Science Fiction and Supernatural for Middle Grades/Young Adults: Hispanic Heritage

For 400 years, Earth has been a barren wasteland. The few humans that survive scrape together an existence in the cruel city of Pocatel – or go it alone in the wilderness beyond, filled with wandering spirits and wyrms. They don’t last long. 13 year-old pickpocket Leandro and his sister Gabi do what they can to forge a life in Pocatel. The city does not take kindly to Cascabel like them – the descendants of those who worked the San Joaquin Valley for generations. When Gabi is caught stealing precious fruit from the Pocatelan elite, Leando takes the fall.

After moving cross-country into his late grandfather’s Miami mansion, Benny discovers that the ghost of his famous trumpet-playing abuelo, the great Ignacio Ramírez, is still there . . . and isn’t too thrilled about it. He’s been barred from the afterlife, and no one can see him except his grandson. But Benny’s got problems of his own. He’s enrolled in a performing arts school with his siblings, despite having no obvious talent. Luckily, Abuelo believes they can help each other.

Product Description: Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico during World War II. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will probe the family ties that bind and rend him, and he will discover himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past — a mythic legacy as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world…and will nurture the birth of his soul. Winner of the Premio Quinto Sol.

Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous, especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits roam the desert and threaten humankind. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas, much to her family's disapproval. When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped, Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil's Alley, though, she’ll have to become a bruja herself — while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. 

Martika begins having strange dreams about jungles and jaguars just before her quinceañera. Her mother brings her to Tía Tellin — the neighborhood bruja, or witch, to help sort out what she sees. Martika is astonished to learn that Tía Tellin is her great aunt and that they are both descended from a long line of Mayan healers, whose powers include psychic divination. When the daughter of her mother's client is kidnapped, Martika's visions help guide the search for the missing girl. — Booklist

In the midst of his mother's struggle with cancer, fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold has the opportunity to take the trip of a lifetime. Accompanying his fearless grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, Alexander sets off on an expedition to the remote world of the Amazon. On this mission he meets Nadia, the young daughter of their local guide and together they begin a magical and mystical adventure.

Product Description: Eleven-year-old Diego wins a district-wide writing contest for sixth graders. When an author visits his school to award his prize, a handsome, glistening black dragon, Diego Ramirez has no idea how much his life is about to change. As the statue, who is the leader of the dragons living within the sun's fire, comes to life, he becomes quite mischievous and leads Diego on an unexpected adventure.

In Eagle Pass, Texas, Grace struggles to understand the echoes she inherited from her mother — visions which often distort her reality. One morning, as her sister, Mercy, rushes off to work, a disturbing echo takes hold of Grace, and within moments, tragedy strikes. Attending community college for the first time, talking to the boy next door, and working toward her goals all help Grace recover, but her estrangement from Mercy takes a deep toll.

Kai Sosa is so passionate about swimming he is practically a fish. This summer, he’s determined to become the athlete he once was on an elite swim team. But something invisible holds him back. His race times are off. Dreams of his sister Cali haunt him. And he hasn’t found her missing gold cuff, her last request. Mom is still talking about grief, even though it's been two years since she disappeared. He’s fine now, isn’t he?

Ava Granados will never forgive herself for being late to her beloved nana's deathbed. But due to a flash flood that left Ava in a fender bender with a mysterious boy, she missed her grandmother's mystical blessing — one that has been passed between the women of her family upon death for generations. Then Nana's ghost appears with a challenge from beyond the grave. As it turns out, Nana did give Ava a blessing, but it missed its target, landing with the boy from the night of the storm instead. Was it fate? Ava refuses to believe so.

As long as he remembers to stay smart and keep his eyes open, Mateo knows that he can survive the trek across the Sonoran Desert that will take him from Mexico to the United States. That is, until he’s caught by the Border Patrol only moments after sneaking across the fence in the dead of night. Escaping their clutches comes at a price and, lost in the desert without a guide or water, Mateo is ill-prepared for the unforgiving heat that is sure to arrive come sunrise. With the odds stacked against him, his one chance at survival may be putting his trust in Guillermo, a ghost.

Ten-year-old Lola has always been touched by magic. In her Mexico City home, built around a towering tree, she is accustomed to enchanted blooms that change with the seasons, a sandbox that spits out mysterious treasures, and mischievous chaneques that scuttle about unseen by all but her. Magic has always been a part of her life, but now she must embrace the extraordinary as never before.

