Books like Simply Maria, or, The American dream by Josefina López

Sandra Cisneros’ celebrated coming‑of‑age tale follows Esperanza Cordero as she grows up in Chicago’s Mexican-American community, exploring identity through poetic vignettes.

A heart-wrenching coming-of-age story of poverty and resilience in 1930s Brooklyn.

Julia Álvarez’s Pulitzer‑winning memoir‑like novel chronicles the lives of four Dominican sisters who became symbols of resistance against Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship, blending history, family, and the Spanish language’s lyrical beauty.

Believe in the power of herbs, faith, and family as young Antonio Marez, growing up in New Mexico, encounters Ultima—his grandmother’s healer who guides him to uncover his own identity and the mysteries of his heritage.

A Dominican‑American teenager in New Jersey struggles with weight, family history, and an unbreakable love, while his dream of becoming a writer clashes with a centuries‑old curse that haunts his lineage.

Four Dominican sisters uproot from a privileged life in Santo Domingo to the chaotic streets of the Bronx, rebelling against old‑world discipline while discovering a new American identity.

A street-smart, lyrical portrait of a Cuban American jazz musician, his family, and their New York community—a vivid exploration of identity and love in mid-century America.

Reyna Grande’s middle‑grade retelling follows a Mexican‑American family as they struggle to cross borders, adopt a new life in the United States, and cope with separation and identity—all told in honest, touching prose.

Firoozeh Dumas’s memoir of her family’s migration from Iran to Southern California in 1972, blending humor and cultural insight as they navigate American life, language, and identity across generations.

A Dominican girl’s coming‑of‑age story set against the 1960 Trujillo dictatorship, as she faces family exile, secret police terror, and the fear‑some disappearance of her uncle.

A Filipino immigrant’s reunion with her uncle in America opens a quiet exploration of family, identity, and the lingering effects of a turbulent past.

A vivid and funny first novel about three generations of a Cuban family divided by conflicting loyalties over the Cuban revolution, set in the world of Havana in the 1970s and '80s and in an emigre neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is a story of immense charm about women and politics, women and witchcraft, women and their men.

Marci Cruz wishes for a gender change and for her father’s departure, wrestling with identity amid a difficult home, a confusing church, and an indifferent world.

Nine-year-old Josefina discovers the joy of playing the piano and the power of music on the New Mexican frontier.

Set in 1824 New Mexico, the story follows Josefina and her sisters as they weave blankets, debate designs, and find creative ways to enliven their work.

Twice married, once divorced and once widowed, Soveida Dosamantes is a survivor. She is currently writing a handbook for waitresses called The Book of Service, a compendium of lessons she has learned working for thirty years at El Farol Mexican Restaurant in the rural Southwest. Looking back on her career, Soveida comes to understand the meaning of service in her own life and the role of women in a machismo culture and in the interconnected lives of work and family. Here is a rich chorus of Latino voices and a retinue of wayward husbands and lovers, from her grandmother, Mama Lupita, to Mama's elderly servant, Oralia; from her estranged parents, Luardo and Dolores, to the lovelorn restaurant manager Larry Larragoite, to the waiters and waitresses of El Farol, even its cough-syrup-swilling cook, Lavel. A novel of antic humor and sobering pain, of nachos and nourishment of every kind, Face of an Angel straddles old worlds and new, Mexican, American, and Mexican-American, to explore one woman's acceptance of her true vocation, her true love, and, ultimately, her true self.

Nine‑year‑old Josefina in 1824 New Mexico must decide whether to meet her grandmother’s expectations or stay true to herself.