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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Pla?tanos are love
Reynoso-Morris, Alyssa
Paper Book
A delicious picture book about the ways plantains shape Latinx culture, community, and family, told through a young girl's experiences in the kitchen with her abuela. Abuela says, "plátanos are love." I thought they were food. But Abuela says they feed us in more...
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....
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 rent 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.
Aniana del Mar jumps in
Méndez, Jasminne
Paper Book
Pura Belpre Author Honor Award ** Four starred reviews!** A powerful and expertly told novel in verse about a twelve-year-old Dominican American swimmer who is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis by an award-winning poet. Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like...
¡Mambo mucho mambo! : the dance that crossed color lines
Robbins, Dean
DVD
New York City's desegregated Palladium Ballroom springs to life with a diverse 1940s cast of characters in this jazzy tribute to the history of mambo and Latin jazz.
Anita and the dragons
Carmona, Hannah
Paper Book
A beautifully tender story touching on the range of emotions immigrants may feel when leaving their home countries - excitement and sorrow, fear and courage. Anita watches the dragons high above her as she hops from one cement roof to another in her village in the Dominican Republic. But...
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...
When life gives you mangos
Getten, Kereen
Paper Book
Named to Oprah Magazine's Best Caribbean Books for Your 2021 reading list, imagination and adventure run wild in the most talked about middle grade debut of the year!     A small village on a Jamaican island.  A girl who doesn't remember the...
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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