In the hottest hour of the hottest day of the year, a fateful wind blows into Oaxaca City. It whistles down cobbled streets and rustles the jacaranda trees before slipping into the window of an eleven-year-old girl named Clara. Unbeknownst to her, Clara has been marked for la Lotería. Life and Death deal the Lotería cards but once a year, and the stakes could not be higher. Every card reveals a new twist in Clara’s fate — a scorpion, an arrow, a blood-red rose. If Life wins, Clara will live to a ripe old age.

If Mari Feijoo could, she would turn her family’s Peak Cubanity down a notch, just enough so that her snooping neighbor and classmate Mykenzye wouldn't have anything to tease her about. That’s why this year, there’s no way that Mari's joining in on one of the big-gest Feijoo family traditions — burning the New Year's Eve effigy her abuela makes. Only Mari never suspects that failing to toss her effigy in the fire would bring something much worse than sneering words at school: a curse of bad luck from El Cocodrilo. 

Who protects our precious fields of corn? What leaps from the darkness when you least suspect it? Which spirit waits for little kids by rivers and lakes? From the ahuizotl to the xocoyoles—and all the imps, ghosts and witches in between—this illustrated bilingual encyclopedia tells you just what you need to know about the things that go bump in the night in Mexico and the US Southwest.

Milagros de le Torre hasn’t had an easy life: ever since her father sailed away with pirates she’s been teased at school, and her family struggles to make ends meet. Still, Milagros loves her small island in the Caribbean, and she finds comfort in those who recognize her special gifts. But everything changes when marauders destroy Milagros’s island and with it, most of the inhabitants. Milagros manages to escape in a rowboat where she drifts out to sea with no direction, save for the mysterious manta rays that guide her to land.

Omega Morales's family has been practicing magic for centuries in Noche Buena. But over the years, the town's reputation for the supernatural is no longer one the people carry with pride. When a witch with the power to transform herself into an owl — known in Mexican folklore as La Lechuza — shows up unannounced, Omega, her best friend Clau (who happens to be a ghost), and her cousin Carlitos must conduct a séance under a full moon in order to unravel the mystery of the legend.

After Omega discovers she can influence the emotions of supernatural creatures, she's certain she’s strong enough to handle the feelings of others on Día de Muertos. But when darkness overwhelms her, it means she's more vulnerable than she realized — and even worse, there may be a new monster in her hometown. And it doesn’t take long for Omega to realize that, just like with La Lechuza, she may be the only one who can stop him. But at what cost?

"In pre-Castro Cuba, wealthy Don Rigol exerts almost total control over his rural town. However, when he lays claim to a mountain that the villagers consider theirs and starts clearing the jungle for his coffee plantation, he encounters unexpected opposition. Ernestina, a classmate of Rigol's spoiled daughter, joins her friend Enriquito in efforts to save the wild horses on the mountain. They soon realize that Rigol's real goal is to locate the gold mentioned in Taino legend.

This brilliant sci-fi romp with Cuban influence poses this question: What would you do if you had the power to reach through time and space and retrieve anything you want, including your mother, who is no longer living (in this universe, anyway)?

How did a raw chicken get inside Yasmany's locker?

Thirteen-year-old Maya Beatriz Montenegro Calderon has vivid recurring dreams where she hears the ocean calling her. One day, an unexpected visit from the estranged Titi Yaya Rico changes everything. Because Yaya practices santería, Abuela tells Maya and the other Calderon children to stay away from her. But If la viejita is indeed estranged from the family, why does Maya feel so connected to this woman she has never met before? And who is this orisha named Yemaya?

Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then strange things start to happen. Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. But someone is killing the shadowshapers one by one. Diversity and themes of social justice and identity are skilfully woven into this urban fantasy novel.

Ever since Solimar was a little girl, she has gone to the ouamel forest bordering her kingdom to observe the monarch butterflies during their migration, but always from a safe distance. Now, on the brink of her quinceañera and her official coronation, Solimar crosses the dangerous creek to sit among the butterflies. There, a mysterious event gives her a gift and a burden — the responsibility to protect the young and weak butterflies with her magical rebozo, or silk shawl. Solimar is committed to fulfilling her role, and has a plan that might have worked.

Product Description: When Odilia and her four sisters find a dead body in the swimming hole, they embark on a hero's journey to return the dead man to his family in Mexico. But returning home to Texas turns into an odyssey that would rival Homer's original tale. With the supernatural aid of ghostly La Llorona, Odilia and her little sisters travel a road of tribulation to their long-lost grandmother's house. Along the way, they must outsmart a witch and her Evil Trinity.

