Latino representation at bookstores has been on the rise in recent years, as Spanish surnames take up a good portion of the shelf space in the magical realism genre for adults. Memoirs on race, like “I, Rigoberta Menchú,” and immigration, like “Solito,” win awards and further conversations. Modern children’s books like “My Papi Has a Motorcycle” and “Paletero Man” capture the diaspora experience for many Latino kids.
But what about the middle grade readers, ages 8 to 12?
“When I was younger, they were books that were primarily about identity,” said Puerto Rican author Victor Piñeiro. “But I found very few books that were the kind I liked to read as a kid — adventure, magic and all that.”
Piñeiro started writing the books he wished he’d had access to at that age. His debut, “Time Villains,” won the International Latino Book Awards Gold Medal.
“What sets it apart from the average adventure book is the main characters are Puerto Rican, and it's not just in name,” he said. “One of the characters is a chef, so I bring in all the different Puerto Rican foods and talk a lot about the difference between mofongos. I try to weave little elements of the Puerto Rican kind of experience.”
Piñeiro was born in Puerto Rico, raised stateside and spent his summers on the island getting up to mischief with his cousins. The plot of his new book seems to mirror that, at first.
“I had a moment where I thought, ‘Wait a minute,’” Piñeiro said. “I love Greek mythology. I love so many different mythologies. Why do I know so little about Puerto Rican mythology?’”
This is a common complaint from modern Taíno cultural groups and the anthropologists working on programming like the ¡Taíno Vive! exhibit at Yale’s Peabody Museum. Most of Puerto Rico’s understanding of its own Native mythology comes from an account by Spanish Friar Ramón Pané, which was transcribed and translated from an original manuscript that was lost to history.
As Piñeiro read Pané’s account, the Taíno deities hooked him, eventually becoming the stars of his latest book, “The Island of Forgotten Gods.”
When he came through Connecticut on his book tour this past fall, he saw how much these stories resonated with young students.
“I went to a couple of schools that were predominantly Puerto Rican, and I think it was just the most incredible thing where even the kids were like, ‘Oh, my God, this book exists?’”
The book begins with its preteen main character, Nico, encountering an angry wind god. But the boy brushes the encounter off as trauma after Hurricane Maria.
“I'm kind of trying to explain that every Puerto Rican, throughout time, has had a subtle anxiety about wind because of everything the wind has done to that island over the years,” Piñeiro said.
The story doesn’t shy away from age-appropriate acknowledgment of Hurricane Maria’s long-lasting economic impacts on the island, either. Piñeiro describes the dilapidated roofs in San Juan’s colorful La Perla neighborhood with as much grace as the scene where Nico sees an elderly family member forced to bag groceries for practically pennies.
“There's no reason to talk down to kids,” Piñeiro said with a laugh. “They get things better than we do.”
Learn more
You can find “The Island of Forgotten Gods” wherever books are sold.
