The Ofrenda That We Built by Jolene Gutiérrez and Shaian Gutiérrez; illustrated by Gabby Zapata

The candles are lit, the food is prepared, and the sweet smell of copal floats in the air on Día de Muertos. Built with love and dedication, the family ofrenda stands with pride. As everyone gathers to share in this ritual, each element added to the ofrenda is infused with significance-from the sugar skulls placed with care on top of the embroidered cloth to the golden petals that guide the way. Told after the style of the English nursery rhyme "The House Jack Built," The Ofrenda That We Built invites readers to learn about and celebrate the Day of the Dead by building a family ofrenda. With warmth and brightness, this gorgeously illustrated book is a joyful ode to family traditions, bonds that transcend time, and the memory of loved ones who have passed but who we continue to remember.

Doña Fela's Dream: the Story of Puerto Rico's First Female Mayor by Monica Brown

This is the inspiring story of Doña Fela, an enterprising woman who broke barriers and stopped at nothing to make the island of Puerto Rico a better home for all. Though she was born before women on her island were allowed to vote, Felisa Rincón de Gautier did not let that stop her from becoming the first female mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1946. Easily spotted on the streets of San Juan by her flair and the jasmine flowers braided into her hair, she radiated style and grace. Doña Fela, as she affectionately came to be called, loved her city. Doña Fela was always ready to listen to problems and find solutions. With determination and resilience, she brought lasting change to the island. Doña Fela's inspiring story as a visionary leader is brought to life on the page through stunning paintings that evoke the vibrant colors and culture of Puerto Rico.

Till The Last Beat of My Heart by Louangie Bou-Montes

In this YA contemporary fantasy, the teen son of the local mortician accidentally reanimates the dead body of the boy he had more than friendly feelings for, but can he keep him alive for good before their time runs out? Perfect for fans of Cemetery Boys and The Taking of Jake Livingston.

When you grow up in a funeral home, death is just another part of life. But for 16-year-old Jaxon Santiago-Noble, it’s also part of his family’s legacy. Most dead bodies in the town of Jacob’s Barrow wind up at Jaxon’s house; his mom is the local mortician, after all. He doesn’t usually pay them much mind, but when Christian Reyes is brought in after a car accident, Jaxon’s world is turned upside down. There are a lot of things Jaxon wishes he could have said to his once best friend and first crush. When he accidentally resurrects Christian, Jaxon might finally have that chance. But the more he learns about his newfound necromancy, the more he grasps that Christian’s running on borrowed time — and it's almost out. As he navigates dark, mysterious magics and family secrets, Jaxon realizes that stepping into an inherited power may also mean opening up old family wounds if he wants to keep the boy he may be falling for alive for good.

How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund by Anna Montague

Most days, Magda is fine. She has her routines. She has her anxious therapy patients, who depend on her to cure their bad habits. She has her longtime colleagues, whose playful bickering she mediates. She's mourning the recent loss of her best friend, Sara, but has brokered a tentative truce with Sara's prickly widower as she helps him sort through the last of Sara's possessions. She's fine. But in going through Sara's old journal, Magda discovers her friend's last directive: plans for a road trip they would take together in celebration of Magda's upcoming 70th birthday. So, with Sara's urn in tow, Magda decides to hit the road, crossing the country and encountering a cast of memorable characters — including her sister, from whom she's been keeping secrets. Along the way she stumbles upon a jazz funeral in New Orleans and a hilarious women's retreat meant to "unleash one's divine feminine energy" in Texas, and meets a woman who challenges her conceptions of herself — and the hidden truths about her friendship with Sara.

As the trip shakes up her careful routines, Magda finally faces longings she locked away years ago and confronts questions about her sexuality and identity she thought she had long put to rest. And as she soon learns, it's never too late to start your next journey.

The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America by Carrie Schuettpelz

Schuettpelz, vice president of the Native American Council at the University of Iowa, writes about what it means for Indigenous people to prove their identity, as they are often forced by governments to validate who they are. Schuettpelz considers the shifting meaning and history of Indigenous identity from before colonization to the latest census.

Who is "Indian enough?" To be Native American is to live in a world of contradictions. At the same time that the number of people in the U.S. who claim Native identity has exploded — increasing 85 percent in just ten years — the number of people formally enrolled in tribes has not. While the federal government recognizes tribal sovereignty, being a member of a tribe requires navigating blood quantum laws and rolls that the federal government created with the intention of wiping out Native people altogether. Over two million Native people are tribally enrolled, yet there are Native people who will never be. Native people who, for a variety of reasons ranging from displacement to disconnection, cannot be card-carrying members of their tribe. In The Indian Card, Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz grapples with these contradictions. Through in-depth interviews, she shares the stories of people caught in the mire of identity-formation, trying to define themselves outside of bureaucratic processes. With archival research, she pieces together the history of blood quantum and tribal rolls and federal government intrusion on Native identity-making. Reckoning with her own identity — the story of her enrollment and the enrollment of her children — she investigates the cultural, racial, and political dynamics of today's tribal identity policing. With this intimate perspective of the ongoing fight for Native sovereignty, The Indian Card sheds light on what it looks like to find a deeper sense of belonging