earth. The story took me into the life of the author, her childhood experiences and memories, as well as into the life of her family (especially her mother), and finally the actual funeral. It remarkably captured the relationship between a daughter and a mom. Read more ›

By Lidia Falcón
Translated by Jessica Knauss, PhD
Publisher: Loose Leaves Publishing

This is a novel written from a political and feminist approach and the author does a good job of weaving in the characters and plot to get her point across. The book captures the timeframe from 1973 to 1984 during the final years of the Franco Regime and the Post Franco era. It discusses in detail some of the experiences that occurred by a Radical left wing party known as the PC-ML (A Marxist Leninist faction) intent on waging an armed revolution. Read more ›