National Hispanic Heritage month (NHHM) signifies the celebration of the achievements and contributions made by Spanish speaking countries in Latin America. NHHM started Sept. 15 and ends Oct. 15, so we are going to be celebrating five books from Uruguay, Chile and Mexico and the Dominican Republic.  

“Las venas abiertas de América Latina” or in English, the “Open Veins of Latin America,” is by Eduardo Galeano from Uruguay. The book is an analysis of the impact of economic and political domination by European settlement, imperialism and slavery. Political domination continued much later by the United States, some in the form of military coup d’etats.

Galeano wrote this as someone who was arrested and exiled from Uruguay for 12 years for speaking out during a military coup in the 1970’s. “Open Veins of Latin America,” not only speaks of the impact of the United States’ political domination but also how Latin America as a whole continues to exist at the service of others’ needs. This is a historical, non-fiction book with a 4.3 out of 5 rating on Goodreads. 

Chilean writer Isabel Allende skyrocketed to fame by her debut novel “La casa de los espíritus,” or “The House of the Spirits.” What once began as a letter transformed into a novel that follows two families, who represents a higher and lower class and spans four generations from the early 20th century to the Pinochet era, which was during the 1970’s to 90’s. 

The del Valle and Trueba families in the novel represent the land-owning, upper-class criollos (a descendent from a Spaniard who was born and raised in the colonies), whereas the Garcias represent the lower class. We follow the Trueba women who support the lower class and fight for their rights in their own way by setting an alliance between those who are subjugated by the patriarchal system. Overall this magical realistic novel has a 4.3 out of 5 rating on Goodreads.

“Cuentos de amor de locura y de muerte,” or “Tales of love, madness and death,” by Horacio Quiroga is a collection of short stories filled with despair rated at a 4 out of 5 rating on Goodreads. The book is a fictional terror with morbid tales, including “El almohadón de plumas,” also known as “The Feather Pillow.” 

“The Feather Pillow,” follows a young couple and their once loving marriage, which has been failing quickly after marriage. Alicia, the wife, gets sick at about the same time the relationship gets rocky, slowly losing her energy more and more each day. No one knows the cause of her illness until it’s too late. 

“Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America,” is an autobiographical book by Maria Hinojosa. It speaks of her family’s immigration story from her entry to the United States to becoming a successful journalist who reports over issues relating to immigration and the Latino community. It is not only about her career, in which she had struggles such as imposter syndrome but immigration policy issues in the United States. There is a young adult version of the book. Overall, it is a 4.2 out of 5 rating on Goodreads. 

Hinojosa is a Mexican, Emmy Award- winning journalist as well as anchor and executive producer of Latino USA on National Public Radio, which is devoted to Latino issues. This is produced by Futuro Media Group, an independent, nonprofit news group whose mission is to put out content with diverse voices, which she founded in 2010 and is the president and CEO of. 

“The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo, an American-Dominican, is a young adult coming of age and fictional novel about a high school girl, Xiomara Batista. Batista shares her struggles through poetry as she feels unheard in her strict, religious household in the Harlem neighborhood. Everything changes when she is invited to her school’s slam poetry club, which she needs to hide. If you can, get the audiobook to this novel so you can hear the Acevedo’s poetic words.

Acevedo was named the September 2022 Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation, won the Carnegie medal, Printz Award, CILIP Carnegie Medal and much more for “The Poet X.” Overall, this debut novel is 4.4 out of 5 rating on Goodreads.