Books From Around the World (YA): North and Central America

It’s often interesting to get a different perspective on the world. Here are some books set in some far-flung places – and some places close to home – grouped by continent/large body of water with islands in it. The books on this list are (mostly) written by authors from the countries they are about, and in many cases have been translated into English from their mother tongues (the book we’ve chosen for Madagascar, Return to the enchanted island by Johary Ravaloson, is only the second book to have ever been translated from Malagasy into English!).

Not all of the books are in the Young Adult collection, but we’ve tried to make sure that they all at least feature kids or teens in prominent places in the story. Our eventual goal is to have at least one book for every country in the world! Help us out by sending in recommendations if you’ve found one we’ve missed!

This list contains books written by authors from North and Central America, including the Caribbean. Check out our lists for authors from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and South America for even more recommendations!

Updated June 19, 2024
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Mr. Potter
Kincaid, Jamaica.
Paper Book
A great writer's lush, panoramic new novel: the story of an ordinary man, his century, and his home. Jamaica Kincaid's first obsession, the island of Antigua, comes vibrantly to life under the gaze of Mr. Potter, an illiterate taxi chauffeur who makes his living along the wide, open roads that pass...
Antigua and Barbuda | Antiguan author
At the bottom of the river
Kincaid, Jamaica.
Paper Book
Jamaica Kincaid's At the Bottom of the River ... inspired, lyrical short stories Reading Jamaica Kincaid is to plunge, gently, into another way of seeing both the physical world and its elusive inhabitants. Her voice is, by turns, naively whimsical and biblical in its...

Antigua and Barbuda | Antiguan author

The marrow thieves
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book
Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award (Young People's Literature - Text) Winner of the 2017 Kirkus PrizeWinner of the 2018 Sunburst Award Winner of the 2018 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award Winner of the 2018 Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit...

Canada | Canadian author (Metis)

The second life of Samuel Tyne : a novel
Edugyan, Esi.
Paper Book
The first novel from the acclaimed author of Washington Black--an exploration of explores the sweep of history, the binds of blood, the challenges of middle age, and the pain of exile, witnessed through the experiences of one family whose hope blinds them to threatening forces that could tear...

Canada | Ghanaian-Canadian author

Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER! A MORRIS AWARD WINNER! AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK! A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller Soon to be adapted at Netflix...

United States of America | American author (Ojibwe)

Bad Cree
Johns, Jessica.
Paper Book
In this gripping, horror-laced debut, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home. "A mystery and a horror story about...

Canada | Canadian author (Cree)

Fire song
Jones, Adam Garnet.
Paper Book
How can Shane reconcile his feelings for David with his desire for a better life?   Shane is still reeling from the suicide of his kid sister, Destiny.  How could he have missed the fact that she was so sad? He tries to share his grief with his girlfriend, Tara, but...

Canada | Canadian author (Cree, Metis)

Ru : a novel
Thu?y, Kim.
Paper Book
Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction Winner of 2015 Canada Reads PrizeWinner of Grand Prix littéraire Archambault Finalist for the 2012 Soctiabank Giller Prize Finalist for the 2018 New Academy Prize in Literature...

Canada | Vietnamese-Canadian author

The break
Vermette, Katherena
Paper Book
Winner of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award, The Break is a stunning and heartbreaking debut novel about a multigenerational Métis-Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking...

Canada | Canadian author (Metis)

Enchanted air : two cultures, two wings : a memoir
Engle, Margarita
Paper Book
In this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpré Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War. Margarita is a girl from two...

Cuba | Cuban-American author

How the one-armed sister sweeps her house : a novel
Jones, Cherie
Paper Book
In the tradition of Zadie Smith and Marlon James, a brilliant Caribbean writer delivers a powerful story about four people each desperate to escape their legacy of violence in a so-called "paradise." In Baxter's Beach, Barbados, Lala's grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed...

