Latinx Book Bingo Wrap Up [Reviews]

Results

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• 🐠 = What if a Fish by Anika Fajardo
  • Partially set in Colombia
• 🏚️ = Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Recommended by Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense
• 💄 = Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore
  • MC Chicky is Mexican-American and pansexual
• 💔 = Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisteros
  • Partially set in Mexico
  • Though Efrén is not an immigrant, I consider his story in this book to be an immigrant story, as it revolves around his mother’s undocumented status in America
• 💜 = All books fit the prompt

I read four books from my Latinx Book Bingo TBR, surpassing my goal of three. I’m still waiting for my hold of Into the Tall, Tall Grass. Hopefully I’ll get my turn in November. All of these titles are too new to be ‘award winners’ but they all deserve to be! Below are my thoughts on each book I read.

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Reviews

Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisteros

Efrén is such a sweet kid. He struggles to put on a brave face and care for his siblings – both things no kid should ever have to do. The scene when he arrives home to find his mom isn’t there cooking dinner hit me hard. It’s one thing to read about families like Efrén’s in the news and feel infuriated. It’s another to read a visceral scene and feel how heartbreaking it is for a mother not to be there to feed her children. This was the first of multiple scenes that surprised me with tears. The story evolved quite differently than I expected. I hope I haven’t spoiled too much by identifying for the bingo that part of the story takes place in Latin America (Mexico). The shape of the book’s plot kept me on my toes and compelled me to read it in nearly single sitting. I wasn’t sure how Cisneros would draw the story to a satisfactory conclusion, but he does so here. Highly recommended.

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What if a Fish by Anika Fajardo

Although it’s a quieter and more introspective story than Efrén Divided, What if a Fish is also a story of identity and family (this time across three generations). As well, it’s partially set in a Latin American country (Colombia). Eddie’s father died when he was young. Eddie plans to win a fishing contest to show he’s like his father, but first he has to travel to Colombia to visit his half-brother and his sick grandmother. The microaggressions Eddie experiences (a teacher who docks marks because he spells Colombia correctly, with two o’s and no u?!) had me clenching the book in frustration. It gave this adult reader a glimpse of how painful that can be for kids. What if a Fish offers a gentle (if at times deeply saddening) exploration of what it means to be Colombian when you’re a Colombian-American boy who has spent his entire life in the States.

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Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and A-M McLemore

And [pansexual]’s a beautiful word. I loved it the moment I overheard one of Cereza’s friends say it through the thin wall separating our bedrooms. But as beautiful as it is, it doesn’t belong in this hallway. It belongs in a someday future maybe, far from here when I don’t have to hide. Today, being pansexual, being anything outside the norm, is a liability. A disaster waiting to happen.

Miss Meteor, 12%

A-M McLemore’s writing never disappoints. This is my first read by Tehlor Kay Mejia but I wouldn’t be surprised if I could say the same about her work. This book is basically a perfect specimen of a co-authored novel. I expect Miss Meteor will be the most simultaneously hilarious yet deeply moving work I read this year. It’s a story about Latinx girls embracing their identities and recognizing their value in a world that stands against them. I love how these authors write about teen problems, romance, and identity. I wish I had their books when I was a teen.

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Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I haven’t read a book like Mexican Gothic since I fell in love with Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching, another gothic tale, over a decade ago. It took me a few reads to begin to fully understand the colonialist critique underpinning Oyeyemi’s story. While such themes were more immediately recognizable to me while reading Mexican Gothic, I think there’s a still a lot that I didn’t fully pick up on, as a white settler in Canada who doesn’t know much about Mexican history. But I can pick up on that this is a wonderfully creepy gothic horror novel and Noemí  is a kickass protagonist and you should read it if you like that sort of thing.

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Wrap Up

Thanks again to Sofia @ Bookish Wanderess and Allie @ Allie with Books. Latinx Book Bingo for hosting this bingo. The events (bingo, Latinx-athon, Latinx Heritage Month Book Fest) hosted by the Latinx book blogging community to coincide with Latinx Heritage Month in the US offered a great opportunity to spotlight the array of Latinx literature being published today. Of course, there are more books to celebrate than can be read in a few weeks, so make sure you include Latinx authors when diversifying your reading throughout the year. If you need more recommendations, here are some Latinx books I’ve reviewed previously:

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• The Moon Within by Aida Salazar (MG contemporary in verse)
• Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega (MG speculative fiction)
• Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez (MG speculative/science fiction)
• Love, Sugar, Magic series by Anna Meriano (MG speculative fiction)
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (YA contemporary)
• Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (YA urban fantasy)

And keep an eye out for Latinx KidLit Book Festival at the start of December…

What Latinx authored books have you read recently?