"Two best friends, a writer and a runner, deal with bullies, family issues, social pressures, and their quest for success coming out of Harlem"--

Juanita and Miguel's great aunt, Tía Lola, comes from the Dominican Republic to help take care of them after their parents divorce, and soon she is so involved in their small Vermont community that when her visa expires, the whole town turns out to support her.

"Twelve-year-old Pilar Violeta 'Purp' Ramirez's world is changing, and she doesn't care for it one bit. Her Chicago neighborhood is gentrifying and her chores have doubled since her sister, Lorena, left for college. The only constant is Abuela and Mami's code of silence around her cousin Natasha--who vanished in the Dominican Republic fifty years ago during the Trujillo dictatorship. When Pilar hears that Lorena's professor studies such disappearances,...

When three girls and their father visit for a week in the summer, it takes Tía Lola to make Miguel forget his unhappiness at the absence of any boys and embrace the adventures that ensue.

"Nico doesn't have to join the Army to see the world--that's what younger brother Luis tries to show by painting a mural in the neighborhood alley. But Nico is deployed and his small brother paints the world in the alleyway to hold on to him"--

When she has to draw a picture of where she immigrated from, Lola asks her family, friends, and neighbors about their memories of her homeland.

"Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood - but secretly, she pours her dreams and frustrations onto the pages of her notebook like prayers. When she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, Xiomara doesn't know how she could ever attend without her religious mami finding out. But even so, in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent."--taken from back cover. Xiomara...

"Yesenia introduces readers to her favorite food--plátanos--which go with everything, especially love, in this ode to the star of Dominican cuisine"--

"Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance--and Papi's secrets--the two girls are forced to face...

"Like all kids, Josefina loves to eat sweets. She loves warm chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven, cupcakes and candy! One night, while eating a piece of flan, Mami asks her to consider giving up sweets for Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. 'That's impossible!' Josefina says. When Mami promises to teach her how to make her favorite dessert, habichuelas con dulce, she agrees to give it a try. Josefina can't wait to end her fast and eat...