Barbados | Barbadian author

Dreaming in Cuban
Garci?a, Cristina
Paper Book
A vivid and funny first novel about three generations of a Cuban family divided by conflicting loyalties over the Cuban revolution, set in the world of Havana in the 1970s and '80s and in an emigre neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is a story of immense charm about women and politics, women and...

Cuba | Cuban-American author

Don't date Rosa Santos
Moreno, Nina (Young adult fiction writer)
Paper Book
Rosa is cursed by the sea - at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news. But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a...

Cuba | Cuban-American author

How the Garcia girls lost their accents
Alvarez, Julia.
Paper Book
Named A Great American Novel by The Atlantic! From the international bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies and Afterlife, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents  is "poignant...powerful... Beautifully captures...

Dominican Republic | Dominican-American author

The far away brothers : two teenage immigrants making a life in America
Markham, Lauren
Paper Book
The inspiring true story about identical twin teenage brothers who escape El Salvador's violence to build new lives in California as undocumented immigrants, perfect for fans of Enrique's Journey and anyone interested in learning about the issues that underlie today's conversations about...

El Salvador | American author writing biography of Salvadoran immigrants in California

Don't ask me where I'm from
De Leon, Jennifer
Paper Book
"A funny, perceptive, and much-needed book telling a much-needed story." --Celeste Ng, author of the New York Times bestseller Little Fires Everywhere "Written with humor and grace, with intimacy and empathy, Don't Ask Me Where I'm From is the perfect coming of age...

Guatemala | Guatemalan-American author

Untwine : a novel
Danticat, Edwidge
Paper Book
A haunting and mesmerizing story about sisterhood, family, love, and loss by literary luminary Edwidge Danticat.Giselle Boyer and her identical twin, Isabelle, are as close as sisters can be, even as their family seems to be unraveling. Then the Boyers have a tragic encounter that will shatter...

Haiti | Haitian author

The field guide to the North American teenager
Philippe, Ben
Ebook
William C. Morris YA Debut Award Winner! A hilarious YA contemporary realistic novel about a witty Black French Canadian teen who moves to Austin, Texas, and experiences the joys, clichés, and awkward humiliations of the American high school experience--including falling in...

Haiti/Canada/USA | Haitian-Canadian author

Sure, I'll be your Black friend : notes from the other side of the fist bump
Philippe, Ben
Paper Book
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a good white person of liberal leanings must be in want of a Black friend. In the biting, hilarious vein of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life comes Ben Philippe's candid memoir-in...

Haiti/Canada/USA | Haitian-Canadian author

Hearts unbroken
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Paper Book
Winner of an American Indian Youth Literature Award New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith turns to realistic fiction with the thoughtful story of a Native teen navigating the complicated, confusing waters of high school -- and first love. ...

United States of America | American author (Muscogee Creek)

American Street
Zoboi, Ibi Aanu
Paper Book
A National Book Award Finalist with five starred reviews and multiple awards! A New York Times Notable Book * A Time Magazine Best YA Book Of All Time* Publishers Weekly Flying Start * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * ALA ...

Haiti | Haitian author

Fire rush
Crooks, Jacqueline
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023 "[A] powerful debut." --The Washington Post "An exceptional and stunningly original novel by a major new writer." --Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl,...

Jamaica | Jamaican-British author (Windrush community)

Here comes the sun : a novel
Dennis-Benn, Nicole
Paper Book
Capturing the distinct rhythms of Jamaican life and dialect, Nicole Dennis- Benn pens a tender hymn to a world hidden among pristine beaches and the wide expanse of turquoise seas. At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a girl to...

Jamaica | Jamaican author

Small island
Levy, Andrea
Paper Book
An international bestseller. Andrea Levy's Small Island won the Orange Prize for Fiction, The Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best, The Whitbread Novel Award, The Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Hortense Joseph arrives in...

Jamaica/UK | Jamaican-British author (Windrush community)

The house on Mango Street
Cisneros, Sandra.
Paper Book
A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A coming-of-age classic about a young girl growing up in Chicago * Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world-...