A new adventure begins for Elliot and Uchenna when Professor Fauna bursts into their classroom with a frightening report from the Texas-Mexico border: something has completely drained the blood from

Rafa would rather live in the world of The Forgotten Age, his favorite fantasy role-playing game, than face his father’s increasing restrictions and his mother’s fading presence. But when Rafa and his friends decide to take the game out into the real world and steal their school cafeteria's slushie machine, his dad concocts a punishment Rafa never could’ve imagined ― a month working on a ranch in New Mexico, far away from his friends, their game, and his mom’s quesitos in Miami.

Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez — a biracial Jewish girl — finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents’ desire for her to pursue a more stable career. When she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s cottage, she meets the ghost of a kindhearted boy named Benjamin, who died over a century ago. As Ilana restores Benjamin’s grave, he introduces her to the enchanted side of Prague, where ghosts walk the streets and their kisses have warmth.
 

Mimi Perez fixes things. Phones, tablets, speakers, printers. She gets it from her dad — helping him at the family e-repair shop was always one of Mimi’s favorite things to do. But ever since Papi was deported, there’s a lot more than electronics that need fixing in Mimi’s world. Things too big for any twelve-year-old to handle on her own. Then a mysterious robot crashing to earth. From space. Mimi does what any street-smart electronics repair person would do: she takes the robot home, fixes her up, and in the process, makes herself a friend.

Sixteen-year-old Sonia Ocampo was born on the night of the worst storm Tres Montes had ever seen. And when the winds mercifully stopped, an unshakable belief in the girl’s protective powers began. Sonia knows she has no special powers, but how can she disappoint those who look to her for solace? When she gets a chance to travel to the city and work in the home of a wealthy woman, she seizes it. But when news arrives that her beloved brother has disappeared while looking for work, she learns she can never truly leave the past or her family behind.

There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children – among them Petra and her family – have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Indir is a Dreamer, descended from a long line of seers; able to see beyond reality, she carries the rare gift of Dreaming truth. But when the beloved king dies, his son has no respect for this time-honored tradition. King Alcan wants an opportunity to bring the Dreamers to a permanent end ― an opportunity Indir will give him if he discovers the two secrets she is struggling to keep. As violent change shakes Indir’s world to its core, she is forced to make an impossible choice: fight for her home or fight to survive.

Jitsu. Once the center of human expansion into distant space, this world was isolated for the better part of a century, a theocratic government rising to fill the void left by its former corporate owners. Now, as Jitsu begins to open itself to the rest of humanity, Brando D’Angelo di Makomo accepts a teaching position on the arid planet. He finds himself drawn to controversial architect Tenshi Koroma and her religious reform movement.

Twins Teri and Miwa Miranda are happy and popular high school students on the independent world of Terego. Their family is beloved by the community: their sweet half-brother Jakobo, caring stepmother Rhea, and doting father Nando, a model citizen in all aspects of his life. But every bit of that life is a lie. In reality, Nando Miranda is Brando D'Angelo, a wanted fugitive, raising the clones of his murdered wife and daughter, hoping he won't be discovered. Now the armed forces of the Consortium have finally tracked him down.

All Nestor Lopez wants is to live in one place for more than a few months and have dinner with his dad. When he and his mother move to a new town to live with his grandmother after his dad’s latest deployment, Nestor plans to lay low. He definitely doesn’t want to anyone find out his deepest secret: that he can talk to animals. But when the animals in his new town start disappearing, Nestor's grandmother becomes the prime suspect after she is spotted in the woods where they were last seen.

Product Description: When twelve-year-old Izzy discovers a beat-up baseball marked with the words "Becausemagic" while unpacking in yet another new apartment, she is determined to figure out what it means. What secrets does this old ball have to tell? Her mom certainly isn't sharing any, especially when it comes to Izzy's father, who died before Izzy was born. But when she spends the summer in her Nana's remote New Mexico village, Izzy discovers long-buried secrets that come alive in an enchanted landscape of watermelon mountains, whispering winds, and tortilla suns.

All Pineda Matlage wants is to get through the school year and maybe pull an epic prank or two with his friends Junior, Ernesto, and Patsy. But class is disrupted when a slew of American soldiers descends upon their rural Texan town of Soledad. They’ll be carrying out a training exercise and taking over everything, from Pineda’s school to the local government.