10 Inspiring Books to Read for Hispanic Heritage Month and Beyond

The theme for Hispanic Heritage Month 2023 is “Latinos: Driving Prosperity, Power and Progress in America.” We polled the Radical Candor team asking for their favorite books to elevate during Hispanic Heritage Month that reflect these ideals.

From business books and memoirs to fantastical adventures and engrossing novels, our selection of 10 books to read during Hispanic Heritage Month covers a wide range of topics, stories and experiences. Let us know which one is your favorite, and send us your recommendations to @Candor on X.

Table of Contents

1.

Dream First, Details Later:
How to Quit Overthinking & Make It Happen!

By Ellen Bennett

Kim’s pick: Dream First, Details Later outlines Bennett’s personal playbook of putting your inner worrier on silent and leaping into action. Half Mexican, half English, she was born and raised in L.A. Bennett is the founder of Hedley & Bennett, an L.A.-based culinary brand outfitting some of the best chefs across the country.

She attended culinary school in Mexico City, and upon returning to LA after graduation, she put her training to work cooking in two Michelin Star restaurants Providence as well as Baco Mercat.

Listen to Ellen on the Just Work podcast >>

Buy the book >>

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2.

The Undocumented Americans

By Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Kim’s pick: One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard, Villavicencio reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation.

In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring remarkable stories of resilience, madness and death to light. Through these stories, we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.

Buy the book >>

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3.

The Least of Us:
True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth

By Sam Quinones

Brandi’s pick: As someone with personal experience of family and friends deep in the opioid crisis of the Midwest, I devoured both this book and its predecessor, Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.

Quinones’ ability to weave parallel narratives of both the Mexican and American lived experiences coupled with his robust research and keen journalistic eye makes this book hard to put down, even for those with no personal ties to the crisis.

This book gets to the heart of the human struggle and identifies how the loss of community has fueled the modern addiction landscape.

Buy the book >>

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4.

The Way Forward (The Inward Trilogy)

By Yung Pueblo

Amy’s pick: Yung Pueblo (Diego Perez) shares timeless wisdom in a way that is accessible, relevant and transformative. In these rapidly changing times, it is more important than ever to know ourselves well and fully, even and especially in the face of turmoil.

The Way Forward encourages readers to connect more deeply to their intuition, using it to remain focused and grounded amidst a world in constant flux.

Buy the book >>

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5.

Cemetery Boys

By Aiden Thomas

A tender portrayal of complicated family dynamics, this coming-of-age story by a Latinx transgender author skillfully navigates gender and cultural roles. This book also includes a ghost romance that will bring you to tears.

These beautifully written characters are heartbreakingly real. Of course, this book has shown up on banned book lists.

Buy the book >>

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6.

The Power of Latino Leadership, Second Edition, Revised and Updated:
Culture, Inclusion, and Contribution

By Juana Bordas

What does it take to lead varied and vibrant people who hail from 26 countries and are a blend of different races? And what can leaders of all cultures and ethnicities learn from how Latinos lead?

Juana Bordas takes readers on a journey to the very heart and soul of Latino leadership. She offers 10 principles that richly illustrate the inclusive, people-centered, socially responsible and life-affirming ways Latinos have led their community.

Buy the book >>

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7.

Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed:
15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora

In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, bestselling and award-winning authors as well as up-and-coming voices interrogate the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. These writers delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes, to memories in the kitchen and travels around the world, to addiction and grief, to identity and anti-Blackness, to finding love and speaking your truth.

Full of both sorrow and joy, this book is an essential celebration of this rich and diverse community. Contributors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Cristina Arreola, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Naima Coster, Natasha Diaz, Saraciea J. Fennell, Kahlil Haywood, Zakiya Jamal, Janel Martinez, Jasminne Mendez, Meg Medina, Mark Oshiro, Julian Randall, Lilliam Rivera and Ibi Zoboi.

Buy the book >>

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8.

Hispanic Star: Ellen Ochoa

By Claudia Romo Edelman (Author), Nathalie Alonso (Author), Manuel Gutierrez (Illustrator)

Meet award-winning engineer and veteran astronaut Ellen Ochoa―once just a girl from Los Angeles, California. The granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, Ellen would pursue a career in physics at a young age and go on to earn master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

In 1993, Ellen became the first Latina in space. Hispanic Star celebrates Hispanic and Latinx heroes who have made remarkable contributions to American culture and have been undeniable forces in shaping its future

Buy the book >>

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9.

We the Animals

By Justin Torres

Brandi’s pick: A breathtakingly beautiful story of brotherhood, heartache and the unbreakable bonds of family, this is one of my favorite books.

From the intense familial unity felt by a child to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this novel reinvents the coming-of-age story in a way that is sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful.

Torres takes readers on an unforgettable journey they’ll remember long after reading the final page.

Buy the book >>

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10.

First Gen: A Memoir

By Alejandra Campoverdi

Alejandra Campoverdi has been a child on welfare, a White House aide to President Obama, a Harvard graduate, a gang member’s girlfriend and a candidate for U.S. Congress.

She’s ridden on Air Force One and in G-rides. She’s been featured in Maxim magazine and had a double mastectomy.

Living a life of contradictory extremes often comes with the territory when you’re a “First and Only.” It also comes at a price.

Part memoir, part manifesto, First Gen is a story of generational inheritance, aspiration and the true meaning of belonging.

Buy the book >>

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*Descriptions for these books were provided by the authors and/or taken from publisher’s websites and Amazon. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend books we think you’ll love.

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Brandi Neal

A professional writer, editor, storyteller and content strategist with more than 15 years of experience, Brandi Neal is the director of content creation and marketing and the podcast producer for Radical Candor. Some of the stranger things she has done include walking on fire (twice), hiking to the top of an active volcano in the middle of the night, hanging from the wing of an airplane (and letting go) and participating in an impala dung-spitting contest, which is just as gross as it sounds. In a movie of her life, she wants to be played by Stana Katic.