Mexico | Mexican-American author

Sia Martinez and the moonlit beginning of everything
Vasquez Gilliland, Raquel
Paper Book
"In a world where we are so often dividing ourselves into us and them, this book feels like a kind of magic, celebrating all beliefs, ethnicities, and unknowns." --The New York Times Book Review Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe meets Roswell...

Mexico | Mexican-American author

Disappeared
Stork, Francisco X
Paper Book
* "A tense thriller elevated by Stork's nuanced writing and empathy for every character, including the villains -- superb." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewFour Months AgoSara Zapata's best friend disappeared, kidnapped by the web of criminals who terrorize Juárez.Four Hours...

Mexico | Mexican author

The country under my skin : a memoir of love and war
Belli, Gioconda
Paper Book
An electrifying memoir from the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer (“A wonderfully free and original talent”—Harold Pinter) and central figure in the Sandinista Revolution. Until her early twenties, Gioconda Belli inhabited an upper-class cocoon: sheltered from the poverty in Managua in...

Nicaragua | Nicaraguan author

Dominicana
Cruz, Angie
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK Shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction "Through a novel with so much depth, beauty, and grace, we, like Ana, are forever changed." --Jacqueline Woodson, Vanity Fair "Gorgeous writing,...

Dominican Republic | Dominican-American author

The book of unknown Americans
Henri?quez, Cristina
Paper Book
"A triumph of storytelling. Henríquez pulls us into the lives of her characters with such mastery that we hang on to them just as fiercely as they hang on to one another and their dreams. This passionate, powerful novel will stay with you long after you've turned the final page." --Ben Fountain,...

Panama | Panamanian-American author

This is why they hate us
Aceves, Aaron H
Paper Book
This "hilariously chaotic and profound" (Adam Silvera, #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End) summer romp is Netflix's Never Have I Ever meets What If It's Us about a high school senior determined to get over his unrequited feelings...

United States of America | Mexican-American author

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian
Alexie, Sherman
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller--over one million copies sold!   A National Book Award winner A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the...

United States of America | American author (Spokane)

River sing me home
Shearer, Eleanor
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother's gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children and piece her family back together is a "celebration of motherhood and female resilience" (The Observer). ...

Barbados | Caribbean-British author; ancestor of Windrush generation immigrants

If I ever get out of here
Gansworth, Eric
Paper Book
"A heart-healing, mocs-on-the-ground story of music, family and friendship." -- Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Tantalize and Rain is Not My Indian Name.Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the...

United States of America | American author (Onondaga)

Gabi, a girl in pieces
Quintero, Isabel
Paper Book
In this groundbreaking William C. Morris Award winner for a YA debut, Gabi's life is a mess--her family, her friends, her attempts at a love life--but writing helps, especially since it turns out she's pretty good at poetry. Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year of high school in...

United States of America | Mexican-American author

Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
Sa?enz, Benjamin Alire.
Paper Book
Now a major motion picture starring Max Pelayo, Reese Gonzales, and Eva Longoria! A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Aristotle is an...

United States of America | Mexican-American author

Clap when you land
Acevedo, Elizabeth
Paper Book
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives. Camino Rios lives for the...

Dominican Republic | Dominican-American author

Love is a revolution
Watson, Rene?e
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Renée Watson comes a love story about love-not only in a romantic relationship but also in how a girl finds herself and falls in love with who she really is. When Nala Robertson reluctantly agrees to attend an...

United States of America | Jamaican-American author

The grief keeper
Villasante, Alexandra
Paper Book
This stunning YA debut is a timely and heartfelt speculative narrative about healing, faith, and freedom. Seventeen-year-old Marisol has always dreamed of being American, learning what Americans and the US are like from television and Mrs. Rosen, an elderly expat who had employed...

El Salvador | Uruguayan-American author

Elatsoe
Little Badger, Darcie
Paper Book
Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel A National Indie Bestseller Nebula Award Finalist Lodestar Award Finalist Ignyte Award Finalist TIME's Best 100 Fantasy Books of All Time NPR Best of the Year Booklist's...

United States of America | American author (Lipan Apache)


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