Back to School: 50 Great Hispanic Novels Every Student Should Read

Onlinecollegecourses.com has a put together a great list of Hispanic novels that everyone should add to their list.

It’s sorted by author’s country of origin and contains a very nice mixture of recent and past notable books.

Here are the top books from Hispanic American authors:

  • The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros 
  • This short novel is perfect for rainy afternoon reading. Central to the novel is a young girl named Esperanza, who is coming of age in a Chicagoan Mexican and Puerto Rican neighborhood. She flounders in desperation to leave her impoverished life behind and move on to bigger and better things.

  • Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo AnayaPart of a trilogy, this award winner has landed on many banned book lists for its depiction of witchcraft and violence. It’s an undeserved reputation for an incredibly important read that blends folklore, religion and coming of age issues into one beautifully written work.
  • In the Time of Butterflies by Julia AlvarezSet in the Dominican Republic during the Trujillo dictatorship, this novel tells a fictionalized version of real life events surrounding three sisters murdered for their roles in a plot to overthrow the government.
  • And the Earth Did Not Devour Him by Tomas RiveraA compilation of short stories and vignettes rather than a novel proper, this collection helped expose many of the abuses and horrors faced by migrant workers in the 1940s and 1950s. Disturbing, tragic and beautiful, it is an essential read for anyone interested in Hispanic lit.
  • Llamame Brooklyn by Eduardo LagoWhile Lago is a Spanish-born writer, he lives and writes in America, and this book chronicles his experience living abroad. Llamame Brooklyn (or Call Me Brooklyn) was inspired by Lago’s own time in the US. It details the life of a young man struggling to come to terms with his Spanish identity while residing in New York with his adopted family.

To browse through the rest of the list, click here.

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