This is the moment in which we should be celebrating diversity and supporting diverse authors! There is nothing like reading the struggles and understanding the lives of those around us through their work and art. Maybe people will try to use this as mechanisms to move their books around, but others are actually part of their work with real roots and have a strong heritage. So, in this Latin Heritage Month, lets open our shelves and welcome moving stories that will shows a reality that many of us might never experience.

For those who want to broaden their horizons and wish to learn more about the story and the struggles of real Latin Americans, we have come with the list of books written by Mexican authors that will give you some insights on their culture.

I am not Your Perfect Mexican Daugheter by Erika L. Sanchez

Also “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”, because we have the Audible Latino version and the English version! Julia is not what is expected of a daughter because a Mexican daughter does not move out of the house nor goes to college! That, thankfully, is Olga’s role, but everybody’s world shatters down when Olga dies in an accident… Julia sees herself leaving Chicago to go back home only to be received by her mother[s grief and Olga’s secrets. So at the end… who isn’t the perfect Mexican daughter? Julia or Olga?

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

On of the most notable books of Chicano literature! Sandra Cisneros tells the struggles and the life of multiple women, who miserably accept their lives because they do not have another option.. A second generation Mexican-American girl navigates us through her life and pins points every single detail in a way that makes you questions society. From the meaning of her name to the strong image and symbolism of windows, Cisneros narrates the English version of her most noteworthy story!

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Told between recipes and a family life, Like Water for Chocolate was a hit back in 1990! Yes, this novel has 30 years of publication full of Mexican culture and life struggles. As in “Yo no soy tu Perfecta Hija Mexicana” the youngest of the daughters of this tyrannical mother is expected to stay home and take care of her mother, in other words, give up on any dream of having her own life. A fantastic concoction of Mexican life, traditions, love, and magic are a few ways to describe the elements that gave this novel its worth best seller position.

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

A family is on this dream-like road trip from New York to Arizona! Their trip is full of car games and magical and breath taking landscapes that surround their road way. However, the radio is not playing the same game of magic and natural landscapes since a migration crisis is happening and hundred of immigrant children are either getting lost in the deserts or are being detained at the border. As time passes by, not only the immigrant crisis sharpens but also the family lives that they have come to know. Recently published, Valeria Luiselli urges the reader to empathize with the constant crisis Mexican children have to overcome.

The Story of my Teeth by Valeria Luiselli

​By the same author, The Story of my Teeth is a story written by Valeria Luiselli in which she pours all her Mexican self and the influence this culture has on her writing. Born in Pacua, Mexico, the main character has big dreams and aspirations, and his most valuable possession are the teeth of an infamous character. A story of Mexican suburbs together with Luiselli’s Mexican background promise a story that we will sink our teeth into, and that we won’t let go.

Although this are books by Mexican authors and about their struggles when living a foreign and unforgiving land, it is worth to dive into their experiences and to listen what they want us to listen. Get the book and learn more about other people! This will help you empathize with them and also, the next time you watch the news or the next time that a presidential campaign is coming, you can have a better understanding of what really is the injustice of a land towards another.

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