Books for Kids: Caribbean-American Heritage Month

Celebrate Caribbean-American Heritage Month! Check out this books honoring Caribbean-American Heritage Month available at your local library!

Updated June 15, 2023
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Plátanos go with everything
Norman, Lissette
Paper Book
Paletero Man meets Fry Bread in this vibrant and cheerful ode to plátanos, the star of Dominican cuisine, written by award-winning poet Lissette Norman, illustrated by Sara Palacios, and translated by Kianny N. Antigua. Plátanos are Yesenia's favorite food. They can be sweet...
Drum dream girl : how one girl's courage changed music
Engle, Margarita.
Paper Book
Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule--until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at...
The little house of hope
Jennings, Terry Catasu?s
Paper Book
When Esperanza and her family arrive in the United States from Cuba, they buy a little house, una casita. It may be small, but they soon prove that there's room enough to share with a whole community. "It was a little house. Una casita . . . It was small.
A song of frutas
Engle, Margarita
Paper Book
From Pura Belpré Award-winning author Margarita Engle comes a lively, rhythmic picture book about a little girl visiting her grandfather who is a pregonero--a singing street vendor in Cuba--and helping him sell his frutas. When we visit mi abuelo, I help...
¡Mambo mucho mambo! : the dance that crossed color lines
Robbins, Dean
Paper Book
New York City's desegregated Palladium Ballroom springs to life with a diverse 1940s cast in this jazzy picture-book tribute to the history of mambo and Latin jazz. Millie danced to jazz in her Italian neighborhood. Pedro danced to Latin songs in his Puerto Rican neighborhood. It...
My day with the panye
Charles, Tami
Paper Book
A young girl in Haiti is eager to learn how to carry a basket to market in an exuberant picture book with universal appeal. "To carry the panye, we move gracefully, even under the weight of the sun and the moon." In the hills above Port-au-Prince, a young girl...
Freedom Soup
Charles, Tami
Paper Book
Join the celebration in the kitchen as a family makes their traditional New Year's soup -- and shares the story of how Haitian independence came to be. The shake-shake of maracas vibrates down to my toes. Ti Gran's feet tap-tap to the rhythm. ...
Across the bay
Aponte, Carlos (Graphic artist)
Paper Book
RECIPIENT OF THE PURA BELPRÉ ILLUSTRATOR HONOR Author-illustrator Carlos Aponte takes readers on a journey to the heart of Puerto Rico in this enchanting picture book set in Old San Juan. "A lively and honest story about filling voids and exploring what defines a...
The year I flew away
Arnold, Marie
Paper Book
In this magical middle grade novel, ten-year-old Gabrielle finds out that America isn't the perfect place she imagined when she moves from Haiti to Brooklyn. With the help of a clever witch, Gabrielle becomes the perfect American--but will she lose herself in the process? Perfect for fans of...
Pilar Ramirez and the escape from Zafa
Randall, Julian
Paper Book
The Land of Stories meets Dominican myths and legends come to life in Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa, a blockbuster contemporary middle-grade fantasy duology starter from Julian Randall. Fans of Tristan Strong and The Storm Runner, here is your next...

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