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10 smart young adult books perfect for grownups

These books may be targeted at young readers, but they won’t disappoint the adults who find them.

4. 'Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes', by Juan Felipe Herrera

  • By Ross Atkin Contributor

The trials and triumphs of 20 Hispanic Americans in a variety of fields – from entertainers Desi Arnaz and Rita Moreno to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and labor leader Cesar Chavez – are beautifully presented here.

Here’s an excerpt from Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes:

“At age sixteen, Desiderio Arnaz y de Acha escaped Cuba with his father and landed in Key West, Miami. ‘Platanos!Bananas!’ he called as he sold fruit on the street of his new home. He sold broken tiles, too, and lived in a warehouse where he had to shoo rats at night. Desi (a nickname later given to him in the Army) was an exile now.

“No more would he be the wealthy teen from Santiago de Cuba, his birthplace. Everyone there knew the Arnaz y de Acha family line – his father and paternal grandfather had both been mayors of the city. His mother’s side of the family were the founders of the world famous Bacardi Rum Company of Cuba. All that was lost during the Batista Revolucion of 1933.”

(Dial Books, 96 pp.)

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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